A thread for our 'disabled' kitties

My disabled kitty is my little Maggie. I feel bad because I think that Maggie started out normal, but because of something that I did, which I didn't know about until it was too late, she's 'not right'.

I should start at the beginning. I work in the operating room. In the O.R. we use drape sheets on the patients to make a sterile surgical field. They are constructed of paper with a fire retardant coating, to prevent burns from occuring in the O.R. from our cautery or fiberoptic equipment. Often, we open these drape sheets and they aren't used. Everyone loves to bring them home because they are huge, and they make wonderful drapes for painting or other projects. I have boxes of them in my basement and use them under my litter pans to help contain the mess. I also used them to protect the hardwood floor of the room I kept Maggie in when she was 8 weeks old and quarantined for two weeks after I adopted her.

When Maggie was about 3 months old, she had a bout of Idiopathic Vestibular Disease that scared the bejeebers out of me. She walked in circles, fell down continually and had terrible nystagmus. It cleared up within a week or so, but I've never forgotten how terrible it was. After her ordeal with IVD, she seemed to become terribly skittish and nervous. She would run when quick movements or loud noises startled her. She developed a fascination with chewing....especially electrical cords. She still can't seem to leave an electrical cord alone. She's afraid of everyone and everything except me.

A couple of years ago, one of the guys that I work with decided to breed his Jack Russel terriers. They had 6 puppies. The kennel was lined with the paper drape sheets from work. All six puppies died within a couple of hours after birth. A friend of his, who also had puppies born around the same time, lost all of her puppies. They were also born on the paper drape sheets, given to her by my friend from work. All we can think of is that they succumbed to the fire retardant that is incorporated in the drape sheets.

I really think this is the reason that my sweet Maggie isn't 'right'. She was older, and her nervous system was much more developed, so she didn't die when she was exposed to the drape sheets. However, I think she might have been damaged neurologically from the chemical exposure. I often wonder if that is what caused the vestibular disease, instead of a virus like my vet suggested.

I do feel guilty that I might have hurt her. I wish I could go back in time and do it all over again. Regardless, I love her with all my heart....my little drippy drooler, kneader and purrer.

Damage to the inner ear can easily do the same thing, though! If she had an inner-ear infection, it could've caused problems and permanently messed up her balance... Anyway, even if it was the drapes, it's not like you could've known.

The shelter where I help out on Sundays has got a few special kitties--a couple of tailless cats, a couple missing an eye, a few with health problems, three or four very shy or semiferal cats... Most are quite healthy, but it's hard to tell who's got special needs and who doesn't--they are all equally mischievous!

Now this is the kinda thread for me! I have a special place in my heart for special needs animals....

Lets start with Weeble....

Several years ago I was working at local animal shelter. I came acoss weeble one day. I noticed her little head would tremble when she would get excited. I also started to notice that she didn't have the best coordination. She couldnt even scratch her own ear... So i asked my supervisor what was wrong with her. She said she had cerebelluar hypoplasia. I started researching it. When I found out what it was I fell in love with her even more. (Basically her mother most likely had feline panleukopenia while she was pregnant. This caused little weebles cerebellum to not develop fully. Thats why she cant control her movements very well) So my DH and I decided that we would foster her. Even though she was just a little baby, that cage wasn't big enough for her to run around and better develop her coordination. When I brought her home, my DH fell in love with her. He saw her trying to scratch her ear and she just couldn't get it to work. So he leaned down and said "I'll scratch your ear for you" And it was all down hill from there. We were living in an apartment at the time that was two levels. The stairs didn't have a solid hand rail and we knew little weeeble would fall right off of it so we had to nail up sheets. We put couches and chairs under the windows so that she could look out the windows and to protect her when she falls. You just cant help but love a weeble... I would have a million more of her. She is the most entertaining cat ever. (Oddly she is also the alpha of the house now)

