Mollie & Minuet

I have a very sweet little calico cat named Minuet, who, for no reasons our vet can figure out lost the use of her back legs several months back. He was able to determine that it was not caused from an injury, but possibly from a congenital problem that has occurred also in one of her littermates, and is related to a kind of stroke that took place in her little brain. BUT, she still pursues everything in life with gusto and good cheer..... pulling herself lickity split around the room every bit as fast as any of our other cats (usually) move. Now, prior to her disability, Minuet was a rather skittish cat, allowing us to stroke her, but flinching with every touch. But now that her little back legs can't reach up to scratch her head and neck, we have become her very best friends! She amazingly pulls herself up onto our chairs and laps with the upper body strength of a little incredible hulk, and curls up in our laps, begging to be petted and scratched. Instead of her prior favorite sleeping place off in a corner, she lounges directly in front of our little electric heater basking in the glow of the warm elements. (We change her little towel several times a day so she remains comfortable and dry) While all of our other numerous kitties are engaged in the highly competitive eating process that we call "dinner", she sits, along with our other "special needs kitty" Sorbo, on my husband's lap, dining on her special plate and gobbling down plenty of her special diet designed to prevent any further problems for her already-disabled little body. Her purr has easily quadrupled in volume since she has allowed herself to be loved! Her little round eyes just pop with excitement whenever my husband or I bring out the coveted "brush" and give her a good going-over to make sure she is properly groomed. And she endures without any complaint her twice-a-week baths, where we just hold her under a soft flow of water and gently clean areas she can no longer reach.

But the photo shows something we witnessed in amazement just the other night. We have three Dobermans, and all of them except Mollie love the cats. Mollie will growl whenever a cat invades her space, and she will even snap loudly.... not at the cats, mind you, but in the air above her head.... as a warning to show them what she COULD do if she WANTED to. But Mollie also finds the heater irresistible, and decided she would dain to share that space with Minuet, so they could both get toasty and warm. In the photo you will notice that they are within less than an inch of actually TOUCHING TOES.... now this may not seem amazing to many people. And, since our other Dobermans actually allow our cats to lounge ON THEM, using their big black bodies as their own personal sofa-beds, it wouldn't seem amazing to us except that Mollie (also known as "Miss Grumblepuss") would NEVER allow this to take place with any of our other cats. I guess even a grumblepuss makes allowances for a kitty with "special needs"!

Copyright © Terece Lewis, 2004