The brown tabby was recently rescued after getting her leg trapped between two slats in the side of a rubbish bin near the Clyde Fire Station.
She was rescued by a firefighter after he heard her distressed meows for help.
She was taken to a vet clinic in Cromwell with a badly injured right hind leg, which was eventually amputated because of severe infection.
But it certainly does not seem to be holding her back in any way, shape or form.
Up until recently, the three-legged moggy was looked after by the SPCA, and it was there that she came to the attention of Dunedin veterinary nurse Matthew Foxglove — her new “human dad”.
“She just needed a bit of help and a new home, and we could give her that, so we took her in.”
One of the main reasons his family adopted Penelope was because they lost two of their cats to illness last year.
“So there was a hole in our family that needed to be filled.
“She might not be whole, but she fills that hole really well.”
“She slowly came out of her shell and she’s found a best friend in our other tabby cat — they’re nearly inseparable. They’re always getting up to mischief.
“She’s quite boisterous now. She’s tearing around the place like nobody’s business at the moment. She’s very much made herself at home.”
Despite only having three legs now, Penelope was taking the ordeal in her stride, he said.
“You wouldn’t know that she’s missing a leg.
“She’s got no trouble climbing up the door climbers and getting to the highest point in the house. She has no fear of heights.
“I think instead of using up one of her nine lives, she traded a leg for it.
“We couldn’t imagine life without her now.”
