ROGERS, Ark. — Once the smoke had settled from the Marck Industries fire on Wednesday that left a giant black cloud of smoke over Northwest Arkansas, pictures of a cat from near the plant started circulating on Facebook.
The pictures were posted by someone who needed help, as they believed the cat had been injured in the fire.
"They came back and just found the cat lying on the street, and they picked it up and took it home. They knew it needed medical care, but they just didn't have the resources to get it help," Mew Cat Rescue founder Jennifer Pokrandt said. "It had blood on its face. Its eyes were kind of shut. It looked gray at the time, but actually, this cat is orange and white."
They named the injured cat covered in black ash Smokey, which was only fitting.
Pokrandt said her rescue was tagged in the post a few times and people started to reach out to her. She immediately knew she had to help. She contacted the person who made the post and told them to take the kitten to the emergency vet and her rescue would cover the costs under their Mew Cares program.
"It's typically for those who own cats, or for people who find cats that they want to keep and when they can't afford vet care or sometimes they can't afford resources like food and litter," Pokrandt said. "We provide that for the cat."
After taking the cat to the vet, they learned Smokey was around 12 weeks old and had some injuries. Fortunately, Smokey is expected to survive.
"The pictures were really misleading. He looked really bad," Pokrandt said. "Definitely got burns on its paws. His fur is, you know, it looks like it's been through the fire, but his fur is all there."
Smokey is expected to spend 48 hours at the ER and his medical bills are already totaling $3,200. Mew Cat Rescue posted to Facebook that he's alert and they're hoping for a full recovery. The person who found him is expected to adopt him once Smokey is ready.
"Smoke inhalation can be really bad for them, but ... we don't see any respiratory distress in the cat," Pokrandt said. "The cat's vitals are all good. He's eating. He has energy. He just looks really bad."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to the Rogers Fire Department. Smokey is definitely glad he escaped looking just a little ashy.
"They definitely have nine lives, and they use them all up," Pokrandt said.
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