Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dwarfism revisited

I'm starting to think that the vet may have neglected to tell me a few things when he mentioned that Hooligan may have some form of dwarfism. For instance, the cat doesn't "meow" so much as make a raspy squeak. At first I thought it was a leftover from his surgery, like maybe they scratched his little throat with the breathing tube or something. But last night when I fed the cats their weekly ration of the good stuff (canned food) it hit home that he really has no voice. I had the Idiot and Antagonizer just meowing up a storm, loudly. And then, in between their wails, I would hear a little raspy noise that was Hooligan. It was pathetic really. The poor kitten is destined to be stuck with a permanent kitty whisper. He also still has some goofiness with his legs. His front legs kind of splay out to the side sometimes. For instance, tonight I went to move him from one place on my lap to another, and his arms just flung out to the sides and when I put him down he was on his chest instead of his feet. Or he'll get on his back in a small space and be unable to right himself. He just flails away until I notice and help him out. Mister C has taken to referring to Hooligan as "Runt" because he really hasn't grown a whole bunch either. All in all, he's probably the goofiest cat I've ever had. Having said that, he sure does love me. He gets on the bed every night and curls up with me. Actually he prefers to curl up on me. On my throat. With his chin resting on mine. And then he purrs for a least an hour. And his purr? Well, it's the only thing about him that isn't stunted. His purr is the loudest purr I have every heard on any cat. You can hear it across the room. Which makes it a tad bit difficult to sleep.

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