Stray Cat's Arm Needs Urgent Amputation

My name is Daniel. I love cats. Whether mine or not, I don’t like to see animals suffer.

I feed several neighborhood stray/feral cats who visit my backyard. I also feed squirrels and birds. Early in November, a small cat was walking around the elevated food bowl, smelling food but unable to jump to reach it. I quickly saw the reason. Her right arm and paw were hanging as though broken. She was hopping around on three legs with one kind of dragging. This broke my heart, so I put a bowl of food and some water on the ground at my front door, where the other cats don’t bother to visit.

She found the food. And she found (or brought?) a friend. An orange male tabby who guards her while she eats, lets her eat first, and helps protect her from others.

The male cat loves back scratches, but the injured female was too shy to approach. For a month, I fed them both, trying to earn her trust so I could take her to the vet. It took a month, but I was finally able to pet her on December 1st. I bought a carrier from PetSmart.

A couple of days later, I had enough of her trust that I was able to lift her into the carrier and get her to the local veterinarian. Her orange friend was in a bit of a panic when he saw me take her away. I paid the fees to have this little stray girl examined and receive a rabies shot. She also got a shot of antibiotics because her arm dragging resulted in an infection.

The vet said it seems like it may have broken at some point, but the nerve damage is such that she cannot feel anything at all in her right arm... or even move it. He said it looks like a car accident injury. The arm will have to be amputated because she won’t be able to move it again.

I want to raise enough here to defray the cost of the operation, which is estimated to be about $1800 - $2450. I’m not asking for funding of the full surgery amount because I expected to pay more of my own money than just the examination fees I already paid. However, I didn’t expect it to be quite this much. I may bring the quote to another local veterinarian to see if they are less expensive. If the community can help reach this goal, it’ll cover around 75%. I’ll pay the remainder out of my pocket.

She’s a stray, but I think with this infected arm removed and her orange friend to help her along, she has a good life ahead of her. I made a comfy, dry spot in my garage for her recovery and am looking forward to getting her the help she needs.

Incidentally, If you'd like to adopt these two once she's recovered, please let me know. They both love scratchies, and though he's affectionate early on, she is very sweet once you earn it. I don't want to separate these two cuties.