Three-legged Daventry cat ‘brings town together’

A three-legged cat has captured a town’s imagination with his appearances in shops and offices.

The people of Daventry, Northamptonshire, love taking photographs of the 14-year-old feline and documenting his travels on social media.

Funds have been raised to buy a street sign with his name on it, and souvenir Salem T-shirts could follow.

His owner has been delighted by all the attention, but said people keep feeding him treats because they think he is a stray.

Salem’s owner, Erin Hills, said she still did not know exactly why he ended up with three legs: “A lady found him hobbling about, who then took him to Vets for Pets and they put a post on Facebook saying ‘Is this anybody’s cat?’ and it was Salem.

“When I went to see him at the vets, he’d broken his leg in several places and it was decided it was better to have it amputated.”

The removal of one of his front legs has not stopped Salem from wandering around the town centre and visiting his favourite haunts.

Ms Hills originally set up Salem’s very own Facebook page so people could let her know where the cat was, and soon everyone was keeping an eye out for him and posting about their sightings.

It now has 2,700 members.

Pat Roberts, who lives in the nearby village of Long Buckby, said: “The first time I saw him, he was sitting outside Nationwide, and I thought ‘that’s so cute – sitting there waiting for them to open their door’.”

She visits Daventry every week and goes “on a Salem trail” to track him down.

He turns up in shops, banks, estate agents, hairdressers and all kinds of places, and he is welcome in most of them.

Becky Lane, who lives in town, said: “You sometimes get cats that are quite aloof, he’s not.

“He’s got time for everybody – he’s brought the town together.

“I suffer from illnesses and disabilities and some days, I look at Salem and [think] ‘you’ve got three legs and you can do it, I’ve got two legs and they both work so let’s just carry on”.

His owner said the only problem was that some people insist on feeding him treats, which are often junk food and could make the 14-year-old cat ill.

Money has been raised to buy a street sign with Salem’s name on, so it can be put on display in Daventry, and plans were being made for cat-related community projects.