Two Legs for Penelope

Penelope is a 9-month-old kitten who came into Charlie's Army Animal Rescue when she was just four weeks old. She was found by a good samaritan and surrendered to the rescue due to her unique special needs -- Penelope was born without her back feet.

Over the past 8 months, I have worked tirelessly to find a solution for Penelope. Unfortunately, her little nubs have been unable to fully heal and no solution to protect them has yielded any results. We have explored every option presented to us including prosthetics and carts, but none have been a good fit for Penelope's unique situation.

In late December we visited an orthopedic surgeon where it was decided that the best option for Penelope is a double amputation of her hind legs. The doctor's notes read as follows: Penelope appears to be an overall healthy cat, aside from her abnormalities with her back legs. She has previously had x-rays, confirming that both of her hindlimbs end mid-tibia (shin bone), with the ankle and foot being absent on both sides. She has small, chronic wounds over the ends of her back legs. Unfortunately, she does not have any pad material on her back legs. Without pads, it is unlikely that Penelope will ever be able to safely use her back legs without the risk of trauma. If Penelope continues to traumatize these areas, she is at risk for infection which could seed into the bone and even cause systemic illness. Based on Penelope's x-rays and examination today, unfortunately, it appears that the best surgical option would be to amputate her back legs. We have previously discussed other options including free graft pad transfer and implantation of a prosthetic, but both of these come with considerably high complication rates and concern has been raised that they will not be successful.

Penelope is scheduled to have surgery on January 31st. The estimate for the surgery is $3890-$4800. Please consider a donation so that Penelope can live the rest of her life pain-free!

Charlie's Army Animal Rescue is a 501c3 nonprofit organization so your donations are tax-deductible. You can also submit donations via PayPal (paypal.me/mariegutshall) or Venmo (Venmo.com/Marie-gutshall) to avoid the GoFundMe fees.

Thank you for your support!