Cat Found With Firecrackers Rubber-Banded To Her Paw Expected To Make Full Recovery

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- An injured cat is recovering after someone strapped firecrackers to its paw after a good Samaritan found the animal and got it to safety.

Doctors and staff at the Humane Animal Rescue on the North Side have named the cat "Pickels" because of her green eyes.

RELATED: Horrific Animal Cruelty: Cat's Leg Amputated After Someone Rubber-Banded Firecrackers To Her Paw

"Pickels" was taken to the Humane Animal Rescue Friday night and she was in pretty bad shape.

Someone had tied firecrackers to her left paw with rubber bands and set them off. Dr. Destiny Coleman speculates it probably happened around the Fourth of July.

"Her bones and her tendons were all exposed, she didn't have any nails left. It was infested with maggots, so it was dead tissue. It was not going to be revitalized."

So on Saturday, Dr. Coleman made the decision to amputate the animal's left leg.

Ken Skepanski and his wife found the 3-year-old cat in their Stowe Township neighborhood and got it to the clinic.

"We seen it was injured and we didn't want any kind of animal running around like that," Skepanski said.

Dr. Coleman is hopeful for a full recovery.

"She is doing amazingly well, very social, she is eating, walking around, that paw wasn't working for her before this, so she was already used to three legs which makes for an easier transition for her," Dr. Coleman said.

The agency's Humane Officer is investigating animal cruelty and needs more information to bring the person responsible to justice.

In the meantime, hundreds of phone calls and messages on social media have been coming in, all wanting to adopt "Pickles."

She will be available for adoption in about a week at the Humane Animal Rescue on the North Side.