Good Samaritans save cat that was left for dead in Summerland

A lucky cat is has been reunited with its owners after a near death experience on Friday.

Shea Shillitto was driving to work on Friday morning when he drove by an injured cat lying in the middle of the road by the Summerland Visitor Centre.

“I said to myself, I can’t just leave him there,” Shillitto told KelownaNow. “I’ve got to at least get him off the road and give him somewhere proper to rest.”

Once Shillitto was able to park and walk out to the cat in the road, he noticed it was still alive, but not in good shape.

Shillitto later found out that people had seen the same motionless cat in the middle of Highway 97 as many as four hours earlier. He couldn’t believe it was still alive.

The cat, obviously shocked and scared, even had enough strength to scamper underneath Shillitto’s car when he was trying to put him in his trunk.

Another good samaritan arrived on scene and helped Shillitto retrieve the injured cat from underneath the car and they were able to get the animal to Summerland Animal Clinic.

Shillitto had to get back to his job, but he continued to monitor the animal’s status by phone over the course of the day.

“They told me early in the morning that it didn’t look good, then in the middle of the day they said he was looking better and had a 50/50 chance, and then they just called me at the end of the day and said they think he’s going to be okay,” explained Shillitto.

Shillitto took to various Okanagan lost pet groups on social media to try and find the pet’s owners.

Around noon on Saturday, Shillitto posted the exciting news to the Lost & Found Pets (Okanagan) Facebook group that the cat’s owner had been located.