Sinbad sails through neglect
WHEN Sinbad the cat showed up at the Anti-Cruelty Society, an animal shelter in Chicago, he weighed nearly 5kg. More than 2kg of that was fur.
The 8-year-old Persian’s hair was gray, matted and laced with excrement and maggots.
It was a shocking and stinking sight, the result of years of lack of grooming and neglect.
Shelter workers spent several hours shaving off part of Sinbad’s fur, then sedated him for a second, closer-to-the-skin shaving session.
“It really did look like he was dragging a carpet behind him,” said Colette Bradley, a spokeswoman for the society. But in the six weeks since Sinbad’s arrival at the shelter, he’s made a remarkable comeback.
His fur has started to grow back – and it’s white and fluffy.
He’s been adopted by a shelter employee, Elliott Serrano. And in a most unlikely turn of events – or, perhaps, the most likely of all – he’s become a social media darling.
Sinbad, with the help of Serrano, has grown an Instagram following of more than 7 200 people in two weeks, not bad for a newbie to the very wide world of internet cats. He has nearly that number of followers on Facebook. Sinbad’s rebound began early last month when a utility worker visiting the cat’s former home noticed him in the basement. She called the Anti-Cruelty Society. It sent over investigators, and the owner, who Bradley said was “just really unaware of the needs of a Persian cat, and in failing mental health”, agreed to give him up. – The Washington Post