Man Makes A Shocking Discovery At His 80 Year Old Relatives Home

it is always tough for relatives to watch an older person rapidly deteriorate right in front of their eyes it is particularly hard for these elderly people to take care of their fur babies on top of having to maintain their own autonomy this is exactly what happened to an octogenarian who went to live in an assisted living home after he moved out of his house a relative took over the responsibility of getting the 82 year old man's home in order the relative went to the older man's Pittsburgh Pennsylvania house to get the pet cat what he found there not only shocked him deeply but also provided a cautionary tale Paul Russell a man from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania helped his 82 year old relative move to a nursing home the move came when it became clear that the octogenarian who suffered from Alzheimer's did not have enough wherewithal left to take care of himself anymore the decision was a tough one to make though it had to be made as with his condition deteriorating the old man required constant medical assistance and could not be relied upon to take care of himself this meant that he could not be left alone in his home especially since his condition had worsened to the point where he could not recognize his own relatives once the old man had moved to the facility Paul happened to recall syam the old man's pet Siamese cat since Paul did not have any place to take the cat to he decided it was best to leave some food out for it until a suitable living arrangement could be made when Paul decided to go feats I am another relative recall that the octogenarian may have also had another cat this prompted Paul to go around the house to see if he could find a second cat there as well what he discovered shook him to the core when Paul got to his relative's house he ensured that everything was organized before he went looking for Siam once he found the cat he put some food out for it and made certain that the fur baby would be safe and sound in the house suddenly he large things zoom across the floor in front of him Paul said that it came out from under a bed and went into the cellar somewhere he couldn't see he wasn't alarmed as one of the relatives had already told him about a second cat being there however try as he might he was not able to catch it even though he caught a brief glimpse of the second cat he got enough of a look to ascertain that the cat seemed like it was caught in a large blanket like object as it was getting late Paul decided to come back the next day with extra food for the second cat in a bid to catch it as planned Paul came back to the house the next day intending to find him catch the second cat he took a flashlight and crept down the cellar stairs he recalled that it felt like a scene out of a haunted movie especially since he had no idea what was waiting for him downstairs when he entered into the eerie cellar he found a blob like thing curled up in the corner once his eyes adjusted and he could make out the object was a cat Paul said that he was shocked to discover the state that cat was in it looked like it was hurting and seemed very afraid Paul was shocked to find out that his relative did indeed have a second cat and that the blob he was looking at was it it looked like a tortoiseshell cat and what he had thought to be a blanket the day before was in reality the cat's fur which had matted and stuck to it the condition the cat was in was appalling and its matted fur made it impossible for it to move around freely the scared calico seemed quite big and the matted dreadlocked fur growing on it was more than eight inches long what made matters even worse was that the twenty centimeters of the tangled matted mess also contained excrement the spooked calico cat kept hiding under the beds or in weird corners prompting Paul to name it Heidi Paul and his wife Jill both people who loved animals could see that Heidi looked like she was scared traumatized and in quite a bit of pain so they decided that they would catch both the cats and take them to a veterinarian for a checkup after making Heidi comfortable around them and gaining her trust of it Paul and Jill took her in Siam to get examined and treated at Animal Rescue League in wildlife shelter Pittsburgh both Siam and Heidi were checked by the vets and it was determined that Siam was 17 years old while Heidi was 14 the vet seemed quite concerned about Heidi the vets at the shelter were appalled by Heidi's condition in fact the staff decided to look up animals in similar conditions to try to find out what to do about Heidi as they had never encountered such a case before however despite their efforts it seemed that nothing extreme like Heidi's case existed anywhere else not documented at least despite not having come across any such case the team of veterinarians knew that Heidi's fur had to go as the knots and tangles in it were causing her pain now the actual challenge was how to go about getting rid of her fur without Heidi getting hurt and this is where the team got creative the vets and their team at the shelter put Heidi under general anesthesia so that they could safely get rid of all her matted and dry fur the state of her fur was so bad that it took hours for them to be able to shave it off once all the fur was removed the vets waited and to their horror discovered that it came up to be about two pounds the weight of her fur was on top of the extra weight Heidi was lugging around being an overweight feline her weight coupled with her fur was one of the reasons why she was unwell and could not move around properly what perplexed event was unsure why Heidi's condition was so bad and unkempt while Siam was in a fairly good condition the vets couldn't say for certain but according to them the condition of Heidi's fur was directly connected with her weight cats are known to keep their fur clean and tidy by daily self-grooming sessions this requires a lot of flexible maneuvering for them to be able to reach all the hard-to-reach places if a cat gains a lot of weight grooming becomes tougher as movement becomes cats also shed hair on a daily basis Heidi's fur was matted so it ended up trapping most of the hair that she shed creating the matted long dreadlock conditioned Paul discovered her in but this was not the only reason behind Heidi's poor condition when it comes to long-haired felines self grooming is not enough and the owners must also brush them regularly to get all the loose hair out and keep the fur groomed Heidi's old owner had Alzheimer's and most probably