The family of Rusty the cat are in a frustrating situation. They know where he is, but they’ve been unable to get him back.
“It’s just horrific,” owner James Pellerin told Sudbury.com, adding that his 11-year-old daughter, Lilly, is particularly heartbroken and has been “sob-crying” about her missing buddy.
Rusty is a roaming cat who was trapped outside by an area resident at some point between the evening of May 28 and the following day. He was then brought to PetSave Sudbury, whose founder, Jill Pessot, has decided to keep him.
“This cat is very, very lucky it made it to PetSave,” Pessot told Sudbury.com. “If they end up outdoors, they’re mine. I’m not returning them.”
Rusty was adopted from PetSave approximately eight years ago, Pellerin said, at which time an agreement was signed with the non-profit organization to ensure that Rusty would be an indoor cat only.
This agreement, Pellerin said, is why Pessot believes she can keep Rusty, now that he has been caught outdoors.
The family last saw Rusty during the evening of May 28, when he was in the house to receive his daily serving of wet food. The family received an anonymous phone call the following day to inform them that PetSave had their cat.
Rusty, Pellerin said, is “this big, fat, orange cat.”
“Most of my neighbours know him, he’s a lovable cat, everybody likes him.”
Rusty has spent much of his life as a roaming cat, and he has an electronic collar which triggers a cat door to open which lets him back inside the house so he can come and go as he pleases. PetSave identified the cat as one that it had adopted by the collar it was wearing.
The cat’s roaming status is in keeping with the family’s belief that it’s best for Rusty, whom Pellerin describes as a “free spirit.”
“To keep an animal like him locked up and in the house, I think that’s horrible,” he said. “He's a good guy, he’s very loved in the neighbourhood. He’s not a dumb cat, either. I’m surprised someone caught him.”
Pessot, Pellerin said, is “a piece of work,” whose belief that she knows what’s best for everyone’s pet is “arrogant.”
Pellerin contacted Greater Sudbury Police Service in an attempt to get Rusty back, whose spokesperson told Sudbury.com last week that the predicament is “a civil matter, as there was a contract that was signed between two parties.”
Regardless, Pessot told Sudbury.com on Monday that her legal counsel was in contact with local police after Pellerin complained. Having successfully defended their retention of people’s pets due to contract breaches on two past occasions, Pessot said she’s confident they’ll be successful in keeping Rusty.
(On this front, Pessot noted that it’s rare they refuse to relinquish people’s pets. These three examples are amidst approximately 25 years of PetSave operations, and they currently adopt out approximately 1,000 pets per year.)
“I abide by the law,” Pessot said. “If he’s lucky enough that he gets his cat back, I hope he learns a lesson for the safety of his cat, because the next time he may not get him back.”
Outside cats tend to die unnecessarily, Pessot explained.
“There’s a huge problem” on Bruce Avenue, she said, adding that she has her suspicions that someone has been poisoning cats in the neighbourhood. She has heard of one person catching and drowning them and some people catch and dump cats on the outskirts of town.
Cats are also hit by cars and killed by wildlife.
In the case of Rusty, an area resident trapped and brought him to PetSave. This resident also caught a cat last weekend and was similarly brought to PetSave.
This area resident used to bring cats to the outskirts of town until Pessot convinced them to bring the felines to the shelter instead, since dropping them out in the middle of nowhere is a cruel death sentence.
“I’m not a big meanie here,” Pessot said of the Rusty situation, adding that although social media posts have made her out to be a villain who stole an 11-year-old girl’s cat from her, she has Rusty’s best interests in mind.
“It’s called responsible pet ownership,” Pessot said. “We encourage it, we demand it when people adopt from us. … They read the contract, they agreed to it, and they feel like, ‘Now I don’t have to listen.’ Well, you know what? That’s great, but how many of my cats died out there because people let their cats outdoors?”
Allowing cats outside is “like playing Russian roulette,” Pessot said.
It’s one thing for an escape-artist cat to end up on the loose, but Pessot said that Rusty’s family has clearly allowed him to be an outdoor cat, as exemplified by the electronic key on his collar which lets him get in and out of the house at his leisure.
“I didn’t spend the money to save his cat as a youngster so he could turn it around and put it outside,” she said.
Pessot’s personal beliefs are one thing, Pellerin said, but Rusty has been part of their family for years, and Lilly is upset to be without her orange friend.
“We just want him home,” he said.
Roaming outdoor cats are allowed in Greater Sudbury, though a municipal bylaw stipulates that they must have an up-to-date licence, be microchipped and be spayed or neutered.
Pet Save is a non-profit organization which rescues “abandoned, abused and neglected cats and dogs throughout Northern Ontario,” according to their cat adoption form. They currently have approximately 450 pets in their care, which Pessot said is a significant jump from the 130-170 they carried in years past. This, she said, is due to a COVID-era spike in pet breeding and ownership.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.