Next came Neville

Nevilles complete story is too long to post so I will keep it as short as possible. Neville has Osteogenesis imperfecta. (Also known as brittle bone disease) The same shelter I got weeble from, had Neville. They didn't know what was wrong with him. All they knew was that he suddenly stop walking and couldn't find a reason. They thought he was dieing. I wasn't going to let this sweet little boy go without having known what a home was. So I took him home to make him comfortable in his last days. Well... two weeks later he was up and walking. The shelter couldn't adopt him out since he had some defect and weren't sure what it was, so I took him. About a year later is when he had his first fracture. His back right leg. He got it jumping off the kitchen counter top. We thought it was a fluke. That he had just landed wrong. About 6-8 months later, we realized it wasn't... It was dinner time and when Neville came over to his food bowl he was limping and crying. We have no idea to this day how it happened, but he broke his other leg. We took him to a specialist to find out what was wrong. I will not name this specialist because when they were getting ready to xray his left leg, they let him jump off the table and he broke his right leg again. So now both of nevilles back legs were broken. They did surgery to repair his right leg for free (after some convincing and mentioning of law suits and media) Neville has since recovered from those fractures. I order to keep Neville safe, we have constructed a HUGE crate for when he can't be closely supervised. This crate occupies half a room and was put together using several extra large dog crates. Neville is about 3 and 1/2 years old and has been through more then most cats, but his will to live amazes me. He has never given up on himself. He ALWAYS is happy to eat, loves to be loved and has no idea his differant in any way. However, this last fracture took over a year to heal completely. I know if he fractures a back leg again, it won't heal at all. So it has been decided that if it happens, it will be Nevilles time. Amputation would only buy him time until his next fracture and he would have to deal with the pain of recovery. I can't put this sweet boy through that kind of pain anymore.

Then came Maneki Neko...

This fat cat had flea soooo bad that he had to have a blood transfusion. His previous owner couldn't afford it so he surrendered him to the vets office I work at now and I adopted him. I paid for the transfusion and all of his other medical bills. He now has autoimmune hemolytic anemia. He has to take steriods every other day to keep his body from killing itself.

And lastly there's little Cillian...

Cillian was hit by a car when he was only a couple of weeks old. Both of his back legs were broken. He had to have pins put in by a specialist. A very nice woman who had seen him get hit brought him but couldn't afford surgery for him... So like always he would up with me. He's now about 7 months old and the sweetest little thing ever. I wouldn't trade him for the world. He is a mommas boy. EVERYWHERE I go, he goes. He gets around just like any normal cat now...

Sorry for the long post, I just love my differant babies...

My baby girl Leya is blind!

She went blind because of too much anaesthesia when we got her spayed. She's such a good girl and so smart and brave. It really makes you think about how an animal can just deal with the "disability" as if it was nothing. It makes me feel ashamed when I think of humans and how much we complain about small temporary things.....She's a ray of light to everyone who meets her.

I didn't have to change the house much at all. Of course, I am careful of the things I leave on the floor, or under things she might jump on. The only thing I really did for her is put netting on the stairs so she wouldn't walk off the second story floor. She has ran into the netting several times and every time I am so happy that I have it up!

I've never experienced a special kitty and reading your stories touches my heart. How wonderful that you have committed yourselves to these wonderful creatures God gave us.

I love that picture of him! I don't know if you noticed, but that is a picture of him after the first fracture. You can see his big splint....

He always sits funny. He thinks he's human.


I have had friends ask me why I dont just put them down. I ask them why they dont put there kids to sleep when they break a leg, or have some chronic illness. THe response is always the same "but thats a kid. These are just cats." Well, not to me. They are just like having kids. (But with a little less work)

I can't count my originally feral cats disabled and have never really had a disabled cat. But I have had disabled dogs.

My OTB Nita was born with a disorder in her spine that first became very apparent when she was 10 months old. Her spine fused into an arc that made her look hump-backed. It got progressively worse over time and by the time she was 4, had difficulty walking. Even though she was about 45 pounds, we carried her around a lot, as she couldn't manage the single stoop to get outside. When her pain became something that we could no longer control for her, we released her from her pain.

My Greyhound Tyler was found abandoned in a cage when he was 3 months old. He was so malnourished that his legs didn't grow right and he had major surgery to restructure one of his legs. We had to wait until he was full grown (2 years) because the vet wasn't sure how bad the malformity would be until he was fully grown. He lived in a cast for 6 months and limped severely for a year. The correction to that leg made it equal to the other leg (which was only slightly skewed), and he had a very goofy gait. He still loved to run but could never keep up with our other greyhound.

I don't have any disabled pets, but we have had our share come through the shelter. I think I mentioned Moose once before - a BIG MC mix who was dumped on one of our volunteers who pet sits - his ears were so badly infected that eventually the vet had to remove the hearing parts and so them shut. Moose was deaf. He was an insistent boy -demanding attention, sit in your lap, but also, unfortunately, very reactive. He bit me a couple of times seemingly unprovoked... just sitting in my lap and CHOMP!

