Cycling through the woods after work one day, I came across a dumped box with a bewildered, injured white cat beside it. He was clearly a male who had been in a serious scrap—likely with another animal. What shocked me most was the condition of one of his eyes: badly infected, bulging, and seemingly rotting from the inside out.
As luck would have it, another cyclist came down the trail and stopped to ask if I needed help. I quickly explained I had just found this injured cat and wanted to get him to a vet. I asked this kind stranger if he could wait while I rode home to get my car and a carrier. I told him it would take about 30 minutes. To my relief, he agreed to wait. I rode like the wind, returned with a proper cat carrier, thanked the man profusely, and rushed the cat to the vet.
Sinbad, as I named him, needed multiple surgeries—including the removal of the damaged eye and being neutered. We also discovered he was deaf. Despite everything, he was incredibly sweet and endlessly curious—he just couldn’t hear. This created challenges when I introduced him to my first rescue cat, Lucky Magoo.
Because of his deafness and limited vision, Sinbad couldn’t pick up on Lucky’s social cues. He constantly tried to play, but Lucky, as the lead queen cat, wanted the relationship on her terms.
After two months of trying to make it work, I made the heartbreaking decision to re-home Sinbad. I brought him to the well-respected St. Huberts’ Animal Rescue , where I knew he’d have the best chance at finding a family that could meet his unique needs.I cried the day I brought Sinbad to the rescue center; it was devastating. I had never re-homed a pet before—never imagined I’d have to. It felt crushing.
But I did it for Lucky’s sake. Through tears, I explained to the intake staff that Sinbad would thrive as an only cat or possibly with a dog. He was affectionate, curious, and resilient—he just needed the right match.To my surprise, Sinbad’s story was quickly featured as the cover article in the St. Hubert’s newsletter. His journey, from injured and abandoned to lovingly rescued in the woods, to surrendered, touched more hearts than just mine. I was later told that a woman read the article and felt a connection—she adopted Sinbad and introduced him to her dog. It was exactly what he needed.Knowing Sinbad found his forever home brought peace to a decision that had initially broken my heart.