A sweet and loving cat who suffered fractured teeth and a broken jaw after being slammed into the ground and thrown into a trash bin has found a loving forever home while her abuser is on his way to state prison.
Eileen, a gorgeous gray cat, is “doing amazing now,” her adopter, a vet tech who works at the animal hospital that treated her following the cat’s injuries, told Lady Freethinker in February.
“I knew from the second I saw her that if it was possible she was going to come home with me,” he said. “I feel like I’ve had her forever with how well she’s acclimated to my home.”
He added that Eileen likes to snuggle with his other cats and dogs.
“She is super friendly, super loving, and wants attention,” he said. “Her behavior is not typical of a cat on the streets, and I hate to say it, but her loving and trusting nature may have contributed to what happened.”
Last September, Eileen made the news after a video camera caught a man approaching her, picking her up, and slamming her to the ground at least three times before he left, returned, picked up the injured cat, and threw her in a trash receptacle. Rescuers who found her rushed her to the Pitman Animal Hospital for treatment.
The vet tech told LFT that Eileen’s emergency care had included two surgeries, having her jaw wired, and extractions for teeth that had been broken or dislodged — including some that were pushed into her sinus cavity.
Eileen has regained full motion but is still recovering from that trauma, he added. Some days she has ataxia, or decreased coordination and balance, making her move “like she’s drunk,” although those moments are happening less and less, her adopter said.
Some days, he catches Eileen apparently staring off into nothing, not really there, before she snaps back. He suspects Eileen could have suffered a brain injury from the blunt force trauma.
But overall, he’s amazed by her resilience — including that Eileen still very clearly wants love and affection.
“From what she went through, you’d expect her not to trust anymore,” he said. “She is the opposite. She’s more like, ‘Hello, love me!’ She is an amazing and loving member of the family. She has shown my other cats that it is ok to hang out with the dogs.”
The vet tech praised Pitman Animal Hospital’s team and the care they gave Eileen, starting the moment she arrived at the hospital.
“Everybody here, from the moment animal control brought her in, was paying complete attention to her and what she needed,” he said.
Authorities charged Christopher Pozzi, who pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree count of animal cruelty in December. The court sentenced Pozzi in February to 18 months in state prison, where he will have access to mental health support that his attorney told news that Pozzi needs. Pozzi also will have to pay $9,121 to the animal hospital to cover the cost of Eileen’s care.
During court proceedings, the judge noted Pozzi’s past criminal record, which includes murder for killing a 4-month-old child in a domestic dispute, child cruelty and endangerment, simple assault, burglary, and theft.
Lady Freethinker is so grateful to Pitman Animal Hospital and the vet tech who adopted Eileen for showing this intelligent and sweet cat the compassion she needed and deserves. We thank the court system for taking this case seriously.
And we also thank the more than 46,000 people who signed our petition urging justice for Eileen. Thank you for caring, and we’ll keep doing all we can for animals everywhere!
