Deformed cats have a special place in Manitou beer garden

[The Straight Story]

Deformed cats have a special place in Manitou beer garden

MANITOU SPRINGS, CO • Tripod — you’ll soon find out why someone named this cat “Tripod” — glowered warily from a safe distance, ignoring the morsel of fried chicken goodness.

Clearly, we were not to be trusted.

The cat’s skittishness was understandable. He had been trapped before. And when many customers at the Townhouse Lounge see him, their first reaction is: “This cat has been hurt. It needs to be trapped and taken to a veterinarian.”

Tripod’s stray-cat strut may be a little awkward on three legs, but he manages OK. So does litter-mate Nubbins, hobbling around with a missing front paw. And Annie Hieser-Busch, missing a length of tail.

They are not the victims of a fox or coyote, but of rampant inbreeding among feral cats. Their mother was probably malnourished and breeding repeatedly, experts say. The deformed kittens wandered up to the Townhouse on Manitou Avenue at 5 weeks old.

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They scuttle around the patio, stay warm in the rocks behind the lounge or other hidey-holes. Sometimes they catch critters or birds. Tripod even climbs trees.

“He doesn’t know he doesn’t have a leg,” Johns said. “He doesn’t know he’s handicapped.”


Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/manitou-106748-garden-place.html#ixzz14VWjbSK9