But someone fell in love with him so after TWO YEARS in our care, Moosie got a home!!

We had a pair of longhaired brothers who came in with some kind of neurological or neuro-muscular issue - I don't know - but their back legs didn't work right - skid out from under, if you tapped their backsides, their legs would go out from under - couldn't really run, tho' they tried! Especially difficult on a tile floor. They were lovely boys - they would trill and chirrup and if I sat on the floor they would climb in my lap. They also got a home!

Finally, we had a litter of colorpoint longhair kits with hind leg deformities - they walked flatfooted - One of the joints wasn't there -knee, I think or maybe ankle. Anyway , they were able to haul them selves around and in and out of their litter boxes. They all found homes. Truly - they were cute as buttons with their fuzzy faces and blue eyes!

So there are some good souls out there!

AB

Awwwww...... such sweet stories, all of them!

We have three kitties with special needs.

Flowerbelle

She was just in terrible shape. A couple found her in the parking lot of a liquor store, and brought her to the vet. Gary happened to be there when they came to drop her off. The vet told them they'd have to take financial responsibility for her, and they wouldn't. They were going to take her back to the parking lot and put her back!!!!!!!!!!!! Gary caught that something was going on, and asked the receptionist. She told him. He ran out, chased them down, gave them a piece of his mind, and took the cat.

The vet didn't think she was going to make it. She was a bag of bones. She was badly sunburned. She was infected with everything. She had to be tube fed. She'd been attacked by something and had to be stitched up on her leg. Her eyes were glued shut from god knows what - but definitely herpes.

She needed to be a VERY strong girl to make it through, so we named her Flowerbelle, after Flowerbelle Lee, played by Mae West in the movie My Little Chickadee.

She made it and recovered - but had some ongoing problems after we brought her home. Poor thing had to be medicated 11 times a day (a lot of that related to trying to save the really bad eye). We reorganized our work lives to care for her. We tried for months - kept having it sewn shut with medication in it, etc. But it just wasn't worth it in the end. It wasn't getting better, and it was so traumatic for her to be medicated so often. So we made the decision to have it out. I wish we'd made the decision earlier.

So she has one beautiful eye, though her vision is impaired. And she's deaf - though we don't think she was born deaf. We think it was the herpes - or really, who knows what. She can hear certain frequencies (or maybe just senses them?). But the vacuum cleaner isn't one of them. She can't figure out why all the other kitties run away!

After having her eye removed, her energy levels went up 1000%. !!!!!!!!!!!! She's had no on-going problems or flare-ups from the herpes virus, and hasn't spread it to any of our other cats despite their close interaction for so many years (we lived in an RV when she was first rescued).

When we brought her home... she started purring. The only time she didn't purr was when she was sleeping. Playing, eating, drinking - always purring. There are some times now when she's not purring - but pick her up, she purrs, Give her treats, she purrs. Play with her, she purrs. She is just so happy to be alive! And she LOVES life so much she drives us nuts wanting to live it to the fullest all the time!



Then there's little Ming Loy....

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 - the same cerebellar hypoplasia that Weebles has.

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). We describe her as looking like a drunk with parkinson's disease - and that really fits the bill. But 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! Except when sleeping, she is constantly in motion. But it's too cute - she can't stretch like the other kitties without falling over, so she always ends up stretching on her side.



She is all black - except her little "bikini." She has a thin white strip across her chest, and a little triangular patch on her abdomen. Too cute!

Tuxedo

Tuxedo was one of the original "outside" kitties that got us involved in cat rescue and TNR. Tuxedo was a little ball of hiss and spit. They'd all come running when we came to feed them every day. Except Tuxedo, who'd bounce up like Tigger - but then stand his ground, arch his back, flair his tail, and hiss and spit! He was the second-smallest of the bunch, and man was he nasty!

We deemed him unadoptable, and figured he'd be part of the feral colony. But even that became a problem. He was completely disruptive. As other kittens showed up along the way, he sent two of them to the hospital, both needing stitches. What a nasty little cat he was.

It started snowing before Halloween that year (2002). And it got soooo cold. Single digits. Tuxie would NOT use any of the shelters we put out. But he would come for meals and warm cat milk or warm chicken broth we made to help warm up the kitties.

