Chin Chin & Friends

Chin Chin & Friends These five babies were born to a couple of lucky yard cats who were brought in last fall by an elderly gentleman who fed them all summer, then, when the weather turned cold, he brought them in to share his house with them. Unfortunately, he knew nothing of TNR, and, about a month ago these five little ones were born. Fortunately, his niece did some research and within the month his two house ferals will be spayed and neutered. These five little ones are in a wonderful foster home where they're getting lots of love, attention and therapy. They are special needs kitties. They have cerebellar hypoplasia. Amazingly enough, we've gotten 2 litters so far, both from different sources, both CH babies. So we've done some research talked to our vet, talked to Treehouse, who's had quite a few CH babies. Cerebellar hypoplasia causes jerky movements, tremors and generally uncoordinated movement . The animal often falls down and has trouble walking. Tremors increase when the animal is excited and subside when at ease.

The disease does not get better or worse with age, but the cat or dog can usually learn to somewhat compensate for it and should have a normal lifespan. Most afflicted animals can lead a fairly normal life if special considerations for the animal's disability are taken by the pet's owner. It's our understanding that they're more suseptible to infection like URI's and such so we're sure to give them our usual regiment of immune boosting supplements and good food to assure the best possible health now and long term.

We've listed the litter on petfinder.com, they aren't ready for adoption but we wanted to see what kind of response we might get and we've received several calls from people aware of CH and interested in adopting them. They won't be ready for adoption for about 6 week but it's nice to know there are people who care.

While our other babies act like they are walking over logs, these babies back legs splay out - especially Bunny, the one with orange and grey markings. They're all doing great. They play and run and climb - they don't know they're special needs!

BooBoo & Friends Henry

BooBoo, Trixi, Kalli & Oscar Henry The last litter of the Henry household. Cute as buttons and neurologically impaired. They have cerebellar hypoplasia. It's a condition they received while in the womb. Its thought they contracted panleukopenia. It caused damage their cerebellum. Their balance and gait is affected. They were tested for a number of things, all negative. So enutero panluc is the default. Boo Boo, the cat on the right, is the most effected. She has a terrible time walking and spends much of her time rolling over on her back. We're in the process of developing a special wheelchair of sorts. Amazingly enough, we've gotten 2 litters so far, both from different sources, both CH babies. So we've done some research talked to our vet, talked to Treehouse, who's had quite a few CH babies. Cerebellar hypoplasia causes jerky movements, tremors and generally uncoordinated movement . The animal often falls down and has trouble walking. Tremors increase when the animal is excited and subside when at ease.

The disease does not get better or worse with age, but the cat or dog can usually learn to somewhat compensate for it and should have a normal lifespan. Most afflicted animals can lead a fairly normal life if special considerations for the animal's disability are taken by the pet's owner. It's our understanding that they're more suseptible to infection like URI's and such so we're sure to give them our usual regiment of immune boosting supplements and good food to assure the best possible health now and long term.

We've listed the litter on petfinder.com, they aren't ready for adoption but we wanted to see what kind of response we might get and we've received several calls from people aware of CH and interested in adopting them. They won't be ready for adoption for about 6 week but it's nice to know there are people who care.

Henry's Cats

Henry's (Almost) Last Trapping We trapped 6 cats last Thursday. 4 of them were females. One was pregnant and aborted. When we went to pre-bait last Friday, we found another litter of 4 cute as button, quadruplet grey tabbies about 3-4 weeks old. We got them and their mama. All are now in foster care. Read more about them in the blog 'Boo Boo & Friends Henry. They're cerebellar hypoplasia babies. There are still at least 2 cats at the house. Henry's been a bit 'non-compliant' about putting food in the traps only - probably confusion. "They're eating the hard food but aren't going into the traps for the canned"............. The good news is, we haven't killed any cats! We may be returning many of them to Henry's. Some have been socialized enough and are about ready for adoption. We'd always planned on returning some to Henry's, we may be returning as many as 11. The house is big enough to support 11 cats and Henry and his son are ok with that. The important thing is there will be fewer cats and less stress due to overcrowding. The wierd news is that most of the cats we've caught have been about 1-2 years old. One's about 9 and another is about 6. We don't know what happened to the older ones, the ones we saw through the basement window during the second big trapping. Henry said Brownie disappeared about a week ago. I can only imagine he's in his final resting place somewhere in the walls. Another wierd thing is that the last batch of 6 (including the new mom) were all relatively healthy. No alopecia, no dental problems, no URI. Go figure. All cats we've previously trapped are flourishing and should be on petfinder soon. Isabelle, who we thought was a gonner, is healthy and purrs up a storm when cuddled. Paul is thriving and doing just fine since he had his eye removed. He's always been blind so he's adjusted well to the removal. Ilsa has turned into a very affectionate cat and has had no problems since her dental surgery. Kasha is still hiding in her foster home and is never seen. She recently joined her cousin, Athena, who lets herself be seen but not touched. Her foster mom, Sue, was recently delighted when she played with a sock toy. Agnes & Hades are very playful and bring their foster mom toys to play with. Their cousin, Louis is still wild and totally non-responsive to human interaction. Lynx is incredibly playful and ready for adoption. Peter is still a bit shy but going to foster tomorrow for intensive therapy. Sister Mary Franchesca is also still shy - we're looking for intensive therapy mama for her too.