Kitten nicknamed ‘Unicorn’ is as rare as he is adorable. Here’s why he’s so special
Staff at a foster-focused cat rescue were in for a lucky treat when they rescued a mom and her five kittens found underneath a shed in northern Colorado.
They soon learned one of the kittens was unlike any they’d ever rescued in their decade of work, which NoCo Kitties cat rescue founder Davida duPont calls a “labor of love.”
“You know, I think I have a unicorn here,” Alli McGish told duPont, meaning the foster coordinator believed she was fostering a male calico cat — a genetic anomaly so rare that only one in 3,000 calicos are male, according to estimates by veterinary experts.
Both volunteer veterinarians at the rescue confirmed the kitten was male and a calico.
“Neither of them have ever seen a Unicorn Kitty in all their years of practicing,” duPont told McClatchy News.
So naturally they nicknamed him Unicorn. At 11 weeks old and weighing only 2 pounds, the kitten won’t be neutered or adopted until he’s closer to 2.5 pounds, likely in three or four weeks, duPont said.
Even so, they’ve already received 412 applications as of April 25, duPont said. That’s more than 15 times the 20 or 25 applications they would typically receive for a popular breed, such as a Siamese, she said.
“I’m getting them from around the country, as far as Florida, California, Maine, people saying ‘I will fly out there and get him’,” duPont said.
But duPont doesn’t want to auction Unicorn off to the highest bidder. She’s determined to find the perfect home for the special kitten, so she’s narrowed the applications down to about 20 that she plans to conduct thorough background checks, veterinary checks and most likely home visits.
And she had to stop accepting new adoption applications for Unicorn because of the overwhelming demand, she said.
The rescue’s typical adoption fees are $195, but duPont said those vying for Unicorn have already offered more. So NoCo Kitties is accepting donations in his name that will help the rescue outfit a low-cost spay and neuter clinic and benefit the trap, neuter and release (TNR) program they work with, duPont said.
“We just thought how incredibly unusual and what fun it is,” duPont told the Coloradoan.
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