I was tired when I wrote on the blog yesterday and need to clarify. I don’t give away my kittens and never have. But there is deep paranoia now with the users of CL and when I had a few ads running, I was getting some weird phone calls. I don’t want my cats or kittens abused or mistreated or killed so I simply won’t advertise on there right now. I hope that makes sense.
I just finished feeding all the outside cats and the pretty siamese looking girl with a collar came up to me and rubbed me. I was able to look at her collar and tag and her name is Melissa and there was a phone number. I have her in the bedroom and will call the number as soon as it gets to be a decent hour. Hopefully, the owners will come and claim her- Thank God for fresh yellowfin tuna- the best kitty lure I know! She loves the stuff and as she was eating, I was able to scruff her and get her into the house. One down and five more to go-
Well, for the first time, we’ve failed to find a home for a cat. We have advertised in our local newspaper for three weeks to try to find Spooky a home, but we only had two inquiries and neither of them have panned out. Spooky is the outside cat who was stricken with ideopathic vestibular disease and the emergency vet neglected to give him antibiotics and/or steroids. His condition has improved, but I believe he will always have some balance problems and sudden or loud noises really spook him (we should never have named him that!). So, I guess we’ll have to keep him as an inside cat… or perhaps we’ll just wait a while and try advertising again. We already have an inside cat, Muggle, who does not like Spooky much even though Spooky tries to be friends. We have five outside cats, too, but it looks as though Spooky will never be an outside cat again.
I would change his name first of all. I know this sounds strange, but I have found that cats resemble characteristics of their name, so after I discovered that, I shelved any names that have negative impact. I take it he is black? If so, I would put him on vibrant piece of red cloth (or better yet carpet) and caption the ad- Black is in Fashion- call him a special needs kitty- people love to adopt cats and kittens that are challenged and if he will tolerate it, you can buy a baby tiara at the dollar store and pop it on his head and make him a “runway choice.”
Good Luck!
Yes, I agree! People get kind of nervous when they think they’ll have to spend a lot of money on a cat with a disease they don’t understand, much less know how to pronounce. We have a cat who contracted vestibular disease four or five years ago. His head is permanently tilted and he’s a bit wobbly. From time to time you can tell he’s having a bad day because of signficant balance issues, but overall he gets around great and nothing can stop him. He jumps up to the kitchen counter and if he doesn’t make it, he tries again. Maverick was always an inside kitty but likes to spend time in the screened porch area. He was never “outside” per se but according to our vet, he got vestibular disease from those porch visits. So, no more screened porch time. Maverick is a real trooper. Our other cats live peacefully with him but aren’t super lovey with him, so he’s kind of a loner. His buddy cat died early this year and I am sure he misses that companion. Maverick is 15 years old so we are thankful for every day with him.
I think both of you are right about the negativity of his name. So I checked out a site or two to try to find something better — how about Sookie? I wanted to keep the name sort of similar, because the poor thing is mixed up enough as it is! 😉
Our vet told us that vestibular disease is not contagious and that the ideopathic part means they don’t really know what causes it. It’s not a stroke, although it sort of resembles one, and I have tried to find information on line about it, but there is very little — unless I want to pay for an MRI — and even then they don’t know how to treat it… He is better now than he was although he still has some bad days and you can tell it when he does because he stumbles a bit. I know there has to be someone who would be perfect for him, I just haven’t found them yet.
I will wait another week or two and then will advertise him again. Since he is a completely black cat, I have not submitted any photos of him in our ads, but I did advertise him as a “special needs” cat. He doesn’t even try to jump up on anything, but he can jump down if we put him on one of the beds.
Thanks for your comments — you’ve both been a big help to me!
Vestibular disorders are pretty common in cats. I had a cat given to me by another “rescuer” (and I use that term loosely) several years ago. The woman was “tired” of dealing with the cat, she had her since she was a kitten. Because the kitten wobbled, fell down and couldn’t walk without being propped up by a wall- her “cure” for this poor girl was to keep it in a very small carrier for the rest of her life. When I got Mystery- she was three years old and crammed into this carrier.
THe first thing I did was take her out of the carrier, and she circled and fell over. She was a beautiful Siamese mix but because of being forced into living in small cramped carrier- her muscles had atrophied to the point of no return.
We tried water therapy on her, but it just made her weaker and sadly, we had to put her down. The vet said if I had gotten her right at first- she would have been better because I don’t just stick kittens in carriers and forget about them. But for her, rescue came to late. The necropsy showed a ruptured eardrum- 🙁