Cat shot 17 times with a pellet gun has recovered from surgeries and infections

CANADA -- Joe the cat has moved in with a foster family.

Sarnia's most famous feline was released from Blue Cross Animal Hospital Thursday and will spend the next two months getting into a regular routine with a long-time foster family with the Sarnia and District Humane Society, said shelter manager Donna Pyette.

“It's extremely uplifting,” Pyette said, noting Joe has endured picking, prodding and up to four surgeries over the last two months.

“He's very resilient and he's a genuinely affectionate cat who definitely has a very strong will,” she said.

Hundreds of adoption requests have poured in from across Canada and abroad since Joe's story hit international newsstands earlier this year, shelter officials said. He was found alive in Bright's Grove with 17 pellets shot into his head Feb. 2, and has been recovering since.

His veterinarian was able to remove 16 pellets, and had to remove Joe's right eye.

Two Sarnia men, ages 19 and 20, have been charged with animal cruelty offences.

Joe's case has galvanized locals to seek stronger animal cruelty penalties from the justice system and spurred a pair of protests outside the Sarnia courthouse.

It's also made a massive difference for other animals at the shelter, Pyette said.

A public plea for funds to cover Joe's medical care has netted more than $33,000, she said.

His vet bill is about $6,000 and the rest has gone towards the shelter's Wanda's Wish fund that helps pay medical bills for rescues.

Already it's helped six other animals with everything from limb amputations to eye surgeries, Pyette said, thanking the community for its generosity.

“Having that money there, it certainly saves lives.”

But whether Joe is adopted out or stays a shelter cat remains to be seen, she said.

The next two months in foster care will help reveal whether he's suffered any sort of permanent brain injury, she said, along with his likes, dislikes, how he socializes with other animals and his habits.

“Then we'll be able to know a bit more about him and be able to place him better too,” Pyette said.
But in spite of his trauma, Joe is still “extremely” affectionate and trusting, she said.

“He's not afraid of anything and he kind of seems to take everything in stride.”

If he is adopted, it'll be tough to see him go, she said.

“We've all had that connection to him now and we've watched him go through the worst.”

Meanwhile, she had praise for a recently introduced Ontario-wide animal cruelty hotline through the Ontario Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA).

“Probably our biggest question, especially when we're closed here, is 'Who do you call?'” she said, noting the 310-SPCA (7722) number eliminates the guesswork.

The amount of local cruelty investigations is also up this year, said Becky Knight, an OSPCA investigator in Sarnia.

“I think people are just more aware (of animal cruelty) and they're not going to put up with it so much any more,” she said, adding the number of cases “could be a sign of the times that people can't afford veterinary care and that type of thing.”

There were 120 investigations as of Thursday, up from 87 at this time last year, she said.

Typically Sarnia-Lambton sees 400 investigations in a year.

The hotline resulted from a $5.5-million provincial funding boost to the OSPCA last fall.

(Chatham Daily News - April 17, 2014)