I’m letting mummy write this weeks blog, I wanted her to tell you all why her and daddy decided to adopt a perfectly imperfect cat (me).
Hi everyone, Jenny’s mummy here…I just wanted to share with you all how we came to the decision to adopt the perfect little cat that is Jenny. Like getting any pet it wasn’t a decision we took lightly, we considered every option, every scenario we could think of. Not just the physical considerations, but the emotional and financial as well. Adopting any animal isn’t a decision you can make purely with your heart and emotions, otherwise we’d adopt every pussy cat we saw in need of a home, you have to consider the financial implications (food, litter, vet bills etc), the other animals already part of the family – how will they cope? Is there enough space? What happens when you want to go away?
When you take on pets you make a commitment to provide them with the best love and care that you possibly can. They cannot go out and get their own medicine, they can’t tell you what’s wrong, they are completely dependant on you and you must do everything you can for them. Our cats are our kids, they are our family and you do your best for family no matter what. Sometimes the right decision or action isn’t always the easiest one.
I’ve had animals all my life but on moving out onto my own and to the city sadly this wasn’t an option. I met my husband to be and when we moved into our first proper place together we decided that we both missed having furry companions as part of our family. When talking about this at work a colleague said he had two cats who we could adopt as he was always worried about them getting out onto the main road. We agree to adopt them and little did I know how this would change our lives forever.
It all started when we adopted Misty and Piper, my friends cats, one female, one male, both black, one long haired, one short. Both different characters, both adorable. They had grown up together as brother and sister and they were 4 when we adopted them. After a while we noticed Piper started to miss jumping over things or up onto the high window sills, instead of jumping up onto the back of the sofa he would miss and crash into the back. Time went on and after many visits to the vet and different specialists including having a CT scan and various eye tests the diagnosis changed from an eyesight problem to a neurological one. Piper developed a bobbing head, and what we could only describe a spider legs, all going in different directions to get to the same place.
When we got him, Piper was so timid and shy and spent days under the stairs too scared to come out, I used to lie under there with him, hand feed him tasty treats and build his confidence, talking to him gently until he finally started to come out. We developed a very special bond, everywhere I went there was a Piper shadow following along next to me.
The best diagnosis we could get for Piper was that he the vets thought he had Feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE) which is a neurodegenerative disease, caused by a prion. Once the clinical signs appear, this disease is invariably fatal. This is the cat version of mad cow disease. The diagnosis wasn’t for sure and the only way to find out was a brain biopsy which couldn’t be done whilst he was alive. The diagnosis was devastating and the vets estimated that he had about 6 months before his condition would become too much for him. We decided that we would look after him the best way we could and we made sure that he could still get around, we made sure he could use the furniture to lean against to help him get around and adapted the litter tray which he could still use fairly easily. As time went on we would put our hands gently on top of his head as he ate to help reduce the bobbing so he could eat and drink more easily. We would bathe him if he got messy and we would cuddle him when he wanted attention, he was always a happy cat with a mischievous glint in his eyes. As he got gradually less coordinated he still refused to change and would carry on trying being my shadow. I got used to doing things one handed, often doing one task with one hand whilst having Piper tucked under the other arm snuggled into my hip so he could still be with me and fully be part of the family. One day when we lived in a ground floor flat a strange cat came to the door, we both watched in amazement as suddenly Piper jumped up, ran as fast as his spider legs could carry him across the floor to growl at the strange cat and defend his able bodied sisters and his home from the intruder- we were both so proud of him.
We tried various medications for him and monitored how he was doing with the help of the vets, having regular check ups to monitor his progress. The six month prognosis stretched to an amazing six wonderful years. He taught us so much and was such a happy brave soul, there was never any question of us not caring for him when he needed it. Making the difficult decision when that mischievous spark no longer shone in his eyes was one of the hardest we have ever had to make but his quality of life always came before our needs and feelings.
Pipers sister Misty was also a remarkable lady, the most gentle soul you could ever meet. She was gentle and loving but occasionally and only if she thought you weren’t looking would she run around like a kitten. If she saw you watching she’d stop and just look mortified that you’d seen her being carefree. The years passed and as time went on Misty got some aches and pains as you would expect from an older cat, arthritis in her hips and bladder stones and needed some ongoing medical care. As with any member of the family treating and looking after the elderly, and Misty got to be very elderly, is just something that you do, you work out what to do, how best to do it and get on with it. She needed subcutaneous fluids to keep her hydrated and stop her bladder stones from causing problems. By the time she showed symptoms of this an operation to remove them was just too risky because of her age, I learnt how to do the fluids at home with Misty on my husbands lap getting cuddles whilst I did the fluids. She had repeated bouts of cystitis so was put on a small daily dose of antibiotics which she got crushed up in tasty treats.
