At least that is the case with Sam, a three-legged cat that showed up at the Temple Animal Services facility in the late fall with a mysterious injury, and now lives there as one of the shelter’s mascot animals.

D.J. Ortman, a wildlife rehabilitator in the Moody area who often takes on special needs animals from the shelter, met the orange tabby cat shortly after it arrived.

At the time, it was recovering from an apparent, partial amputation of its right foreleg and had a long row of sutures along the wound.

“I went in one Saturday and there was this little orange kitty about 2 months old that had a long incision on its leg and body,” she said.

Walter Hetzel, supervisor of Animal Services, said the shelter kept the cat, hoping the owner would show up and claim him. But no one did, in spite of the fact that the cat obviously had some veterinary care.

“Nobody really knew its story,” Ms. Ortman said, adding that someone had invested money in the cat for the surgery. That surgery, she said though, had possibly been botched.

“I told them (the shelter) I would take him home for his recovery period,” she said. “Once we brought him home, we could tell that whoever had cut his leg off had not done a good job.”

She said the incision seemed too long for just an amputation and the bone from the leg’s remnant had begun to poke through the skin.

Ms. Ortman took the kitten to her own vet, who amputated the rest of the leg and the scapula (shoulder blade). Ms. Ortman said the exposed bone did not appear to have been sawed off, but was jagged as if it had been broken.

Over the next four months, Ms. Ortman kept the kitten, helping it through a slow recovery period.

“I kept the stitches clean and dry,” she said. “I had to carry him around a little bit because he would get weak - and I just kind of babied him.”

During this time, she became attached to the cat and had named him Sam.

Sam improved over time, she said, and as he gained strength, he proved to be very nimble. To Ms. Ortman though, that was a bittersweet time, since the cat’s recovery meant it was time for him to return to the shelter.

“I knew he was ready to go when he could jump from the floor to the bed,” she said. “Before that I had to put him on the bed.”

Even though Ms. Ortman normally returns domestic animals to the shelter for adoption, this time, she asked Hetzel for a special favor.

“When I took him back I asked Walter (Hetzel) special permission to make him the ‘store cat’ and he said he would try him out.”

Hetzel said that at the time Sam came back to the shelter, they did not have a cat mascot. He said Sam passed his test with flying colors.

“Within a day or two it had already become one of the ‘shelter people’ along with our other dogs we have here,” Hetzel said, referring to Sarah and Sandy, two “mascot” pugs living at the shelter.

“He’s playful with them, napping with them. He greets all of our customers appropriately and never gets mean to anybody,” Hetzel said.

He confirmed that the cat has not let lack of a front leg hinder his mobility.

“In spite of the fact he’s only got one front leg, he can jump up on the countertop and run up and down the halls with the dogs - and keep up with them,” Hetzel said. “And he loves, on occasion, to go into our cat room and just visit with our other cats that are in there.”

But in the same way that cats are believed to have nine lives, Sam seems to be growing a collection of names.

Hetzel said that, in addition to his given name, Sam is also known by a number of other names as well.

“He’s been called Sammy, has been called Tripod and he’s been called Trey,” he said. “And he’s been called ‘damn cat’ a few times.

“(Ms. Ortman) knew this was an extraordinarily good cat,” Hetzel said. “He is well behaved, loves to be around people, adapts well to meeting other animals of all species and is just all around a good pet.

“I think it’s amazing that he has adapted so well,” Hetzel said. “He’s a real character.”