All of us have, at least once, experienced that strange moment when something shows up at our door that we didn’t actually order.
This is exactly what happened in today’s story, though this delivery was quite unusual.
One evening, while the founder of Tabby Tails Cat Rescue in Ohio, Kay Banks, was in the shower, they suddenly got a phone notification. The home security camera had picked up some unexpected motion.
Kay quickly got out, dried off, and hurried to the door. A small stack of packages was waiting outside, but what caught their attention most was what sat right on top.
Mystery Order
As Kay bent down to take a closer look at a small black bag perched above the packages, a pair of glowing eyes suddenly looked back at them.
It wasn’t just a package at all – it was an orange cat!
The poor feline had been abandoned right in front of Kay’s house, zipped into a carrier bag and left out in the rain.
“He was very terrified. He was crying the whole time on our camera. Physically he’s in OK condition. It was obvious he was a pet,” Kay told The Dodo.
Kay quickly carried the bag inside, carefully unzipped it, and tried to coax the frightened cat out, assuring him that he was finally safe. But the little one wasn’t ready to believe it just yet.
After being heartlessly discarded by his owners from Ohio, the confused cat needed space and time to process what had just happened. Kay was more than willing to give him that chance.
Easy Does It
Hoping to help him feel secure, Kay placed the cat in a kennel to work on building his trust bit by bit. But it wasn’t easy.
The frightened boy simply refused to cooperate.
Whenever Kay opened the kennel door to provide food or clean inside, the cat – later discovered to be named Jackson – would lash out with hisses and scratches.
Still, Kay refused to give up.
Over the next few days, she spent quiet time near him, allowing Jackson to slowly get used to her scent and the reality that she was now his caretaker.
Updates about Jackson’s progress were shared on TikTok, and many viewers speculated that his extreme reaction might have been due to pain.
“Jackson is acting very extreme, but this actually isn’t something that is super uncommon. The truth of the matter is that being surrendered is one of the scariest and most terrifying things your pets could ever go through. And it’s not uncommon for your pets to become so scared, become so stressed, and become so depressed that they act like this,” said Kay in a video.
Kay also used Jackson’s story to raise awareness about a recurring issue – animals being abandoned outside rescues without notice.
“Please stop leaving cats here without our permission. Abusing the generosity of rescues and shelters puts these animals at risk. I don’t close our intake for fun. I close it because we don’t have enough food to feed an extra mouth. We don’t have funds to care for their medical needs, and because we don’t have the time or space for another cat. If you push those limits it stops this place from being the cat rescue we all love. If we had an infinite amount of resources you better believe I’d be trying my best to save every baby. But that’s unfortunately not the case,” they wrote in a Facebook post.
With her endless patience and compassion, Kay continues working to help Jackson relax and understand that this time, he really is safe.
In time, he will realize that there’s nothing left to fear and that he has finally found someone who will love him endlessly.
To follow Jackson’s journey and see his progress, you can keep up with Kay Banks on TikTok.