could not take care of her properly which was why she was not brushed regularly Heidi's owner was in such an advanced stage of Alzheimer's that on days he did not know what his name was and could not even recognize his own family it is very likely that he had forgotten about the existence of Heidi completely which caused Heidi's neglected and bad condition both physically and psychologically Jill and Paul not only took Siam and Heidi to the shelter for vaccinations and treatment but also decided to truly rescue them by adopting them and bring them to their home what made it even more special was that the couple already had fur babies in their Churchill Pennsylvania home two dogs and three cats Siam took to the household fairly quickly while for Heidi it was more of a slow learning curve not only did Heidi have to learn to live without the weight of her dreadlocked fur but she also had to relearn how to live with humans she could trust and get her out of her habit of hiding in corners in the beginning Heidi did not warm up to the Russell's much she didn't even like being touched by people slowly as she grew used to the new house in people she started trusting them which made the Russell's job that much easier Jill was super excited by the improvement in Heidi's demeanor she was hopeful that at this pace Heidi would warm up to the other fur babies soon playing around with them and thus getting all the exercise that she needed to lose a bit of weight Heidi did not warm up immediately Paul had to fish her out from under the beds when he wanted to hold soon Heidi decided to come out on her own whenever she wanted to be around people she would even BER whenever she got comfortable which was pretty exciting for the Russell's the Russell's got Heidi her own bed which she loved and just as Jill had predicted as she got more comfortable she started playing with the animals and people in the house soon Heidi's story went viral causing ripples of anger and indignation across the globe the team at Animal Rescue League and wildlife shelter posted Heidi's story and pictures online and it went viral it was discovered by newspapers and TV stations across the world causing a whole lot of outrage and furor around the globe what upset people initially was how Heidi a pet cat got to such a state without the owner doing anything a lot of people were quick to point their fingers at the owner without knowing the full details of the case the owner was an octogenarian who had advanced Alzheimer's some commenters who had read the whole story were angry for another reason altogether people who took the time to read Heidi's whole story concluded that this was not a simple animal neglect case because it had more to do with elderly neglect commenters said that the octogenarian should not have been left to his own devices and his family should have visited him more often and more regularly when the Manchester Animal Shelter in Manchester New Hampshire shared Heidi story on their Facebook page a reader called Shana burns Bartlett commented that the root cause of the problem was the neglect of the elderly person others found the pictures so fantastical that they accused media outlets and shelters of another thing altogether Heidi's photos were so shocking that some people simply could not believe that a pet cat could be found in such a severe state of neglect they started accusing the shelters and media of posting doctored or fake photographs some of them claimed that it was impossible for a cat to stop grooming itself when the story was shared by WREG News Channel three in Memphis Tennessee a person called Heather McDonough hopper accused the channel of posting fake pictures adding that if the pictures were not fake then somehow this was done deliberately many animal rescue organizations stepped in to correct a misconception and verify that animal neglect can lead to conditions similar to Heidi's long-haired felines can get dreadlocks if their fur is not properly groomed while cats are diligent self groomers various ailments can either hinder their habit or cause them to stop altogether when people like Wanda Bailey bat Co wanted to know how a cat could end up not grooming itself completely on the Manchester animal shelters Facebook post the shelter responded itself according to the shelter there are many factors like the age weight or medical condition of the cat that can get felines to stop grooming themselves Heidi's story ends on a very positive note continue watching to find out about other such pets who were successfully rescued a couple found a scared small weak dog on their farm located in Ontario Canada the dog just like Heidi was dirty very afraid of humans and covered with dreadlocked matted dirty fur since the woman Brenda Goff worked at pet Road veterinary clinic she took the scared little dog to get a checkup the rescuers in the staff at the clinic decided to call the dog Shrek because he was discovered near a pond was extremely filthy and neglected and yet still had a nice temperament it took the vets hours to shave off the dirty dreadlocked fur off of Shrek and just like Heidi Shrek had to be sedated during the procedure just a few days later with all the weight and dirt off of him Shrek slowly started getting close to other canines and humans making him a successful rescue story a couple found a pooch in similar conditions and with a bad case of fleas on a late night in Oviedo Florida the dog's fur was so badly matted that not only did he rake he also found it hard to walk or go to the coilette the couple did not know what to do with the dog whose matted fur was covering his paws eyes and mouth they posted about him on Facebook and a dog groomer called Carrie fala jumped to their aid immediately the big-hearted groomer went so far as to opening her grooming salon at that hour to be able to treat the pooch lucky as the couple named the stray dog had such badly matted fur and it caused bruises all over his body by restricting blood flow patiently fala removed all of the dirty grimy matted fur and after three hours lucky looked like a new dog fala also gave lucky to hypoallergenic baths to get rid of his flea infestation only to discover that the sweet boy was both deaf and blind lucky was sent to a foster home to recuperate and wait for a family to come and adopt him rescuing pets like lucky and adopting them come with a lot of therapeutic benefits some of which will outline soon rescuers found a cat with seven small kittens in a bush they were alarmed to find a runt of the litter who is the smallest and weakest he seemed malnourished and