- Jerry, a quien amputaron una pata para que no se le engangrenara.
- Cindy: le quitaron la cola porque en algún accidente sufrió un desprendimiento.
- Mikey: cuando lo encontramos su colita estaba doblada. Aún la conserva así.
- Carmela: La encontramos embarazada y con una pata delantera doblada. La lesión ya había soldado y así conservó su extremidad. Ella es la mamá de las Ixies.
- Las Ixies (Dixie, Pixie y Trixie), hijas de Carmela: cuando eran muy bebés les dio una infección en los ojos y debido a eso quedaron casi ciegas.
About cats with special needs
In a recent conversation with a new friend about the lack of attention that many people has about cats. You can find indifference in pretty much all species, but we feel that a big part of the population doesn´t care about the felines.
This lady was telling us an episode, to he reyes very cruel, about a visit to a local animal shelter. The cats in that institution were in very small cages and in one of them there was a par of kittens, one of them with a problem in his eyes.
Feeling the sting of pain in her heart, she gave them a donation so that kitten would get special attention to treat his eye problems, which aparently was blindness.
When she asked in later days about the evolution of the kitten, they told her he was put to sleep because he was blind. With tears in her eyes she reminded them that she made a donation so the kitten would get special treatment.
That anecdote truly moved us, and made us think about our “special needs” cats. To the day we are so thankful that we don´t have any condition that requires extra care among The Brats, but those who we consider special are:
- Jerry, who had a leg amputated due gangrene.
- Cindy: tail removed because in an accident her tail was falling.
- Mikey: when we found him, his tail was bended, still is and completely functional.
- Carmela: We found her pregnant and with a front paw bended. The lesion was already healed and she kept her leg that way. She is the mom of the “Ixies”
- The Ixies (Dixie, Pixie and Trixie): Carmela's daughters, when they were tiny babies they had an eye infection and because of that are almost blind.
During the conversation we couldn´t help but think about The Ixies. It never went trough our minds top ut them to sleep because, since they were blind, they couldn´t have a normal life.
After many visits to the vet, who always calmed us telling us that cats adapt remarkably to their enviroment, and after several treatments, we finally accepted that despite of their low eye sight they could have a normal life, like the rest of the cats in The House. The only special treatment is that every now and then they need to have the excess of discharge in their eyes cleaned.
Dixie is our biggest example of perseverance. Of them three, she is the blindest one, however that is not an obstacle to climb to the top of the closet. Of course she descends in a very unconventional way; but she always manages to get what she wants. She is extremely cautious, if she feels threatened she flicks her paw and hits away. She uses her smell and hearing senses to the max.
And just so you see what we mean, in the video we show Dixie playing with a ball in a plastic wheel. She can´t see the ball, but is guided by her ear, smell and touch to roll it.
Why would we put her to sleep? She has taught us that the worst disease a cat can suffer is indifference.
Open your heart to a cat with “special needs”. Give him the chance to show you he is as comun and normal as any other.