It was just a little baby kitten when I found it by the side of the road. It's eyes were all matted together with infection and it could not get them open. I picked it up, took it home to Mom and asked her if I could keep it. She said yes, because she was sure it would not last through the day. She asked for some lard to put over it eyes to help with the infection.
Being just a child, I did as I was told. With the big family that we had (I have 10 brothers/sisters), going to the vet was out of the question so Mom just did the only thing she knew to do to see if it would help. Well it did, because in a short few days, the little kitten's eyes were clear and it could see.
Not knowing much about the sex of the kitten, I thought it was a boy and I named him Thomas. Oh the fun I had playing with that little kitten. It was my toy, I had found it and I loved it dearly.
It did not take long for the little kitten to become a cat and it followed me everywhere. There would be arguments every night who got to sleep with the cat. But since it was mine, I delegated who would sleep with it. And being the entrepreneur that I was, sleeping rights were sold to the highest bidder. A girl had to try someway to make some money in a family that large, because allowance was out of the question.
I remember the day that I found out that Thomas was not a male after all. I went looking for my cat and found her hid with several baby kittens nursing her. Now I was overjoyed, because we now had some baby kittens and nothing is quite as cute as baby animals or for that matter, any baby. Something is just so cute about little tiny babies. I love them all. Tugs at the mothering heartstring in my personality I guess.
Mom and dad bought a bigger house so we moved and our house was on the main highway. I loaded up Thomas, took her with us. There was no way I was leaving her behind. Besides she was the best mouser in the world. She definitely had a hit list out on all the mice in the neighborhood. If they wanted to live, the better stay out of our house. And then it happened.
I remember when she came up missing for a few hours. I searched and searched for her. She was no where to be found. I went and got mom to see if she would help me find my cat. After all, she had gotten to be one of mom's best friends too, especially since she had started to catch all the field mice. We looked and looked some more and called her. Finally we saw her coming across the main highway. For fear she would be hit, I ran to go get her and noticed that she was limping. She could not put her rear right leg down. It was just hanging there. I gently picked her up, because I could tell that she was in a lot of pain. Tears were running down my little face as I took her to mom to see what was the matter. Money was so short in our house, but we begged mom to please take her to the vet and see what was wrong with her. Mom loaded Thomas into the car and off to the vet she went. Shortly mom returned, but there was no Thomas.
We asked mom where our cat was and she said the vet said that probably a cow had stepped on her leg and had crushed it. We could put her to sleep for $5 or we could have the leg taken off for $40. I guess our cries and pleas must have worked because when mom came back from town in a day or two, we had our cat back, only she had three legs instead of four.
Thomas learned how to walk with those three legs and she ran faster than she did with four. All the stray dogs and cats were afraid of her and she kept them off the property. She was the best watch cat a family could ever have. Sad was the day when we lost Thomas to poisoning . Someone had put poison out for her and she had supped of it. By the time, we found her, it was too late, there was nothing we could do to save her, except have her put to sleep before the poison completely paralyzed her.
Now I am sure that I did not have the only three legged cat in the world. But she sure was one of the best, if not the best.
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lazareth
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Sep 15 @ 9:24AM
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I have a 3 legged cat, Templeton, that I got when he was just a tiny thing. A girl I worked with was behind a car that hit him. That car didn't stop, but Amy did and took him to the vet. He stayed at the vet for almost 3 weeks due to his injuries. He still has "four" legs, but one of the front ones has drawn up tight to his chest. I should have named him Napoleon cause he looks like he had his "hand" inside inside the front of his coat. He is going on 17 years old.
Lazareth, my dog is going on 11 years old. When he was just a puppy, my neighbors beat him ( the vet said it looked like they hit him across the shoulder with something the size of a golf club). He had such bad nerve damage the vet had to remove his front leg.
And oh, the pity looks Laz gets when we take him anywhere lol. People come up to pet him and go" Awwww poor baby" and Laz just eats it up. What a suck up !
Laz loves little kittens..(his babies) and has even "nursed a litter when their mother was killed. I bottle fed them and he would lay there afterwards and let the babies "suckle" until they went to sleep.
When my Mattie was sick, he never left her side and on her really bad days he would lay beside her, lick her back and just cry.
Both of my animals are a joy. And in spite of missing limbs, they both can kick up the dirt when inclined.
These animals who have been injured are are nursed back just know a caring person when they see one. And they give all of their love in return
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butterfly943
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Sep 15 @ 11:26AM
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What a sweet blog...I think every stray around seems to fine me 
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silksox
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Sep 15 @ 1:30PM
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Hi There KYWonder 
What a GRAND story..and you tell it so easy.. I am sorry Thomas dies in the end, truly..but I really enjoyed your story..
Thanks for sharing! 
Sox
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WhiteRose1952
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Sep 15 @ 6:47PM
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BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN....THANK YOU FOR SHARING SUCH A WONDERFUL PERSONAL MEMORY...FOR ALL OF US WHO LOVE ANIIMALS AND HAVE ANIMALS CAN TRULY RELATE TO THIS....THOMAS IS AND WAS AN AWESOME CAT AND TRULY LOVED HER FAMILY AND YES CATS CAN BE VERY GOOD WATCHFUL SECURITY FOR US HUMANS!!!!! WISH I COULD GIVE MORE THAN JUST 1 KUDOS....MANY HUGS TO YA, LOVES YOUR TEXAS FRIEND, CHRISTIE "WHITEROSE1952"
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DaisyMae420
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Sep 15 @ 8:11PM
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The tears of a child. My "child" is 18 and our three legged cat belongs to her. She begged to rescue her from the river bank nine years ago. Again when the cat drug her self home injured most likely hit by a car she pleaded with me to "save her". Our Vet gave us two options here in town, amputate or put her down. I told him killing a member of our family was NOT an option. He gave us one more chace to save her leg.
A specialist 60 miles away....."how soon can they see her" and "how much". I searched my bank accounts and told my daughter anything over $1000 and you'll have to share the expense. The vet assured me if he could save the leg it would cost as much as $600. That sounded pretty cheap for a leg, so we tried. Her leg was too damaged to save but we tried.
I returned to pay her bill and take her home. The tech said..."she's such a sweet cat, she's been up on her feet rubbing on the cage and wanting love all day". I walked back to the kennels and suddenly she slunk to the back of her cage and turned her head. That emotion quickly subsided when she smelled the air at the McDonalds we stopped at before our long ride home. She was starving! No food for three days and the cheese burger hit the LOVE spot. We fussed over her wound for days, she had an incision in a Y shape that left her looking like something Dr. Frankenstein had created.
I never wanted to bring that stupid cat home in the first place...silly old cat.
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