WARNING: This story contains graphic content some might find disturbing. Discretion is advised.
An orange tabby cat named Marmalade was in good spirits on Wednesday, a day after having surgery to remove a leg found to have been shot recently.
The feline, who is believed to be close to two years old, had been living among a colony of cats in a rural area between Puslinch and Cambridge, Ont., where he was recently captured.
“He had been being fed at that colony that we’ve been looking after for a few years, for quite a few months,” said Cailey Seymour, who is the founder of Dorset Rescue Kittens, a non-profit that looks to find new homes for vulnerable animals.
She said her organization will capture the cats before they conduct health checks and have them spayed or neutered. The felines’ personalities are assessed and then the non-profit determines whether they are homed with humans or returned to their colonies.
“Since early spring of this year, we knew about (Marmalade) but he was very challenging to catch,” Seymour explained.
“In Marmalade’s case, he was coming around being fed for a few months and then in early August, I believe it was actually Aug. 7, was the first day he didn’t show up for his breakfast and dinner.”
She said the cat returned to the colony three weeks later.
“We were very worried. We were wondering what had happened to him,” Seymour said.
“When he came back last week, the colony caretaker noticed that he had an injury to his leg.”
The caretaker called in the sighting and asked if there was a space for the wounded animal if they were able to catch Marmalade. The shelter was full but Dorset Rescue Kittens made space on Seymour’s desk.
“When he came into the rescue, his arm, pretty much from his elbow down to his wrist, was completely covered in dried blood and pus,” Seymour noted.
She said one of the shelter’s volunteers took to the task of cleaning up Marmalade’s wounds and that was when they realized it was more than just a cut.
“We were assessing his leg, and essentially I was able to move it in certain directions that you should not be able to move a leg,” she said, noting that it was likely broken.
Seymour took him to an area clinic for further examination where she helped to conduct X-rays.
“When you look at an X-ray, there’s different opacities that different parts of the body have. So, organs have a specific opacity. Bones have a specific opacity. And metal fragments also have a specific opacity,” she explained.
“When we did the X-ray, you could see his wrist. All of the bones in there were completely shattered, which is where the bullet had gone through.
“And based on the fact that there were metal fragments in his hand and that there was a direct entry and exit point, it’s pretty obvious what had happened.”
The horrific injury landed Marmalade on the surgeon’s table at an area vet clinic on Tuesday.
“He had his front left leg removed, which was the leg that had been shot, and he was also neutered, so he had a 2.5-hour surgery,” she said on Wednesday.
“He came home last night. We’ve been closely monitoring him, and he’s doing really well today.”
There is a good chance that Marmalade may have been born to his colony but she says she is not sure where he came from.
“At this time, no one has come forward to say he is their cat,” she said.
As is the case with many wild cats, Marmalade has other maladies that will also need to be taken care of before he is adoptable, including having all of his teeth removed, so the bills are piling up for his treatment.
The surgery alone was $3,000, according to Seymour, who estimated that all told it could cost between $6,000 and $10,000 for Marmalade’s care.
“Obviously that’s not something that we always just have kind of sitting around,” she said. “That being said, we will make sure that he gets absolutely everything that he could possibly need. We don’t cut any corners when it comes to medical costs.”
Those who wish to chip in for his care can send an E-transfer to info@dorsetrescuekittens.ca. There are other options available on the organization’s website as well.
“And because we are a registered charity, we can issue tax receipts for any donations made over $20,” she said.
The organization’s chair said there have been a number of people who have inquired about adopting Marmalade but it will be a while before he is available to potential owners.
The non-profit does have a number of other animals available to adopt, including cats and rabbits. More info on the animals is also located on the Dorset Rescue Kittens website.