Humane Society investigating neglected, abandoned cat

Elsa is warming up after being found motionless outside Wednesday night. 

The Windsor/Essex County Humane Society is hoping for information about what they're calling a "serious case" of animal neglect.

Executive Director Melanie Coulter said they received a call Jan. 9 about a cat sitting on a rural road and sent an officer. The officer found a large orange and white cat and rushed it to a veterinarian. 

"It was very touch and go when she first arrived," said Coulter, adding that the cat's body temperature was so low it did not read on a medical thermometer. 

"She's been rallying, so she has good times and bad times."

Named Elsa by the Humane Society, the cat's organs were shutting down when it was found. The cat's fur was so tightly matted due to what the Humane Society is calling ongoing neglect that now the skin has died.

Coulter says veterinarians are optimistic, but that Elsa has a long road to recovery.

"She has to have surgery to remove the necrotic tissue on her skin," said Coulter. "Once she's stabilized with respect to the hypothermia she'll have to have surgery for that, so it's another hurdle she has to go through."

According to Coulter, the cat "has a long road" before it is ready for adoption, but that's the eventual goal.

The province has one-year to come up with a plan for how these kinds of investigations will be handled, after a Superior Court judge ruled Jan. 3 that OSPCAs couldn't deal with animal cruelty cases themselves.