A kitty badly injured during the Florida Hurricans has found a loving home. From the Ledger (FL):
Tipsy the cat, whose hind leg was mangled beyond repair by falling debris during Hurricane Charley, was one of the lucky animal refugees from Polk County's three destructive 2004 storms.In August, in the aftermath of the first of the three storms, the gray tabby was found injured in woods south of Bartow -- a small, scrawny kitten.
"Tipsy was very fragile," said Dr. Jerry Rayburn, the Winter Haven veterinarian who amputated Tipsy's leg, took her home for nursing and kept her. "You know," Rayburn said, "once you bring them in your home . . ."
Despite a hitch in her getalong, Tipsy is fast on her three feet. She angles around remarkably well, bounding up and down the stairs in a beautiful lakefront home full of affection for her, two dogs and four other cats. All of them are former strays.
While some pets separated from their human families by hurricanes met happy endings, plenty of other pet casualties from the hurricanes did not fare as well as Tipsy. Lost pets seemed to fare better during Hurricane Charley than the subsequent two storms, according to rescue workers.
For Charley, the county set up an emergency animal shelter for wayward pets on U.S. 17, next to the county's makeshift emergency operations center. The shelter took in 322 animals -- mostly dogs -- but also cats, ducks, rabbits, chickens, pigs, lizards and turtles.
After several months' work, all but 30 of the dogs orphaned during Charley have found homes, said Donna Seiler, a Polk County Sheriff's Office animal services investigator.
Tipsy and Dr. Rayburn