unresponsive to their touch all eight fur babies were then taken for a check-up to a shelter in Bentonville Arkansas fabulous felines and waa where the little one was named Stuart little he had little to no hair on him and was so small that you could compare his size to that of a chapstick in just over a week Stuart little started growing and his face started getting fur the mommy cat was spayed once her kittens stopped suckling the kittens were handed to a surrogate cat Bessie who took over the carer Stuart and the rest of the litter and did a splendid job of it Stuart little was adopted by a wonderful family and ended up being a healthy beautiful and loved cat after the death of a pet owner his house was sold and his little dog was abandoned and left to roam the neighborhood looking for safety he hid under a shed while neighbors put some food out for him for a year however the dog who is later named woody was in very poor health and had a bad eye when rescuers from Hope four paws came to get him at Hope four paws woody got a checkup and was shaved and cleaned up the scared little pooch refused to eat and the shelter was forced to give him nutrients intravenously however woody was a champ and recovered completely some months later and grew his luscious curly fur back he was soon adopted into a loving home when a man in East Falls Philadelphia had trouble steering his car he decided to pop the hood to check what was wrong with the engine he made the horrible discovery of a cat who was caught inside the engine and was burned because of the heat inside the young feline had climbed inside of the engine for warmth as it was very cold outside as the owner of the car had no idea about this he had just taken the car out and driven away with a cat still inside the motorist had no idea how to rescue the trapped cat so he called an animal shelter at Chester County the shelter in turn asked the granny Project for help with the rescuers arriving a couple of hours later to rescue the cat he was then taken to metropolitan veterinary associates to get treated for his burns once he stabilized the shelter staff were very amused to see that the cat constantly needed his paws so they named him mr. biscuits the shelter also started a fund raiser for mr. biscuits his treatment and volunteered to find him a loving family to go to the granny project also tried to raise awareness among motorists by asking them tie the rap on their cars hood or honk their horns in winter before starting their vehicles just in case there is an animal huddled inside for just one day after the veterinary staff treated Heidi December 16 2016 a person working at Animal Rescue League and wildlife shelter Pittsburgh reached out to people via a Facebook post to highlight pet neglect that stems from elderly neglect the post pleaded with people to check up on elderly residents living in their community along with checking up on the pets of such residents to prevent instances like this from happening in the future in the end Heidi was very lucky to be rescued and adopted into a loving household but it is important to remember that not all neglected pets have such a happy ending Alzheimer's is a very tough disease to cope with not only to patients suffer a loss of memory and autonomy including the ability to take care of themselves but in extreme cases also a loss of communication abilities such people can benefit from having a pet around if they have someone taking care of the pet and them of course as pet owners grow older and frailer with their mental and physical faculties ever declining it becomes tougher and tougher for them to take care of their pets however this does not automatically mean the elderly cannot have pets if anything Heidi's tale has highlighted the importance of regularly visiting and checking up on the elderly and their fur babies the Animal Rescue League shelter and wildlife center went ahead and started a fund for the pets of senior citizens who are immobilized or cannot otherwise take care of their pets the fund will also help the shelter in relocating pets to new forever homes when their current owners pass away listen on to find out how pets can bring light into the lives of their elderly owners studies have shown that owning pets can decrease stress and depression in people generally and the elderly specifically keeping a pet helps keep the owners blood pressure down as well as keeping them active and more social since pets seem to live in the moment whenever they're around their owners tend to also stay in the now instead of worrying about the future pets have also been known to trigger elderly people's long-term memory which comes in extra handy in cases of elderly patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease such patients could do with a straightforward companionship and love of an animal however keep listening to make sure to find out the considerations before getting an elderly person a pet of their own pets bring a lot of positivity and love into the lives of the elderly and in turn the elderly help save lives of animals who would otherwise be abandoned by bringing them into their homes but certain considerations must be kept in mind when getting pets for the elderly first off it's best to pair elderly people with middle aged and healthy pets younger animals have a lot of energy making them tougher to deal with especially for the elderly a healthy middle-aged pen is calm and relaxed and doesn't require a lot of attention physical or medical elderly people with physical limitations are best paired with cats as cats don't require as much care as dogs though they do require grooming and brushing other factors to take into consideration include the financial condition of the elderly pet owner their past experiences if any of owning a pet and the temperament of the pet another lesson from Heidi's tale is that while cats do groom themselves it's just as important for the owners to groom long-haired cats to ensure their pets health and cleanliness long-haired felines who fall ill get older overweight require more grooming and care from their owners as they're less likely to groom themselves frequently causing matted and clumped fur that may turn into a dreadlocked knotted mess matted and dreadlocked fur tends to house various parasites like mites and causes a lot of issues for cats including skin problems this is why owners must frequently groom and brush their cats especially the long-haired ones if a pet gets badly matted fur it's recommended for the safety and well-being of the pet to take it to a vet or groomer to deal with a problem