We’re trying our best to understand why some humans hate cats. We understand that cats have a reputation that they are standoffish, withdrawn, and detached. We understand that not everyone’s obsessed with cats’ fluffy paws, perked-up ears, and cute whiskers.
We don’t, however, understand how anyone can hate cats enough to harm them, throw them out on the street, and abandon them.
While we don’t necessarily know how Backpack, the protagonist of the story, ended up on the streets of Philadephia, we assume she didn’t choose to wander around searching for water, food, and affection.
We refuse to believe that there are humans out there who would bear to glance at Backpack’s downhearted, barren eyes and leave her on the street to survive on her own. What happened to Backpack, you might wonder?
Backpack, the gorgeous ginger moggy we’ve decided to write about, was wandering on the streets of Philadephia when she was spotted by a boy.
Now, she must have appeared ungroomed, bedraggled, and hurt because the boy immediately knew that he needed to save her from whatever she was going through.
He swooped her off the streets, tucked her into a backpack, and kept her safe while he tried to figure out what to do. He knew that he needed to take her to a shelter, a rescue center of sorts, or someone who knew what to do with an abandoned cat.
He ended up bringing her to the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), which proved to be the best decision he could’ve made.
When Backpack arrived at PAWS, she couldn’t hide the fact that she was absolutely, completely, and irrevocably terrified of everyone around her. When a volunteer picked her up to try to soothe her and comfort her, Bakcpack curled into a ball and buried her face into the volunteer’s arm.
(Credits: PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society))
We’re pretty sure that Backpack was trying to disappear, and we would argue that he was resorting to her defense mechanisms because she was scared of what was going to happen to her.
Now, even though the volunteers tried their best to shower Backpack with food, affection, and attention, she didn’t seem to respond whatsoever.
Actually, she was shutting down physically and emotionally, and the volunteers were terrified of what would happen to her on the off chance that nobody would agree to foster her. So, they decided to turn to Facebook, hoping to find someone who would be willing to take Backpack home.
As they argued on the Facebook post, Backpack was too terrified to accept the affection coming her way, too depressed to eat, and too downhearted to hang out with other pets.
Other than that, the volunteers added that Backpack was clearly a house pet because she was declawed and accustomed to the litterbox. We can’t even fathom what goes through someone’s head when they’re abandoning a fluffer such as Backpack on the streets, with nothing to eat, and no place to sleep.
We’re not here to share negativity and we’re not here to shame anyone who was forced to abandon a pet, but we’re hoping that Backpack’s story might motivate pet parents to consider bringing their pets to shelters rather than leaving them on the street.
Back to Backpack’s story, we’re over the moon to announce that the volunteers at the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society managed to get her a foster home within one day of posting her on Facebook.
Before Backpack was spotted by the family that wanted to take care of her, people were wondering whether she was hurt, whether she needed treatment, and whether she was getting better while she was at the shelter.
The volunteers made sure that everyone knew that Backpack wasn’t hurt and even posted a picture of her face (which she kept hidden for hours after arriving at the shelter). And, the volunteers posted another update when Backpack arrived at her foster home.
((Credits: PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society))
Her foster mother, Michelle, assured everyone that Backpack was doing great. She started feeling better and better, eating more, hanging out with humans more, and gaining back some of the trust she dropped on the streets of Philadelphia.
We couldn’t believe what one day of affection, appreciation, and care can do when we saw the pictures of Backpack settling with her foster family. What’s even better, Backpack soon settled with her forever family, too.
Only a few months after the update that Backpack found a foster family willing to nurse her back to health and happiness, PAWS posted a picture of Backpack snuggling with her forever family on the couch.
We’re over the moon that Backpack finally found someone to snuggle with – we don’t know whether she’s ever going to trust humans as much as she trusted the little boy who saved her and PAWS who found her a forever home, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that everything works out for her.
We adore you, Backpack!