Community Corner
'This Kitten is a Fighter': Amazing Rescue of Mangled Stray Found in Bushes
'Holly' the kitten needs a new home home for the holidays after an amazing rescue in Perris. (Warning some graphic photos attached)
PERRIS, CA- A 3-month-old kitten found in Perris with a severely mangled leg that had to be amputated is mending well and available for adoption.
The gray-and-white feline was discovered Thursday afternoon near the intersection of Huckleberry Drive and Wilson Avenue, according to Riverside County Department of Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.
A woman and her daughter-in-law were walking to a community mailbox when they spotted the badly injured kitten laying in bushes, her right front leg virtually shredded, exposing bone from end to end.
“It looked like its guts were sticking out -- that’s how bad it was,” said Edith Rios, one of the rescuers. “Her arm was just bones and tissue hanging. It was really, really bad.”
Rios and her daughter-in-law grabbed towels and gingerly bundled up the cat, then drove to the county’s San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, where veterinarian Leonard Sauer and his staff examined her and decided amputation was necessary.
Welsh said the prognosis was “poor to grave,” but the kitten pulled through.
“We knew it was a long shot,” said Eileen Sanders, supervising registered veterinary technician. “I think the reason she survived might have had to do with her arm and how it was so badly mangled and spun that the arteries and veins were twisted to ligation. But she had a decent color to her mucus membranes, so we remained optimistic.”
The kitty, named “Holly” by veterinary staff, had herfront right leg completely removed, according to Welsh.
It was initially believed Holly was hit by a car or attacked by a larger animal, but shelter workers eventually theorized that the cat crawled into a vehicle engine compartment to stay warm overnight and was injured by moving parts when the owner started the car.
“This kitten is a fighter,” said Emma Perez-Singh, a supervisor at the San Jacinto shelter. “She’s in great spirits, considering the injuries she sustained.”
Details on how to adopt Holly or any other shelter animal are available here.
– By City News Service.
