Animal rescue volunteers looked for the cat for a month, she mentioned, till Hercules was lastly noticed sitting on somebody’s doorstep within the space. His jaw was fractured, he was lined with maggots and his tongue was severely broken, Perreault mentioned.
The person who discovered Hercules exterior introduced the cat to the veterinary clinic.
Perreault mentioned she suspected the cat was Hercules and contacted his earlier proprietor, who confirmed it.
“This gentleman said he had fallen on hard times and had been evicted so he was staying in his car with all of his cats,” she mentioned. “He was very polite, and it seemed he loved them very much. He was happy to know that Hercules had been found and was getting a lot of love.”
She didn’t know what occurred to the person who was evicted. She assured him Hercules can be taken care of, she mentioned.
“We suspected he might have been hit by a car,” Perreault mentioned of Hercules. “He was so near death that I wondered if it would be more humane to euthanize him.”
But then Hercules lifted his head and seemed proper at Perreault.
“I got the impression that he really wanted to fight,” she mentioned.
Perreault and her crew fed Hercules and cleaned him up, then gave him fluids by means of an IV and put him on ache medicine. When the 6-year-old feline was robust sufficient, Perreault took him to an animal oral surgeon to have his jaw repaired.
Perreault mentioned she posted just a few pictures of Hercules on her Facebook web page to let folks know the cat had been discovered and was step by step therapeutic.
“He ripped my heart out when I saw him,” she wrote. “… I decided we owed it to him to give him every chance to recover from this horrible ordeal, so that hopefully he can experience the love and TLC that awaits.”
Jill LeBrun, a pediatric nurse from St. Paul who has fostered dogs and cats for Perreault’s rescue over the years, was instantly .
“As a nurse, I’m attracted to medically fragile animals,” mentioned LeBrun, 50. “I knew that Hercules was going to need to be fostered and I felt that I could do it.”
Once Perreault and her employees decided that Hercules was robust sufficient to go away veterinary care, LeBrun took the cat home. Hercules was quickly snuggling up for naps together with her different cat, Kay.
LeBrun shortly realized she’d be adopting the feline as a substitute of fostering him.
“He’s pretty special — he also gets along with our new puppy, Juni,” she mentioned.
“His jaw is a little crooked and his tongue almost always hangs out because of what happened to him,” added Perreault, 44. “But he’s a sweet, tough cat. The name Hercules suits him.”
Last fall, LeBrun mentioned, she was scrolling on social media when she got here throughout a publish from the Animal Connection, a pet expertise company in the hunt for cats with uncommon faces. It was scouting pet fashions for Target, which is predicated in Minneapolis.
LeBrun mentioned the company cherished the picture she despatched of Hercules together with his tongue hanging out. She was requested to deliver her cat to a studio for a photograph shoot so his persona and star attraction could possibly be assessed.
“Hercules did great — he’s a friendly cat and everybody loved him,” LeBrun mentioned, noting that she was paid $100 to take part. “They told me his picture would appear on something for Target in early 2024.”
In mid-March, when LeBrun nonetheless hadn’t heard again, she made a visit to her native Target and walked down the pet aisle.
When she got here to a show of store-brand cat litter, she was shocked and delighted to see her cat’s picture — together with his dangling pink tongue — on each bucket of Up & Up Fragrance Free Clumping Cat Litter on the shelf.
She purchased some immediately.
“So did all my friends and neighbors,” LeBrun mentioned. “One of my friends didn’t tell her son about it when she took him to the store. But he saw the litter and said, ‘Mom! That cat looks just like Hercules.’”
LeBrun mentioned Hercules was just lately referred to as in for a second Target picture shoot, which implies he’ll in all probability be showing on different merchandise in just a few months. The TV station Kare 11 just lately reported on the cat’s sudden fame as a mannequin.
“He’s a natural and he loves to be the center of attention,” LeBrun mentioned, noting that her cat has remained humble and isn’t in the least finicky.
She mentioned she nonetheless marvels at his journey from being hoarded in a sweltering automobile, then escaping and practically dying, to changing into a feline mannequin.
“I feel very lucky to be the person who gets to spend every day with him,” she mentioned.
