What started as a sad story has ended in a happy ending.
A 16-year-old cat that was thrown from a moving vehicle has found his forever home.
Merlot was brought into a shelter after a Good Samaritan saw him being thrown from a moving car on August 23rd.
Nanaimo BCSPCA branch manager Bonnie Pequin said he was checked over thoroughly after the incident.
Fortunately, the disgusting and despicable act didn’t result in any injuries to the senior feline. However, he did receive a few bumps and scrapes and was suffering from dental disease due to his old age.
After a few weeks of healing time, Merlot was put up for adoption.
“Although they make amazing pets, senior dogs and cats are often overlooked by people looking to adopt a furry family member,” said Kim Monteith, BC SPCA’s manager of animal welfare. “There are a lot of misconceptions about senior animals that make people a little hesitant to bring them home.”
Thankfully this was not the case with Merlot when he was adopted out in mid-October by a woman named Lana who has turned her home into a “kitty retirement home.”
“Five years ago, I was helping a friend adopt a cat. When we were on the BC SPCA site, I noticed quite a few older cats were available for adoption and when we visited the animal centre, we had a conversation with one of the staff about senior animals and how difficult it can be to find them forever homes,” said Lana.
“My first senior cats were a bonded pair named Luke and Merlin who were 14-years-old,” says Lana. “I adopted them from the Victoria BC SPCA. Luke had stage two kidney disease when I adopted him. Over the next three years it progressed, and he passed away in August.”
Merlin missed Luke, so Lana went on a search for a new companion when she found Merlot on the BC SPCA website. Shen then travelled from North Vancouver to Nanaimo to adopt Merlot. “I knew he was ‘the one’,” says Lana. “When I went to meet him, he immediately got off of his cat bed in the catio to get a pet and when he gave me a head butt, it sealed the deal.”
“Merlin and Merlot both have a little kitten energy in them. Merlin still gets up and rips around the house at three am,” said Lana. “They both like to play with string and laser toys and they love to cuddle. Luke was chasing toys up until his last two weeks.”
