The two-year-long saga of Truck, the abandoned, feral kitten who inspired The Hungry Animal Fund, came to a happy conclusion recently as the kitten and his feline companion, Mickey, found a home.
In January 2010, Truck was discovered along Biscay Road in Damariscotta, the only apparent survivor of his litter.
Truck made his way to the Louis L. Doe Pet Center, which would become his home for the next two years.
The kitten’s plight made Judy Doe, the proprietor of the Newcastle business, acutely aware of the recession’s effect on domestic animals.
“Truck was the reason we started The Hungry Animal Fund,” Doe said, referring to the store’s food pantry effort for pets.
The feral kitten’s distrust of people made him difficult to place. He did, however, form a bond with another cat, Mickey, and the two became inseparable, Doe said.
“We were waiting for the perfect home because he made friends with a kitten from another litter,” Doe said. “It’s difficult to place two kittens at once.”
The cats, as long-term residents, became well-known at the store, and many customers, including James and Laurel Patten of Newcastle, became fond of the animals.
The Pattens would regularly visit the cats and made inroads with the normally anti-social Truck, who allowed them to pet and handle him.
The couple couldn’t adopt the cats because of an allergy, however, and the cats stayed at the pet center. Adoption attempts didn’t stick, and the situation came to a head last month when Truck bit a customer. The cat would be euthanized unless the store could find the elusive match – and quick.
Doe talked to the Pattens, who called their friend Cindy Rhine, of Alna.
“She’s kind of a cat whisperer,” Doe said.
Rhine and her four cats, including another feral cat, welcomed Truck and Mickey, and after two weeks, everyone is happily adjusted and in for the long haul, including the Pattens.
“We have visitation rights twice a week,” Laurel Patten said.
“They have found a permanent home, a good home, where [Rhine] understands Truck’s mentality,” Doe said. “It’s a happy, happy ending, which we worked a long time to do.”
Truck’s legacy, The Hungry Animal Fund, has fed “hundreds of animals” from Woolwich to Rockport and attracted donations from across the country, Doe said.
“He did a big job on his way to happiness,” she said.