I wouldn’t adopt an animal that couldn’t be easily taken care of by a house or petsitter when I went out of town; I want to be able to take vacations with a minimum amount of difficulty, and even with non-special-needs animals it’s sometimes kind of a pain to find a sitter.
I’m dealing with a situation now that I think will be fine, but has been pretty scary. My 9-year-old pug who I love to the ends of the earth was diagnosed with megaesophagus (ME) about 3 weeks ago, and that’s one of those conditions where if you’re very, very careful about feeding her, she might be OK, but any change to routine or carelessness can lead to aspiration pneumonia, which could easily kill her. I’m more than able and willing to do the special care, but what about when I go out of town? Who am I going to find who is at home and willing to do hand feedings 4x/day?
I lucked out, in that the condition appears to be reversing itself, which is a first in my vet’s experience. Often, ME is a death sentence. We’re still not sure what’s going on with her, but she’s eating on her own now and it’s been over two weeks since she regurgitated anything. Her X-Rays show that her esophagus is returning to its normal state. We’re still waiting on some blood tests that may give us some insight into what’s going on, but so far, this whole thing has been incredibly unusual.
I honestly don’t know what I’d do if it turned out that she needed special care for the rest of her life. I know my dogs are not going to last forever, but the idea that every vacation could result in her dying because whoever I got to take care of her simply wasn’t as intimate with what she needed was a reality that I was not at all prepared to embrace. And, of course, the other option - putting her to sleep - isn’t anything I want to do either. I’m just so happy she’s getting better!
I think you are both lovely and fortunate that you thought to adopt such a cool cat.
My cat Vincent has anger management issues. He even bit me in the humane society’s “encounter room”. I just assumed he was nervous. Little did I know! I adopted him anyway. Right now he is sleeping peacefully on one of his favorite pillows.
The mother of a friend of mine adopted a rescue cat from Egypt. One of his front paws is lame. It got broken at some point and was never properly set. He gets around like a champ. He’s this sweet toasted-marshmallow color. Very cute.
Another friend adopted a severely overweight cat with only 3 legs. Apparently her previous owners felt sorry for her and carried her everywhere! My friend made it clear she would be getting around on her own and now she’s very healthy.
And then there was the one with kidney disease, that needed dialysis for years… And my best friend’s kitty, who is now 18, who started off with urinary tract issues and has had a host of problems over the years… And the one sad case where a friend found a kitten on campus that turned out to have, I think, FIV. It passed away in less than 6 months.
It’s hard to say no to those adorable little faces, isn’t it?
Both of our cats have special issues (although they don’t really require special care), but my wife adopted them both before I met her, so perhaps I can get her to contribute more to the thread herself.
In the meanwhile, I can say that Cuthbert is deaf (possibly from birth, but certainly when he was adopted). He does not respond socially to people and other cats the way that a normal cat might, but he is still plenty friendly in his own way. As much as we jokingly complain about his autistic-like behavior, I don’t imagine I’d avoid another deaf cat based on what I’ve seen from Cuthbert. He doesn’t require any different care other than a general awareness that he’s fairly easy to sneak up on. He is plenty fun.
I’ve always wanted a three-legged dog. There seem to be a lot of them in our neighborhood. And if I hadn’t already adopted a new dog, I would have taken in the dog that had the giant wart in the middle of her forehead. I would have named her Beth Oblong.
And if I had a three-legged dog, I would name him Hip Hop. I don’t see what the big deal is about making fun of “special” pets. They don’t know you’re making fun of them. They just enjoy that you’re paying attention to them, as long as you say it in a sweet voice.
[QUOTE=Turpentine]
{snip} I don’t see what the big deal is about making fun of “special” pets. They don’t know you’re making fun of them. They just enjoy that you’re paying attention to them, as long as you say it in a sweet voice.
[/QUOTE]
I agree. I make fun of my pets all the time in just that way. My earlier comment was more in reference to people who say ignorant things like, “That animal has [condition]. He looks so retarded! Why didn’t you get a normal pet?”
My limited experience with “special needs” pets involved two Syrian hamsters named Patches and Peggy, so named because one was missing an eye (Patches) and the other was missing a paw (Peggy). Otherwise they were perfectly happy and healthy little beasts.
I wouldn’t hesitate to adopt a special needs pet, as long as the care requirements fit my lifestyle, and (like many others in this thread) would probably seek out a pet that might not otherwise have a good chance of adoption.
We rescued a geriatric golden retriever that had been abandoned during a foreclosure.
She had cataracts, lumps and bumps all over her, and could barely walk. With better diet and much TLC, she got the the point where she could actually trot a little, although she always had a lot of trouble getting up from lying down. We always thought that every day would be her last - we had no idea how old she was, but she was old. After 18 months, she stopped eating, and we found out that she had (most likely) splenic cancer, so we had her put to sleep.
