Cat reunited with Port Richmond family after leg amputation

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - A Port Richmond family has been reunited with their lost cat, but sadly the shelter she was taken to amputated her leg.

Stinky the Cat is on the mend not quite sure how to get around on three legs. Her owner Kim Schmidt has questions for the people who took the fourth.

"Why did you do that? Why? What was the reason you had to do that to my cat-- for what?" she asked.

Schmidt says she's had Stinky for 16 years and that her right-rear leg has always been off.

"She's always had a limp since the day she was born," Schmidt explained.

On Saturday, this indoor cat got outdoors and ran off. Schmidt looked everywhere for her beloved pet without success.

On Monday, Schmidt learned a neighbor had picked up the cat and dropped it off at the Animal Care and Control Team know as ACCT Philly. She rushed to the shelter and got the shock of her life.

The ACCT shelter takes in some 15,000 cats each year. Most never find a new home. Ame Dorminy says ACCT medical personnel made the quick decision that Stinky would be easier to adopt out with three legs than with a mangled-looking fourth.

"We don't have the capacity to perform X-rays or any other kind of further diagnostic care."

As for Stinky's owner.

"We understand that that's very very painful and shocking and we regret that she had to go through that."

Schmidt says she recovered her pet from ACCT Philly within 48 hours and wonders why the rush to do something so extreme.

Shelter officials note that since the cat had no microchip or collar, they had little medical information to work with. Pennsylvania law requires shelters to wait 48 hours before doing anything with an unlicensed dog that comes in there are no such laws governing waiting periods for cats.