Amazing Cat Rescue Story: 21-year-old, deaf cat lost in woods rescued after days
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Cat lover rescues 21-year-old, deaf pet
Chester with rescuer Robin Olson at the Animal Emergency Clinic of Danbury a day after he was rescued. Photo: Contributed Photo / The News-Times Contributed
Chester at Dr. Larry Pezzello’s veterinary office in Southbury. It was taken four days after he was rescued, and shows he had recovered enough to stand on his own. Photo: Contributed Photo / The News-Times Contributed
- NEWTOWN -- A 21-year-old deaf cat that escaped from a car traveling to Maine has been found and safely returned to his owners.
Ruth and Frank Herz, of Searsmont, Maine, were driving home on June 28 when they stopped at the Blue Colony Diner in Newtown to eat. They parked their car in the shade and cracked the window so their pet dog and cat could get some air.
Chester, the cat, had on a metal leash because he does not like being inside cat carriers. The slender feline managed to wiggle through the crack and escaped.
When the Herzes were done eating, they looked for Chester, but couldn't find him.
"It was heartbreaking for them to have to leave the diner after they couldn't find him, but they had to get back to Maine," said Michael Rosenstein, the Herzes' son-in-law.
They left their phone number with the diner's owner, in case someone spotted the cat.
Rosenstein was worried that wouldn't be enough to recover the cat, so he put a local ad on Craigslist, describing Chester.
A woman in Fairfield saw the ad and e-mailed a copy of it to a few friends.
One of the people she e-mailed it to was Robin Olson, a Newtown cat lover who has been rescuing cats for 10 years. Olson got the e-mail on June 30, and was immediately on the search.
The brush around Blue Colony Diner is thick and impermeable. Olson was worried Chester's leash was snarled in the brush and he was stuck.
Olson and volunteers from at least four other rescue groups circled the dense growth multiple times a day, but couldn't find Chester. Since his fur is the color of dried leaves, he was hard to spot. Calling his name was futile, because he was deaf.
The food they left out for him went untouched.
"We would go at different times of the day, day and night," Olson said. "We set up wildlife cameras. We were about to give up hope."
On Saturday morning, Olson couldn't sleep because she was worried Chester had no chance of surviving in the looming heat wave. So at 6:30 a.m., she got up and headed out to the diner. She walked into the woods and spotted Chester under a fallen tree.
"I picked him up and told him it would be OK and ran out of the woods," Olson said. "He was as limp as a wet rag."
The only veterinarian's office that was open was the Animal Emergency Clinic of Danbury.
Doctors told Olson Chester's body temperature was 80 degrees. A normal cat's body temperature is about 100 degrees. Doctors could not detect a pulse in his limbs, but his heart was beating strong. They hooked him up to an I.V., and his prognosis was "iffy," Olson said.
Olson called Frank Herz on his cell phone to let him know Chester had been found. Herz said he was willing to pay the thousands of dollars it would take to treat Chester.
On Sunday, Chester's condition changed from "iffy" to "eh, OK," Olson said.
On Monday, she took him to her vet, Dr. Larry Pezzullo, in Southbury. Chester began improving dramatically. He could stand up and was eating. Olson brought him a cat toy, and he drooled as he played with it.
On Tueaday night, Pezzullo decided Chester was ready to go home. Fran Herz's brother-in-law picked up Chester on Wednesday and drove him to Maine in a cat carrier that Olson bought for him.
Chester is a little shakier than he was before, but he is improving, said Frank Herz, 74.
"I don't know how much longer he has to live, but I'd rather he die here than somewhere else," Herz said. "Although who knows, maybe he'll live to be 31."
Olson documented Chester's search, rescue and recovery on her blog, www.coveredincathair.com.
"It's so fantastic that so many people in the rescue community were praying for him and rooting for him," Olson said.
Rosenstein said he hadn't known such a community of animal rescuers existed.
"I had no idea that animals would evoke the same level of passion and commitment as a person," Rosenstain said. "And Robin is just a hero in this."
Frank Herz was just as surprised.
"I thought it was pretty astounding," he said. "It's a rough world out there and all these people were involved with one little old cat."
Contact Vinti Singh at vsingh@newstimes.com or 203-731-3331.
