Meet Mercury. He was found just a few days old, the bulk of his front two legs missing. Now he's a half-grown kitten who scampers around like a tiny tabby T-Rex.


Laughing Squid reports that the couple that took him in suspects an accident with a weed whacker—:( :( :(—is to blame. But as you can see from photos and videos, he does a pretty good job of getting around. According to the Facebook group Raising Mercury:

The more he grew, the better he got at each one, and he can now run on most surfaces, climb stairs, jump on to and off the couch, and balance better than almost any other cat. Mercury does everything other cats do- he plays with toys, he jumps, plays with other cats and dogs, sleeps on the bed, uses a litter box, and believes he is the king of the world and should be worshiped.


His apparent reliance on his tail for balance gives him his faint dino look. "We still encourage Mercury to move his body in his way, and try to get him to do as much as he can on his own- carrying him around and doing things for him does not help him be a strong independent cat," they add. His adopters plan to investigate the possibility of prosthetics (maybe wheels) when he stops growing, though it's not clear they'll work. But so far he's got a clean bill of health and his spine is in good shape.

"For people that think that Mercury is sad, needs to be put down, or that keeping him alive is cruel, please simply leave, as this page is about celebrating a kitty overcoming adversity," the Facebook page says. "Mercury absolutely loves life, and has the most inquisitive personality."

Here he is playing in the snow. It's giving him a little trouble, but he looks no more traumatized than any other cat facing the snow for the first time: