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Rescued B.C. cat with misshapen legs in need of forever home – with carpet

Mirielle was born with misshapen back legs and after a tough life on the streets, is looking for a forever home.
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Garry Mitchell gives Mirielle her favourite treat at his home where she is temporarily living until she finds her forever home. Mark Brett/Western News

Mirielle’s Christmas wish is to find her forever home with a loving family and lots of carpet.

She was recently rescued from the streets of Oliver, B.C., where she was living with her two kittens. The mature feline has severely deformed back legs, believed to be as a result of a congenital birth defect.

“Her little back legs are only about half what they should so when she’s on a slippery surface like a floor she just kind of scoots her bum along, but if she’s on a carpet then she walks using her back legs,” said Theresa Nolet, vice president of AlleyCATS Alliance who placed the cat and kittens in a Penticton foster home.

“We call her Mirielle, which is a French name for miracle, because it’s a miracle she survived not being able to jump or climb and with all the dogs and coyotes around. How she made it? I don’t know.”

READ MORE: Okanagan rescued kittens now in desperate need of eye surgery

Somebody in the neighbourhood where she was found had seen her condition and was worried her deformity was caused by a human and contacted AlleyCATS.

It’s not known how long she had been living on the streets. At the time an AlleyCATS member went door-to-door to see if anyone knew about her.

“The information the volunteer gathered was this cat was approximately eight-years-old and had been living in that area outside having kittens and just surviving,” said Nolet. “People were occasionally feeding her and no one stepped forward saying that they owned her.”

The upsetting thing to Nolet is the cat may have been left alone by its former owner to fend for herself.

“(Mirielle) wasn’t friendly at first but it became very apparent after a little while that she was a socialized cat,” she said.

READ MORE: Battling the feral feline problem in the South Okanagan

Garry Mitchell and his wife who are currently looking after Mirielle agreed: “I actually believe at one point she must have been someone’s pet because she’s really quite friendly. She is cautious around people in terms she’s always walking the other way when I’m petting her, but she’s really an affectionate cat.

“I think she will make a really nice pet for someone.”

Mirielle is also a polydactyl cat with more than the allotted number of five toes on her front feet and a short tail which indicates she may have some Manx breed in her.

X-rays taken by Dr. Ellen Nicklassen, of the Kelowna Veterinary Clinic, who first examined her showed the deformity to be a birth defect and not human caused.

She has since been spayed and her two kittens were also put up for adoption.

Anyone is interested in adopting Mirielle the miracle cat can call AlleyCATS at 250-462-8195 or visitalleycatsalliance.org.

“We just want to find someone to give Mirielle her forever home, she does need some special attention so her little legs don’t get infected or the callouses worn off,” said Nolet. “And lots of carpet.”


 

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Garry Mitchell with Mirielle, a mature female cat with deformed back legs who had been living on the street and is now up adoption. Mark Brett/Western News
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Mirielle has two back legs that are not properly formed. Mark Brett/Western News
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Dr. Ellen Nicklassen of the Kelowna Veterinary Hospital with an X-ray of Mirielle’s deformed back legs. Submitted photo