Witnesses say it looks like the tiny cat was dropped 12 stories high. Now, an animal sanctuary is nursing the cat named Rue back to health.
STAR PRAIRIE, Wis. — Rue has small pink casts on her legs and wears a feeding tube in a bandana around her neck. But the staff who care for her at Home for Life Animal Sanctuary say she’s come a long way.
“She’s alert. She’s eating on her own and she’s doing great,” said Heidi Pulaski, a staffer who is caring for Rue as she recovers from a fall that nearly killed her.
The animal sanctuary said it took in Rue in late June after reports that she had been thrown from the 12th-floor balcony of a Minneapolis apartment building.
Stacy Harris was in the building the day the accident happened and saw the cat fall to the floor.
“It hit the concrete,” she said. “My heart is still pounding just talking about the story because it was a cat, an animal.”
Harris said her neighbor called Minneapolis Animal Care and Control, which took the clearly injured cat.
Heidi says Minneapolis Animal Control called several rescues trying to find someone to take the cat, but because his medical needs were so great and the costs so high, no one was able to find him.
“The moment of truth came a few hours before she was to be euthanized, and we stepped in and said we would take her,” Heidi told KARE 11.
When the cat — who they named Rue — arrived, she had a broken leg, a broken toe and a broken jaw. She was in a lot of pain. But soon after, Heidi says, she started purring and wanted to be held.
“It was just amazing to me that an animal that had been through this so recently could trust a human again,” she said.
Rue’s legs have since been put in splints and she has undergone a dental procedure that keeps her mouth open so she can eat while her jaw heals. The treatment cost several thousand dollars.
Home For Life decided to go public with Rue’s story in the hopes of getting some justice for the cat. No one was arrested for throwing her off the balcony.
“Our hearts break every day with the stories we hear, and Rue in particular,” says Heidi.
As for the future, Heidi says Rue may one day be adopted. If not, she will continue to live at Home For Life with the other 100 rescued cats.
“We give them the best life we can here and that’s what we would do for Rue if she stayed here too.”
The cost of caring for Rue and the other animals, including medical procedures, is funded entirely by donations.
To help contribute, you can donate on the Home For Life website:
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