Willow the disabled kitty!

[konstargirl]

So who in here hears about Willow? I've been following her page on facebook and she is an inspiration! Her mom rescues and cares for disabled cats and she's one of them. I love her stories about her and other cats like her.

https://www.facebook.com/prettywillow

twisty legged cat pays it forward

Just recently heer mom is caring for a kitten that was thrown in a pillow along with other kitties. 2 of them died and she has one of the surviving ones. Her name is Adlai! I highly reconmend people subscribing her page. She's awesome!

 

[callista]

What a cutie! I love the way they got creative to figure out how to let the cat go about her kitty life.

This is what we do when a human gets disabled, too--we figure out how their body/mind works and then design stuff to work with it, instead of assuming "can't". It's all about the creativity! I'm going into human factors engineering/psychology when I graduate and I'm going to be designing assistive devices for people. Possibly for animals, too, who knows?

 

[calico2222]

What a sweet and beautiful girl! I have the utmost respect for people that take care of special need animals. That woman is a saint! I'm in tears from watching the video, but they are happy tears. God love Willow.....

 

[callista]

Heh, I think you underestimate the average cat-lover when you say "saint". Could you resist that little face? I think that people often just don't know disabled kitties can be happy. Once they know, then they realize it is just like having any other cat, with a few adjustments. This is assuming they like cats and want a cat to begin with. People who don't like cats and aren't ready to help out their cat when it needs help shouldn't have any cat at all.

At the shelter where I worked a couple years ago we had a little cat, maybe five pounds, a little female with a lower spinal injury. We kept her in the front room with the other permanent "mascot" cats (there were three or four, her and a hairless cat who hated sweaters and had to be kept warm, plus a couple of the owner's cats). She couldn't move her back legs, so she used to drag herself along the tile floor by her front legs and scoot along on her diapered butt, which worked pretty well because she was so small and light to begin with. When she wanted to go up somewhere, she'd just yell for somebody, and because there was always somebody in the front room, they'd go and pick her up and put her wherever she wanted to be. At night she bedded down in a big crate with blankets and whatnot. I wouldn't say she was a sweet little girl--honestly, she was an outspoken, demanding little brat of a cat--but you really couldn't help liking her. The shameless purr she started up whenever somebody scritched her head was probably a big part of why. And I don't think she minded not being able to use her back legs.

 

[spudsmom]

Thank you for those links! I've really enjoyed reading Willow's FB page!

 

[konstargirl]

Poor Adlai( Willows "sister") passed away yesterday. People are really sad of her passing especially Wendy!

 

[feralvr]

What a inspirational story, Willow is amazing and very special on so many levels. Thank you for posting this. I am sorry about her sister

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