Rescue Raising Money to Help Cat Born with No Hips: 'Never Seen a Cat with This Condition Before'

The 7-month-old cat, Phoebe, was surrendered by her owner, who could not afford her vet bills

An animal shelter in the U.K. is working hard to get a kitten with special needs on all fours.

Earlier this month, Severn Valley Rescue — a nonprofit animal rescue in Shropshire, England — started a GoFundMe for 7-month-old Phoebe, a black cat born with no hips.

"We have never seen a cat with this condition before, it is extremely rare, and we need expert specialist veterinary advice for the best way forward," Amanda Ball, the founder of Severn Valley Rescue, tells PEOPLE.

The shelter's initial goal was to raise £3,000 (around $3,792) to help pay for the feline's X-rays, CT scans, and orthopedic consultation. As of Monday afternoon, the shelter had raised £3,465 to put towards Phoebe's care.

The additional money raised will be used for vet bills and surgery if Phoebe is deemed a good candidate.

"Phoebe will now have further X-rays and a full CT Scan," Ball says. "We know from basic X-rays that she has all the correct leg bones in the correct places, but she is missing her hip joints. Her legs are also pulled into a stretched position by muscles or ligaments (hyperextension), so her legs appear to be backward — we need to do a CT scan to find out which muscles and ligaments they can be operated on without losing the function of her legs."

Ball added that "any major surgery will have to wait until Phoebe has stopped growing at 12 months old, in May 2024."

On the fundraiser page, Ball noted, "We want to stress — she is not in any pain, so putting her to sleep is not something we will consider. We do, however, want to improve her quality of life if we can."

Per Ball, Phoebe primarily gets around on her front legs for now. "She is very wobbly on her back legs, and she does fall over quite a bit," she says. "She does not have much muscle in those legs and uses her front half to carry her around."

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Phoebe was surrendered to the shelter after her owner couldn't afford the kitten's vet bills. Now, the shelter is hopeful that they'll be able to "get this beautiful little creature back on all four feet again," Ball said, per the BBC.

The kitten, named after Phoebe Buffay from the sitcom Friends, "is an extremely loving and brave kitten and funny kitten," Ball says. "She purrs ALL the time. She loves trying to cuddle up with my rescue Cockerpoo 'Doggo' and my three-legged spaniel 'Peggy,' and watches Friends all the time (hence the name)," the rescue founder shares.

On Monday, Ball shared a post on the shelter's Facebook page thanking everyone for their generous donations.

"Wow Wow Wow!" she wrote. "We did it, we raised the £3000 to get her treatment off the ground and Phoebe on the way to a better way of life."

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Ball added that Phoebe's right hind leg is worse than her left, so the first step for her vet is working on helping her leg become "stronger and stable."

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"We have increased the fundraising target whilst the momentum is going strong as this will help pay for future surgery after all the diagnostic work is complete," Ball concluded her post. "Again — we can't thank you enough for helping this beautiful little kitten. It's made us all very emotional at the rescue."

Phoebe is just beginning her journey — which will continue to be shared on Severn Valley Rescue's Facebook page — but Ball hopes the kitten will find her forever home in the future.

She adds, "We are hoping that once Phoebe is leading an active and normal life, she will find a loving indoor home, but this could be years away as she could need lots of surgery and therapy (physio and hydro) over the next two years or more."

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