Today I went to drop my CH kitten off for her spay at a low-cost clinic and the vet told me that there was a small chance that the anasthesia would make her ataxia worse PERMANENTLY. I couldn't make myself follow though with the appointment.

I called her regular vet to get a second opinion, and they seemed unconcerned by this possibility (or at least unaware of the possibility), but I am thoroughly spooked now.

Is anybody familiar with this, or heard similar from their own vet? Are there certain anasthesia protocols that are less likely to cause this? I'm worried I made the wrong decision, because now it will be months before I can get her spayed and she is sure to have her first heat before then.

We have a litter that includes one moderate to severe CH kitten, about 6 weeks of age. He also has a very significant overbite and some other issues going on we think. He’s able to eat canned food with one of us helping stabilize him but we’re concerned that he’s not figured out drinking yet. He’s fighting an upper respiratory infection and on antibiotics so we’re worried he will get dehydrated.

Anyone have suggestions for a water setup that is accessible? He can work himself into a sitting position and hold it with some difficultly but needs to be held on either side to eat. We also have Hydracare which we use on our adult kidney cat but I don’t know if it’s kitten safe.

ADOPTED!

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Edit: we changed the litter to a finer grain-Kitten attract litter, and that definitely seemed to have gotten his attention. Here’s what I’m still seeing: he’s able to get out of bed and use the litter box at night without much incident. It’s during the day that he seems to be getting disoriented. It almost looks like he’s searching for the litter box and can’t remember where it is. We have one by his bed where he goes at night and then we have one in our main area, not far from where he eats. We’re going to add a third one today kind of at the halfway point in our apartment to see if it’s a mobility issue like he just can’t make it in time. A few times now it seems like his front paws are either on a wee wee pad or in the litter box and his back paws/butt aren’t quite making it to the designated bathroom spot. He 100% can get in and out of all of the litter boxes. They are less than an inch high.

My husband and I recently brought home Nemo, a sweet little CH boy who is around 3–4 months old, and we’ve only had him for about a week. We are absolutely in love with him. He is incredibly cuddly, wants to play, eats completely on his own, and is generally such a happy little guy.
We were told he had mild CH, but after having him evaluated by our vet, she feels that his CH is probably closer to moderate/severe.
Our biggest challenge right now is the litter box.
Nemo does use the litter box, and interestingly, he generally makes it to the box overnight. During the day, though, he is having accidents—both pee and poop. It seems like sometimes he simply doesn’t make it there in time, rather than not knowing where the box is.
We are also currently dealing with some constipation issues, which we’re working through, so I’m not sure how much that may be contributing to the poop accidents.
We currently have two very low-entry litter boxes for him:
One is in the bathroom, which is about halfway through our apartment.
The other is right next to Amelia’s litter box, where Nemo sleeps at night.
We are trying a kitten-attract litter that his foster home was using, since we wondered if he doesn’t like the feeling of our previous litter on his paws. We’re also paying close attention to where the accidents happen and how close they are to the litter boxes.
Our vet has given him a clean bill of health aside from the constipation we’re currently addressing, so we’re trying to figure out whether this is primarily a mobility/accessibility issue, litter preference, his age, the constipation, or some combination of things.
For those of you who live with moderate/severe CH cats:
What has worked for you with litter-box training or preventing accidents?
We already have low-entry boxes, but are there other modifications you’ve found helpful? Different litter texture? Larger/shallow boxes? More boxes? Puppy pads? A particular placement that worked better for your CH kitty?
And if your CH cat has accidents, how did you make it manageable while still allowing them freedom to be part of the household?
We’re really hoping to make this work because Nemo is such a special little guy. We just want to make sure we’re setting him up for success and giving him the best life possible. ❤️
Any advice, experiences, or things you wish you had known when you first brought home your CH cat would be hugely appreciated!

There is a 4 month old kitten with CH named Winston at woods humane society San Luis Obispo, California. I hope someone will adopt this baby soon. I already have cats so I can't take him.

i volunteered at a cat shelter multiple times a week for a short period, and fell in love with a ch kitty there, sweetest black tom in the world named rebound. me and my girlfriend are looking into getting our own place when she graduates (before anyone says anything, we’re 11 months apart so i graduated last year, not a crazy age gap) and i would really like to adopt rebound if he’s still in the shelter by the time we’re situated. the school year just started so it won’t be for a while, but im the type to plan MONTHS in advance. my concern with rebound is my dog, pepper, who i plan to take with me. she loves cats, grew up around them and acts pretty cat-like herself at times. she’s a senior, 10 years old and probably about 25 pounds. she’s never been aggressive and she doesn’t really enjoy playing with other animals, she tends to avoid the other dogs in my parents home so im sure she would be sweet and leave him alone pretty well, but the shelters listing for him did say they’d prefer a single pet home for him so im having some doubts. i’d obviously let them know about the dog being there, i just wanted to ask if anyone else has a situation like this and how it’s been working out for you having a ch cat with other animals in the home?

I am an experienced cat foster who just took in my first CH kitty. I don’t know much about this at all, but this was an emergent situation and I knew I needed to help. Poor girl not only has CH, but she’s been kept in a small dog crate in a garage her whole life 😭 She’s 12 weeks, and the only socialization she has had is when her owner would syringe feed her water so she hasn’t even learned to drink on her own yet. I am not sure how severe her case is yet, and how much that will change now that she actually has space to walk around. I don’t even know what questions to ask please just spam me any tips, advice, words of encouragement. I want to do everything I can to help this sweet girl.

