Philadelphia animal rescue group creates bucket list for sick cat: 'He wasn't ready to go'

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A cat diagnosed with a rare storage disease a year ago has been living on borrowed time.

But a bucket list put together by the team at Fishtails Animal Rescue in Philadelphia is giving new life to the meaning that cats really do have nine lives.

Marty the cat was rescued by the group back in January 2021.

"He came from a junkyard where there's a colony of cats in South Philly," said Fishtails Animal Rescue creator Dr. Lauren Cohn. "They saw Marty in there and saw he was having a hard time walking; mostly he had a hard time with his mobility and his back legs."

Cohn says they took him to a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine who flagged him for a rare storage disease.

"Essentially over time, all of the muscles will not be able to function, and eventually (he'll) have difficulty breathing because it can affect mostly the skeletal muscles," said Cohn.

So Cohn and her team decided to celebrate what little time Marty was slated to have with a bucket list, which included meeting Santa and going on a shopping spree at Home Goods.

Marty was given about three months to live. Again, that was back in January 2021.

Today, he's still fighting.

"He just wasn't ready to go. And now, the more that we do with him, I do think it's made a huge difference in his desire to want to be here," said Cohn.

"The point with Marty isn't to prolong his life, but it's more about what we can do with him to allow him to have the best life possible. It also teaches us to be in the moment."

So what's next on Marty's bucket list?

Getting a picture with the Easter Bunny and meeting Gritty.