I have a funny, little cat named Scooter, who has gone way beyond what anyone expected of him.When he was born his back legs were bent the wrong way. I took him to the vet, who said it was a birth defect probably caused by breeding too close in the family tree. And he offered to “put him down.”This was not an option to be considered lightly, in my book, so I took him back home where we had a family meeting. This tiny kitten who didn’t even have his eyes open yet, was purring so loudly, we knew we had to give him a chance. All we needed him to do was be able to get in and out of the litter box. We always thought he’d have to be an indoor cat.
He proved us wrong.
Scooter lived as an outdoor cat for probably 14 years (even though he can get in and out of a litter box, he didn’t always want to) and never hesitated to walk over cement, rocks, whatever was in his way. Super strong on the front, Scooter practically went down stairs on just his front legs, and out in the grass, he could even run.And he became the conversation piece of our yard.Nobody came to our house without asking about his legs, and they were always amazed that he could get around so well and had lived so long. I was expecting some questions when I took him to a new vet, but I never imagined that they’d want to do x-rays (free of charge) because they were so fascinated with him. They called me in to look at them and pointed out this and that anomaly, arthritis, etc., until I began to wonder if I should have charged THEM. You know these x-rays are going to be the featured case study at the next veterinarians convention.
He is nearly sixteen years old now, and since we’ve had bobcats frequenting our back yard here in Colorado Springs, he has been an indoor cat for two months. He drools, we have to escort him to the litter box a couple times a day, and he just cost a small fortune in dental work, but he still has a grand champion purr.
I guess we’ll keep him.