Disabled Persian cat gets refuge in US

Maloos pushed nuclear bombs and presidential screeds aside for a few days as she captivated pet lovers.

He was rescued a few weeks ago from a Tehran alley by the Sayeh Animal Guardians.  A woman who worked there, Sara, got a call from a friend reporting a cat that seemed stuck to the pavement.

Sara went to get Maloos.  She found an orange and white tabby, no more than two years old, but covered with mud, gasoline, wounds and abscesses. Maloos also had a piece of shrapnel in his cheek.  What’s more, he couldn’t walk.  His hind legs didn’t work and he could only drag himself around.

Sara gave him the name Maloos, meaning lovable.

Sayeh cleaned Maloos up and doctored his wounds.  But the problem  with the rear legs was beyond their limited facilities available at Sayeh.  Sayeh contacted San Francisco Animal Care & Control, which agreed to help.

With a human escort, Maloos was flown to San Francisco April 15.

The Frisco vets removed the shrapnel and then looked at the hind legs.  They believe Maloos was born with congenital deformities in his hips and hind legs.  The vets found the left hind leg was badly infected.  Treatment did not work and they had to amputate it.  Maloos is now a candidate for a feline wheelchair.

The staff says Maloos is doing remarkably well, considering the condition in which Sara found him.  He loves to play and gets along well with the other cats in the shelter, who do not bug him about nuclear weapons and chadors.

Maloos is available for adoption.

Deb Campbell, a spokeswoman for the shelter, said this was the first time a cat had ever been flown from oversees specifically to the shelter.  That happened only because Sara had a friend in San Francisco to make arrangements.

But the shelter sometimes finds cats with chips from far away begging questions about how they got to San Francisco.  One recent stray found in the area had a chip from Romania.