Quick-Thinking Rescue Saves 20-Year-Old Blind Cat from Icy Massachusetts Pond

Tiki, a 20-year-old blind black-and-white cat, loves to explore the outdoors. However, he recently sparked a scare when he was spotted floating on ice in a Massachusetts pond and subsequently fell in.

Thanks to an observant passerby and a couple of nearby construction workers, he was rescued just in time.

“I heard the crackling, and I started to panic,” passerby Dawn Felicani recounted on Thursday. “Then, in an instant, he fell! His little head was sticking out! I couldn’t help but cry and freak out.”

She promptly alerted first responders and a local animal control officer in Westford on Monday. One of the construction workers at a neighboring site jumped into a rowboat, while the other pushed him out and assisted in navigating Nabnasset Pond. The worker in the boat used a shovel to break through the ice and retrieve Tiki from the freezing water.

After being brought inside, Tiki was dried off and wrapped in warm blankets.

Kirsten Hirschler, the animal control officer, stated in a news release that Tiki was shivering, lethargic, and in shock. He was taken to a vet, where it was found that his temperature was so low “it didn’t even register on the thermometer.”

Hirschler suggested that Tiki may have been chased onto the ice by a predator, leading to his predicament. His owner, John Arden, mentioned that Tiki usually doesn’t wander that far.

Tiki is currently doing well and has returned to his normal behavior, according to Arden.

He and his wife have had Tiki since he was a kitten. Although he has been blind for around a year, he manages to get around just fine.

“He’s quite upset that he can’t go back outside,” Arden added.

By Kathy Mccormack