UPDATE:
Once sentenced to a life of catching rats in terrible conditions, Sylvester the cat is thriving in his forever home.
Sylvester’s mom, Justine Walton, recently sent us an update on the fluffy grey cat who used to live cold and alone in a bad neighborhood. In the two years since Sylvester was adopted from Country Cat Sanctuary, the sweet boy has settled nicely into his found happiness.
Justine reports, “He has become such a loved member of our family.”
Feature Image Courtesy of Justine Walton
And that family grew by one about a year ago when Sylvester gained a kitty brother. Justine and Sylvester adopted Winston from the Country Cat Sanctuary, the very same rescue where Justine and Sylvester first met. She said of the brothers, “Sylvester and Winston are buddies who like to play and groom each other.”
Feature Image Courtesy of Justine Walton
Reading about Sylvester’s beginnings, Justine said, “It breaks my heart to see where Sylvester was and to know how sad of a life he used to live, but he is truly living the life of a spoiled, very loved cat.”
Feature Image Courtesy of Justine Walton
Though Sylvester used to spend his days and nights alone, he became “the sweetest boy who loves to cuddle, play with his toys, and nap on his cat tree, the couch, his cat basket, or anywhere he has claimed as his own.”
Feature Image Courtesy of Justine Walton
“I wanted to share that this ‘desperately lonely cat’ will never be lonely again.”
And we thank you for sharing Sylvester’s happy ending, Justine!
Feature Image Courtesy of Justine Walton
People Were Told Not To Touch This Desperately Lonely Cat
If Sylvester didn’t already have the coldest, loneliest job on Earth, the note that someone left alongside the cat pretty much guaranteed it.
The letter, stuck to a wall in the house where Sylvester lived, simply read, “Please leave cat alone. Cat there for a reason.”
And that reason? To control the rat population in the Cornwall, Ontario, house.
The thing is, Sylvester wasn’t doing so well at rat control. In fact, his fur was frayed, his body covered in sores, bites, and fleas. He even had a severe case of ear mites.
When Rob Boisvert, an animal rescuer with Refuge RR, heard about Sylvester through a friend last month, he visited the house — and found the cat’s working conditions even more nightmarish. The house, in the heart of a neighborhood notorious for drugs and prostitution, was divided by temporary renters.
“When I got there, I was taken back with just how bad it was,” Boisvert says. “It was an actual real-life crack house.”
And Sylvester had obviously not known much in the way of human contact.
“The cat’s whole life was spent under staircase in the hallway,” Boisvert says. “There was no heat in the hallway. The water the cat had was frozen solid.”
Despite his lifelong, lonely vigil over the house’s rat population, Sylvester was more than ready to leave this job, and Boisvert refused to leave the house without him.
“He’s a sweet cat,” Boisvert explains. “Once I had him in the box, wrapped up in a blanket, he didn’t even try to get out…It was almost like he knew he was being saved.”
