UF students can usually find Tenders the cat sunbathing near Tolbert Hall or wandering in nearby woods. Judging by her bright eyes, swaying tail and playful jumping, it might seem like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
But just a few weeks ago, Tenders was facing her own battle.
The beloved UF community cat, named after her love for chicken tenders, returned to her home on campus after healing from a cut in her mouth Aug. 21.
Tenders is well-known by students, faculty and the Gainesville community, as shown by her 7,000 followers on Instagram. The brown-and-white tabby almost received an honorary degree when the UF Student Government passed a bill in September 2024 to make it possible.
Theresa Sumrall, a UF College of Medicine clinical data manager, said she was the first to discover the laceration, or deep cut, on Tenders’ tongue. Sumrall saw a post on the Gatorcats Instagram page earlier this month saying Tenders was showing signs of illness, which she said sparked her concern.
Another post about Tenders hiding in the woods and not coming to her caregivers for food sparked action. Sumrall said she went to look for Tenders after work Aug. 8.
Sumrall has been involved with Operation Catnip, a trap-neuter-release program, or TNR, since 2008. She has been the caregiver of the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions cat cohort since 2008, and she said she has extensive experience with community cats and TNR rescue.
“I was confident enough that if I went out there I could take a look at [Tenders] and see if I could tell her caregivers what I thought might be happening,” she said.
Sumrall said she found Tenders at her “usual spot” by the Riker Hall office. It was her first time meeting the community cat, but Tenders was calm and let Sumrall handle her.
She noticed drool on Tenders’ lips and chin from a distance, which can indicate a cat has pain or discomfort in its mouth.
After a little coaxing, Sumrall was able to gently open Tenders’ mouth, and she saw a big, red cut straight across the end of her tongue.
“It was very deep, and was obviously very painful,” she said.
Sumrall said her first guess was that Tenders had cut herself by licking the sharp edge of a can of cat food, but it was so deep and inflamed she wasn’t sure if something worse caused the injury.
Armin Niknam, a 38-year-old UF English graduate student and one of Tenders’ caregivers, said he noticed several people feeding Tenders wet cat food over the summer. Niknam was concerned that the hot weather would cause the food to get moldy, but he said he never thought the can itself could be dangerous. After further examining the injury, her caregivers came to a consensus that a can was the cause.
After keeping Tenders in its care for a few days, Operation Catnip let Sumrall foster Tenders as she made a full recovery from the cut.
Sumrall kept Tenders in a spare bathroom, and she watched the cat closely and bonded with her for five days. She let Tenders explore her house and watch birds and mice on TV. Tenders was demanding in a sweet way, Sumrall said, and she was not afraid to let her voice be heard.
“She wanted to be out, she wanted her freedom, but she didn't understand why I'd taken her away from her home,” she said.
Tenders is an inquisitive cat, Sumrall said, with “more personality than any 10 humans you could find in a room.” She recalled Tenders going straight for a sack of cat food left on the floor and sticking her whole body in it as soon as she had freedom to explore the house.
Tenders was outgoing and cuddly, she said, even though Sumrall “was the bad guy.”
“She's mad at me,” Sumrall said. “I’m the guy who grabbed her and stuffed her in a towel and took her away from her home and poked in her mouth. But, I was in the position to help.”
Tenders declined to comment after The Alligator visited her at her usual spot near Tolbert Hall on Friday.
Niknam collected Tenders from Sumrall's home and released her back to Tolbert so she could greet all the incoming students. When she returned, a poster welcomed her back and expressed everyone's excitement for her health. The poster also explained her injury and recovery.
Ines Aviles-Spadoni, a research coordinator at the UF College of Engineering who runs the @campuskittiesfl Instagram account, said it was touching to see so much concern for Tenders and all the help the cat received.
“A lot of people came together to take care of this one little kitty-cat who’s a favorite of a lot of people here in town,” she said.
Contact Madeline Herring at mherring@alligator.org. Follow her on X @m_herring06.
