Ok so after posting I decided the smartest idea was to take our new feline friend to the vet and get him checked out ASAP, in case his leg was indicative of something worse to come. I figured they would have to amputate and that we'd basically just establish this at that appointment. However, the vet told us that what most likely is wrong with his leg is that it got nerve damage, maybe from running from another animal or getting stuck somewhere and having to pull on his leg. He said our kitty could still feel in a couple toes, and so hopefully in the next few weeks, the nerves will heal themselves. That would mean no amputation and our cat would have 4 fully-functioning legs! However, there is a chance that he won't regain the use, and then it would have to be taken off. But for now, no amputation needed! While there, we did get him tested for all sorts of Feline diseases like FIV and Feline Lukemia and AIDs, all of which turned up negative for our sweetie! And we got him de-wormed and treated for a sinus infection, so hopefully within the next 2 weeks we will also get him through his first series of vaccinations. I was surprised to learn he is probably 3-4 months old by now!! Because he's been out on his own, he probably hasn't got the nourishment that he needed so we need to fatten him up! :)

Anyways, with this new kitty in our lives, I am reminded of all the pets we had as children, and I realized that pretty much every one of them were strays: Kato, the crazy cat who followed my oldest sister to and from school in SLC; Maddie, our stray golden retriever my mom found at a Christmas tree lot; Kitten Man, who was maybe not a stray, but we picked him up from the DC Animal Shelter; Bad Thing, beautiful fat tabby who wandered in our yard in VA for a couple days until we adopted her into our home; Lapin, the world's largest grumpy rabbit who was in our yard in PA (and probably wild but somehow we got him into a cage); and Garey, a feral who was abandoned by his mother at just a couple weeks old.

And now, with times being difficult, there are more strays than ever, and the shelters are filled to the brim with animals being brought in. People are even leaving animals at the dump! If I could offer any advice to anyone looking to buy a pet, I would say adopt! There are so so so many great pets available, either through a shelter adoption site like petfinder.org, or through local classifieds. You can get pretty much any kind of cat or dog, large or small, siamese or long hair, etc. through these services- After all, 25% of animals in shelters are purebred! Most of them come with routinized vaccines and spay/neutring, some even come micro-chipped so if you lose your pal, he/she can be returned to you. So it's actually far cheaper to adopt, and you're giving a beautiful animal a life it may not have had if you didn't stop by. Just with all the animals waiting to be adopted, there's no reason to buy from a pet store, who often use mills to churn out the animals in filthy, dangerous environments, often resulting in health complications down the road. The more and more animals that are produced, the more and more strays we have. Thus, neutering/spaying is important, and it's also important to save the animals we already have instead of producing more and more. 

And if you find a stray, do anything you can to NOT take it to a shelter, because as I mentioned, there's really never room for them, especially now, and a perfectly good animal will be put down because of it. Our kitty is a good example of this, because they'd probably see the leg and think "no one wants this cat" and it would be on the top of the list for euthanasia. However, he is still so vital, loving and perfectly fine, given some time to heal. He is such a darling, how could he be put down? So if you can, find a responsible friend to take it, keep it yourself or even an animal sanctuary, though not ideal is better than a shelter.

And may I also mention don't declaw your cat? Declawing is like cutting off the tips of your fingers. It's intrusive, it's de-feline-ating (like demasculating but for cats) and this whole conquering of a species with us thinking we are superior and can just take its limbs to convenience us is gross. And what if it goes outside accidentally and can't defend itself? Eww, just read the article.

Ok enough of my animal rights rant, but I don't see anything unreasonable with treating the animals we have with respect. Next time, we will be talking about wild animals and farm animals! :)