She was a great dog, and even though we only had her for a year and a half, we became very, very attached to her. Our only regret is that we didn’t meet her sooner.
I’d take the cat for sure, I tend to take other people’s cast-off critters. Currently I have a newly 3-legged little dog. I was going to foster her until she was stronger (and spayed etc) but my husband is a bigger sucker even than I am, and so we’re keeping her. Little Annie was found with a leg hold trap on her front foot, and there was no saving the leg. She’s a sweet thing but still shy, and she gets around just fine and at considerable speed
I have a cat that nearly died on the operating table during his neutering, anesthetic problems. Wound up with brain damage, and was basically blind and couldn’t eat or drink well when we first got him, technically for a few week layover until a permanent home was found.
Well, he’s still here, he eats and drinks fine, moves like a little old lady cat, very carefully and never jumps anywhere. He does occasionally hiss at the wall, and get batted around by the other cats, but he seems happy, and is far less trouble than the “normal” cats that get angry, pee on things, and scratch up the furniture.
Are you certain your current man of the house won’t tolerate him? If they’ve both been neutered, that would reduce at least some potential stressors. Maybe a trial visit?
Oooh - and if someone says anything about him, other than “Oh, poor guy! any idea what happened?”, surely you can come up with an appropiate Glare Of Death / “why on earth would you say such a moronic thing???” comeback?
Have you visited any of Facebook’s special kitties? There’s Gemini (from Geminites) who has 3 feet malformed, but has a fairly normal life. Anakin the Two-Legged Miracle has no pelvis or hind legs. Check him out on YouTube! There are many more blind, or abused, or cerebular hypoplasia kitties to be enjoyed.
My wife came with a 3 legged dog that thinks nothing is wrong with her. Except for occasionally falling over and not able to handle slippery floors, she handles life just fine. She just turned 14 and tires on our walks so I bought her a doggy stroller so she can go everywhere we go.
Our dog is epileptic, and her current medication regime requires meds four times a day. It’s tedious, but at least she takes them readily. Occasionally, she has a seizure despite the meds, and once she had a really bad spell.
We knew going in that she had this problem, and we had taken care of sick animals before, so we were willing to take this on.
Yes, if the pet were suitable for us and us for it.
For example, years back I had a cat with FIV. Now I have a different cat with no FIV, so an FIV cat would be a terrible idea. So would any cat that had an illness communicable to other cats or one that could be hurt by playing with my young, boisterous tom. Captain Hook would be no problem.
The FIV cat, btw, had the advantage that the organisation he was adopted from paid all vets’ bills, whether directly related to the FIV or not (it had to be their vet, for obvious reasons). So he always had to be an indoor cat and an only cat, and wouldn’t live as long, but would never cost you more than feeding and littering him and buying him toys.
Just last week we took in a dwarf hamster with some kind of growth or tumor on her belly. Libby is already a year and a half old, and the dwarfs don’t live longer to be older than 3 at the outside, sometimes only 2, so she’s probably not long for this world anyway. She still gets around fine, though – she’s an active little dynamo.
Our exotic animal vet offered us the option of surgery or treating her for pain. Since surgery wouldn’t cure her if it’s a malignancy, and very small animals don’t withstand anesthesia well, we opted for palliative care (pain relief). She still seems to be enjoying her time, and we’re monitoring her well-being closely.
Same here. If it’s going to be a long-term medical condition requiring a lot of money and work and probably an early goodbye, I don’t have it in me. One of our cats has developed health problems and it’s a nightmare - I wouldn’t take that on knowingly.
I’m very sorry to hear about your loss, and very glad to hear you considered adopting Captain Hook!
I think most people who reply here will be those who are okay with special needs pets. Like others here, I tend to seek out those who would have trouble finding homes. Right now I have 3 FIV cats from a shelter, and now I have Ami-chan, who was rescued from Fukushima after the disaster there. Unfortunately he has FIV and renal failure, and I don’t know how long I will have with him, but I just take every single day as a gift. I learned how to give him sub-cutaneous fluids daily, and he is on tons of meds, and when I go on business trips I have him stay at the vet. Can’t stay overnight anywhere as he needs his meds.
Some of my friends say that I am putting my life on hold for him, but it really doesn’t feel that way. My biggest burden, as it were, is the constant worry; he can go from really good to really bad very quickly. So yeah, every goddamn day is a gift.
As another point on the graph, I have 3 males and one female now, and while it is a gradual process, everyone gets along. I agree with the suggestion that you maybe try it out with your boy and Captain Hook. Of course you know best, but every cat is different–as the new guy, Ami-chan definitely held back and let my two boys continue to rule the roost.
