Tiki may be blind, but he is sneaky. And one lucky, elderly house cat.
Over the weekend, the black-and-white feline quietly slipped out of his owner’s New England home and went on a wild winter ride, which a Good Samaritan who assisted in his rescue said she will never forget.
“I was very stressed! Dawn Felicani of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, recalled the Monday incident on Nabnasset Lake, where she saw the cat floating on a piece of ice. “I do not even know what drew me in to look at it, but I am so happy that cat is alive.”
Around 10 a.m., the real estate agent was on her way to work in Westford, Middlesex County, when she noticed Tiki walking on thin ice floating 30-to-40 feet from the lake’s shore.
“I was like, Is that a cat? “It was so cold outside that day, and my God, the wind,” the 56-year-old woman told USA TODAY.
She called Westford Animal Control to report the incident.
Officer and Inspector Kirsten Hirschler responded.
Help was on its way.
“It just kept circling. “You could tell it was not completely frozen over, so I panicked,” Felicani said of the long-haired Tuxedo Cat. “Then I heard the crackling and was like, ‘he is going in.'”
‘His little head was sticking out’
Two workers on a nearby home heard the commotion and intervened to assist.
“His little head was sticking out,” explained Felicani, who photographed the long-haired Tuxedo Cat before and after it fell in.
Nate Puza of Townsend, Massachusetts, took a shovel and a small boat from a nearby home.
Kris Seymour from Holden, Massachusetts, pushed the boat as far as he could.
Animal control officers later reported that Puza was able to break through the ice with a shovel while moving.
“He quickly accessed the cat and plucked him from the water moments before he surely would have succumbed to the frigid cold,” Hirschler later stated in a press release.
The cat, shivering, lethargic, and in shock, was brought inside, toweled off, and wrapped in blankets.
Hirschler discovered the cat had been neutered, took it to a vet where the animal’s temperature was so low it did not register on a thermometer, and said officers began looking for its owners.
That afternoon, Hirschler said, a local resident contacted officers and reported that their cat Tiki had escaped sometime late Sunday night or early Monday.
“They were able to positively identify him and then informed us that Tiki is not only 20 years old, but also blind,” Hirschler stated in a press release.
Hirschler told USA TODAY on Thursday that Tiki had returned home safely to his grateful owners, a husband and wife and their children.
Stuck on ice floating… through the night’
According to Hirschler, officers believe Tiki was chased onto the ice by a coyote the night before he was discovered and became stuck on the ice, which floated straight across the lake through the night.
“This story is nothing short of a miracle from start to finish,” Hirschler told the audience. “There is no doubt that we would not have made it in time to save this old man!”
How thick should ice be before it safe to walk on?
Tiki may not realize it, but law enforcement says ice on a frozen lake, river, or pond is never completely safe.
People should ensure that the ice on ponds and lakes is at least 5 inches thick for fishing, skating, and walking, and at least 8 inches thick for snowmobiling and off-road vehicles.
