Flowerbelle and Ming Loy

Originally Posted by LDG

.... but he's 14 pounds and a big boy, and she's a petite 7 pounds:

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Originally Posted by LDG

Ming Loy was thrown out in a closed garbage bag with her sister. I don't know how the garbagemen even discovered them, but they took them to a county shelter. When they get cats so hopeless (in their determination) that they're going to euthanize them right away, they call us. We had exactly one hour to get over there to pick her and her sister up before they were going to euthanize them.

We took them straight to the vets. We weren't sure they were going to survive, and neither was the vet. The vet nursed them back (we have a GREAT vet), but because Tuxedo was so ill at the time, we left her at the vet for several months to see if she would be adopted (they do a great job of helping us adopt out cats), and if not, to make sure that she was completely worm and disease free before we brought her home.

It became apparent very quickly that she and her sister were handicapped - both starved of air for too long and vet speculates their mom was very ill while she was pregnant with them. MRIs or Xrays or something showed scarring on the brain, which will never heal. Her sister turned out to be larger than her and less affected. They were originally named "Neuro" and "logic" for their neurological disorder. One of the vet techs fell in love with them but couldn't adopt both for various reasons. So she took home Logic and we brought home Neuro - renamed Ming Loy. They both walk like "soldiers," with their front legs stiff and kind of splayed out. They both have problems with their back legs, though Ming Loy's problem is more pronounced. Logic grew bigger and stronger and wasn't quite as affected as Ming Loy, but even she has some trouble jumping, which Ming Loy cannot do at all.

When we brought her home, she had so little muscle control we were really worried about her hurting herself. We used a play pen - but within a couple of days she was able to crawl out of it. So we bought lots of cheap pillows, found foam we could use, and got lots of bubble wrap. Our entire house was padded. Anything with a corner, the bases of all the cat trees, the bottom of the steps - it looked like a looney bin for months! As she grew, she did gain more muscle control.

At first she could only take a few steps without falling down. The other cats all figured out very quickly she was handicapped (Spooky didn't care). She would use them (or anything) to prop herself up. But when she wanted to run, boy could she move! She propels herself with both back feet, and she covers huge amounts of ground REALLY quickly (that's why we were so worried about her launching herself right into a corner of something sharp).

She's able to control where and how fast she's going now. And she doesn't climb higher than she can pretty comfortably jump down. And even Spooky tolerates Ming Loy using her as a "help me stand up" prop now!

Ming Loy can walk all the way through the kitchen without falling down now (if nothing distracts her) - though flopping on her back is a common position. She uses the scratchers and posts - but she still can't stand and stretch (you know how they arch their backs) without flopping over, so she usually just does it on her side on the floor. She's a cutie!

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