Bitsy the cat was born with nine lives, six legs and a loving heart.
Christine Koltun says that the one -year -old cat is on the way to having a new life opportunity after recent surgery to eliminate three of her legs.
“I am very happy for her,” said Koltun, founder and executive director of the CAT Rescue Van, based in Edmonton.
“Very grateful that we could help her.”
Koltun said his organization met with Bitsy, which bears the name of the Nursery Rima “ITSY Bitsy Spider”, after the staff received an email last month on a street cat with additional legs that grow from its side.
Koltun was baffled.
He had seen cats with legs such as lobster claws and “vampire kittens” breaking sores in the sun, he said, but never feline with additional limbs.
“There is no way that there is a cat with additional legs. Cats only have four legs,” he said. “Then I got the photos and I was: ‘My God! This cat has additional legs.”
Koltun went into action. She brought the cat home and almost immediately realized that Bitsy was a affectionate, extremely loving and oriented to people.
Listening | Bitsy the cat born with six legs:
Edmonton AM4:32A cat has too many limbs
When Edmontonian Christine Koltun received an email about a street cat with six legs, I could hardly believe what he was reading. She is the founder of a CAT rescue with headquarters in Edmonton called Furget Me Not.
In the end it turned out that Bitsy absorbed a litter partner while in the uterus, winning two additional legs and a second pelvis that grew as he did.
One of the main four legs did not work and also needed to be withdrawn.
At first, Koltun said, I wasn’t sure if Bitsy could be helped.
“I had a little crying when I first brought her. Because it was such an overwhelming thought: ‘Where will this take us? Can we help her? Can we solve this?”
The veterinarians of the Windermere Veterinary Hospital took radiographs and determined that surgery would significantly improve the quality of life of the cat.
After a procedure that took a little more than two hours, Koltun said that Bitsy is recovering well.
“In less than a day, Betsy was using the sand box, drinking the water alone. So we couldn’t really have asked for a better result,” he said.
Bitsy still has stitches and is taking some pain medications, but slowly is dismissed, Koltun added.
She said that a member of the VET clinic personnel has been promoting the feline and can keep it.
“We are very happy for the two who have formed this incredible link, and we hope that Bitsy’s story will end up staying with his adoptive mother.”
