He looks like an utter sweetheart. (He's probably also comic relief for his humans sometimes. Both in one furry package - what more could a person want?)
Well, since her mother (Phantasia) was mine and she was born that way, I just couldn't give her up. She kept me sane and alive after my first marriage went to pot. She became the mascot of my SCA household (House of the Crippled Cat) and if someone pitied her, they didn't stay in the household for long. She had extraordinary courage and tenacity. She taught a lot of us what we could do if we just tried. I could use her now.
Penny's nothing like that, but she does have a sort of curious gait -- she seems to move her hind legs from the hip, and not bend her knees so much (I know where cat knees really are, and I'm not totally sure that's what she's doing, but her hind legs tend to be stiff and straight when she walks). She's very well coordinated, though; she's fast and has no trouble running or jumping or navigating complicated obstacles (just don't ask her to get back down out of a tree). But Charley's wide-legged walk seems like an exaggerated version of Penny's, which is strange. We never asked a vet about it -- we hadn't actually noticed it when we brought her in for her first checkup, where she came out totally fine, and we haven't really had cause to bring her in again.
In contrast, I once had a cat whose gait was normal but whose name -- Dizzy, short for Disaster -- was well-earned in terms of his physical coordination. He's the only cat I've ever known who (as best we can tell) broke his own nose.
Me too! I admit I would selfishly choose an animal like Charley, who is not in pain and doesn't need expensive or time-consuming care, over one who does -- but either way, hand 'em over, I'll be there to help.
What an awesome cat. My sister fostered a kitty with a neurological disorder - not sure if it was the same one that Charley has. She had Andy for several years and no cat before or after has touched my heart like he did. He was a big, soft, orange tiger cat whose eyes were crossed and he always looked like he had a big goofy grin on his face. His condition was a lot more severe than Charley's though. He fell over a lot and you always kind of held your breath waiting for the inevitable crash as he hit the floor. He also had no control over his bodily functions so he would just flop over on his side and let loose on newspapers that were spread on the floor. He taught me a lesson on toughness and perseverance. He finally found a home with a totally wonderful woman who had a special room in her basement where he could live comfortably (with another kitty like him!) without messing up the house.
Would he injure himself, falling like that? I wondered that a bit about Charley too. I admit I laughed when he fell off the arm of the chair, but if he were mine I might worry about him getting hurt while I'm not home.
No broken bones or anything like that but as I recall, his nose was banged up a lot. On one hand it was heart-wrenching to see him struggle to move across a room. On the other hand he was just so inspiring. You just knew he didn't feel sorry for himself and he certainly didn't want his humans to treat him like he was handicapped. :o)
Thank you for this. I didn't watch it yesterday; it was one of those days where something sweet and cute would've had me in tears. Today it's lovely and poignant. I hope enough people recognize the merit in keeping cats like Charley around. He doesn't seem in pain or unhappy at all.
Hey! Will you send me your e-mail address? (You can e-mail me at mine -- if you don't already have my real one, my LJ one should work fine.) It's for an evite. Your LJ one is bouncing at me.
Oh crud. Yeah, my LJ one just got caught in the crossfire between two ISPs. (They disabled my catchall address. Goobers. But I can't blame them.... because it was getting so much spam that the servers were dying. Have I mentioned yet this week how much I loathe spammers? Um, speaking of which, I probably shouldn't let evite see my real e-mail address. Try my usual handle at mywavez dot com. Let my office have the headache.)
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Penny's nothing like that, but she does have a sort of curious gait -- she seems to move her hind legs from the hip, and not bend her knees so much (I know where cat knees really are, and I'm not totally sure that's what she's doing, but her hind legs tend to be stiff and straight when she walks). She's very well coordinated, though; she's fast and has no trouble running or jumping or navigating complicated obstacles (just don't ask her to get back down out of a tree). But Charley's wide-legged walk seems like an exaggerated version of Penny's, which is strange. We never asked a vet about it -- we hadn't actually noticed it when we brought her in for her first checkup, where she came out totally fine, and we haven't really had cause to bring her in again.
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They seem to have better coordination when they are moving fast. (The bit in the middle where he is pouncing shows this.)
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I was impressed by how quickly and accurately he could pounce!
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Thanks!! :)
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