1/2 Photo: Animal Ambulance Maasland.
For stray cat Buddha, 2023 started very badly. The animal was rescued just in time from a garbage truck in Oss on January 9. The perilous adventure made such an impression on the kitten that it took Buddha more than four months to patch up. Now he has found a safe and warm basket with his rescuer.
At the beginning of this year, one of the garbage collectors heard something in the back of the car and went to have a look. There he found a live kitten among the rubbish. The garbage collectors had just emptied containers at the Oostwal in Oss. The cat may have been dumped from one of those containers into the garbage truck.
“He was malnourished, hypothermic and very anxious.”
Despite being trapped in the chariot for only an hour and a half, Buddha was in bad shape. “He was malnourished, hypothermic and very anxious,” recalls Martien de Louw of Dierenambulance Maasland. Buddha even had to be force-fed because he wouldn’t eat for days.
Once on strength, the kitten was placed with a foster family in Nistelrode. There, Buddha could regain a little more confidence in people. “That kitten had to be socialized in order to be adopted again by a new family. That is why we petted him a lot and played with him,” says foster owner Bianca Ouwens.
“It touched me very much.”
There was massive sympathy for the harrowing story of the cat Buddha. The Dierenambulance Maasland received countless messages from people who wanted to adopt the animal, but the new owner was known from the first moment. The garbage truck driver was eager to take care of the kitten. “I was very touched when I found the kitten. I named him after the restaurant where he was found.”
While cat Buddha was patched up at the foster home, he became friends with another foster cat, Boots. Garbage man René visited Buddha a few times at the foster home and when his own cat died it was simple. “Like it was meant to be, but then I went to see Boots and wanted to take him with me.”
“They get all the rest and warmth with us, so it will be all right.”
Garbage man René is looking forward to his new company . “I have arranged two scratching posts, one of which is even 1.60 meters high. Everything is ready for the two cats. They get all the rest and warmth with us, so it will be all right.”
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