On a cold, rainy weekend in Asbury Park, New Jersey, someone made a call that changed four lives.
There were cats outside. Stuck in a small mesh enclosure. In the pouring rain.
When help arrived, the animals were shaking and soaked to the bone.
Less than two weeks later, every single one of them had a new home.
A Call About Cats in the Rain
It happened on Sunday, October 11.
Asbury Park police received a call asking for a welfare check on several cats confined outside a home on Summerfield Avenue, according to Patch.
The cats had been left in a mesh tunnel, the Monmouth County SPCA said.
There was no real shelter from the weather. Just thin mesh between the cats and the storm.
Police said the cats had been left there for a prolonged period of time.
There had been heavy rain that weekend.
Asbury Park Police Sgt. Michael Casey said temperatures were around 60 degrees, with sustained winds of 15 to 20 miles per hour.
For a small, wet animal, that kind of wind and rain can feel freezing.
What Rescuers Found Inside
Police said there was no food and no water inside the enclosure.
There were piles of cat waste. The cats had nowhere clean to sit and nowhere dry to hide.
All four were shaking and huddled together, police said.
They were soaking wet, and all of them showed signs of malnutrition.
The Monmouth County SPCA did not hold back when it described the scene.
“Put into a mesh tunnel and thrown outside in the pouring rain,” the shelter wrote on Facebook.
“These poor, innocent animals were discarded outside like trash.”
The shelter added that the cats were covered in fleas and confused about what was happening to them.
Officers and the local Animal Control Team got all four cats out safely.
Then they were taken to the Monmouth County SPCA for an exam and medical care.
Four Cats, Four Names
At the shelter, the cats finally got what they had been missing. Warmth, food and gentle hands.
They also got names.
There was Morticia, a black kitten about 8 months old, according to New Jersey 101.5.
There was Delilah, a 2-year-old grey tabby girl, NJ.com reported.
There was Matisse, a 2-year-old black boy.
And there was Autumn, a 2-year-old white and tabby girl.
Some reports called all four of them kittens. The shelter’s own details show three young adults and one true kitten.
Either way, they had been through the same storm together.
They had huddled together in the rain. Now they could rest together somewhere dry.
Friendlier Than Anyone Expected
After what they went through, nobody would have blamed these cats for hiding.
But News 12 New Jersey reported that shelter staff found them remarkably friendly.
“All of them were so happy to find a safe place and receive the love and medical care they were missing,” the SPCA said, according to NJ.com.
The shelter’s statement also made one thing very clear.
“When we say these cats are affectionate – we REALLY mean it!”
The shelter described what happens when you sit down in the cats’ gazebo, as quoted by New Jersey 101.5.
“As soon as you sit down in their gazebo, you’re swarmed with a furry cuddle puddle in your lap.”
A cuddle puddle. After all that.
It says a lot about cats. And even more about the people who took care of them.
Trust can come back faster than you think when an animal finally feels safe.
The SPCA cared for the cats for about 10 days, NJ.com reported.
They were spayed and neutered, then made ready for adoption.
A Charge, and a Turning Point
Police were able to identify the person responsible quickly.
A 33-year-old Asbury Park woman has been charged with four counts of animal cruelty and four counts of abandonment, police said.
Her court date was set for later this month, Patch reported. The charges are accusations, and the case will play out in court.
For the cats, though, the focus had already shifted to something better.
Little Morticia was the first to be adopted.
Her three companions were set to become available for adoption on Thursday, October 22, an SPCA employee told NJ.com.
Families did not wait long.
And the cuddle puddle did not stay a secret for long.
Every Single One Went Home
Then came the news everyone was hoping for.
On October 24, ABC7 New York reported that all four cats had been adopted, according to the Monmouth County SPCA.
All four. Gone home.
Less than two weeks earlier, they had been shivering in a wet mesh tunnel with no food or water.
Now they each have a warm place to sleep and someone to call their own.
It is a reminder of how much one phone call can matter.
Someone noticed. Someone cared enough to pick up the phone.
And a shelter full of people made sure that rainy day was not the end of the story.
If you ever see an animal left out in dangerous weather, call your local police or animal control.
You may never know their names. But they will have a chance at a life like this.
Share this with someone who loves cats, and tell us in the comments: what would you have named them?
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