Toby

This is Toby.

Toby Montana.

There are a few things that make Toby stand out in our home.

One, he is a boy.  He is our only male pet.

Two, he only has three legs.

I first met Toby at Kellogg Pet Medical Center.  He had been brought in while I was employed at KPMC.  Toby lived in Montana, and had been caught in a trap.  The neighbors of his owner found him, and brought him to Dr. Andy at the vet clinic to get fixed up.  By the time he arrived, Toby's leg that had been caught in the trap was very infected, so it had to be amputated.

So Toby lived at the clinic.  And I, along with many others, became very attached to Toby.  At the time we had three cats, and weren't really looking for a fourth.  But Toby couldn't be adopted by just anyone, and I came to believe that our home was the home for him.  So we decided to adopt Toby and have him join our home.  Toby was my one and only "casualty" from working at the vet clinic. (That is, I only adopted one pet from there while employed there.)

It was interesting watching Toby adapt to only having three legs.  It really didn't slow him down one bit.

We have a six foot high fence in our backyard.  He can easily jump to the top of the fence.

Come spring, we would often find dead birds in our backyard.  We were never sure which of our cats was the culprit.

Then one day, I saw Toby stalking a bird under our trampoline, and then catch it.  He was fast!!

But that wasn't the best bird catching story.  A couple summers ago I was out in the backyard, and there were some baby birds flying around by one area of the fence.  Toby was crouched down between our raised beds, and was watching the birds, and had been watching them for quite some time.  All of a sudden, it perfect rhythm, Toby leaps up to the top of the fence, grabs one of the birds with his only remaining front paw, puts it in his mouth, and jumps back into the yard, and starts to take the bird away.  I, of course, start frantically yelling at him to drop the bird, which he did.  It was as if I had my own, live, "Wild Kingdom" show being filmed in my own backyard.

Toby is fearless.  He isn't afraid of people, dogs, or other cats.  He did get into a fight with a neighbor cat a few years ago, and was pinned behind a bush in our front yard.  He was punctured on the top of the head, and really started bleeding.  Paul scooped him up and rushed him to the vet clinic.  Toby's blood loss looked much worse than it actually was.....he was fixed up in no time.

He does like having his own small dish to eat out of instead of sharing the self-feeder with the other cats.  Every morning he waits for me to fill his special dish.

Toby is one great cat, with a great personality.  I'm so glad he came and joined our family.