A tabby cat whose leg was amputated after she was ensnared in an illegal trap last Christmas is looking forward to a happier one this year.
Ruby’s new owners have already hung up her stocking filled with presents.
The seven-year-old tabby was found caught in a metal contraption in a garden in Lordship Park on December 30 last year. It is thought she’d been stuck in the trap for most of the two days she was missing.
Her leg was removed at the RSPCA’s Harmsworth Animal Hospital because the injuries were so severe, and she was advertised for re-homing because her owner no longer felt the area was safe.
Amanda and Andrew Turner from Dorking in Surrey decided she was “the one” as soon as they saw her and heard her story. Despite 20 years of telling Amanda he didn’t want a cat, Andrew went to pick her up during his lunch break the following day.
“There are lots of cats that need to be re-homed and lots of cats that don’t have disabilities, but we wanted to go the extra mile,” said Amanda. “When we read her story we wanted to give Ruby a loving home, and we knew we could give her the time and support she needed.”
When Ruby first arrived, she was very quiet and weak – but the couple say she turned a corner after two months. The RSPCA warned she might not be able to defend herself outside, but she has already chased three cats out of the garden and a fully grown fox. She has settled in a treat, and now sleeps in between Amanda and Andrew at night.
“She likes to hold on to your hand with her paw, and likes to know you are there,” said Amanda, who finds it “absolutely disgraceful” anyone could leave one of the illegal traps outside.
“It’s pure cruelty and evil,” she added. “We are very sad for what Ruby went through and it must have been very traumatic for her owners to have to give her up.”
But she said: “At least some good has come of it. She already has her Christmas stocking full up with a little array of toys – she likes little toys she can get her claws in. She is always bounding around on her three little legs. Everyone who comes to see her dotes on her because she is a special little girl and she needed a special home, and I hope that’s what we have given her.”
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