special needs Archives - Cat Mad Sitters https://www.catmadsitters.com/tag/special-needs/ Cat Sitting, Purrfected. Mon, 05 Nov 2018 16:21:23 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 https://www.catmadsitters.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-favicon114-32x32.png special needs Archives - Cat Mad Sitters https://www.catmadsitters.com/tag/special-needs/ 32 32 Bear https://www.catmadsitters.com/bear/ Tue, 02 Aug 2016 12:42:30 +0000 http://www.catmadsitters.com/?p=2052 We spent 2 weeks with tiny Bear in Munich. Bear is a very special kitty; she suffers from congenital hydrocephalus (excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain cavities at birth), which causes her to walk unsteadily (and sometimes fall over), and go to the toilet in random places. She is however a perfectly normal cat in every [...]

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We spent 2 weeks with tiny Bear in Munich. Bear is a very special kitty; she suffers from congenital hydrocephalus (excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain cavities at birth), which causes her to walk unsteadily (and sometimes fall over), and go to the toilet in random places. She is however a perfectly normal cat in every other way. She is curious, active, playful, and absolutely adores affection and snoozing in sunny spots. Considering how unsteady she looked when walking, it was particularly surprising to see how fast she could run upstairs. And you should have seen her quick and nimble reactions when chasing after a fly!

She is also prone to urinary crystals, which means she is on a strict diet of specially formulated food for this condition, but this didn’t stop her from following us into the kitchen whenever we were preparing food, presumably in the hope that some might come her way! She is actually a little “hoover” and will eat anything (edible or not) she finds on the floor, so not only did we have to be diligent at immediately picking up any spillages in the kitchen, but also at keeping all the floors clean overall, to avoid any “accidental” and unwanted ingestion of random objects.

This was particularly important during our stay, as she had been quite poorly the week before our arrival and lost a considerable amount of weight, so we had to be extra vigilant and watch her closely for any sign of a relapse. Thankfully she went from strength to strength and it was especially rewarding to be able to send daily good news to our hosts about her progress. She is a such a gentle, sweet and loving kitty that it’s simply impossible not to love her!  

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]]> Anastasia https://www.catmadsitters.com/anastasia/ Sun, 10 May 2015 17:45:44 +0000 http://www.catmadsitters.com/?p=2124 May 2015 Anastasia (Ana) was an old girl who proved to be quite a challenge. By her owner's own admission, she had always been a "difficult cat". She had been adopted from a shelter as a kitten, together with her sister Kati, and had spent her entirely life bullying Kati in every possible [...]

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May 2015

Anastasia (Ana) was an old girl who proved to be quite a challenge. By her owner’s own admission, she had always been a “difficult cat”. She had been adopted from a shelter as a kitten, together with her sister Kati, and had spent her entirely life bullying Kati in every possible way and at every given opportunity.

It wasn’t just her sister she didn’t get along with well. She had zero tolerance for humans, and no one else had ever been able to get anywhere near her. Ana would swipe, growl, hiss and even spit if remotely disturbed. Even her owner had been on the receiving end of her temper on more than one occasion.

By comparison, her sister Kati was a really sweet natured kitty who had fallen very ill a few days before our arrival. Our hostess had to postpone her departure until the vet could give her a more definite prognosis. Sadly, she was not going to recover, and she was put to sleep a couple of days later. But she got a lot of attention beforehand, which she certainly seemed to relish. RIP, sweet Kati!

Usually, we deal with these situations with extra patience, using our body language to convey that we are not a threat, and games to bond and help them understand that being with us is fun and they are safe.

But this time, it wasn’t that simple, for Ana was blind. This meant our usual tricks would not work on her, and we can’t deny that we felt a little out of our depth.

So what did we do instead? The only thing we could do. We talked to her. A LOT. We talked to her in calm, soft voices from outside her bedroom, so she knew we were coming and didn’t get startled as we went in.

We talked to her the entire time we were in the room with her, whether we were giving her food, clean water, opening or closing the window, cleaning out her litter tray or changing her bedding.

We talked to her when she left the room to go for a walk around the apartment, so she knew exactly where we were. We talked to her when she started meowing or howling, trying to find out if there was anyone around.

Little by little, the growling and hissing became less frequent, until it stopped altogether. She started to come into the kitchen when she heard us cooking. She took treats out of our hand. And we even managed to stroke her without losing blood in the process.

Even though we never got properly close to her, considering no one else had been able to do this in the 17 years she had been alive, we considered this a huge triumph!

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