STREET CAT FINDS stardom
After a fight, Buddy the cat was facing certain death. Now, he helps other Philly animals to survive
PHILADELPHIA — Things looked bleak for Buddy. The Philly street cat was the victim of a brutal attack about a month ago. Captured on video, it was shocking, even by this tough town’s standards. The odds of him making it weren’t good.
Flash forward: Buddy was watching the 76ers trounce the Raptors in the NBA playoffs on a cozy couch with a new kitty friend and two human fosters who adore him. He had toys galore, all the catnip he wanted, and a social media following hanging on his every meow.
And, thanks to this little black cat who almost lost his life, other injured animals will have a better chance to live theirs.
Don’t believe in fairy tales? Here’s Buddy’s story.
It started on a porch in East Frankford. Buddy was what animal welfare folk call a community cat. People would put out food and water for him, but he was a rambling man. He seemed to prefer the outdoor life.
But, on that day, two boys with two dogs walked by. They can be seen on a home-security video returning shortly afterward and letting the dogs loose on Buddy, who was on the porch. A man eventually came out of the house and rescued the cat.
Two boys, ages 12 and 17, were arrested a few days later as juveniles on animal cruelty charges, which are still pending. The dogs remain in Pennsylvania SPCA (PSPCA) custody.
Badly mauled, Buddy was brought to the PSPCA for treatment, but transferred to the Blue Pearl emergency veterinary facility for more intensive care. He was unresponsive, in shock, bleeding internally. His heart rate was almost twice what it should have been. His caretakers thought he might die.
But no one was giving up. That included Buddy.
Word of the incident spread. Reaction went viral.
The PSPCA was flooded with inquiries about Buddy. Then came the donations: toys, cat treats and money to help. People were pulling for the little black cat — people from as far away as Europe, Asia and Australia.
And, sure enough, Buddy started to pull through.
“This is the biggest outpouring of support we have had for a single animal in the past decade,” PSPCA spokeswoman Gillian Kocher said.
Buddy could live out all his nine lives and barely make a dent in what’s been sent for him. So, the spokeswoman said the PSPCA’s other felines are getting to enjoy his surfeit of toys and treats.
The PSPCA also received over $100,000 for Buddy — far more than the cost of his care. So, the PSPCA created the Buddy Fund to help other abused or neglected animals. The PSPCA is capitalizing on all the Buddy love to raise funds and adoption awareness for animals in need by selling T-shirts and stickers with the logo Save Every Buddy.
“It’s crazy to think about how this one cat has impacted so many animals and touched so many lives across not just Philadelphia and the country, but also the globe,” Kocher said.
For the past couple of weeks, Buddy has been li ving in the feline lap of luxury with his two doting fosters, Dr. Katie Venanzi and her husband, David, in their South Philly home. Venanzi was the Blue Pearl emergency veterinarian who worked on the critically wounded cat when he was brought to her facility.
Venanzi sees lots of animals in her work, but there was something special about Buddy. He reminded her of Chloe, her own cat she’d lost to cancer a few months before. Like Chloe, Buddy was full of spunk.
“He was barely responsive that night he came in, but if you moved him the wrong way, he would growl at you,” the vet said. “That was how we knew, ‘Oh, he’s going to be OK.’”
At the PSPCA, there’s a whole bulletin board — Buddy’s Board — filled with the greatest hits of cards, notes and cute drawings sent to the feline rockstar.
Indeed, if the folks at the PSPCA go more than a day or two without an update, his social media followers start clamoring for their Buddy fix.
“Everyone is very invested in this cat,” Kocher said. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I could post his left ear, and people would go crazy about it.”
A recent video of Buddy playing with a cat toy — that’s all he’s doing — got over 16,000 views and almost 2,000 likes in just the first day. It’s one of many like it, but people have yet to tire of Buddy’s comeback story. Still. Actually, they seem inspired. “This amazing little man blows me away,” one fan tweeted. “What a survivor!”