Neglected senior cat kept in a cage his whole life finds a wholesome new beginning after getting rescued at 18 years old

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Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager
Mar 14, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

It takes a special kind of purrson to adopt a senior cat, but it wouldn't take more than a glance for anyone to see how special 'Pudge', the 18-year-old cat, was.

Adopting senior kitties is one of the hardest and most rewarding things you can do as a cat lover. It's hard because you know that you will fall in love and have your heart broken before you know it, but as Shakespeare once said, "It's better to have loved and have lost than to never have loved at all". 

The older they get, the less chance they have of getting adopted, too. For the exact reasons we said earlier, most people don't want to adopt a cat for a year or two, they want as much time with them as they can. It's totally understandable, but that also means that most senior cats end their lives alone in an animal shelter, and that's the least fair thing we can think of.

Pudge was able to escape that unfair reality. Found by happenstance online, one cat mom and her husband took one look at this 18-year-old baby and couldn't say no. He had been kept in a cage his whole life (don't even get us started), but they decided to adopt him and give him the best last months of his life. Well, two months turned into three, three turned into six, and six months turned into a year. Pudge lived. He played. He ate steak, and ice cream. 

Pudge's story makes us believe that the love and heartbreak is worth it to see how much a new beginning can change even the oldest cat's life. They deserve it, and so do you.

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    We were randomly scrolling a local subreddit and came across a post from a family member of Pudgy's previous owner. They wanted to see if anyone wanted to adopt him as they pitied his living conditions. He was 18 and were caged 24/7 without being let out because he had accidents sometimes.
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    I looked at the post, looked at my husband, and he gave a small nod. We should adopt the cat and let him live his final months in a loving home. We adopted him in October 2022.
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  • 05
    Pudgy immediately got close to me. He would be near me constantly, even getting wet because he wanted to be near me when I showered and he loved cheese. He loved bread. He loved ice cream. But his favourite food was steak. He inhaled steak. I would always save some of my steak so I could feed him and see his little whiskers move.
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  • Turns out that Pudge and us have quite a bit in common! We also like ice cream and steak. If we were 18 years old (which is about 88 hooman years), we would also want to eat the good stuff. No, we're not talking about Fancy Feast, we're talking about prime rib and gelato.

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    We expected him to maybe last 2 months. He was 18, his muscles had atrophyd, and he was all bones. His ears were full of permanent mite bites and he smelt horrid.
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    2 months turned to 3, and then 6 and then a year later. We were ecstatic. He was putting on weight, he could walk all over the house, climb on the bed, and sleep on top of my body.
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    meteor_stream You did one of the hardest things in the world. Giving your heart to someone whole knowing that it would be broken by their departure (and soon) can only be done by an incredibly strong person.
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  • 12
    Thank you for letting this little old guy live his last days out with dignity.
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    Spirited-Winner9690 Hes so beautiful, and so are you for taking him in and showing him love and security in his final days. Senior cats are so woth it.
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    CaterpillarUpper3907 I'm so happy reading these posts. Too many senior cats are left and forgotten. Thank you for sharing your love with Pudgy.
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  • 15
    I have a 20 yr old (approx) barn cat whose owner abandoned her when he downsized and moved. He said she would never acclimate to the indoors and belonged outside. She loves her (my) electric blanket and is a snuggle monster now.
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    We let her outside but she just chills by the door, gets fresh air and looks around for a few minutes. We also learned she is deaf so we do keep an eye on her out there. Won't acclimate, yeah right. She just wanted to be loved.
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  • They just want to be loved like any other cat, it's not so hard to understand. The problem lies with us, the hoomans! We don't want to love them for so little time, to get attached and then lose them. But it's not fair to them, can you imagine living out your last days alone and scared in an animal shelter?

  • 17
    cpasley21 I'm so proud of you. I took in a 16yo named Grace. She was my old co-workers cat, he seemed down one day so I inquired. He said his cat had peed in their plant and his dad was taking her to be put down, turns out she did it twice, I was horrified. I
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    was off the next day so told him to bring her to my place instead of the vet as i already had cats. She lived another 4 years before passing from a stroke. She came from a affluent home and would only drink bottled water, see was such a pain in the ass, I miss her. Also, she never had any issues living with us.
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    Kate_Electro Thank you for giving him a touch of love. Whoever owned him before should be put in a cage themselves.
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    Friendly_Musician646 You two were probably the best thing that ever happened to this sweet soul
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    AwfulFireKeeper So glad you did that for him, it sounds like he had a great time with you. I took in an older lady cat and had 8 years with her and didn't feel like long enough (even though my husband was her favourite).
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