Douglasville Man With '1 Year To Live' Must Give His 4 Cats Away

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — Mike Chiulli is a Douglasville resident who was given one year to live by doctors back in 2014. When doctors discovered cancer in his bladder, they told him they needed to remove everything from his belly button on down. Consequently, he has had most of his lower organs and parts removed including his bladder, intestines, prostate and other things that he says makes him think he'd be better off dead.

The former Marine says he's been pretty much gutted. He has had two pulmonary embolisms. He has a lot of tubes and is in a lot of pain. Chiulli said his wife left him because she said she couldn't watch him die.

After losing almost everything, now Chiulli says he can't afford to feed his four cats and must give them to good homes. He can no longer even bend down to pet the cats.

He said he's in such bad shape that he also can't afford replacement colostomy bags.

Because he can't care for himself, he has to give up his house and move in with a relative out of state. He will be leaving in a matter of weeks because he can't do anything for himself anymore.

He has been unable to find rescue homes for his cats and was unsuccessful dealing with the local shelter. He said he was told they don't take house cats. He has, however, been given some horrible advice. People have told him to shoot the cats and someone detailed how to kill them by putting antifreeze in tuna and feeding it to them. They told him that the cats would "go down quickly."

Here's how Chiulli describes his four cats:

• Molly is a black and white beauty that is 10 years old and weighs four pounds. He said she kicked a rat off of her when she was a kitten. The rat was literally eating her.
• Cally is a calico that is five years old and weighs eight pounds.
• Sucky is a big, 10 year old that weighs eight pounds.
• White boy is seven years old and weighs seven pounds.

All are spayed or neutered and all have had initial vaccines. The dog was taken by his ex-wife already.

Chiulli said he is praying for help and sitting by the phone, hoping for a miracle. Calls are the only way to reach him.

To adopt a cat or find out more information, call Chiulli at 678-988-6441.

Photos courtesy Mike Chiulli