Senior Cat Whose Owner Died Gets Love, Facebook Page After LI Adoption

NORTH FORK, NY — A 20-year-old cat whose owner died was facing dire straits — until a new family stepped in to give him love, a second of his nine lives — and his very own Facebook page.

According to Gabby Stroup, director of operations at The League, Southold Town's animal shelter, Tux was surrendered because his owner had died.

"She had him since he was a kitten and loved him very much," a social media appeal to find him a new home, created by the League, said. "We don't want him to have to spend his final months in a shelter."

Tux's sad face touched hearts and generated an outpouring of attention — and soon, his new family was found, Stroup said.

"A woman named Cherie quickly commented that she would adopt him — and she picked him up the very next day," Stroup said.

So many cared deeply about Tux's outcome, Stroup said, that "he now has his own Facebook page, Tux the Cat."

She added: "Everyone is very happy he only had to spend one night in the shelter."

Stroup reminded that there are other senior cats in both the Peconic and Aquebogue shelter locations, looking for their forever homes.

Cherie, who adopted Tux with her partner Lee, said she would love to encourage more people to adopt.

Tux wasn't their first adoption: She and her partner got a number of their five cats through The League; they were fosters for the shelter, she said.

"Our oldest is 11," she said. "He has cerebellar hypoplasia" — a condition that causes wobbliness and incoordination in cats — "and we didn't think he would get adopted, so we adopted him."

Their other four cats, she said, were bottle babies who came to their home when they were a couple of days old.

"We couldn't let them go," she said.

Next, Cherie said she saw a Facebook post from North Fork Country Kids, a local rescue, about how they needed a hospice foster for an elderly cat.

"We had her for a about a month, and she passed peacefully in her sleep. Then they asked for a volunteer for another older cat, and we had her as our 'forever foster,'" Cherie said.

But that cat had medical conditions and was failing, and they had to say good-bye, she said.

Then, there was Tux — the cat whose plaintive face opened scores of hearts.

When she learned about him, Cherie was anxious to pick up Tux, but the shelter was closed for the night — with Tux cozily ensconced in his own kitty condo. And so, she rushed to get him the next morning.

"I could not let him stay there when I had room for him, and he'd lost his person. At 20 years old, he's beaten a lot of odds, and he needed someone — and maybe my heart needed him, too."

After Tux was adopted, there were many still hoping for news of how he'd fared — so Cherie created the "Tux the Cat" Facebook page, with cheery updates on his progress and photos.

"Mom weighed me this morning and I am at just 8.5 lbs., which is not a lot for a big cat like me, but she said that I am eating well and she thinks I will gain weight steadily," a post on Wednesday said. "Here’s a photo of me making myself at home!"

Cherie, who lives on the North Fork in Cutchogue, said she couldn't ignore Tux's plight. "There were so many people on Facebook asking for someone, anyone, to get him out of there — and they started messaging me. I am the administrator for a dog rescue, I have foster kittens, and my own animals to take care of, and I don't have a lot of time to update everyone — so I thought a Facebook page could let everyone follow him to see what happens."

Slowly, she said, Tux is beginning to show signs of improvement after steady doses of love.

"We think he's put on a little weight," she said. "He's covered in mats, which we are slowly getting out. He gets along with everyone in the house, but his tolerance for being with them is about 15 minutes — and then he wants to go back to our room where he has his bed and/or sleeps on our bed. He seems to be aware. He is very talkative and purrs loudly."

Cherie is grateful to have opened her home and heart to Tux. And she wanted to spotlight the work that The League and North Fork Country Kids do on the North Fork. "Without both of them, I wouldn’t have found him, or had the support and knowledge to bring him home."