Tears As Cat 'Locked in Cage' for 12 Years is Adopted

A video of a cat being adopted after living in an enclosure at a hospital for a decade has gone viral on TikTok, receiving over 620,000 views at the time of writing.

A message overlaid on the clip by uploader @lindssey.82 said: "Around 6 months ago, I started working at a vet and came across this cat. He had been there for around 10-12 years." The footage showed a cat sitting in a corner of an empty steel cage.

According to the clip, the cat had been adopted twice and returned both times and "for the majority of his life, he was locked in this cage."

Although he was given "endless amounts of affection," the cat "hated coming out, so we would leave him there," according to another note laid across the clip.

The cat was later shown leaning into the hands of a woman petting him and rubbing his head on her forehead, as another message said: "Although he rarely had human interaction, he was the most affectionate cat I had ever met."

Each year, around 3.2 million cats enter shelters across the country and approximately 2.1 million cats are adopted, according to 2019 data compiled by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Among the millions of pets that enter shelters and rescues across the country, adult cats and neonatal kittens (newborns aged up to around 4 weeks old) form a large portion of animals looking for a home, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Some of these pets are "victims of cruelty and may have behavioral or medical issues," the Humane Society of the United States noted. "But many more are surrendered by loving families who can't access affordable, pet-friendly housing or veterinary care."

The cat being reluctant to come out of its cage in the latest viral video could be down to stress.

A November 2014 study of cats provided with a hiding box at a shelter, published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Sciences, found that "the hiding box appears to be an important enrichment for the cat to cope effectively with stressors in a new shelter environment the first weeks after arrival."

According to the study, domestic cats can experience "serious stress" in shelters and stressful experiences can have "a major impact" on the cats' welfare. The stress can cause "higher incidences of infectious diseases in the shelters due to raised cortisol [stress hormone] levels causing immunodeficiency," the study said.

According to the poster of the latest video, the cat "threw up" every day while living in the cage and "this has been going on for most of his life." He became "extremely skinny and couldn't really walk" due to his illness.

The poster said she wanted to adopt the cat but wasn't financially stable enough to afford an animal. But she was able to take him home with "help from the hospital," according to another message overlaid on the video. The footage showed the cat sitting inside a large enclosure that was partially covered in a blanket in a home setting.

According to the poster, the cat was "immediately curious and started roaming around" upon arriving in his new home, as the clip showed the cat carefully walking out of his pen.

He became "very relaxed" and later began sleeping in his owner's bed. "He was so gentle even with my sister who is afraid of cats," the poster wrote, as the cat was seen being petted by a person while laying on the floor.

According to the poster, the cat soon began "acting like a normal cat," sitting in a cat tree and playing with a toy for the first time in his new home.

He loves to see himself in the mirror, smell new foods and have a couch all to himself. But most of all, he loves to lay in the sun. "I imagine this was his first time feeling the warmth of the sun since he was a kitty," the poster wrote in a message across the clip as the cat was shown sleeping in a sunlit patch of a carpeted floor.

According to the poster, the feline has stopped throwing up every day and only does it "on occasion" since arriving at his new home.

"I'm not sure how long I have with him but I'm so grateful to have given him a second chance at life with a family who loves him," a final message read as the video concluded.

A caption shared with the post read: "Forever grateful to have met you."

The cat in the latest video has melted the hearts of users on TikTok, with many praising the owner for taking the feline in.

Josette DeRitis said: "Thank you for saving him! All he needed was love and quality care."

David Cohen wrote: "Now I'm sobbing. Thank you so much," while Bri Natalia said: "TEARS."

Meli said: "this is another example of how love really does change them. thank you for loving him like he deserves."

Liverpool wrote: "you are so precious in taking this kitty in he is your soulmate that he thought he'd never have."

Abu Dhabi added: "Taking the 'least adoptable' is the most rewarding."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.

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