weaselwatchr

charlotte

charlotte
weaselwatchr, Feb 2, 2021
Description:
Sara Gleason Blithe
Scrapping with Liz Artsy Journal Templates 23

622 words

We do TNR (trap-neuter-release) in our neighborhood which has a pretty big feral cat population. We were pretty successful but had the hardest time catching a female cat that we named Scottie. She was always unfortunately, having kittens. Her last litter had three kittens. One day in October 2016, Michael told me he had seen one of them which couldn’t really walk so he thought it had a broken leg. A couple days later, the kittens were in the yard and he called me outside to go look at it. When I saw her I knew immediately that it was not a broken leg. Her little head was shaking like one of those bobble head dolls. I had watched a video about a cat on Facebook that had similar symptoms. At that point I told him I wish we were just dealing with a broken leg. After a quick google search I found the video and realized that this kitten had a neurological disorder called cerebellar hypoplasia (CH). It happens either when the kitten is injured in the womb or the mamma cat receives certain vaccines while pregnant. The brain that controls motor skills doesn’t develop which causes mobility issues of varying degrees and also tremors. The littermates looked fine, so that was positive but what to do with this little one? We already had four cats, but it would die outside. Trying to find it a home would be impossible since no one really wanted any of Scottie’s other healthy kittens. After discussing it, we decided that we would take it in. But then there was a logistical issue. We were going to leave for Vegas in a couple of days, we couldn’t bring it in when we were gone. We made the difficult decision to bring it in when we got back. God willing Scottie would continue to take care of it while we were gone. We told our friend Tammy about the plan, and not to be alarmed when she sees this kitten outside. It took about two days into our trip for Tammy to call us in tears saying the kitten was falling all over the place and that she didn’t think it was eating or could even eat on it’s own. I once again assured her that we would bring it into our home in a few days and that it has been able to survive for this long a few more days would not make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. I spent the rest of out trip worried about said cat that had been able to survive all this time without any intervention by us. After we got home, I found her in the neighbors yard crying alone. To be honest, I don’t know who caught her, if it was me or Michael. Regardless it was inside now. It was a girl!! I decided she should be named Charlotte because I liked the name and it also started with the letters CH. That was four years ago, and to say Charlotte hasn’t changed our lives would be a lie. She does need extra care. She cannot move around freely. When she does she bumps into things hitting her head. She can’t jump. She can’t climb. She can climb stairs (weird, I know) but we wish she wouldn’t since she does randomly just fall backwards doing that. She has learned how to communicate with us and be a cat in her unique way. She has different cries for when she wants different things. We love our little Screamapillar that us taught us how to be patient and perserveres in everything that she does. Things would not be the same without her.
Scrapping with Liz and mirjam like this.
    • bestcee
      Aw! Charlotte is so sweet looking! Thanks for sharing her story and thanks for playing in my challenge!
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  • Category:
    Month of Challenges 9
    Uploaded By:
    weaselwatchr
    Date:
    Feb 2, 2021
    View Count:
    397
    Comment Count:
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