Dexter
Dexter is one of the first “extreme” rescues that Angelico has taken in. Late one night, I had decided that before I went to bed, I would take out the trash. As I opened up the front door, I looked down to see an extremely bloody, black and white cat. I immediately picked him up and brought him inside to see where exactly he was bleeding from. I could tell the wound was around his neck area, but there was so much blood I could barely see just how bad the wound was.
I decided to take him to an emergency vet that night. Come to find out, he needed emergency surgery to repair the skin around the wound, clean the wound, and stitch him up. I was told he was the victim of a dog bite. However, even to this day, we aren’t sure if it was just an accident or if poor Dexter was used as bait for a dog fighting ring.
In South Florida, there are many people who fight dogs for fun, and money. They sit around watching these specially trained dogs fight each other to the death, and even place money on which dog they think has the best ability to win. How do they train these dogs to be such vicious monsters? Well, on top of poking, prodding and electrocuting them since they were little, they literally tie other animals up and make them attack them until they die. One of the animals that are frequently used as bait, are cats. If Dexter was in fact used as bait, then he is lucky that he got away with his life, and found us. He is truly the definition of a miracle boy.
Today, Dexter is a permanent resident at Angelico Cat Rescue. He is the “Mama Bear” in the adoption room. He grooms everyone in there, keeps the little kittens warm, and provides comfort to any of the new cats we bring in. I have found that if we get a group of kittens that don’t have their mom with them, but are too old to still nurse, they all cuddle up to Dexter as if he is their mother. They get “happy feet” on him and some of the smaller kittens even try to nurse on him. I truly believe that if Dexter wasn’t my “Den Mother” I would not have as many friendly cats as I do today. He shows them that we won’t hurt them, and he really does help domesticate a lot of the more feral action cats/kittens. He saves just as many lives as we do. He is a miracle.
