I thought I would last longer after Zander left us. But the house, which seems impossible with the crew that lives here, felt so empty. The final straw was when I had a friend over for lunch on Wednesday and her first comment was, “Wow, you can really feel he’s gone.”
So she and I spent our lunch hour haunting the local shelter. We almost drove the hour to the shelter where Gabe, Sully, and Willow came from, but resisted. The happy part? There are very few cats available across three counties, so YAY!
I saw a few at our local shelter that could have been fine. But, I felt I could wait and there didn’t seem to be a good fit (thinking of what Willow and Sully needed) or any rush.
Thursday, I checked the website again, and five kittens were available. Since I have a strict NO KITTEN! rule, I felt safe giving them a look. That was a mistake because I saw this face and there was a Zing! and that thought of, “Oh, it’s this one.” That’s how the cat distribution system works for me, there are many who would be fine, but then there is that bang! and I know which one should come home with me.
Meet Reggie – Réginald Henri. He needed a fancy name to go with his fancy tuxedo and that was bigger than he’ll ever be.
Now, I was still resisting, (NO KITTENS!) but I went to meet him…and then found out he had a mild case of Manx Syndrome. Which sounds scary and can be, but his case is just his back legs aren’t quite getting all the signals they need from his underdeveloped spine, so he hops like a bunny.
I sat on the floor with him, he hopped over, climbed in my lap, curled up and purred. And who could resist that beauty mark? You know what happened next.
Manx Syndrome can be pretty serious, including having no control over bladder and bowels. But his neurological exam shows he just has a mild case. And his foster parents did recommended therapy, the vets did some acupuncture which showed some improvement, so I may continue that with my vet. But even over the last 24 hour, scrambling around my office I can see he’s building up muscle. His right leg is a bit more affected than his left and occasionally slips out from under him. He’ll always hop, but he will get stronger. He and Jasper can hop around the house together (Jasper has that slightly deformed right hind leg from birth).
For now it doesn’t slow him down, he runs around, jumps and climbs like any other kitten. But he is super tiny, about a pound less than an average 10-week-old and he’ll stay small. Part of that is an issue with bad breeding. But otherwise should stay healthy. He’s passed the markers of bowel and bladder control and should only get stronger. Just have to keep an eye on constipation, because he may not have as much strength as an average cat.
He’s feisty as hell and reminds me of my calico Emma when she was a kitten, giving the Danes hell, so they know he might be tiny but they best not mess with him. We’ve only done brief meets, he spends most of his time in my office, but I do bring him out to sit in my lap while I work on the computer at the table, so he can see everyone without interacting directly. It will be a slow and careful intro – there is a large gap at the bottom of the office door, so Sully and Willow can growl and hiss at him, and he growls and hisses back.
I am in no way prepared for a kitten. It’s been 20+ years since I had kittens in the house – when I fostered Missy and her five babies and Jake ended up staying. I have nothing for kittens. Willow was 8 months old, but she was never wild and crazy and it was hard to remember she was just a baby. So there was an emergency run to get kitten food, kitten litterbox, kitten toys. I really was not expecting this little guy.
Anyway, that’s how I broke my NO KITTENS! rule.
I have a bunch more photos that I’ll post later…
Annie DeMoranville 