By Clair McFarland, General Assignment Reporter
Clair@CowboyStateDaily.com
Let the fluffy silver kitty with the mangled foot prowl Cheyenne.
Cheyenne authorities this week released a 6-month-old feral cat back into her colony, with four fewer toes than she had before and a new name.
Now known as “No Toes,” the kitten had gotten her back left leg wedged between two wooden fence planks near the 900 block of Crest Park Drive last month.
A Cheyenne woman who helps provide food for the community cats in the area was leaving her home when she found the cat, stranded and bleeding at the top of the fence, according to Niki Harrison of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter.
“(The woman) really tried not to startle the cat, so she wouldn’t try to break free from the fence even harder when she saw a person,” said Harrison. The woman called Cheyenne animal control.
“Her poor little foot was pretty torn up,” Harrison said of No Toes.
Community cats are feral cats that live in a colony while local residents leave out food and keep an eye on them, Harrison said. They often are cats who weren’t in a home when they were very young and weren’t socialized.
No Toes, Yes Leg
No Toes is lucky she didn’t become Miss “No Leg.”
Harrison said the animal shelter veterinarian Dr. Tessha Winsch feared she’d have to take the cat’s entire leg.
“But once she got her into surgery she was able to make the determination the toes were the only unsalvageable pieces of that leg, and she’d make a full recovery,” Harrison said.
Harrison said she expects No Toes to manage just fine without those toes, even as a feral cat.
“They’re very resilient creatures,” she said.
No Touchy
No Toes is silver and striped with long fluffy hair and amber eyes. She may look like a feline version of an alpaca – but she’s not to be trifled with.
“(People) think of her as the soft, sweet, fluffy kitten she looks like when, in all reality, she has… not ever been socialized,” said Harrison. “She’s completely fractious and feral and can only be handled under sedation.”
No Toes needs to be out prowling with her colony, Harrison added.
A Job To Do
Cheyenne Animal Control officers removed No Toes from the fence the morning of Feb. 21, according to a Monday press release by the City of Cheyenne.
Once the kitty was in Winsch’s care, X-rays revealed that the four toes of her back left leg were fractured and there was a hairline fracture in her leg, the statement says. She has since been vaccinated and released into the community.
“Please keep an eye out for Miss ‘No Toes’ as she keeps our community safe from all rodent pests,” the statement reads. “A huge thanks to the caller and awesome work from our amazing staff.”
Intervention
The caretakers of No Toes’ colony offered to reimburse the shelter for her surgery costs, Harrison said. But since they’re feeding and caring for the cats in other ways, she said, the shelter used its donation fund for the treatments.
Harrison said the donation fund helps animals in need of serious intervention receive prompt treatment, and people interested in donating may do so on the Cheyenne Animal Shelter website.
