Six-year-old Erwin doesn’t seem like he’s cut out for life on Regina’s streets during a prairie winter. He has no teeth, a shy personality, and a habit of fleeing from people when they’re standing “because they’re too big.”
However, the black and white tuxedo cat was able to evade several traps and a group of volunteers from Regina Cat Rescue for eight months before making the independent decision to seek warmth and an indoor life. His foster mother, Sandra Klarer, said, “There were a few times when we thought he was gone.” Fortunately, he returned safely.
Volunteers at Regina Cat Rescue, a registered non-profit organization that is a member of Humane Canada, say they believe Erwin had a home before he began going to one of their feeding stations.
A lone black and white cat sits in the snow.
Before volunteers were able to capture him as part of a trap, neuter, and release program (TNR), he spent roughly three years living with a colony of stray cats, according to Klarer.
According to her, the veterinarian discovered that Erwin was recovering from blunt force injuries to his face and required the extraction of at least 17 teeth. At that point, she began fostering him. “He couldn’t go back on the street,” Klarer stated.
According to her, the cause of Erwin’s oral trauma is unknown. “It could have been anything from bouncing off a tire to somebody hitting him with a two-by-four or baseball bat.”
He was put on a wet-food-only diet with the occasional dry kibble as a treat after he lost the remaining teeth over several months and required steroids to heal properly. He swallows it without chewing.
The way out
After being transferred to a more sedate foster home, Erwin appeared to adjust to life indoors quite nicely, but “being the streetwise cat that he is,” he quickly fled out of a momentarily open door last April, according to Klarer. Thus, the search for Erwin began.
Posters about missing cats were displayed everywhere, including on bulletin boards, trees, and posts. According to Klarer, “it really only took about a day for someone to call and say that Erwin was living under their deck.”
Caroline Baker, a neighbor and friend of hers, intervened to assist with trapping. I became Erwin’s stalker after meeting him through a picture of him, Baker said.
She said she would go for nightly walks to find him and replenish his bowls of food and water.
Baker claimed that Erwin was always extremely cautious and kept his distance, even though there were numerous sightings—including ones captured on camera—where his characteristic white facial markings helped identify him.
He set off a trap during the first week, but he was able to escape with his food, so that was the closest they got to trapping him, she said. We could have captured him if he wasn’t so intelligent.”
Then winter arrived. The team was concerned about Erwin’s ability to survive toothless in a Saskatchewan winter without a reliable supply of soft, nutritious food when he vanished.
However, “Erwin decided that he was done being outside,” according to Klarer, during a cold spell at the start of December.
The back door of a house in the neighborhood was propped open so that furniture could be moved inside. She claimed that Erwin used the chance to settle into the basement. He entered the foster home through the back door, went down the stairs, and simply sat there staring at them.
Erwin was reunited with the Regina Cat Rescue thanks to his microchip tag and a call to the Humane Society.
After weeks of cold weather and uncertainty about his whereabouts, Baker said it was “such a relief” to have him back.
A white and black cat curled up on someone’s lap.
“Buddy you’re coming back to my house and we are putting you on lockdown and there’s not going to be any open doors for you,” Klarer informed Erwin as soon as she picked him up from the Humane Society.
He doesn’t seem to want to go outside in the cold yet, she continued.
Searching for a long-term residence
Now, Regina Cat Rescue wants to find Erwin a long-term residence, preferably one that is peaceful and has a large window so he can observe the outside world.
He is described by Klarer as a old soul and a kind boy who prefers to cuddle according to his own rules. Perhaps it’s because life hasn’t been kind to him in his roughly six years on this planet, when you look into those eyes. She remarked, “He is simply very gentle and mellow.” This cat has had an interesting life, and he would have some interesting tales to share if he could speak.
