Overwhelming international response to cat in need

REGINA – After days of poking and prodding, bandage changes and surgeries, Bruce Almighty is taking steps towards recovery.

According to Lisa Koch, executive director of the Regina Humane Society, the abused cat is healing well.

“He did lose eight toes, but he’s polydactyl so he has two toes left on his front paws,” she said.

Thanks to an overwhelming response to the society’s gofundme page, the cost of treatment is no longer an issue.

As of Wednesday evening, almost $20,000 had been raised and hundreds had sent well-wishes.

“We had no idea the response we were going to get, or really, Bruce was going to get, around the world,” Koch said.

The decision to treat the cat, rather than put him down, was based on the idea Bruce Almighty could live a good life despite some challenges.

“He has a wonderful personality. He fought hard and we figured it was our turn to fight hard for him,” Koch said.

Money has been pouring in from all over the world. People in Spain, Poland, Greenland and numerous American states have donated so far.

A dog lovers group from the United Kingdom pledged $75 after seeing a picture of Bruce on Facebook.

“That popped into my timeline. Just look at the poor little thing. She just looks so sweet and so helpless that I needed to help, even though we don’t normally help cats,” said Dawn Fido.

Fido is the founder of Malamute Matters, a charity that has helped hundreds of dogs over the last few years, but never a cat.

“There’s so many people that turn a blind eye to this type of thing. I need to do something,” she said.

The viral nature of the campaign does not surprise David Gerhard, a computer science professor at the University of Regina.

“It has all the perfect elements. It has a sympathetic subject and it has, somewhere, some nasty villain.” He said the story likely went viral after being posted to international sites like BuzzFeed and Mashable.

“People want to do something good in the world. It doesn’t have to be for someone you know or a neighbour down the street. These sites work because people want to connect to something bigger than themselves,” Gerhard said.

With all of the attention the campaign blew past its $5,000 goal, so any additional money will help other animals in need in Regina.

As for Bruce Almighty, he’s not out of the woods quite yet. The tuxedo cat may need paw pad grafts, as his fell off due to a lack of circulation.

“He has a long road of recovery ahead of him. A lot of rehabilitation will come and when he’s ready for adoption, there’ll likely be some special circumstances around what his needs are going to be.”

That means while dozens have offered to give the cat a good home, he’s unlikely to leave the Humane Society for a few months.