Greetings, TCS community.
I'm Al, one of the humans overseen by the furry foursome of Leda, Europa, Ganymede, and Weeble. Given their backgrounds, I've learned a bit about cats with special needs since Weeb arrived in 2003. My wife, Lori, is the real expert, though.
We've had cats since 1987. We experienced our first kidney failure treatment in 1997 (subcutaneous fluids), first diabetic cat in '98 (insulin shots), and our second of each in 2002 (in one cat, that showoff!). Through it all, we found we didn't mind caring for ill or handicapped cats. My wife has a catsitting business specializing in special needs cats.
Weeble and his brother Wobble were our first handicapped cats, both having mild cerebellar hypoplasia (also called "CH") walking in circles and having limited vision. Wob passed on due to kidney failure in 2012. Weeb currently has digestive issues, but is responding well to treatment and remains happy as long as meals are on time, or early, all five or six of them.
Leda came to us from our vet, who had taken her in and treated her for ... oh, just about everything, and had named her "Weeble." So when my wife took Weeb in for a checkup, she came home with TWO Weebles. We changed the kitty's name, but she didn't notice because she's deaf. Also has tunnel vision - no peripheral vision at all. And now receiving chemotherapy for a mast call tumor. Doing great, though, and such a happy, nutty beast!
Someone who knew we had wobbly cats referred a trap-neuter-release program to us when they trapped a feral kitten with moderate CH. Now known as "Europa," she arrived still in the trap cage and raging at the world. Six years later she's semi-feral, fine around us as long as we don't do anything scary, like stand up or wear shoes. She is small - about 7 lb - and has the typical CH gait so she's just a bundle of cuteness once you get past the hissing and claws. One evening she met a visitor to our home named Phil and let him touch her without losing blood.
Shortly thereafter, Phil referred a pet-supply store owner to us for advice on how to care for a CH kitten in her adoption center. My wife offered a couple of pointers before the store owner begged her to take him home. Within a day, Ganymede was clumping around our house, demanding to be picked up and chasing after the feline of his dreams, Europa. She, of course, hates him.
Oh, and I'm generally a bit long-winded.
Al
I'm Al, one of the humans overseen by the furry foursome of Leda, Europa, Ganymede, and Weeble. Given their backgrounds, I've learned a bit about cats with special needs since Weeb arrived in 2003. My wife, Lori, is the real expert, though.
We've had cats since 1987. We experienced our first kidney failure treatment in 1997 (subcutaneous fluids), first diabetic cat in '98 (insulin shots), and our second of each in 2002 (in one cat, that showoff!). Through it all, we found we didn't mind caring for ill or handicapped cats. My wife has a catsitting business specializing in special needs cats.
Weeble and his brother Wobble were our first handicapped cats, both having mild cerebellar hypoplasia (also called "CH") walking in circles and having limited vision. Wob passed on due to kidney failure in 2012. Weeb currently has digestive issues, but is responding well to treatment and remains happy as long as meals are on time, or early, all five or six of them.
Leda came to us from our vet, who had taken her in and treated her for ... oh, just about everything, and had named her "Weeble." So when my wife took Weeb in for a checkup, she came home with TWO Weebles. We changed the kitty's name, but she didn't notice because she's deaf. Also has tunnel vision - no peripheral vision at all. And now receiving chemotherapy for a mast call tumor. Doing great, though, and such a happy, nutty beast!
Someone who knew we had wobbly cats referred a trap-neuter-release program to us when they trapped a feral kitten with moderate CH. Now known as "Europa," she arrived still in the trap cage and raging at the world. Six years later she's semi-feral, fine around us as long as we don't do anything scary, like stand up or wear shoes. She is small - about 7 lb - and has the typical CH gait so she's just a bundle of cuteness once you get past the hissing and claws. One evening she met a visitor to our home named Phil and let him touch her without losing blood.
Shortly thereafter, Phil referred a pet-supply store owner to us for advice on how to care for a CH kitten in her adoption center. My wife offered a couple of pointers before the store owner begged her to take him home. Within a day, Ganymede was clumping around our house, demanding to be picked up and chasing after the feline of his dreams, Europa. She, of course, hates him.
Oh, and I'm generally a bit long-winded.
Al
)
