Animal control returns family pet after amputating leg; family considers lawsuit

PORT RICHMOND (WPVI) -- "It's horrifying," said Kim Schmidt of Port Richmond. "Like, why?"

Schmidt's 16-year-old cat Stinky got out of the house Saturday night. When she located the long-hair mix on Monday at the city's Animal Care and Control Team shelter, she found out Stinky's right rear leg had been amputated.

"I lost it," said Schmidt. "The first thing I noticed is that she was shaved and she had no leg. I lost it"

Stinky was born with and learned to get around with a crooked curl on her back leg.

The shelter said when Stinky was brought in she didn't have any identification on her and she clearly had a medical issue with her foot.

"Her back hind leg was withered, it was malformed, and her paw was almost turned completely backwards," said Ame Dorminy of ACCT. "It appeared painful to us."

Schmidt said Stinky got around just fine on the leg, and there was no reason for the shelter to assume anything.

"First of all, places like that, if you're going to operate on something you should take an x-ray at least," said Schmidt. "Then they would have known it wasn't broken if they took the x-ray."

The shelter doesn't have an x-ray machine and officials said the amputation gave Stinky a better chance of being adopted rather than euthanized.

"You come to pick it up from the shelter and she's missing her leg. That's shocking," said Dorminy. "We feel sorry she had to go through that."

Schmidt said she hopes Stinky is able to make the adjustment.

"I'm wondering how she is going to do it," she said.

Kim Schmidt is considering legal action even though the shelter said it was within its rights.

Right now, Stinky is still recovering from surgery and learning to walk on three legs

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