Who on here has a special needs cat?

[ruthyb]

Hi, another nosey thread

No really, I just want to get to know you all a bit better and your kitties. I have 5 cats and my Fudge is a special needs cat as my vet put it or disabled as some others may put it, she had to have her front right leg amputated a couple of years back due to her breaking it and it wouldnt heal, she was in plaster for 10 weeks poor girl, she does just great now and you wouldn't know she has 3 legs with the amount of things that she does. My friend has 3 cats, 2 of which have had tohave their tails amputated, one of the Moo was unfortunately hit by a car (he is now an indoor cat-he was her ex fiancee's cat and when she had her accident Kim took her to her house to live) and she has Oscar who was bitten quite badly and his tail became extremely infected, they both do fine aswell. Its amazing how cats just get on with it, if it were us losing a leg we would be bed bound for ages and moaning (well i would be

).x

 

[fifi1puss]

ReeRee has a neurological disorder. It causes him to have bad motor function. He can be wobbly sometimes. His balance is bad. I have to be careful not to let him get up too high because he can't climb down (though he climbs up the cat trees like a pro!) and when he jumps he can lose his balance and fall on his back or neck. It can be scary.

He is amazing though! From day one he would push his limits and is living life to the full! He can get up on the bed by digging in his claws and climbing (my sheets have a ton of tears in them but I don't care

and i now have stairs)

I was just concerned when I got him if he would misstep and end up stepping in his poops. But he has always been very clean and works so hard (you can see his little brain keeping such control over his body) to not step in his pee or poop. He will be in the box for 5 mins shifting the litter just so!

My other two get annoyed when he wants to rub against them and ends up losing his balance and falling on them. other than that they put up with his way of doing things.

 

[ruthyb]

Originally Posted by fifi1puss

ReeRee has a neurological disorder. It causes him to have bad motor function. He can be wobbly sometimes. His balance is bad. I have to be careful not to let him get up too high because he can't climb down (though he climbs up the cat trees like a pro!) and when he jumps he can lose his balance and fall on his back or neck. It can be scary.

He is amazing though! From day one he would push his limits and is living life to the full! He can get up on the bed by digging in his claws and climbing (my sheets have a ton of tears in them but I don't care

and i now have stairs)

I was just concerned when I got him if he would misstep and end up stepping in his poops. But he has always been very clean and works so hard (you can see his little brain keeping such control over his body) to not step in his pee or poop. He will be in the box for 5 mins shifting the litter just so!

My other two get annoyed when he wants to rub against them and ends up losing his balance and falling on them. other than that they put up with his way of doing things.

Awww bless ReeRee, he sounds like one amazing cat, like I said earlier cats are the most amazing cats at just getting on with it, no matter what life throws at them.x

 

[rang_27]

My Jordan had special medical needs for about a year. He is now better, although he still have F.H. in his respiritory system.

I currenly have a foster kitty named Tiger, who is special needs. She has some sort of liver disorder. It is unclear at this point exactly what is wrong with her, but she is eating great and loves to talk to me when I visit her in the bathroom. She has a head tilt, and is rather thin and wobbly. The thin & wobbly are due to extreem weight loss. The head tilt it is unclear where she got that. I have quickly fallen for her cute little tilted face & am just praying she can pull through what ever is wrong with her. If she does not, at least I know I gave her the best possible care at the end of her life.

 

[ruthyb]

Originally Posted by Rang_27

My Jordan had special medical needs for about a year. He is now better, although he still have F.H. in his respiritory system.

I currenly have a foster kitty named Tiger, who is special needs. She has some sort of liver disorder. It is unclear at this point exactly what is wrong with her, but she is eating great and loves to talk to me when I visit her in the bathroom. She has a head tilt, and is rather thin and wobbly. The thin & wobbly are due to extreem weight loss. The head tilt it is unclear where she got that. I have quickly fallen for her cute little tilted face & am just praying she can pull through what ever is wrong with her. If she does not, at least I know I gave her the best possible care at the end of her life.

To Tiger, you are very right no matter the outcome you have given her the best possible quality of life that she deserves.x

 

[breellablue]

physically special- we have Limpy and Tard (Tom) who are brothers who share in the same neurological disorder, Cerebellar Hypoplasia. Tom has much better motor function than Limpy, who is prone to accidents because he can't get into the litterbox. He loves to be outside in the yard. I think it makes him feel-- wild.
(if you don't know what CH is; )

Mentally special I have Rowan, who was kicked a lot before I took her in to foster. She dislikes shoes and is not very trusting of most people.

 

[ruthyb]

Originally Posted by Breellablue

physically special- we have Limpy and Tard (Tom) who are brothers who share in the same neurological disorder, Cerebellar Hypoplasia. Tom has much better motor function than Limpy, who is prone to accidents because he can't get into the litterbox. He loves to be outside in the yard. I think it makes him feel-- wild.
(if you don't know what CH is; )

Mentally special I have Rowan, who was kicked a lot before I took her in to foster. She dislikes shoes and is not very trusting of most people.

Wow, what an amazing video and an absolutely amazing cat, fantastic, I will keep saying it lol, cats are just amazing at dealing with special needs and illnesses. My cat Candy is a bit odd in her behaviour and I have never had an answer for it, she is nothing like this cat shown but it has really got to me now that I must find out. x

 

[mews2much]

My 17.8 year old Coco has always had allergies and asthma.
She also has High BP,Arthritis,Heat Murmur,CRF and Bladder problems.
My Meeko also has a heart murmur and she has herpes.
Oreo Cookie Monster has fcks and her heart is telted because of it.
Her lungs are not shaped right either.

