Veterinarian reunites with cat he calls worst case of animal abuse he's ever seen

HOUSTON - Not only did someone intentionally put bands on a kitten’s feet, the person responsible wanted to watch her suffer for weeks.

"This person had to feed this kitten because she was probably five weeks or six weeks old when the bands were placed," said Dr. Max Heimlich with Stuebner Airline Veterinary Hospital.

It would be another five weeks before she was found and brought to Dr. Heimlich.

"Whoever did this watched the feet strangulation and the skin start falling off and eventually the bones were all that was left,” said Heimlich.

When FOX 26 News first met Pogo the cat in June 2017, you could see her bones which looked like sticks. Three of her feet were amputated at the ankle area.

Even with just one leg and one paw, Pogo is living her life like any other cat, meaning everything is, of course, on her terms.

Some veterinarians would have looked at Pogo back in 2017 and decided to put her to sleep and it would have been understandable, but not Heimlich.

"It was a bad situation, but I don’t know, I just felt that this kitty deserved a chance,” said Heimlich. “I can’t tell you why it’s just what I felt in my heart.”

In a prepared statement, Pogo the cat tells FOX 26 that big-hearted veterinarians like Dr. Heimlich are the cat’s meow.