One day, after putting out food for Tuxie (who we slowly moved away from where we fed the colony), Tux did his usual spitting and hissing as Gary put the food down. In total frustration, Gary sat down in the snow on the picnic bench and started crying. Then Tuxie walked over and bumped him in the foot. And that was it. Tuxie was Gary's baby boy.

Sometime in February/March, it went below zero. And every time we opened the front door, Tuxie would come running. OK - he loved Gary - but he'd already sent two cats to the hospital, and we had to separate him from the colony altogether. What could we do?

We found a new boarding facility that was basically empty. The woman's family had bred persians, and seemed to know what she was doing. We explained the situation, and she agreed we could board our feral kitty. She would even let him out to run around and play with him, and work on socializing him.

We visited him all the time for a few weeks. He would jump into Gary's arms. Well - we weren't able to get over there for a week, and the lady called us and said "I think there's something wrong with your cat. Every time I let him out of the room (they had two story "rooms" that were about 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep), he runs and pees on the carpet." HELLO? We jumped in the car, got over there, and got him to the vet.

He had a urinary tract infection. Duh. But we still didn't know what to do with him - and we didn't want to take him back there. By this time we knew the vets really well, and the vet techs all gave whatever kitties we brought in there lots of extra attention. We decided to leave him there for a week or two to see if we could find a home for him.

While there, he attacked the vet, who needed stitches. But every time we visited, he would JUMP out of the cage into Gary's arms.

Then he stopped eating. The vet said - "There's nothing wrong with him. He has obviously bonded with you, and if you want him to live, you have to take him home."

Oh God. We'd had four cats in the RV already, because we'd fostered Munchkin for a few months before she was adopted. But four cats - with one of them a cat that has done nothing but show total aggression to other cats - and in SUCH a small space? The RV was 37 feet long by 8 feet wide!

But there wasn't anything else to do, so we brought him home. And he was home, immediately. He was so sick because he'd lost about half his body weight so quickly. The other kitties came and sniffed him - and he sniffed back. That was it. No fighting. No hissing. No growling. Nothing. It was like he'd been part of the "happy kitty" family from the beginning.

Then... it turned out Tuxedo had an autoimmune problem. We noticed over time that he'd become rather listless, and he started turning his back to us when we were in the same area. Then he would leave the area to be alone. We took him to the vet - and he was terribly anemic. It took a long time to figure out a solution to the problem, and we came very close to losing him twice. It's not technically autimmune hemolytic anemia, but it's something like that.

I'll never forget the day when Tuxie had again lost over half his body weight. He was skin and bones. His hematocrit was 7 (under 24 is anemic - anything under 12 - 14 just isn't survivable for long), and the Doc said "I'm out of bullets." He had done so much research, contacted experts all over the country, ruled out every disease. The prednisone worked for a while, but wasn't anymore. Vet decided to give him a shot of depomedrol (a steroid) instead of continuing to pill him with prednisone. And that was all it took.

Well - he'd been to the vet's every day for months to get various shots (Epogen, nupogen - things to build up his red and white blood cell counts). In fact, we moved to where we were at the time specifically so that our drive to this vet would only be 15 minutes instead of 45+ . Then the vet trips went from every day to every other day. Then every week. Then every other week. There were a few setbacks along the way, but he was a fighter boy, and he did not mind going to the vet. He was SUCH a good boy, and had it not been so clear he was not giving up there was a point when we might have considered euthanizing him. But he fought all the way back - and how he's his big, fluffy, alpha self. And he only needs to go to the vet every 4 - 5 months or so for his shot of depomedrol now!



Tuxie is our alpha. He ranges from Tigger to Ricochet Rabbit, LOL! But he's also our most expressively loving kitty to us. He purrs the moment we touch him or pick him up, he doesn't just head bump - he body bumps - and HARD. I remember when just one pet was all the loving he could stand. Now he'll turn cheek to cheek for endless pets.



Laurie

Twitch is deaf. Doesn't slow her down any. She also has no teeth, they were rotten out of her mouth so I had them all pulled. She still bites.

Ophelia Rose is deaf.....she's messed up because of that deafness. Always prepared for an attack & as a result doesn't do well with other kitties. Makes my life interested....she was a feral & I can only imagine how many times she was attacked & severly injured because she couldn't hear.

Dorian Grey was 11 months & 3.5 lbs when I got him. Nose plugged, eyes matted shut. He had not only lacked crucial nutrients to grow as a kitten, but suffered from a lack of oxygen to the brain. Vet labeled it "failure to thrive" & told me to euthanize him. Yeah, right. Dorky Fish is now 9.7 lbs. And he's relatively normal....for a cat!

