From gangster to pussycat: How Fat Tony and friends found their ninth life

Today he’s a pussycat who’ll sit on laps and purr, but a year ago Fat Tony was a gangster, prowling a Ballarat factory with his mates, “looking like a mobster”, says cat rescuer Claire Brookes.

After she and other volunteers from 9 Lives Project Rescue trapped the tough tom last December, he was diagnosed with feline AIDS and would lash out if approached.

Today, “he’s a beautiful boy”, she says, living the domestic life alongside his “best buddy” Frankie, a stocky associate from his factory days.

The pair are among 650 street cats that Brookes and a team of 9 Lives volunteers have rescued, rehabilitated and found homes for since 2020.

The cat lovers spend nights visiting backyards, factories and alleys to trap wild and often sick, emaciated and abused animals. Sometimes there are “colonies” of up to 30 cats.

Most are not microchipped or de-sexed. Sometimes strangers feed them, but others are not so nice. Once someone burnt to death a cat that had entered one of the charity’s cage traps.

When Brookes was trapping members of a Collingwood cat colony earlier this year, one local told her, “if you don’t take them, I’ll f---in kill them”.

A white cat at that site, which Brookes named Emi, was pregnant and nursing kittens from a previous litter. Brookes also caught three toms and Emi’s three pregnant sisters and their kittens – 28 cats in all.

Emi is now a de-sexed bundle of fluff and soon to go up for adoption, while her relatives have been re-homed.

Brookes says that with patience, you can domesticate strays. At first they watch her other cats interacting from their cages. One fatherly cat, called Tigger, gently teaches orphaned kittens “how to cat”.

Tigger was thrown out of a car in a Dandenong North industrial estate in 2020. He had a broken hip consistent with being kicked, and gum disease. “You couldn’t pat him, he would flinch,” Brookes said.

Street cats are much-maligned, but Brookes said they deserve compassion because it’s a human-created problem. When owners abandon and don’t de-sex a pet, it tries to survive.

People buy cats for Christmas but dump them when they’re no longer cute kittens.

A stray called Will spurred Brookes to start 9 Lives after she read social media posts in 2019 about him walking on railway lines near Hawthorn.

After trapping Will, Brookes discovered he was old and flea-infested, his fur badly matted. He had the flu and maggots.

Brookes spent $8000 having Will de-sexed, vaccinated and microchipped and his nose flushed and teeth removed.

He became diabetic and she injected him with insulin twice daily. He became incontinent and couldn’t walk.

He lived for another six months, but “he had his best ninth life. I bought him a heated bed. He got love. He would sit on my lap and purr and drool. He was Grandpa Will to a litter of kittens.”

Amanda Smith, shelter operations manager of The Lost Dogs Home, said 9 Lives and other rescue organisations provided “invaluable” support to the Home in finding foster and new homes for stray cats.

“Many stray cats can be re-homed, particularly if they are socialised or young enough to adapt to domestic life,” Smith said.

“Stray cats are sometimes labelled as pests, but it’s important to recognise that they are often the result of human neglect or abandonment.

“They deserve compassion and responsible management to ensure both their welfare and the protection of local ecosystems.”

Sharelle Rowe, CEO of the Cat Protection Society of Victoria, said there could be hundreds of thousands of strays in the community.

Rowe said that without consistent caregivers, they were prone to disease, injury and rapid population growth, while harming local wildlife and biodiversity. “Effective management, including desexing and education on responsible cat ownership, is essential to address these issues.”

RSPCA Victoria said stray animal management is the responsibility of councils throughout Victoria, and pointed to state government advice and legal requirements people can follow if they have found a lost or stray cat.

“We were pleased to see that the Victorian government released the Victorian cat management strategy earlier this year, and would welcome the opportunity to contribute to its progress and implementation through the working group that is yet to be established,” an RSPCA Victoria spokesperson said.

Brookes said 9 Lives gets no government funding and relied on donations. The organisation needs more foster carers.

What motivates her?

She shows a tattoo on her arm depicting the name and paw print of Will, the cat from the train tracks.

“I look at this and remember that all these cats wouldn’t have the life they have if we didn’t help them.”

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