PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Buddy the cat is on the road to recovery after two dogs brutally attacked him in Frankford earlier this month.
April 1 UPDATE: Buddy is headed to foster care:
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Home security video caught the 12-year-old and 17-year-old handlers encouraging the dogs to attack.
KYW Newsradio was the first to visit Buddy, who has been upgraded from extremely critical to stable condition after the brutal dog attacks on March 22.
Officials said the teen and child were walking on Granite Street in Northeast Philadelphia when they let the dogs loose, and repeatedly shouted “good boy” as they attacked Buddy.
Buddy suffered multiple puncture wounds to his abdomen. He is still heavily medicated, but his prognosis to make a full recovery is good.
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Donations have been coming in from Asia, Australia, and Europe to help pay for Buddy's care, along with get-well cards.
The PSPCA said that the funds raised will be able to pay for Buddy's care.
Any future donations in Buddy's honor will help cats and other felines who have undergone cruelty, along with the prosecution of those who abused them.
The two people caught on tape egging the dogs were arrested last week.
“At this point, charges are there, and there will be a hearing on basically to determine if the juveniles can be released into their homes or if they’re going to be remanded into custody of county officials, and then they will await their final hearing,” said Nicole Wilson, the director of humane law enforcement for the Pennsylvania SPCA.
“Once that happens, then if found to be responsible, then they would have a sentence be imposed.”
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Wilson said they want to see an order in place to prevent them from having any contact with animals, as well as counseling.
“Ensure that whatever the underlying issues that brought them to this place and time, that we can try and combat that moving forward,” she said.
As for the two dogs, Wilson said they are in the care of the PSPCA, but the owner doesn't want to surrender her animals. That decision also is at the hands of the judge.
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“I think the key here, though, is to look at that video and to see that the dog didn’t actually have an interest in going after the cat until the one individual directed the attention of the dogs,” Wilson said.
“Those dogs were walking past the cat, and so that suggests to me that with some behavior modification and the proper attention, and the proper individual handling the dog, that dog is safe to potentially re-home. But again, ultimately whether we have the opportunity to re-home those animals is entirely up to the judge handling the case.“
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Antionette Lee and KYW Staff contributed to this report.
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