So, Sometimes Being a Fat Cat Can Be Good For Your Health

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By Karen Harrison Binette

When a hawk carried off a NYC cat in recent days  his 15 pound weight saved him.

Eddie the cat’s petmon heard a commotion outside of her Upper West Side apartment, went out of investigate and was disturbed to find fur, broken nails and feathers on the ground.  Worse, she heard the hawk’s screeching and Eddie’s meows.

Eddie was carried off by the four pound Red Tailed Hawk, but eventually his heft won out and the bird of prey was forced to drop him. He is thought to have dropped a distance of about five stories, and was found, disoriented and frazzled in the back garden of a nearby apartment building. The resident says he heard a thud and came out to find his garden umbrella knocked over and a cat mewing in a corner.

Eddie’s mom was understandably distraught after her cat was carried off; searching the streets of her neighborhood for his body and putting up flyers. The unnamed woman says Eddie has been a wonderful companion in the four years since she moved to Manhattan and adopted him from the ASPCA.

Eddie was seen by a vet and found  only to have some bumps and bruises for injuries, and was pronounced “an amazing cat” by the vet.

There has been a disagreement in recent days in NYC over whether a hawk can or would actually carry off a cat. That question seems to have been answered now.

Photo is of Cracker standing in for Eddie

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0 thoughts on “So, Sometimes Being a Fat Cat Can Be Good For Your Health”

  1. I have two cats who tip the scales at 22 pounds…I wonder how far a red tail hawk would get with them?

  2. Fat can sometimes be useful! My Hellena is a bit “round”, & one morning she walks up to the house for breakfast missing a 2 by 4 inch fat pad off her left side! What ever got her during that past night only got a taste, not the whole meal! Me & the rest of my brood then trained Hell’s to stay in at night. Good thing she’s got two L’s in her name also!

  3. I’m going to have to feed Buster and Dulcie a great deal more if they need to be heavy enough to escape the many red-tailed hawks in this area! So glad Eddie was able to get away!!!

  4. I certainly hope Eddie’s “mom” takes better care of him. He should never be outside where he can be hurt. And in NYC? Oh, please!!!!

  5. I used to let my cats outside, but after too many run-ins with other beasts, I decided to keep them inside. Reading about Eddie’s experience brought back too many memories of what some of my previous cats went through.

  6. There are just too many bad things and bad people that can happen to my animals so they’re kept in the house at all times.

  7. amazing! in brasil everyone has soft fences installed on their porches so the animals cannot get out and preditors cannot get in and this also protects children. they also put them on the windows as well. smart thing!!!

  8. And big (ie Barred or Great Horned) owls are even worse. They are COMPLETELY silent when they attack. A farmer friend of mine was wondering why his barn cats were disappearing, and then one day he found one on his doorstep with big puncture wounds in its sides. The vet told him it was undoubtedly an owl.

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