Indy is a polydactyl kitten, a genetic mutation that causes her to have 6 toes instead of 5. As a result, she appears to have large bear paws, which makes her very cute. But this anomaly caused difficulty walking after birth.

One of Indy’s legs was deformed during the pregnancy

Because of his supernumerary toes, Indy has very large legs. The problem is that the space for the kittens in the mother’s stomach is very limited, and one of the paws onIndy was twisted.

“She was born with a bent front leg. The legs of polydactyl cats are too large in utero and can lead to abnormal arm flexion when there is not enough space“, have explained Jacqueline DeAmorthe founder of the shelter Friends for Life Rescue Networkat lovemeow.

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Unfortunately, Indy was part of a very large litter. “So there wasn’t enough room to accommodate the size of his paw. This caused the tendons to lock up.“

Massages and stretches to straighten the paw

The problem withIndy was taken seriously as soon as he arrived at the shelter, at the age of 4 weeks. This early treatment made it possible to correct the deformity by physiotherapy without having to go through surgery.

“This can be corrected with massage and stretching as a newborn in the first weeks of life […] Four weeks was the ideal age to stretch and correct the leg before its bones calcified and the tendons became too short to stretch.“, have explained Jacqueline.

The joy of finally being able to run free

For about a week, Indy had a bandage on the paw, and massage for 10 minutes after each meal. The treatment worked really well and the bandage could be removed.

Now the little cat can run around and have fun like all her friends and she’s having a field day. She is full of energy and “loves to jump, chase things and fight with toys.“

The intrepid cat with bear paws must continue the massages, but she can now live full of adventure!