Dyed purple kitten rescued in South Bay after living as a live chew toy.
A tiny purple kitten in the South Bay (CA) is now looking forward to a better future after being dropped off at a Redwood City shelter this week.
The cat — nicknamed Smurf for his dark violet hue — was colored as a very young cat by a sort of undiluted garment dye intended for clothing. Vets found that the dye was more than just for show; it had been masking abrasions and deep bite marks. As Nine Lives Foundation shelter vet Monica Rudiger suggested to The Dodo, these types of injuries may be consistent with the practice of using very young kittens as live bait for dogs being trained to fight.
"In our area, cats are used as bait for pit bulls every day. It's just horrifying," Rudiger said. "That's why you don't offer free kittens out on the internet — they use them for whatever they want. I don't know what happened to him, but my best guess is that he was used as a chew toy."
"We have a cat with multiple puncture wounds and abrasions," Rudiger added. "He can't tell us what happened to him, but I've seen this before."
While it's too soon to tell if Smurf will fully recover, the shelter is optimistic. He'll be going into foster care next week, shortly after he has a procedure to fix a large wound. "This little guy will undergo surgery next week to repair the large wound on his right leg/ knee but all the other wounds are healing nicely!" the Foundation writes on its Facebook page.
For more on Smurf and other adoptable cats, visit Nine Lives Foundation's site: http://www.ninelivesfoundation.org/
At: http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets/dyed-purple-kitten-rescued-in-south-bay-after-living-as-a-live-chew-toy/ar-BBo4iiX?li=BBnbfcL
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There's Smurf on the right, with a fellow rescue:
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