Kitten who can't move

Norachan said:

Hi @jennyrosalie
 I've been following this thread since the beginning but haven't posted yet. Great to see all the progress Reeves has made. Have you thought about getting a couple of cheap yoga mats for him to walk on? They're non-slip and cats love clawing at the soft rubber. I thought having something that feels good to scratch might encourage him to use his front legs more, as well as helping him walk.

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I think a yoga mat is a great idea! I have to hide mine because my cats like to scratch it so much.

I bet that vet is regretting trying to encourage you to put Reeves down. Stick it in the vet's face!

Go Reeves!!! I love coming here to see the amazing updates!

Draco said:

 
I bet that vet is regretting trying to encourage you to put Reeves down. Stick it in the vet's face!

Go Reeves!!! I love coming here to see the amazing updates!

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Actually, I'm surprised that the vet advised that at all.  Most vets won't tell clients that, even when it's clearly in the pet's best interest, unless the client specifically asks.

And, in all fairness to the vet, look at the amount of money and energy Jen has expended just to get Reeves this far.  How many people are willing or able to do that?  Assuming that the outcome would be worse than it has been is actually fairly reasonable.  When I read the beginning of this thread I was quite certain that Reeves would, at the very least, be permanently disabled.  A full recovery seemed highly unlikely.  Isn't that one of the reasons we're all cheering for Reeves?  It seems like a miracle.  It wasn't.  It was hard work and good care, plus some good luck, but it still seems miraculous.

Margret

Margret said:

 
Actually, I'm surprised that the vet advised that at all.  Most vets won't tell clients that, even when it's clearly in the pet's best interest, unless the client specifically asks.

And, in all fairness to the vet, look at the amount of money and energy Jen has expended just to get Reeves this far.  How many people are willing or able to do that?  Assuming that the outcome would be worse than it has been is actually fairly reasonable.  When I read the beginning of this thread I was quite certain that Reeves would, at the very least, be permanently disabled.  A full recovery seemed highly unlikely.  Isn't that one of the reasons we're all cheering for Reeves?  It seems like a miracle.  It wasn't.  It was hard work and good care, plus some good luck, but it still seems miraculous.

Margret

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Thank you. Vets seldom outright advise euthanasia unless they really feel it is in the best interest of the animal. The real miracle here is a kitten with these kind of injuries landing in the hands of someone willing to do the work to rehabilitate him.

In no uncertain terms endeavors like this are nearly full time jobs in themselves and between the pictures and video there is the daily dedication to not so fun mundane tasks like assisting in bowel and bladder needs. Feeding. Keeping him clean.  While it may be an incredible bonding experience it is also filled with daily stress because when you're that close you know that it could all go south on you very quickly.  We get to ride along. She has to pull the wagon so to speak. I hope that the vet takes what she has done and puts it in his memory banks to give hope to the next person.

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has read Homer's Odyssey, by Gwen Cooper.  It's incredibly inspirational.

Once Reeves is older, and fully recovered, I think this deserves a book, too.  I'm available to edit, pro bono.

Margret

Norachan said:

 
Hi @jennyrosalie  I've been following this thread since the beginning but haven't posted yet. Great to see all the progress Reeves has made. Have you thought about getting a couple of cheap yoga mats for him to walk on? They're non-slip and cats love clawing at the soft rubber. I thought having something that feels good to scratch might encourage him to use his front legs more, as well as helping him walk.

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Good idea.  In the U.S., I've found that Goodwill stores frequently have yoga mats, cheap.  Pretty much any thrift store, in fact.  If you have a nearby Goodwill, sign up for their Bluedot program; you get an added discount and they'll email you about sales.

Margret

UM...jennyrosalie?  You do realize, don't you, that we're going to drive you nuts until Reeves is a grown cat, right?  I mean...we're kinda invested in this little guy...

Margret said:

 
Actually, I'm surprised that the vet advised that at all.  Most vets won't tell clients that, even when it's clearly in the pet's best interest, unless the client specifically asks.

And, in all fairness to the vet, look at the amount of money and energy Jen has expended just to get Reeves this far.  How many people are willing or able to do that?  Assuming that the outcome would be worse than it has been is actually fairly reasonable.  When I read the beginning of this thread I was quite certain that Reeves would, at the very least, be permanently disabled.  A full recovery seemed highly unlikely.  Isn't that one of the reasons we're all cheering for Reeves?  It seems like a miracle.  It wasn't.  It was hard work and good care, plus some good luck, but it still seems miraculous.

Margret

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you've made a good point and a different point of view. Thank you for that.

Jen has done an amazing job. 

Mamanyt1953 said:

UM...jennyrosalie?  You do realize, don't you, that we're going to drive you nuts until Reeves is a grown cat, right?  I mean...we're kinda invested in this little guy...

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Yes, we are. We feel like we're part of your journey, jennierosalie. You've done all the hard work while we've cheered you on.

DreamerRose said:

Yes, we are. We feel like we're part of your journey, jennierosalie. You've done all the hard work while we've cheered you on.

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And we want credit for that, dammit! 

Margret

Margret said:

 
And we want credit for that, dammit! 

Margret

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Oh behave yourself.

Kittens Mom said:

Oh behave yourself.

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Not my fault that there's no tongue-in-cheek emoji.

Margret

Re. the suggestion that Reeves have his own FaceBook page (in a comment by foxxycat  on post #366), there are certain problems with FaceBook.  Some people (including me, and most of the really computer savvy people I know) simply don't do FaceBook.

FaceBook's privacy policy amounts to a non-privacy policy.  When you sign up for FaceBook you agree that they're allowed to track your Google searches!  People ask me why this bothers me so much, given that there's no such thing as online privacy any more, what with the NSA tracking everything, and the answer is, the NSA may be tracking me, but it's not because I actively gave them permission to do so.  There's no way that I'm going to deliberately sign up for Zuckerberg to track me as well.

Perhaps more important (or less, depending on your point of view), pictures that you post on FaceBook no longer belong to you.  They belong to FaceBook.

I would suggest instead that Reeves deserves his own blog.  You can sign up for one for free at Wordpress.  You retain your copyrights.  And people here who do have FaceBook pages (or, for that matter, blogs of their own) can post links to it.  We could start a Twitter meme: #GoReevesGo, followed by a blog link.

I would also suggest that, for the moment, jennyrosalie has more than enough to do just taking care of Reeves, and anything like this needs to wait until after Reeves is a great deal better.  We have a thorough record of Reeves' progress right here on TCS; that should continue to be available to us when the time comes.

Margret

WTG, Reeves!!!!

Well Sir Reeves must just be full of himself.

Wonderful, wonderful Reeves! Keep at it, old boy! 

Woo Hoo!
Looking better all the time! [emoji]10084[/emoji]️