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Surgery helps six-legged cat with rare disorder
July 22, 2015
EDMONTON – Pauly, a street cat in Edmonton, has been rescued and is now undergoing treatment for a rare disorder – he has six legs. His two extra legs are attached to his sternum behind his front legs.
“When I first got the email about Pauly, I thought they meant he had six toes, which is not unusual,” said Virginia Marando, president of Little Cats Lost Society.
“Then when I discovered he had six legs, it was quite amazing to see that he survived on the streets.”
When Pauly was discovered, his rescuers realized he was in need of serious help and got in touch with Marando.
Pauly’s two extra legs are joined to his sternum, tucked in behind his front legs. They are longer than his front legs, and X-rays seem to show they are actually back legs rotated 180 degrees.
“It is quite rare,” Marando told the CBC. “I’ve never come across it before.” The legs are not functional, and Pauly has to drag them.
Pauly has had surgery already to survive, but needs further surgery, so Marando started an online fundraising campaign to raise $2,000. “It has just gone way beyond our dreams,” she said. “Almost double the goal.”
But that’s just as well, she said, since Pauly will require weeks of rehab and physiotherapy.
For now, Pauly is recovering from surgery on his hips. “We’re going to work with him to get his hips healed as best we can before we go ahead and do the actual removal of the extra legs,” Marando said.