HandiCat

[thegayhare]

Hello all

Last night I was flipping channels and I spotted sometihng that made me stop.

It was an animal rescue show talking about a cat that had had to have both front legs amputated,  just below the shoulder.  The kitty was incredibly cute, what was left of those front legs barely extended past it's chest but to see it walk on them (hunched over like that) and to see it playing with other cats (biting and headbutting)  It was just so cute.

I started to wonder why this cat was so facinating,  I know other handicats,  A freind has a three legged cat (lost one of it's rear legs,  It managed to twist its back around so that the leg was right in the middle of Booger's back,  and that leg is massive)  I also know a cat with true dwarfism,  Pistols legs are tiny and her body is normal sized,  I've also seen anouther 2 legged cat (both on his right side,  be's fast though just like a bike and he's got great balance).   So I was thinking why are thse cats so addorable when with most other animals you'd be sad but not with these cats. 

I think I know why.  These cats,  They almost always adapt so well when this happens.    They don't let it bother them, no matter what happens they are still cats, they are still  the same happy, and playful kittens and nothing ever realy slows them down.  People seem drawn to that

[Aridas]

I've seen three legged cats, and cats with both rear legs gone (they use a little custom built wagon to run around, apparently works decently), but never those... But yeah, the animals we seem to have chosen as common pets really seem to be the most unshakeable. I've heard all sorts of stories involving dogs or cats with missing limbs who still get on just as good as before, if not just a little worse or better. They're not like people, they don't give up as soon as it's over. They'll figure it out and keep going.

[superluser]

Remember the one-eyed kitten?  Again, cute.  Alas, this one did not keep going.

[Alan Garou]

That one-eyed kitten photo is horrifying. The eye makes up nearly the entire head!

[Vidar]

That one-eyed kitten photo is horrifying. The eye makes up nearly the entire head!

If you find that horrible, then you do NOT want to go to this site: http://www.messybeast.com/freak-face.htm
There are really horrible geneticly mutated freaks of nature on  this page. You have been warned.

[superluser]

If you find that horrible, then you do NOT want to go to this site: (uh, no thanks)
There are really horrible geneticly mutated freaks of nature on  this page. You have been warned.

Er, I thought the one-eyed cat was cute.  I really would rather not see this thread turn from cute stories about cats to hideous photos of freaks of nature.  If you found my picture horrifying, I humbly submit Lola, the cat who walks on her front paws as a means of atonement.

P.S. And this picture of a...well, it's cute, whatever it is.  Looks like a sloth.

P.P.S. Click on the pictures for more.  It's more addictive than cuteoverload.com

[Kasarn]

I didn't click the link since my internet connection is slow as crap but if you're going to post something that's off the NSFW scale then you should deliberately bork the link (eg hxxp:// instead of http://) so that the forum doesn't automatically turn it into a link and people won't randomly click it.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

That would be a baby sloth, superluser.

And no, the links are SFW, Kasarn.

[Kasarn]

Fair enough. I wouldn't expect peeps to be posting anything overly NSFW anyway... it's just some advice for anything that's probably a little full on.

[Alan Garou]

After reading through the linked page, I started to cry.  Those animals are sad, miserable, cursed creatures. I only hope they didn't suffer from long lives.

[Aridas]

well, the cat that was the main topic was said to be in no pain, and apparently seems to get along just fine... Nothing bad about that at all.

[TheGreyRonin]

 I actually have a one-eyed cat, named Button. She had an infection in her eye as a kitten and it swelled up pretty bad. I took her to the vet, he gave me antibiotics for it, but the next day she ran into a doorframe because she couldn't see straight.

After the bleeding and the vet trip, her eye turned an odd, milky blue and she's been blind in it ever since. Doesn't slow her up or apparently cause her any trouble; she's given birth twice and is a decent mouser as well. If I can find my pic of her I'll post it.

*edit* Bingo! I found it.


She was born with her mangled tail. It's genetic; half of her kittens have had the same thing at birth, to varying degrees.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Ah, she has some manx in her blood, I'd guess.

From the Isle of Man, y'know.

[thegayhare]

I've got two cats with thats same exact fur patern

(cept amber has a white belly, and white paws)

[Brunhidden]

ive met a similar animal once- i was voulenteering time down at an animal shelter (puppyland, they NEVER euthanise an animal unless its dangerous, people shower them with donations) and one of the 'resident' animals came up to greet me. the 'resident' animals are those who are too handicapped or high maitenence to sell so the owner keeps them herself.

this specific dog was tiny, really tiny, even for a chiuaua. he had been born with dislocated hips so both his hind legs crossed each other and were completely useless. so this little guy walked everywhere on his front leggs, balanceing his butt dirrectly above his head to do so and actually going faster then the other dogs. you would think it were really sad, but as happy as this dog seemed it was funny and encourageing. he even had some extreme 'upper body strength' and had shoulders like those cartoon bulldogs you see in old looneytoons and tom and jerry shorts.

still, i didnt like him quite as much as the barking cat, the swearing parrot, the narcoleptic 'mop' dog, and the obese geunea pig.

And Lo, God did give Man dominion over all the animals of the world, except for Cats

[TheGreyRonin]

Ah, she has some manx in her blood, I'd guess.

From the Isle of Man, y'know.

She looks that way in the picture, but she has a full tail. It's just knotted back over itself several times. It's about for inches long, but if straightened I'd guess it would be slightly under a foot long.

One of her kittens last year only has one kink at the tip of his tail; another was born kinked in a zig-zag pattern. Unfortunately, she didn't survive.

[thegayhare]

I think my big fat Ebony is Autistic

She deffinitly seems to exhibit the charictoristics of autism,  especialy in relation to her reactions to paterens and her love for her routine

[TheGreyRonin]

Button is a compulsive greeter, as in: "Hey, here comes a car! Let's go run in front of it to say hi, then sit there until it says hi back!" Not the brightest cat.

I've actually had quite a few cats with less than average intelligence. In spite of having little or no compassion for people, I'm a soft touch for animals, and usually end up with the ones no one wants.