Westford, Mass. — A 20-year-old blind cat named Tiki cheated death Monday after a group of bystanders and animal control officers pulled him from freezing waters in a dramatic rescue on Nabnasset Lake.
The ordeal began when a sharp-eyed passerby, Dawn F., spotted Tiki stranded on a chunk of ice roughly 30–40 feet from shore. Westford Animal Control reported that the elderly feline was “circling” the ice floe, unable to escape. By the time rescuers arrived, the ice had cracked, leaving Tiki submerged with only his head above water.
With temperatures hovering just above freezing, two nearby workers—Kris S. and Nate P.—sprang into action. Launching a rowboat, Nate used a shovel to break through the ice as Kris guided him from shore.
“Nate reached the cat just in time, plucking him from the water moments before hypothermia could set in,” Westford Animal Control wrote on Facebook. Drone footage shared by the agency showed the soaked cat shivering in the boat as it returned to land.
Rushed indoors, Tiki was wrapped in blankets and given emergency veterinary care. His body temperature was so dangerously low it didn’t register on a thermometer, officials said.
Authorities later learned Tiki had slipped outside overnight. Given his blindness, they suspect he may have been chased onto the ice by a predator, drifting helplessly until dawn.
“Without these Good Samaritans, we wouldn’t have reached him in time,” the agency stated, calling the rescue “a miracle from start to finish.”
As of Tuesday, Tiki was recovering at home with his owners. The Westford Police Department praised the team effort, writing: “This old man’s story could’ve ended very differently.”
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