Hi, 

I’m Katie, a volunteer, and Amy is a member of staff at RSPCA Southridge and we’d like to share an incredible story with you:

Almost four weeks ago, a cat was seen to be hit by a bus in a busy area of Luton resulting in extensive head injuries. Efforts were made to move her to safety by kind passers-by but sadly she ran off. It was awful to think of her in pain somewhere and needing urgent veterinary treatment. We never would have expected her to survive for very long, so we tried our best to find her. It wasn’t until over two weeks later that there was a first possible sighting and she was successfully caught and rushed to the vets for life-saving treatment.

She has been receiving 24-hour care at Wood Street Veterinary Hospital in Barnet for over a week so far, and although she is still not out of the woods, we are making every effort to help this amazing little cat to pull through.

The RSPCA are funding her veterinary treatment, the discounted vet fees are nearly £2,000 so far, but we wanted to create this page to contribute towards the cost of the treatment she needs, via The Friends of RSPCA Southridge charity, and we will post updates of her progress.

This is her incredible story

On Sunday 14^th March this poor little cat was hit by a bus in Luton and suffered severe head injuries.  Fortunately for her, the accident was witnessed by two kind ladies who happened to be nearby and were able to act quickly and move her to safety off the busy road.  Once she regained her senses, her natural instincts kicked in and she ran away. Despite her shocking injuries, and a search of the area, she was nowhere to be seen. It was a cold and rainy evening and she was hiding away somewhere, but she must have been in shock and terrible pain.

As every day passed, the chances of finding her alive fell

The following day, the search kicked into action and we put up posters in the surrounding area appealing for help and contacted all the local vets, but sadly there were no sightings of her, no cats with injuries consistent with a road traffic accident like this had been taken to the vets. 

So, nothing was seen of the little cat and the next step in the search for her was getting leaflets out to all the houses and businesses, talking to local people to find out if anyone had seen her in the area either before or after the accident and extending the search area.  We also wanted to find out if she had a home and if anyone was missing her and searching for her. We made contact with some of the local animal charities, in particular Cat Welfare Luton, who were amazing, and we were able to gain some invaluable knowledge of the area and where some of the local cats tend to go.  They also helped in the search and were able to speak with local businesses and residents, so we had very good coverage of the area.

Whilst we were targeting the area with leaflets and posters, we were also actively searching for her on Social Media and we shared her details on various lost and found groups.  This lead one of the
ladies that helped her straight after the accident to contact us, she had managed to take a photo after the accident, to use to help locate the owners of the cat, and although the photo was very sad and quite shocking, it did mean we could identify her by her markings and so knew who we were looking for.  She has very unusual markings, as has dark mottled tortoiseshell colouring but with white paws and neck.  However, the photo made everyone involved doubt whether she could have survived.

With each day, the chances of finding her alive and well were getting slimmer and slimmer, so it’s an understatement to say we were shocked to receive a call that led us to her.  A very kind gentleman that has a business in the area phoned on Tuesday 30^th of March, 16 days after the accident, to say there was a cat with an injured eye sitting in the yard of his workshop, looking very poorly, and he thought she was our injured cat.

We went straight to the area to search for her, hoping it was the cat we were looking for but intending to try and catch the cat regardless, as it was injured.  She had headed into some nearby back gardens and
the owners of the houses very kindly let us into their gardens to search for her and we found her under a garden swing seat, looking absolutely exhausted, very frail and clearly suffering.  She let Amy pick her up and place her in the carrier without a fuss and she rushed her straight off to the vets.  She was found just in time as she hadn’t been able to eat due to her injuries and was very underweight.

Now, as every day passes, the chances of her pulling through increase

The rest of her story is still unfolding. She’s currently at Wood Street Vets receiving treatment and the staff there have been absolutely amazing and given her the best possible care, and they say she is a very sweet little lady and despite everything she is doing well. But she will need more treatment before she is able to leave the vets and begin the next chapter in her remarkable journey, at the Cattery at RSPCA Southridge.

The vets have confirmed that she isn’t microchipped, so we have called her Trudie, in honour of St Gertrude, the Patron Saint of Cats, as it was her Saint’s day on the 17^th of March, just three days after Trudie’s accident. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read Trudie’s story and I do hope you are able to donate towards her care and share her extraordinary story with others.  Please check back regularly as we will share updates on her progress and more photos.

Any funds raised in excess of the amount spent on Trudie's treatment will be used to help other equally deserving animals treatment, funded by The Friends of RSPCA Southridge.