It all began with a friendship Pumpkin struck up with a Siamese Dumbo rat named Batman, who was originally meant to be food for a pet snake!
Let’s backtrack!
“Pumpkin was a stray that was brought to our shelter (at Oak Ridge Animal Shelter) in 2013. During his intake process, we found out he was FIV+. Pumpkin also displayed a cleft palate and a scar on one of his eyes,” Julie Armes, the shelter supervisor, told Amy of Love Meow.
Pumpkin may just be one of the most compassionate kitties we here at The Best Cat Page have ever heard about!
“He was just the sweetest cat and good with everybody and everything. We couldn’t understand how he was a stray. He is the type of cat that likes to be with people, he gives hugs and will jump up (whether you know it’s coming or not) on you and head butt and give kisses,” Armes told Amy.
“We decided to keep him as both a shelter ambassador but also a FIV+ ambassador. Any animal that came into our shelter, Pumpkin just had to meet it.”
One day, seemingly out of the blue, Pumpkin surprised everyone with an incredible sense of compassion towards other injured animals.
A poor goose had been struck by a car and wound up at the shelter. The poor animal was a complete wreck. It was completely wild and wouldn’t calm down for anything or anyone.
All of that ended once little Pumpkin stepped up to the plate and immediately began to bond with the goose.
On Pumpkins tolerance towards other animals:
“This includes aggressive animals, a couple lizards, snakes, a rabbit, potbellied pigs and an injured groundhog. He loves kitten and puppies! He has ‘mothered’ numerous litters!”
We should mention that Pumpkin’s compassion doesn’t end here. He seems to understand when other animals are in distress and readily makes himself available to them as a supportive furry friend.
Pumpkin has become one of the very first understanding and empathetic faces many animals have seen when they first arrive at the shelter!
He immediately offers cuddles and kisses.
In the original article we posted about Pumpkin a few weeks back, Pumpkin had become close with a Siamese Dumbo Rat whose name was Batman … just another one of the animals that Pumpkin took under his loving paw!
“Cleaning out his cage one day, Pumpkin, always the curious one, jumped right in Batman’s kennel. A little stunned, we watched as Pumpkin started to clean Batman. Batman returned the favor,” Armes told Amy at Love Meow.
Sadly, “Batman passed on April 7th of this year, due to old age. He was almost 2.5 years old, and considered to have lived a very long life. Pumpkin was with him the entire time.”
Pumpkin, however, hasn’t missed a beat and greets all of the animals that enter through the front doors of the shelter.
As we here at The Best Cat Page have said before and will now say again: The more we take notice of animals acting humanely, the less humanity we see in people.
Photo credits: JULIE ARMES AT OAK RIDGE ANIMAL SHELTER
