An animal shelter in the UK is working hard to get kittens with special needs on all fours.
Earlier this month, Severn Valley Rescue — a nonprofit animal rescue organization in Shropshire, England — launched a GoFundMe for 7-month-old Phoebe, a black cat born without hips.
“We’ve never seen a cat with this condition before, it’s extremely rare and we need expert veterinary advice on the best course of action,” Amanda Ball, founder of Severn Valley Rescue, tells PEOPLE.
The shelter’s initial goal was to raise £3,000 (about $3,792) to help pay for the cat’s X-rays, CT scan and orthopedic consultation. As of Monday afternoon, the shelter had raised £3,465 for Phoebe’s care.
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Phoebe, a 7-month-old kitten born without hips.
Gofundme
The extra money raised will go towards vet bills and surgery if Phoebe is deemed a good candidate.
“Phoebe will now have additional X-rays and a full CT scan,” says Ball. “From the basic x-rays, we know she has all the correct leg bones in the right places, but her hip joints are missing. Her legs are also pulled into an extended position by muscles or ligaments (hyperextension), so the legs appear to be backwards — we need to do a CT scan to find out which muscles and ligaments can be operated on without losing the function of her legs.”
Ball added that “any major surgery will have to wait until Phoebe stops growing at 12 months of age, in May 2024.”
On the fundraising page, Ball noted: “We want to stress – she’s not in any pain, so putting her to sleep is not something we’re going to think about. However, we want to improve her quality of life if we can.”
Per Ball, Phoebe is mostly moving on her front legs for now. “She’s very wobbly on her back legs and falls over a lot,” she says. “She doesn’t have a lot of muscle in those legs and uses her front half to carry her around.”
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Phoebe was surrendered to the shelter after her owner couldn’t afford the kitten’s vet bills. Now the shelter hopes to “get this beautiful little creature back on all four legs again,” Ball told the BBC.
A kitten, named after Phoebe Buffay from the sitcom Friends, “is an extremely loving and brave kitten and a funny kitten,” says Ball. “She purrs all the time. She likes to try to cuddle with my rescue cocker-poo ‘Dogg’ and my three-legged spaniel ‘Peggy’ and looks Friends all the time (hence the name),” shares the rescue founder.
On Monday, Ball shared a post on the shelter’s Facebook page thanking everyone for their generous donations.
“Whoah Whoah Whoah!” she wrote. “We did it, raising £3,000 to get her treatment started and Phoebe on her way to a better life.”
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Ball added that Phoebe’s right hind leg is worse than her left, so her vet’s first step is to work on helping her leg become “stronger and more stable.”
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“We have increased our fundraising goal as momentum builds as this will help pay for future surgeries once all diagnostic work is complete,” Ball concluded in her post. “Again — we can’t thank you enough for helping this beautiful little kitty. The rescue made us all very emotional.”
Phoebe has only just begun her journey – which will continue to be shared on Severn Valley Rescue’s Facebook page – but Ball hopes the kitten will find her a forever home in the future.
He added: “We hope that once Phoebe is leading an active and normal life she will find a loving indoor home, but that could be years away as she may need lots of surgery and therapy (physiotherapy and hydrotherapy) over the next two years or more .”
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Source: HIS Education