Cat makes ‘miracle’ recovery as she finds new home after being hit by bus

A cat who made a “miracle” recovery after being hit by a bus in March has found her new home.

Four-year-old Trudie suffered major head injuries when she was hit by a bus in Luton Bedfordshire running away before she could be treated.

Staff and volunteers at the RSPCA’s Southridge Animal Centre in Hertfordshire managed to track her down 16 days after her accident and she was rushed to a local vet for treatment to wire her jaw together and remove her damaged eye.

Mona Jorgensen, Southridge deputy manager, said: “It’s a miracle that she’d survived with those horrific injuries, especially as they’d left her unable to eat.

“She showed that she was a real fighter.”

The RSPCA team named the cat Trudie, after St Gertrude the Patron Saint of Cats and nursed her back to full health for six months before starting the search for a new home.

Ms Jorgensen said: “After her surgery she was fed via a tube for the first week and then, when she came to our cattery, we slowly weaned her back onto normal food and helped her start walking again.

“We all spent so much time with Trudie and she had a special place in all of our hearts.

“After everything we’d been through, we knew we needed to find her the most amazing home.”

Dennis Hooper and his partner Shirley Carter, from South Mimms, Hertfordshire, decided to take in the cat, where she is settling in well.

“We’re big animal-lovers, particularly cats, and I knew I’d choose an animal who had been through the worst time so I could show them a lovely life,” he said.

“She is smashing; she absolutely loves fuss and is a really sweetie… She is progressing really well.

“When she was rescued she was in such a state and was really emaciated as she’d not eaten for 16 days, but now she’s getting a bit porky so we’re having to cut her food back a bit!”