Head mouser of now defunct KCPD Mounted Patrol needs medical treatment

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A member of the now defunct Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department’s Mounted Patrol needs help.

Tommy, a 16-year-old cat, has developed two tumors in less than a year. Now, a retired KCPD police officer is fighting to make sure her former partner gets the care he deserves.

Tommy was on the force, literally. No, he never caught criminals, but he caught plenty of mice at the police department’s stables while patrolling the barn.

“He was the head mouser,” said retired KCPD Officer Stacey Gareis. “He would keep mice from coming into the barn and getting into the sacks of food that the horses were fed.”

In 2019, the city closed the mounted division and Tommy was adopted. But then, his health started failing last year.

“Tommy had a tumor on his abdomen that we removed a few months ago,” said veterinary technician Lucas Theroff. “He had another one that grew in. We would like to take it off him, but we would like to first send this to the lab to figure out what is going on with him and find out if it’s cancer.”

Recently, Gareis started looking for answers. Her veterinarian, Dr. Anthony Tarantino at Blue Ridge Animal Clinic, found an organization that could help.

“It’s called freeanimaldoctor.org,” said Gareis. “When you go to the website, you can find Tommy’s picture and click on the ‘donate’ button. You can donate as little as $3.50 up to $250.”

The nonprofit, unlike other crowdfunding platforms, only pays donations to the animal’s veterinarian or other medical service provider. As of Tuesday, $1,365 of $2,200 has been raised. However, depending on the results of his lab work, the total needed for Tommy’s procedures could go up significantly.

“We do deal with a lot of tumors and stuff but, typically, the ones that we see that come back a lot are mass cell tumors,” Theroff said. “We’re not sure that’s what this is, so that’s why we would like to send this away to find out what’s going on with him.”

It will take about a week for his lab results to return. Meanwhile, Gareis said she’ll continue fighting for one of her former colleagues.

“He helped all of us,” Gareis said. “He even had his own name tag. He was just an amazing cat and he loved everybody. We’re not going to turn our back on him.”

If you would like to donate to the campaign, you can visit freeanimaldoctor.org and find Tommy’s campaign. You can also click here to access it.

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