Handicats

My sister is one of those folks that vets and humane societies can't find enough of, a person who will take on severely injured and/or handicapped pets and provide them a loving home, despite the expense and additional care required. There are always more pets available than there are prospective owners, and the odds of adoption really sag if a pet is physically flawed. The last few days with my sister have been a chance to once again observe and play with her collection of lovable handicats.

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Her paraplegic cat, Wilhelmina--Willy for short--has become the guardian of her computer room with all its vulnerable cords, fragile knick-knacks, etc. Being rather vulnerable, this cat has become fiercely territorial, lunging at nearly all cats and even occasional guests who invade her one-room space. With evil growls and moans as accompaniment, Willy tears after the transgressors, rapidly dragging her hind-end over the carpeting. The site of a large black cat moving so unnaturally really unnerves the rest of the cats, so they rarely even attempt to trespass in the computer room. Willy happily stays in her well-defended room.

To the few people she trusts, Willy is a very loving kitty. She really craves any kind of rubbing or scratching of most of her upper body since she can't scratch herself with her back feet. She doesn't need a litter box since she can't go to the bathroom by herself. My sister has to "express" her twice a day...squeeze the proper locations to relieve her bowels. She's a better person than I.

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Her deaf cat (who I always forget the name of) is really interesting to watch, as her lack of hearing really changes her dynamics with other cats. Cats develop pecking orders through various types of dominance displays and actions. From observing this cat, it would sure seem that sound is generally more important to cats than body language.

My sister's dominant cat is scared of the deaf kitty. On several occasions just after my sister got the deaf cat, the dominant cat made aggressive displays combined with various growls and hisses to cow the much smaller deaf cat. It didn't work...the deaf cat just stood there obliviously and stared, which unnerved the dominant cat. As a result, none of the cats screws with the deaf kitty (except Willy...the deaf kitty runs from the awkward-looking, aggressive paraplegic cat).

The deaf cat also plays with different toys since sound is not an issue. There's a whiffle ball with a clangy bell in it that most cats don't like because of its grating sound. Deaf kitty can't hear the bell and likes the funny way the ball rolls around. And, if it rolls too near the other cats, they tend leave to get away from the noise. Great toy.

But the best toy is the vacuum cleaner. Not only does she have it to herself (nearly all cats take off when a vacuum is running), but the deaf cat gets quality playing time with my sister. The deaf cat tackles the moving head of the vacuum, figuring it's the focus of a wrestling match my sister is orchestrating. It's especially neat if the beater bar or suction pick up the edge of a rug, giving the cat more to attack. This game doesn't make it easier for my sister to vacuum, but it certainly makes a boring job more entertaining.

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My sister has two blind cats, one (Sunny) that came to her with one missing eyeball and the other with severe cataracts, and the other being a stray that my sister helped recover from being hit by a car, but has since gone completely blind (I forget the name). They have both learned her house well, and their whiskers are now definitely longer than are a normal cat's. Thus, they have little trouble navigating, but they tend to walk a bit more deliberately. To jump, they stand up and put their forepaws on something to measure it first.

Both cats crave human attention but take different approaches to getting it, in part because Sunny is large and strong, and the other is not. Sunny makes it her job to get the closest to anybody she wants to pet her. That entails shoving other cats out of the way, jumping onto the back of chairs to rub on folks' heads and shoulders, swatting other cats, etc. She's a very affectionate stalker. The other cat has learned that by coming near enough to attract my sister's or my attention but not the aggression of other attention-seeking cats, then uttering a plaintive meow or two, we'll sometimes give her special attention.

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And then there's her youngster, a stray that lost the use of a front leg that now just hangs there limply. That cat is so non-chalant that none of my sister's cats have any dominance issues with it...even Willy the paraplegic allows it in her room (the only cat with such privileges). I think when it comes to missing or useless legs, dogs do much better than cats because cats are more dependent upon agility and jumping. Nonetheless, this youngster can climb up and down a cat tree, and it definitely runs better than it walks.

It's still adjusting to stopping after a dash and supporting itself for head scratches...it tends to just leave its hind-quarters up and put its head and shoulder (of the missing leg) down if a more graceful effort isn't in the cards. And, it hasn't learned to completely ignore it's useless leg. It's occasionally chews it a bit as if it's a rag...my sister's trying to stop that for fear of injury and infection.

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Handicats are damaged goods to most folks in somewhat the same way that various people have trouble dealing with or accepting the handicapped. It's harder (but certainly not impossible) to throw away physically flawed human beings than it is to dispose of flawed pets. Drop them of a few miles from home, take them to the pound, drown a kitten...they're all death sentences with different levels of personal involvement. A few of them get lucky and are taken in by somebody like my sister. More would be if they got a chance to meet a few handicats.

Comments

[Mike]

I have handicats: one deaf and near blind, one with feline MS, and one with 3 legs. Plus two healthy ones.

They can be a hassle, but I can't put them down. The last time I did that I cried like a baby for hours.

It's weird. I'm all for the death penalty. I have no compassion for terrorists. But tiny animals bring out the most maudlin and pathetic emotions in me. I think I may be the one that’s handicapped, emotionally.

[RoguePundit]

I specifically didn't have pets in the military because I travelled so much that I figured that would be cruel for them. When I retired, I got a cat (from a shelter) which it turns out very clearly has an only-pet personality. Otherwise I'd probably have a handicat or similar dog or two as well. The only big however to some of these wonderful animals is the vet bills...even with the discounts she gets, my sister spends big bucks keeping her animals healthy as she can.

I, like you, am an enormous softie for such animals.

[Sally Fronsman-cecil]

I really miss my handicat Pepe who dies of a siezure. He had an eye that got scratched just before we got hime from the humane society. He was about 7 when we got him and really shy. Orange Julius (Jules or Pie)the kitten we got at the same time dominated him and grew up to be top cat of the neighborhood and of our dogs. Pepe's eye healed well, but I'm sure he lost some sight. He was very affectionate and talky with my daughter and me. He only got brave enough to go outside during the last year of his life. We had him about 5 years.

P.S. I lived in Ashland in my mid-to-late twenties, so i was glad to come across the Rogue pundit site though I think he's on the conservative end of the spectrum while I'm way to the left...

My older daughter, son-in-law and 3 grand-daughters live on 30 acres on a mountainside south of Portland. and they are sort of freeholders with a farmstead with goats and chickens even with him still installing and maintaining computer networks as much as he can to pay a huge mortgage on their land... my daughter is homeschooling the girls.