Who travels 1,600 miles to rescue a stranded cat on a roof?
Her name is Wendy Wilson and she spent £1,000 traveling from the UK to France to rescue her cat Sandy from the roof of her holiday home. The cat had been stranded on the roof for three weeks and was about to collapse from the blazing sun and lack of food and water.
After a call from a French neighbor, Wilson immediately bought a plane ticket, hired a car, and was at her French home in 28 hours. She said, “Lots of people had tried to coax her down but weren’t bothered about feeding her.” She added, “You can’t call the French firefighters like you do in Britain because they wouldn’t appreciate going out to rescue a cat. Some of the neighbors were baffled – to them, she was only a stray.”
Wilson adopted Sandy with her partner when she bought the French home ten years ago, asking neighbors to feed her while she was away. After the roof-rescue, Wilson brought Sandy home to the UK, where she now resides with a neighbor whose cat recently died. Wilson is not able to keep the cat in her own home, as she already shares it with two.
In total, she spent £300 on flights and car hire, £150 on airport parking and expenses, then £550 on transport and inoculations to get Sandy to the UK.
Now that’s a responsible cat owner! However, doesn’t she have a pet caretaker at her “holiday” home? Why does she even keep a cat there if it’s not her main residence?
I agree with Dori. I think she is fabulous for being so caring and respsonsible and going to those extremes to help this cat. Still, it doesn’t seem like the ideal situation for the cat to have been fending for itself in the first place. And WTH, shame on those neighbors for not trying harder to help (or feed!) the cat. I am glad this lady stepped up and helped her pet and I am glad that the cat is finally in a very good situation every day!
I would do it
We’ve spent over $600 to save a feral cat. And we were willing to spend over $2500 to save a feral cat [a 10 year feral cat, documented] that had been intentionally run over by security not once but twice, alas however, he couldn’t be saved and we paid for him to be euthanized. Only in death were we able to give him a home,with his remains in a little cherry box (cremated which we also paid for) on his own shelf in our home. Yes, he was that special.
Definitely ! But, unlike everybody else – I don’t think she’s “responsible” at all. She had a cat & yet, she was relying on others to feed & care for it? That’s not responsible. And, they obviously weren’t doing a very good job or it wouldn’t have been stranded on a roof for 3 weeks. And, she couldn’t bring it to her permanent home be/c she already has two? (Frankly, two is a drop in the bucket – I have 5!) The “responsible” thing to do would’ve been to find Sandy a good home. In the end, I know that’s what she finally did. Now, that’s being responsible!
I agree with Kim.. I have 5 also and wouldn’t think twice about the money issue but then again I wouldn’t leave any of mine alone either.. Not responsible at all.
I’m not all impressed with this woman. I don’t care how much she spent. She should never have left the cat on it’s own, outside, expecting other people to take care of it. If I even go for 2 weeks, I hire a house and or cat sitter and check in every day. I’m more upset with this story than anything else. Thank God that kitty was saved and has a new home.
Poor kitty… so glad that she has a good forever home now! Can’t possibly imagine spending weeks on top of a hot roof, and shame on those neighbors for not trying to help her! I certainly would… and shame on the firefighters if they have issues with trying to help a suffering animal. REAL men love animals… Glad that Sandy’s human did make the trip back to rescue her, but why leave her to begin with? Cats are supposed to be family members, not things to be left for months at a time. Just happy that everything turned out well for poor Sandy, and she has a happy home to call her own.