From rags to riches.
A cat that was rescued from the brink of death after living in a hot car crammed with nearly 50 other felines is now making a name for himself as a model for Target.
Hercules’s adorable fuzzy face graces the retail brand’s feline merchandise across the nation.
The gray and white kitty is easily identifiable by his trademark pose: letting his tongue hang out in nearly every shot.
The backstory behind the charming quirk, however, is heartbreaking.
Hercules was rescued with dozens of other cats from a car parked at a rest stop near Minnesota’s Twin Cities on a sweltering day in 2022.
Their owner, who was also living in the vehicle, agreed to hand them over to Tuff Start Rescue in hopes of a better life — but Hercules escaped during the handoff, the Washington Post reported.
Animal rescue volunteers searched for the escaped kitty for a month before he was found sitting on a neighbor’s doorstep. Hercules was in rough shape, sporting a fractured jaw, a severely damaged tongue and a coat that was covered in maggots.
“We suspected he might have been hit by a car. He was so near death that I wondered if it would be more humane to euthanize him,” Nicole Perreault, a veterinarian who runs Tuff Start Rescue, told the outlet.
Sensing a terrible mistake, Hercules lifted his head and looked at Perreault in what she took to be a plea for his life.
“I got the impression that he really wanted to fight,” she said.
The 6-year-old cat steadily regained his health thanks to the Tuff Start Rescue team, who cleaned him, gave him fluids through an IV, put him on pain medication and organized surgery for his jaw.
“His jaw is a little crooked and his tongue almost always hangs out because of what happened to him,” said Perreault.
“But he’s a sweet, tough cat. The name Hercules suits him.”
They shared Hercules’s progress on their Faceook page — inadvertently connecting him with the woman who would take him home.
“As a nurse, I’m attracted to medically fragile animals,” said Jill LeBrun, a pediatric nurse who has fostered dogs and cats over the years.
“I knew that Hercules was going to need to be fostered and I felt that I could do it.”
Fostering quickly gave way toward adoption once LeBrun noticed how easily Hercules adapted to life in her home, which included frequent snuggles with her other cat, Kay, and her new puppy, Juni.
LeBrun had no plans to put her new furry friend into show business until last fall when she came across a post from the Animal Connection, a pet talent agency in search of cats with unusual faces, scouting for Minneapolis-based Target.
Like LeBrun, the agency immediately fell in love with Hercules and his tongue, and requested that the star come down for a photoshoot.
“Hercules did great — he’s a friendly cat and everybody loved him,” LeBrun said, noting that she was paid $100 to participate. “They told me his picture would appear on something for Target in early 2024.”
When March came around, LeBrun took a trip to Target to see if her silly-looking cat had made it to the big time — and was delighted to see Hercules and his tongue were on every bucket of Up & Up Fragrance Free Clumping Cat Litter on the shelf.
LeBrun stocked up her cart, she said: “So did all my friends and neighbors. One of my friends didn’t tell her son about it when she took him to the store. But he saw the litter and said, ‘Mom! That cat looks just like Hercules.’”
Hercules is no one-trick-pony, either. According to LeBrun, he has another photo shoot lined up for another Target ad, meaning his tongue will grace other store brand merchandise in just a few months.
“He’s a natural and he loves to be the center of attention,” LeBrun said.
“I feel very lucky to be the person who gets to spend every day with him.”