After taking in cats and babies from all over Colorado and the states around it for five years, a rescue has found its first unicorn.
This year, a male calico kitten was born in a shed in Weld County. The owner gave the kitten to the Weld County Humane Society, which then gave it to NoCo Kitties, a Loveland-based rescue that focuses on fostering.
The kitten's foster mom, who was a worker for NoCo Kitties, took in the little calico cat, his mom, and his four brothers, two of whom were also calico.
Soon after she got the litter, she thought he was a boy, but she wanted to be sure. Only one out of every 3,000 calico babies is a boy.
Two vets agreed that the kitten is a boy. It was the first time the vets, Dupont, or Magish had ever seen a male calico cat.
"We just thought it was so strange and fun," said a person who also said that male calicos are often called "unicorn cats" because they are so rare.
The kitten, who is now 11 weeks old, has been given the name "Unicorn" for now. Magish called him Charlie Unicorn as a reference to the popular YouTube animation "Charlie the Unicorn."
NoCo Kitties usually charges $195 to adopt a kitten, but Unicorn is likely to get more attention.
NoCo Kitties wants to raise money for his adoption, which is likely to happen as soon as he weighs enough to be spayed.
"We will probably get a lot of money for him," Person said, "but we want him to go to the best home, which isn't always the highest bidder."