Does anyone else own a pet who is handicapped ... ??

Question

Because mine are all strays and rescues, I have had several ..... :)

Currently, I have a cat who is completely BLIND! He is very sweet to people, but for some reason he is constantly attacking my other (seeing ) cats .... Very odd!

My blind cat cost me $800, for the surgery alone. I had another partially blind cat, who also needed surgery (she is w. my ex now). I swear vet's are more expensive than people doctors!
:) lol

Answer 1

I have a beagle that we have had since she was born, 16 yrs ago. She is deaf, and has only three legs. Until three years ago, she would run with my wife and with my son, up to twelve miles! On evening, about 7pm, my son comes running in the house, yelling that "Sweety" had been hit. She was running with him, and crossed right in front of a pickup truck. The guy brought Sweety and my son home, Sweety was in the bed of his truck. Both back legs were pretty mangled. My son and I bundled her up and took her to the vet office. We called them on the way, and the vet met us there. He told me it would be $400 to fix her up, but he was very optimistic about the outcome. Had it not been for my wife and kids, I would have had her put down, but I figured she was worth $400 to us. He had to remove one leg at the hip, and stitch up the other. The total cost came to ....get this...$1600. Because of the removal of the leg and keeping her for two weeks. It was a hard recovery, as this happened around Thanksgiving, and we had to carry her around outdoors, and train her to walk with one leg, holding her up with a towel. She has recovered nicely, and took up running again within six months, limited to about two miles. She is getting really old now, but still goes nuts when my wife dresses to run. She takes Sweety for a run, just to the end of the road and back now..but the dog thinks she has really accomplished something. I guess she has. In dog years, she is over 100.

Answer 2

Yes, and there's a yahoogroups list called Handicats if anyone needs help from owners who have pets with the same problems they have.

One of ours went deaf a year ago. Another one had been hit by a car before we got him, his hip was shattered, the left leg bone moved forward a full inch and formed a new socket, so he has arthritis now and can't jump higher than the seat of a chair--his legs are uneven.

We just lost one to heart disease who had been injured by a dog or raccoon (or car, we couldn't tell). He had a hole in the top of his head that took forever to heal, once I could get him tame enough he was moved indoors here--he learned fast, seemed ok, but he'd lost the ability to self right if he fell (he'd fall like a stuffed toy, not get his feet under him) and you couldn't get him to back up, he'd lock his legs in panic. He walked off the edge of the table a few times too, so his eyesight may not have been the best. But he was a great cat, we miss him.

All cats deserve a good home. Even the 'damaged' ones.

Answer 3

Yeah, I got my dog Ben from the pound. Poor guy, he's really a mess.

First of all, he's a cross between a Beagle and a German Shepherd. Y'gotta WORK to imagine how that poor guy was conceived!

Poor little guy, he's like a snake with legs, or an alligator with a fur coat. He has the big barrel chest of the Shepherd breed, but the tiny legs of the Beagle. He doesn't walk, he rolls around on his ribs and scoots when his feet touch the ground. And the poor guy's a MALE. His equipment ALWAYS drags on the ground. His entire genital area is scraped and raw.

I try and keep him away from female dogs when they are in heat. It really, really hurts him then!

Answer 4

I have a cat that was born with no back feet. He is missing below the last joint, the long part of the legs that make a cat jump. He gets along just fine. When he walks on carpeting he does very well, I have to keep rugs on the linolium or his lil back feet slide out from under him. I have actually seen him walk on just his 2 front legs to avoid the linolium. He is the light of my life.

Answer 5

My former cat, later in life was both mostly blind and mostly deaf. She did extremely well despite these disabilities. I also had a dog that went deaf for about a year after an illness. Her hearing eventually returned. But during that year, she did extremely well as soon as we figured out why she had stopped coming when called. Lucky for us, we had taught her hand signals as a puppy.

Answer 6

We have a cat with hip dysplasia, she hops like a rabbit, and rules our other cats. She is 2 and very tiny. We also have a dog that has to have enemas 3 times a week,a dog with seizures, and a blind dog.Oh yes, and a pig that thinks she is a goat.(mental problems wouldn't you say)?

Answer 7

I used to do special needs rescue (before I had a baby), so I've had plenty. Currently, I have a deaf/blind cat and a deaf dog.

Answer 8

i have a dog with 3 legs, she was hit by a truck and was almost killed, luckily she could be saved thanks to a brilliant surgeon. left a nine thousand dollar hole in my pocket but she's worth every penny. all of my pets are either rescued or had been strays, they are the most special kind, i think...i also had a dear little cat i recently had to have put to sleep, she had mental problems due to the seizures she suffered with for almost 10 years. she was so sweet, i had to put her to sleep because she had gotten terminally ill...

Answer 9

I have a cat that received too much anesthesia during surgery. He is now mentally disabled but wonderfully sweet. He just doesn't have all all his marbles. He is the most gentle thing but absolutely fears everyone but me.

Answer 10

I have 2 rescue cats. My ten year old was just diagnosed with Inflammitory Bowel Disease after $1,300 worth of tests. He is now taking Prednisone and doing much better. It was worth every penny.