ICYMI: Cat 'Thrown Out Like Trash' in Waltham, Animal Hospital Says

WALTHAM, MA – A cat found beside a dumpster behind a Waltham apartment complex underwent life-saving surgery this week, but lost her leg during the operation.

Waltham Animal Control officer Deanna Gualtieri rushed Gingerbread, a one-year-old female, to MSPCA in Waltham Dec. 9 with both her jaw and right front leg shattered. She had been found inside of a cat carrier along with a blanket but without food or water.

Gingerbread was transferred to MSPCA's Boston facility, where Dr. Emily Ulfelder performed emergency surgery to repair her broken jaw. But doctors were forced to amputate her leg.

"We were able to repair her broken mandible [jaw] but her leg was too damaged to be saved," Ulfelder said in a statement.

In a statement, the hospital said Gingerbread was "thrown out like trash," and her injuries were consistent with being hit by a car rather than physical abuse or a fall. Who is responsible for abandoning her beside the dumpster, however, is another mystery.

"Fortunately she's now safe and in our hands," Andrea Bessler of the MSPCA's Shalit-Glazer clinic, where the surgery took place, said in a statement. "We may never know who left her outside to fend for herself but we're going to do everything we can to ensure she finds a safe and loving home."

Gingerbread will require several weeks to recover, after which she will be available for adoption.

Anyone interested in adopted Gingerbread may email adoption@mspca.org for more information.

Meanwhile Waltham Animal Control is asking anyone with information about who is responsible for abandoning Gingerbread to call the Waltham Police Department at 781-642-6166.

Images submitted by MSPCA-Angell

Story originally published Dec. 16.