Even though Toby’s family no longer wanted him, he wanted them. His family gave Toby up, but at least they found him a new home.
According to the SPCA of Wake County, Toby showed up on this family’s doorstep as a stray but wasn’t getting along with their existing cats.
So they gave Toby to a new family. The only thing was that Toby wasn’t ready for a new home with a new family. So, he walked 12 miles back to his old home. Instead of being impressed by Toby’s act of love his family sentenced him to death.
“They took him to a shelter and asked them to euthanize him,” Tara Lynn, communications director for the SPCA of Wake County, told The Dodo. “It was just so heartbreaking to know he made it all the way back to his family, and that was their response.”
The public shelter took Toby’s story to heart and refused to put him down.
They instead called the SPCA which came to rescue Toby right away and make sure he had a medical assessment and was on his way to finding a forever home.
“He tested positive for feline immunodeficiency virus, and also had an upper respiratory infection,” Lynn said. “We got him treated for the infection, which took a little while.”
He was very warm, sweet, and affectionate with the SPCA’s staff, but it took a little while for him to warm up to the other residents.
“Initially, the seven-year-old FIV positive kitty wasn’t very excited about sharing a room with other cats, but he quickly became a volunteer favorite,” the SPCA said.
Once Toby was all healed and ready to find a forever home, his picture was posted on social media.
The phone was ringing off the hook to adopt Toby.
Michele Puckett of Raleigh, North Carolina ran over to the shelter to meet Toby to see if they’d be a good fit. They hit it off right away!
“She had no hesitation whatsoever,” Lynn said about Puckett. “She was on a job site and just dropped everything to come here.”
Now Toby has two new humans and two cat siblings.
“He is just so sweet, cuddly and loving,” Puckett told The Dodo. “He’s also pretty much taken over our bed, as if he’s lived here forever. He loves to relax and lay under our pillows.”
It’s heartwarming to know that Toby finally has a loving home where he belongs and is welcome and taken care of.
“It’s really hard to understand how someone could have dropped him off to be put to death like they did,” Puckett said. “It’s shocking, but we feel so grateful he was saved.”
She hopes that Toby’s story can bring awareness to the importance of giving other pets like Toby a second chance at life.
“There are tons of pets who are easily discarded by their families or a breeder,” Puckett said. “I really hope he inspires other people to go out and adopt.”
Toby’s new mom ended up getting her wish as Toby’s story ended up going viral and was shared by dozens of media outlets.
“We’ve spent the last 36 hours fielding calls from newspapers, websites and TV stations from across the country about Toby the cat. We first shared Toby’s story in March on Facebook to promote the 2018 Dog Walk and Woofstock event, May 6th,” the SPCA wrote on April 19. “His post received a lot of response, but it wasn’t until he was adopted that his story really took off on social media and has now been seen in New Zealand, Italy, Canada, South America and around the globe.”
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