Ming Loy's Page - By LDG

Name: Ming Loy

Sex: Female

Year of Birth: 2004

Breed: Domestic Shorthair

Fur Color: Black

Eye Color: Gold

Ming Loy was born with cerebellar hypoplasia. It basically means her brain was scarred, and she's physically handicapped because of it. In Ming Loy, it is best described as she looks like a drunk with Parkinson's. She wobbles and shakes, but as she's grown, she's really quite good at controlling her movement. She can't jump, but she can climb. :) She doesn't let it get her down in the least - though when she gets excited, we get a little worried that she's going to shake apart!

Other than when sleeping, she is almost constantly in motion! She LOVES to play - and has finally learned to love pets. She's just recently (November 2007) become a lap kitty. :)

Arrival Story:

Ming Loy and her sister were literally thrown away. Garbage men found them in a plastic bag and took them to a county shelter. Our shelter took "left overs" from the county shelter. We had two hours to get them or they were going to be euthanized. We got them to the vet hospital, where they were named "Neuro" and "Logic" by the vet staff because they were both born with a neurological disorder, Cerebellar Hypoplasia.

The way our vet put it is that their brains were scarred. In these two, the result is a condition where their back legs don't work so well, they walk with their front legs rather stiff, and they shake when they get excited. Her older sister (Logic) doesn't have the conditions as bad as Ming Loy (formerly Neuro). But the result is so cute and comical - and it doesn't bother her in the least (although I'm sure she would prefer it if she could jump).

She was so bad off when we first brought her home that we had to pad the entire house. We had pillows and foam rubber everywhere. Any corner (wooden chests), pointy thing (rocking chairs) - pillows under anything she might climb up on, loads of padding at the bottom of the stairs.... It looked like a stereotypical "looney bin" in our home for six - eight months until she could control her muscles better.

She can't jump - but she can climb. I cannot tell you the heart attack we nearly had the first time we woke up to find her on top of a rather tall cat tree! She's great at going up - but not so great at going down. She's learned her limits (thank God!) and now won't climb further than she can safely get down.

She is a snuzzler, LOVES to play - and just has an indefatiguable happy attitude about life!

Favorite Food & Treats:

ANYTHING This girl LOVES food!

Anything moving - including the other cats LOL, and she has become a complete catnip freak! She also LOVES boxes, paper bags, and her crinkle tubes.