Again, as she developed her arthritis, we adapted the litter tray, adapting a large storage box with high sides into a place where she could pee standing up and still have it contained, the entrance was low so she could just walk in and waterproof mats around the edge just in case she peed out the door which did become a bit of a habit. Whilst we were out at work during the day and when we went to bed at night the sofa where she slept and could still jump up onto (We bought a step for her but she refused to use it!) would be covered in washable incontinence pads, as she got older the signals telling her she needed to pee didn’t always give her enough notice to rouse her old legs. It’s ok though she’s was our old lady cat and we were happy to change our way of living to adapt to her needs, she was still happy, still enjoying life and still able to paddle around, even enjoying time outside on our balcony. She even still had all her own teeth. She lived to the ripe old age of just over 26 in human years before her body gave out on her and we had to say a painful goodbye.
When Jenny’s big brother Peppar joined our family after we lost Piper we encountered a whole different type of support we needed to give to our little one. Peppar came from a pet shop, he was nervous right from the start, even when I went to pick him up he was cuddling in my arms just before I put him into the carrier when all of a sudden he just jumped. He jumped right out of my arms and landed on the floor, no harm was done but as we later found out Peppar was scared of everything. His flight instinct was turned up to 100 and every little noise, every movement, every new thing he saw or heard made him panic. We think that this was exacerbated by him having a severe reaction to his vaccines which caused him to get something that the vet described to us as ‘brown eye’ a condition which made him go blind temporarily and a brown film cover both his eyes. At the time it happened we were away and had a friend cat sitting for us – she had to put eye drops in his eyes every few hours which for any cat would be difficult but for Peppar a 5 month old kitten it must have been extremely scary. We think this made his flight instinct that much worse poor boy. Anyone coming to visit would make him hide under the bed and he wouldn’t come out for hours after they left. With us he was fine but we never quite knew when his nerves would get the better of him. It took a lot of time and patience, showing him these things wouldn’t hurt him and we certainly wouldn’t let anything harm him. We’d never heard of Feliway at the time so we used to give him pet remedy in his food just to take the edge off his nerves, it definitely helped calm him down. Each thing that we found that scared him we would sit with him, stroke him, talk to him and try to show him that it wasn’t going to hurt him and that he was ok. He hated the hoover so one of us would sit with him in a closed room while the other hoovered, we’d then leave it in a room so he could go and inspect it in his own time, give it a sniff and see it wasn’t going to hurt him. He still doesn’t like it much but he’s not scared of it and just sits wherever he is and let’s us hoover round him.
One of the worst occasions was when I had to take all the cats (Misty, Peppar and Mia) to a friends flat for a few hours as we were getting some treatment done in our flat. Everything’s was ok, the kids were all exploring until it was time to go back home. I figured, knowing how upset Peppar can get that I needed to get him in the carrier first – it was a good plan but I missed getting him in on the first go and then he just completely freaked out. He started attacking my legs for no other reason than because he was just so scared. I stood still as I knew he didn’t mean or want to hurt me he was just petrified. I then saw a ginger streak running down the corridor – it was Mia coming to my rescue! She took him out with one body blow and proceeded to teach him some manners. He then went and hid under the sofa, shaking and growling at me. I tried my best to calm him down but he had gone way beyond scared and I realised this was going to be a two person job, sometimes one parent just isn’t enough so I called for backup. When my husband arrived Peppar had wedged himself right at the back but together we eventually managed to calm him down, we sat with him like we used to do to reassure him, I lay on my tummy on the floor so he could see me and every so often one of us reached out to him to give him a little reassuring stroke with a finger. My husband talked to him calmly and quietly and eventually he calmed down enough for us to be able to lift the sofa away from him and corral him gently into his carrier. As soon as we were all home Peppar was back to his normal self as if nothing had happened. Over the years he has got more chilled out and these days nothing really phases him except for going to the vet. Friends visiting recently were amazed that for the first time since we had him that he came out to say hello and actually let them stroke him – they were so thrilled.
When we decided that we were going to look to adopt another cat (when we lost Misty) and we thought back over everything we had been through over the last two decades, everything we had experienced and learnt and decided that we were equipped with the knowledge, patience, love and determination to be able to give a home to an animal that might need a bit more care, one that might have either physical or mental difficulties and might not otherwise get adopted.
We both agreed that we would offer a home to either an older cat or one who was disabled as we both truly believed that we could provide any additional care and compassion that such an animal might need. These are also the animals who get most overlooked by adopters as people are unsure of what additional help they might need but that didn’t phase us. It was during this search for a special animal that we found the charity world animal friends who home cats and dogs both ‘normal’ and those with ‘special needs’. They showed us a picture of Jenny and the rest as they say is history.
Jenny’s Story 