Damita is blind & has recurring/incessant ringworm. She also has some GI issues....vomiting, occaisonal runny stools, etc. She's on Prednisone long term, even if that means a shorter life....it's the quality that counts, not the quantity. She gets around like there's no tomorrow, excellent hearing. Doesn't relate well to the other cats, but Twitch is deaf & she's blind, they have no way to communicate.

I'm adding Cow to my special kitties now. He's Twitch's brother on Friday Nov. 30th he had all his teeth removed. They were all rotten, too.

First is Trace Tumblebrutus. Trace is missing all of his right rear leg. It was removed surgically, and was a very, very good job. But for some reason, he turned up on Cumberland Trace road as a stray (hence the name). The only thing that I had to do different for him was, he couldn't do the cat tree very well. So, I bought lots of those inexpensive plastic shelves and assembled them into stair-step patterns, so that he could make short hops to the top.



and next would be Peanut Butterum. Peanut is deaf. She and her bestest buddy in the whole world Sassy were left at the shelter because their prior human lost her job She had asked for them to stay together if possible. Well, the shelter was going to split them up, because they had been there for months and several people had wanted Sassy, but not Peanut because she seemed too anti-social. As it turns out, she relied on Sassy to be her ears, and as long as they were taken out of the cage together and not separated, she was a lovebug, full of purrs and licky kisses.



There was a little bit more to making Peanut feel at home than with Trace. She likes to lay on the bed and look out the window, but other cats dashing into the room and jumping onto the bed would startle her badly, and she'd hide for hours. So, I put one of those folding oriental screens just inside the bedroom door, so everyone would have to slow down and go around the screen, which would put them in her line of sight. She was fine, as long as she knew they were coming

And sometimes, when it's feeding time, she'll be snoozing, or won't notice that Sassy had gotten up. In that case, I have an old leather mallet I whop on the floor a few times, and she can feel the vibrations and come running

What wonderful stories, really heartwarming. I haven't had any true disabled cats (my speciality is oldies), although Pebbles did have to have her leg amputated due to health reasons - she didn't need any special treatment though, and could still outrun me!! Couple of toothless cats, and I have looked after a CH kitty for a few days this year, that was a fun experience. He came back for an overnight stay this week, lovely to see him, he was 11 weeks the first time he was here, and 8 months old this week. I have a tailless foster kitty, but it doesn't cause him any issues whatsoever, so it must be years since he lost that tail.

I wanted to post for a friend of mine. She has several cats who are special needs. (they didn't start that way when she got several of them, but they turned out that way)

Tobey Jack...
Tobey was a little kitten when she adopted him. His previous owners had put several tubes of Hartz flea product on him. Then they couldn't afford to treat him for the horrible neurological issues that caused. So they surrendered him and she adopted him. He was fine after treatment. Then one day she came home and found him disoriented, curled up in a closet. He had urinated all over himself. She knew by looking at him that he had a seizure. She raced him to the e-vet who told her that something was seriously wrong and to take him to the specialist. So off to the specialist he went. He was going downhill badly. No one knew if he would make it through the night. After lots of testing and over a week of being hopitalized at the specialist, they had a diagnosis. Tobey had hypoparathyroidism. So far as we know, he is one of only 7 known cases of it occuring in a cat under the age of 11 year. Poor Tobey was only a couple months old whe all of this happened. He has to take his medicine everyday but other then take, has a normal life now.

Baby Nola...
She was an odd looking little kitten when she was dropped of at the shelter we worked at. Really short hair and this tiny little frame. She was taken home to be foster, but then it was decided (after several weeks) that she was going to keep her. The day after she signed the adoption forms, she was at the E-vet with her. She started having sever difficulty breathing. The diagnosis was horrible.... lymphoma. This poor little thing was only 6 months old and wasn't expected to make it another year WITH chemo. But she tried anyway. Nola was taken to the specialist where she had chemo every week to start (And at 200 dollars a session, it wasn't cheap either)Then they slowly started backing her down... Every other week... once a month... After months and months, finally some good news.... Nolas Lymphoma was in remission. Nola has to take steriods every day to help keep things in check. She has been in remission now for over 2 years and acts like any normal cat.

