Once upon a time, A very good cat was having a nice rest in the sunshine. Unfortunately, this very nice rest happened to be on top of an electrical transformer.

And… the transformer blew.

The sweet cat, looking QUITE singed and questionably alive, was found by two awesome Pacific Power linemen who immediately made some phone calls to Blue Mountain Humane Society.

First thing when we opened our doors, they were there to hand off the very singed, but very alive kitty. They saved his life.

It was a rough week for the cat… who we dubbed “Toasty.” Toasty got a thorough look-over by our medical team, and then taken to Associated Veterinary Medical Center for a second opinion and look-over by another vet.

He was a bit sizzly and very cross-eyed… and clearly in need of a lot of help… but… *maybe* he was going to make it? When someone has been electrocuted, you can’t always tell from the start whether everything is okay.

There’s not a very delicate way to put it… basically, Toasty’s butt kind of… fell off. The part of him that was sitting on the electrical box got totally fried. Sort of like… burnt barbecue chicken. (It’s never a great thing to overhear “was he already neutered? Or, uh, did he neuter himself?”)

We were concerned for a little while there that the tale of Toasty might involve the removal of the TAIL of Toasty.

Toasty spent his days in a kennel with all of us fussing over him. He regularly had ointment rubbed into his behind… and somehow, even though that must have been rough… he purred the whole time, every time! What?? We’ve never met a more gentle, optimistic cat.

For a while he was on an IV. For a long time, we thought he would have to go to a vet for laser treatments every few days for months. There was a good amount of shuffling funds around to pay for Toasty’s offsite veterinary care (our medical team can do a lot – but occasionally it takes a village. We don’t have all the equipment we’d like to have to help injured animals).

*Did you know you can buy toast collars for cats? The internet is a wondrous place.*

And then… things healed enough for Doctor to pull some skin around and stitch Toasty up. He has a little bit of a Frankenstein butt… his nether region is a bit asymmetrical.

He’s got a forever scar along his side where the electricity went through his body, and for now, he’s got some very stubby frazzled little whiskers, which he’s working on regrowing.

His little Frankenstein butt is healing nicely, and he’s been delighted to get to come out of the little kennel and go for little walks around the shelter with Doctor (Dr. Norris, our vet), saying hello to everyone (absolutely everyone who works here wants to get some of those Toasty pets and purrs!)

Any one of us would have loved to take Toasty home. The electricians who found him even expressed that they’d be interested in adopting him if he pulled through. And we know that if we’d made him available to the public for adoption, there are hundreds of people who would love to take him home and love on him. But his happy tail already has a perfect home – our volunteer who works with the medical team, and knows all about his daily care regimen, will be fostering him, to adopt him when he’s healthy.

This way Blue Mountain Humane Society is still in charge of his medical care, he’s coming in regularly to see Dr. Norris and the rest of our medical team for check-ups, and there’s an extra bonus – our volunteer’s dad happens to have a history as a surgeon. Toasty couldn’t possibly have a more attentive home!

We didn’t tell this story while it was happening, because we were very worried for a while that even with all of our care, Toasty wasn’t going to make it. We didn’t want to break your heart. But he’s doing wonderfully!

So now, after the fact, we’re asking for your help with Toasty’s medical care. As you can imagine… he’s had a rather high vet bill for a kitty, some serious meds, and regular care. If you’d like the bragging rights of being responsible for his hard-won recovery – we would love your donations! Join #TeamToastyCat and help save the toasty buns!

If, as we’re hoping, the Tail of Toasty gets a lot of attention, and our donations exceed his cost for care – we would love to put those donations toward our veterinary program, so we can help more animals who seriously need us.

You can give a one-time donation via our website.

You can buy a Toasty Tee to show your support (and proceeds go directly to our medical fund)!

Also, this Friday the 13th, The Pine Cone Creamery is releasing a limited edition Toasty Ice Cream – featuring Cinnamon Toast Crunch – also, a “Hot and Toasty” adult version with Fireball added in to the mix – with $1 from every pint going to our Toasty fund.