A long road to recovery lies ahead of Hope the cat, as she underwent surgery on July 31 to amputate an injured paw.

The tiny black cat has already made quite a harrowing journey to be where she is today, and thanks to the kindness of Sylvia Kolada and her family and friends, she is getting the treatment she needs.

Kolada first encountered the tiny black cat on July 9, when she noticed her limping with a wounded leg in her backyard. Kolada put food and water out for the cat, as well as a pet carrier for shelter.

“We contacted the Thompson Humane Society for assistance, and then we were in touch with Animal Control,” said Kolada, “they (Animal Control) told us that for a cat with an injury it was most likely that the cat would be put down, so we decided to seek out other options.”

Kolada’s friend Carla DiVirgilio was house and pet-sitting for Kolada on July 15 and noticed the cat had come back again. DiVirgilio put out food and water and made sure a shelter was set up, but was still unable to capture the cat.

Dave Green, Kolada’s fiancée, went to the city on July 16 and paid a $50 deposit to set up an animal trap, and on July 18, Hope the cat was captured and brought to the vet.

“She was examined and we were told that she was malnourished and weighed only 1.7 kilograms, and that she was around one year old but it was hard to tell,” said Kolada, “we were also told that her paw was not broken but may have had nerve damage.”

The cat received further X-rays and it was determined that her paw was dislocated. Dr. Bingham attempted to put the paw back in place but was unsuccessful. The X-rays were forwarded to a surgeon in Winnipeg who determined that the best option was to have the paw amputated.

The possibility of reconstructive surgery to save the paw could have been performed, had the injury been spotted within two weeks of its occurrence. Due to the length of time the paw was injured the option to reconstruct it was ruled out.

Kolada’s friend, Kristyne Phillips has been helping to care for Hope and has been raising money for the cat’s veterinary bills. To date, $850 has been raised in the cat’s trust account that was opened at Scotia Bank. Money has been raised through community donations, selling of surplus clothes, purses and jewellery from Kolada’s closet, as well as clothing that ladies from the community have donated.

All proceeds of Mrs. Myers cleaning supplies for the last few weeks sold through Maid to Clean have also gone towards helping the injured feline.

Phillips has created a Facebook page entitled “Hope for Hope, and a garage/bake sale is being held on Aug 3 and Aug 4, and a number of locations including, Nanny's Diner

Salon Italia, Crossroad Lanes, MLCC Liquor Mart, the I Scream Shack, and Beastly Boutique have put out donation cans.

Anyone that would like to donate items for the garage sale can contact Sylvia Kolada at: (204) 778-6243 or text (204) 679-0048.