Ember Woo
Ember was originally my foster, but when Neville needed a foster home, and Tobey jack didn't like boys, My friend and I agreed that she would take Ember and I would take Neville. Ember was born without eyes. She needed eye ointments placed in her empty little sockets on a regular basis because she kept getting infections. Eventually what was left in the sockets (some skin and hair) was emptied out and her eyes were sewn shut to keep out any more infections. Ember does have a "sixth sense". I dont know if its because she has never seen anything before or what but its amazing. You can simply move your finger, without touching ANYTHING, and she will turn and stare right at it. I think somehow she can sense the air moving. Its the most amazing thing to see...

and lastly...
Kiwi Coconuts
As a kitten she was attacked by something, what we dont know, but the result was most of her back leg was torn off. She had to have surgery to amputate the rest of it since she kept trying to use and and was causing sores. The shelter did the surgery and coconuts recovered just fine. But not before my friend had fallen in love with her too... So she came home with my friend too...

So thats her story

We have a disabled cat, though his disability is entirely mental. I'll go ahead and put his story.

We had him for about 6 months when the first problems started. During this period of time, he got the nickname "Super Chill Cat". Literally nothing bothered him. Vacuum? not a problem. Thunder? nope. Other cats walking up and hissing in his face? A minor disturbance to his nap. He basically lounged around all day.

Then he started acting a little odd. He didn't sleep as much, and he was running around the house doing "kitty crazies". We thought he was just settling in.

Then it got worse. Within 3 more months, he was pretty much not sleeping at night at all, and he woke us up every hour with his yowling. We thought he was sleeping during the day, but when we stayed home during the day, we found he only slept for a couple of hours. The rest of the time, he was wide awake.

When he did sleep, he didn't cat nap. He completely zonked out. You could be shaking him and he wouldn't wake up.

While he was awake, he would do very weird things:
* He would "see" a ledge on the wall and attempt to jump on it.
* He would yowl loudly and walk in circles around the coffee table.
* He would get "lost" in a corner. He'd just sit there, facing the corner, and yowl his head off until we rescued him. This gave him the new nickname "Corner Cat".
* The "death cries". Sometimes he would yowl so rapidly that he wouldn't breathe in between. Very scary when he did this at 4 am.
* Even when he did kitty crazies, it wasn't right. Most cats avoid running into things, they just scamper around really fast, jumping off and over anything in their way. Puppy would bowl right into furniture and us. He looked frightened.

There were only two things that calmed him down:
* Human hovers. If we wrapped him up and hovered over him, he would stop meowing and purr really rapidly.
* Confined area. If we put him in a small area, like the bathroom, he would curl up in the sink and go to sleep.

Our first vet didn't believe us and kept saying he was wanting more attention and to just ignore him at night. After 4 months, we found a new vet.

The second vet took us seriously. A full blood panel showed nothing. Changing his diet helped a little, but he was still having issues. We ruled out allergies since that medication didn't help at all.

Our vet declared that he has a neurological disorder. His best guess was that Puppy has petite seizures when he gets anxious, and then there is something else neurologically that causes him to get anxious at everything. The petite seizures cause him to get disoriented. This is also why he liked it when we confined him, either in a small room or by hovering over him. He couldn't get lost if there was only a small space.

We're fairly certain now that if he was a human, he would have a mental disability. In addition to the above, he has other unusual behaviors. He never stares at anything in the face and always avoid eye contact. He doesn't know his name. He doesn't respond properly to other cats. If they meow in a friendly way, he'll act friendly too, and then randomly hiss. One cat actually turned around to see what was behind him that was getting hissed at! He doesn't even groom himself normally, so his fur is usually sticking out everywhere.

So, now Puppycat is on Paxil to prevent him from getting anxious, and he's back to his nickname of "Super Chill Cat". He's still very special, but at least he's feeling better. If we ever forget to give him that pill though...4 am death cries...at least we get a reminder!

I've had a lot of people say that to me even my mom. But I thought the same thing before I knew Leya. I've never heard of anyone owning a blind cat and I didn't know what I was supposed to do with her. Thankfully for the catsite, I was able to read and learn a lot about blind cats and them living full and happy lives.

We have many special cats.

Peace (5 months)- He's deaf. Doesn't bother him in any way unless Bugs sneaks up on him and jumps him.

Monkey, Jack, Hootie, Fat Boy (4 years):
All out of the same litter. Their brother, Possum, isn't with us anymore. He lost his fight awhile ago. With these 4, Monkey is the worse. They had severe seizures when they were kittens (about 5 weeks old).

