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For weeks, a cat in Lower Saxony is said to have lived alone in the apartment with its dead owner – and finally even ate parts of it, as the Cuxhaven animal shelter reported to the "Cuxhavener Nachrichten".

The neighbors of the 43-year-old had reported to the police in mid-September, because they had not seen the man for a long time, said a spokesman for the authority of the "image". With a second key, the emergency services opened the door. In the apartment, the officers would have found the body. A clear cause of death could no longer be determined, but external influence had been ruled out.

The cat had come to the shelter "in a pitiful condition," said Birgit Block, chairwoman of the Cuxhaven animal shelter association "One Paw, One Promise". She classifies the case to the local newspaper: Operations like this are "nothing unusual for us animal welfare organizations," but "for many people, they are." In the first few days after the death of their owner, the animals roamed around humans, but at some point "the animals only see you as food".

If the cat hadn't fed on its owner, it would have starved to death, Block said. "It's a miracle she's held out for so long." In the meantime, the animal is doing better again, but not so well that it can be adopted.

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