Introducing Jessica

This is Jessica, my very special needs kitty. We've been together for 15 years now, and she's getting on in years. But she's a great companion, so I'm glad to have her around and don't mind helping her out when she needs that help nowadays.

A couple of summers ago she had a nasty little accident - got her right hind leg shut in the screen door while I was carrying bottles from the house to the car - and she spent 3 months in splints, clunking around the house and yard like a youngun on crutches. It didn't heal quite right, but even though it was a little bit crooked, she was able to resume normal activities - jumping, landing, sneaking through doors. Well, it wasn't quite like before, as whenever she jumped onto a slippery floor, she would land on her bottom, since her right leg would go out from under her. But she seemed to be OK with that. So aside from this and a drug allergy episode that happened when she was quite a bit younger, she's been really healthy, and quite low in maintenance.

Last summer I noticed that she was starting to get hard of hearing. One day she was sitting in the driveway. I drove right up to her, got out of the car, and walked into her range of vision. She startled. Then just a couple of months ago I realized she was completely deaf. If I clap my hands behind her head, she doesn't notice, whether she is awake or asleep.

There's worse things, right? As I was saying, she could be blind. And she is an awfully nice kitty. She has fans that would drop by to visit with her when she was sleeping on the porch. What I always tell people is that she hardly ever bites anybody anymore, not like she used to do back in her hellcat days. She likes to sleep with me now, too. She would never ever do that before.

But I did notice that lately she was having trouble jumping down off the bed, which I attributed to what was probably arthritis.

Last week I was on the telephone. I glanced over and saw her walk into a wall next to the doorway. Twice. Oops, looks like the cat's gone blind.

So it's been a learning experience for both of us. She navigates by bumping along her right side, so she must be "right-handed". I've been trying to rearrange the household so as to remove anything that might confuse her. I've set up some bumpers as guides for her to get to my bed without getting lost in the bedroom. I've put a chest at the foot of my bed with a box to step down on. The bed in the other room has a plastic pet stairway, though I'm not sure how well that will work, as it has no guardrails.

She was a little depressed about it, but now she realizes that she just has to learn the household again so she can sleep in all the comfy places. She walks over the guide bumpers, then comes back inside them again.

I'm also hoping that pretty soon she'll decide not to drink water out of the bathroom sink anymore. She can still climb up to it, but getting down is pretty unsafe for her. I'll be in my bedroom and hear a crash. I run into the bathroom, and find the cat picking herself up out of the litter box, or I have to pull her out of the trash.

So I call Jessica my extra special needs kitty. I'll keep you updated with news and pictures of her as time goes by.