Monkey would go into comas that would last hours. The longest one lasted over 24 hours and all the vets told us he wouldn't pull out of it and he'd die. I held the hope and he finally pulled out of it. He is our "fruit cake". He will love you one second and go nuts the next. He has the shakes all the time. Won't touch the litter with his feet. Doesn't like you to touch him. Hisses and slaps every cat that comes near him.

Jack just hisses for no reason. He'll be rolling on the floor purring like a loon then hiss and run away.

Hootie will bite, hard! when she's wanting love. She reaches out for your touch and will chomp on your finger.

Fat Boy has constant eye infections and the shakes. I have to say he and Hootie aren't as bad off as Jack and Monkey.

Fuzzy (5 years) is inbred. If you touch her be prepared for her to stalk you, bite you, claw you, and stalk you some more while purring and waiting for you to touch her again.

Sassy (9 months), as many know, was hit by something, and I think it scrambled his brain. LOL He went from feral to smack you in the face with claws. You'll be giving him pettin's and he'll lash out at your face with his nails.

Jake (3 years) has issues. He was born outside and was almost froze to death when I got him. He's hand raised and his issues are he hates change. He will not leave the bedroom and when he does he runs right back in. He's ok with kittens he don't know and cats he knows but hates cats he don't know.

Bug (5months) was found by some kind people in the summer when he was about 10 days old. I was fostering him but noticed as he grew his front legs looked "off". Vet said the muscles were twisted and he'll grow out of it but he's a slow learner. He's behind everyone in developement.

Jewel (9months - Puppy!) She's weak in her back legs. She also has a high threshold for pain. She ran a wire into her leg awhile back and never "said a word" about it. If it wasn't for the swelling, we'd never have known about it.

I think that's all of them. LOL

When Fred was about 7 years old, he got out and crawled up into the fan shroud of the car, and not knowing, my SO cranked the car. Thankfully it was one of those fans that would stop when something was caught in it, but he got a couple good spins and my SO had to turn the fan backward to get him out. He dropped off on the ground, unconcious, and my SO put him in the carrier and woke me out of a dead sleep screaming " I think I killed Fred!" I jumped up, grabbed my clothes and got them on just in time to see Fred walk out of the carrier shaking his head and looking confused. He wanted to eat, but we took him on to the vet. He checked Fred over and said nothing was broken, he had a fat lip, and a big bump on the head. He was never quite right after that. He would walk one way, then he would leap 4-5 feet in the air and walk off in whatever direction he came down in, even if it happened to be a corner, then we would have to turn him around to get him out of the corner and put him back in the right direction. He would shake his head, have seizures, and just be generally goofy. He was the biggest lovebug ever, though, and tough as an old shoe. He was my alpha and protector of the household and neighborhood kitties. I saw him several times attack a big dog to protect a kitten.
Pearl was abused before I got her and has never been right. She will hide for months, then she will come out and demand attention. She has been in that phase lately. It's great!

I don't have any special cats but my DH had a dachshund that had to have his spin completely fused. Tito had a wonderful life with no major problems, until he got really old. Then, arthritis set into his spine. It got so bad that it actually broke poor Tito's spin again. My In-Laws released him from his pain. (thankfully)

I loved reading all of your stories! I am a sucker for a sob story! It is good that I don't work at a vet's office or a shelter--I would come home with all of them! God bless you all for all of your love and compassion!! Keep up the good work!!

Well, I got a call from my mother in law regarding a kitten they had that was born there at the clinic, possibly blind and with a chronic URI.
They had tried putting her by herself with another cat that had lost her litter but was still lactating.
She simply wasn't thriving though.
They decided she'd be better off in a home environment.
So I agreed to take Ivory and her foster mom (Cassi).

She was a pathetic, sickly little thing, 4 months old and the size of a two month old.
Cassi had been spayed and dried up, so I started bottle feeding her.
She gained weight, but her URI just wouldn't clear up.
It was decided then to remove her worst eye, as it was bulbous and putting pressure on her sinus cavity.
She was a completey different kitty after that.
She simply thrived and eventually refused any more bottle feedings.
Her URI cleared up in less than a week after her surgery.

After all that early babying, she's the most independant cat we have now, weighing in at a whopping 17 pounds as of her second birthday.

This was the day after her eye was removed


This was taken about a month after her sugery


And this is my big girl now