Tears as 16-year-old cat abandoned by owner who got kitten—”Don’t want him”

A picture appearing to show a 16-year-old cat who was discarded by his previous owners has sparked concern on social media.

In a post shared to Reddit, a user writing under the handle u/Broken45Record shared a picture of a disheveled cat, claiming the feline showed up at their door “crying for water.”

“I called the number on the tag, they said he’s too old (16) they don’t want him anymore as they got a kitten,” the Redditor wrote.

The post sparked uproar, earning over 37,000 upvotes as concerned animal lovers weighed in on the situation. The picture can be viewed here.

Older cats often face an uphill battle to be adopted. In a 2015 study conducted by data-led news website Priceonomics, based on data collected from Petfinder, researchers found that just 53.9 percent of senior cats—felines aged 6 and over—were adopted.

Even cats classed as adults—aged 1.5 years or more—struggle, with 59.5 percent being adopted. By comparison, 81.9 percent of kittens and 65.1 percent of young cats were able to find a new forever home.

Commenting on the Reddit post, u/Broken45Record shared what they claimed was the previous owner’s callous reaction to learning what would happen to the cat.

“I told them, well he’s safe and I’ll be keeping him,” the Redditor wrote. “They replied ‘so?’ .. I just hung up on them after that. How people can be so cruel is beyond me.”

The alleged treatment of the cat sparked anger among some Redditors.

One user wrote: “I would report them to all local animal shelters for abandoning their cat so they get blacklisted and can’t adopt any more.”

Another commented: “How the hell do people just say ‘we don’t want him anymore’ after all the years spent together? Jeez.” A third added: “I think people like this see their pets as decorations more than companions.”

Elsewhere, one user said: “I feel bad for the new kitten when it gets ‘too old.'”

Not everyone was convinced by the veracity of the post though. “Super dude I’m proud of you,” one Redditor wrote. “I just feel something deep in my bones that you made up this story.”

u/Broken45Record was quick to rebuff those accusations though, replying: “I didn’t, I’m not creative or crazy enough to. He just showed up, I called the number on the tag thinking he was lost as I never see outdoor/stray cats in our neighborhood (thankfully as every day is over 100 degrees in the summer) so I was worried he was lost or would get hurt/heat stroke.”

They also confirmed to fellow Redditors that they planned to report the cat’s previous owners to the relevant authorities. In the meantime, the good news is that they are planning to keep the elderly feline, describing the elderly cat as a “sweetheart.”

“Not sure what made him come to our door, as I do have other kitties but they’ve never been outside,” they wrote. “He picked the right house, I love him so much already. He’s a sweet boy.”

Newsweek contacted u/Broken45Record for comment but could not verify the details of the story at this time.

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