Two months of freedom. That was the dream. For Blaze, a high-priced Savannah cat who bolted from his owner in May, the adventure ended in a sterile clinic. He survived the wild. He lost a paw.
Rescuers finally cornered the runaway in Bramerton, Norfolk. He was five miles from home, lurking near a residential garden. Kevin Murphy of Norfolk Wildlife Rescue handled the extraction. It wasn’t pretty. The cat was skinny, battered, and sporting a mangled front leg.
Vets at Taverham found metal fragments in the wound. The paw was dangling. It was useless. They cut it off. Murphy called the loss a shame, but noted the animal was otherwise in decent shape.
Catching him was hell. Blaze escaped last year, too. He knew the traps. He was cage-shy. Murphy missed him at first when the cat vanished from a garden plant pot. A lucky tip from a neighbor down the road sealed the deal.
The public helped. Dozens of calls tracked his movements since his first June sighting near the A146. He is safe now. The wandering is over. Three legs will have to do.