 

[nurseangel]

Siamie has renal disease and arthritis, but she is doing pretty well. I've also had two cats with thyroid problems (one treated with medication, the other with radioactive iodine). They are both gone now, but forever in my heart. And the beautiful white Persian cat I had as a child had to have one back leg amputated following a horrible accident, though she was able to manage quite well without it.

 

[jamasmom]

My girl Jasmine has asthma, she was diagnosed a little over a year ago, we are now down to one use of her inhaler once a week

. Originally we started 2 times a day for 2 weeks. But her lungs are much clearer now.

 

[sk_pacer]

Da Lip is sort of special needs. He came to me 8 years ago as a kitten with a good sized scab where his lower lip should have been. He survived his first weeks in the tack room, living off Cat Milk mixed with tinned food and learning to be a pest. He can manage some dry food if the kibble is small enough but most of it sprays back out the front of his mouth, but he likes it, so not a huge problem. Main food is Friskies Shreds and Gravy or Prime Cuts because the pieces are small; he can't manage large chunks of food or paste style tinned. I guess cats need a bottom lip to feed efficiently because there is always a mess around his dish where food falls from his mouth. No matter, he is Da King and is happy and healthy

 

[stephanietx]

Both of my girls are special needs kitties. Callie hasn't always been special needs, but as she's aged, she's developed arthritis and now is in the beginning stages of kidney troubles. She's also got a cataract forming on one of her eyes and has airborne allergies like her humans do. So she's on a special diet, takes meds for her arthritis, but is still such a little love bug and an absolute delight to have in our home. As ornery as ever, she picks fights with her kitty sister when her favorite napping spot is occupied!

Hannah came into our lives 4 years ago, scrawny and sick. Last year, she was finally diagnosed with Feline Herpes. She's also survived a pseudomonas bacterial infection last year/early this year. Because her FHV manifests itself in upper respiratory infections, weepy eyes, sneezes, and a snotty nose, she's constantly sniffly or sneezy. She's very prone to URIs and we watch her like a hawk. She eats a special diet of no grain food, some raw food, and gets supplements to help her immune system. She's such a wonderful girl, though. My little purrbaby and snugglebug in the mornings, she greets me with a chirp and head butt to wake me up before settling down for a little snooze.

I love both of my kitty girls!!

 

[white cat lover]

Almost all of mine are. Ranging from deaf to chronic health issues to abuse caused issues.

 

[sharky]

Punky is well he rides the short bus

Pj and Punky have liver and ph issues

Zoey allergies and used to be feral

Dahlia another former feral

 

[katiemae1277]

all of my cats are feline leukemia positive, but I don't think they're special needs, just special

 

[Ms. Freya]

Both of mine are...although now that Cotton's dental issues seem to be resolved, his needs aren't all that out of the ordinary.

Freya is mostly blind in one eye and Cotton has Hyperthyroid.

 

[kluchetta]

Elsa used to be feral, but she doesn't really have any special needs, except the other cats chase her.

Clyde is deaf and once had a broken jaw, so his teeth are all weird. Mostly I just have to find him when it's time to eat! Sometimes he gets "lost" in the house and "yells" for us to come find him. LOL

 

[eilcon]

Peter is my only special needs kitty. He has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and is on daily medication.

 

[ruthyb]

Originally Posted by katiemae1277

all of my cats are feline leukemia positive, but I don't think they're special needs, just special

What a wonderful thought, I totally agree, all our cats, whether they have illnesses or needs are special, thanks for that thought.xx

 

[ldg]

...and Katie's special for being Katie.

All of ours are feral rescues, but not all are special needs.

Flowerbelle started as a special needs rescue. She was so injured, sunburnt, disease and parasite-ridden the vet didn't think she was going to survive at all. 11 medications daily for 7 months, numerous eye surgeries, and 7 months later we had her eye removed. She doesn't see very well out of the other one, and she's deaf. But she's not special needs anymore - just one-eyed and deaf, bless her heart! She's our "little" girl at "just" 7 pounds - guess we just wound up with a gang of big cats!

Tuxedo didn't start as special needs kitty, but turned out he had an autoimmune disease that looks like but is not feline hemolytic anemia (basically where his body thinks his red blood cells are a virus and attacks and kills them). His body only accepted one blood transfusion, he needed daily shots (which we couldn't bring ourselves to do so had to go to the vet a lot!) for months, and had to have his RBC done (blood drawn) weekly for months, bi-weekly for months, monthly for months... all told, it was four years of intensive treatment. He's down to just needing a steroid shot every 4 - 8 months or so. ...and we wouldn't have put him through it all if he weren't a total trooper about it. He rarely stressed about any of it. Such a good boy!

Spooky was abused, but having lived with us for 6 years, now, she's over the trauma. Just needy now.

...and Ming Loy is also a CH kitty. The cats are quite used to her falling on them now though.

Laz and Shel aren't really special needs, but 3 of our 4 males (Lazlo, Shelly and Tuxedo) are all prone to crystals, so we've just got all of them on special diets to prevent it.