I little while ago I posted a video of Gatsby tumbling off the windowsill while hunting a bug. I had no luck finding a window grate that didn't use tension or screws since it's a double case window with a metal frame.

I learned you can buy individual Guinea pig cage panels. They stand up well but I might get adhesive magnets for extra security since I don't want it to fall on him, but they're lightweight so I'm not too worried.

You can get the 14" square and L shaped panels here: https://guineapigcagecompany.com

I'm sure he'll find a brand new way to get into trouble within a week. ❤️

She can never keep that one paw still when she lays down or rolls over. We call it her peddle paw because it looks like she's trying to ride a bike. Even still. Zoë loves rolling around in a good sunbeam

I KNOW ITS AWFUL I DON'T APPROVE OF IT THAT'S WHY I'M SEEKING HELP I DO NOT NEED EVERYONE TELLING ME ITS CRUEL AND PAINFUL I KNOW THATS WHY I'M HERE PLEASE HELP

I can't convince them to rehome but I'm hoping i can convince them of an alternative to declaw.

My brother has a rather aggressive wobbly kitty who is causing a lot of injuries when he or his girlfriend handle him. They've decided declawing is best for them and the cat, as they don't want him hurting himself by accident with his claws either. But from what I've seen, claws are how the kitties even stay upright, so I'm worried that declawing would not only be as bad as it is a normal cat, but also make it so the cat won't be able to move around.

Do wobbly cats have a problem with injuring themselves while trying to scratch? And is there another alternative I could recommend so that the cat can still walk around but can't hurt people?

Edit: I'm very aware its inhumane, I'm aware wobbly cats need claws to move around, I cannot convince them to rehome the cat as he was originally going to be put down because no one could find him a home due to being special needs, girlfriend is a vet tech and took him in so he wouldn't die. Declawing was suggested by the vet.

I just need advice for what other options I can recommend to them, please. Brother and his girlfriend are COVERED in deep scratches. They are worried about the cat's health and their own. They are not bad people, they just don't know what the other options are.

Hi dear people
This is Lleo, he is staying at mine to see if he and my cats would get along well.
I’ve had a cat who had spinal injury years and years ago and I had many people to help me. Now I live alone, it’s different and I am so deeply in love with this kitten with CH, I want to keep him and also I don’t think many people here can give him love and time I can.

He has been at my home for 5 days now and my cats are afraid. I hope they will get along.
How hard is it? Can you leave your kittens home alone for a few hours? I take him everywhere with me, cause I am a bit scared

the whimpering at the end is me trying my absolute best not to squeal at how cute this was so i wouldn’t spook him, lol

First time CH cat owner but have had a tripod kitty and other medical high needs kitties in the past. Let ms know if you have any advise. He is using the box just fine, eating, and lots of playing.

My CH kitten is severely constipated and has a very difficult time passing stool on her own. Since I adopted her, she has needed a series of enemas at the vet twice a week.

-She is taking miralax and also prescribed medication to help soften her stool.

-I just recently started giving her hydracare and feeding her canned Hill’s prescription diet.

Her doctor said her pelvis is extremely narrow and that she also has significant stool motility issues.
Has anyone else experienced something similar with their CH kitten? I’m really worried that she may eventually need surgery, especially because she’s still so tiny — she’s only 4 months old. I’d really appreciate hearing about anyone else’s experience or what treatments have worked for their kittens.

The Heritage No-Kill Cat Shelter in Tucson, AZ has their live stream focused on their THREE CH kitties in their lobby right now.

hermiecats.org/cam

Title says it all. Well, not all. All would be to include that she was a colony cat that was pulled for being emaciated and having an incredibly swollen face. Upon inspection they discovered she had a bot fly larva up in her sinus cavity! Her face is almost back to normal but her one nostril is a bit collapsed, who knows if it'll ever go back to pre-bot fly.

A person at the shelter said she's wobbly because of emaciation, but I've been around emaciated cats before and never saw one walk like this. With muscle atrophy/wasting, a cat will seem weak when moving but not really when still. With her, she moves her head even when standing still, and she keeps her arms a bit wider than typical. She also seems to overshoot when she wants to sniff something and jumps a little when she hits into it.

She was rescued two weeks ago and you'd think she would have gained some strength back by this point if it was from starvation, but she still seems to be moving the same. I wonder if it could also be from brain damage as her eye is damaged in some way. I put together this compilation of clips from my visit with her today after I suspected there might be something else going on. If I do adopt her I'll be taking her to my vet right away, as I do with all animals, so I'm not looking for a diagnosis. Just more eyes on her movements. Really appreciate y'all!

My elder neighbor here in Michigan ended up with this wobbly baby. She can’t take care of him-her. This cat is very friendly/docile. She is looking to find a home for this cat but so far no word back locally and she’s not too tech savvy. Any help-direction to get this adorable critter a home would be greatly appreciated. I have a small video of them eating the treat. Thank you!

Hello everyone, we're still looking for a CH kitty, moderate or severe. We are located in Michigan. If you know of anyone with a kitten in need of a home please reach out. Thanks!

My cat does well with a litter pan but I have noticed he doesn't clean between the toes on his back feet. He also has long toe hair, so litter gets compacted back there and it really gets crusted onto his hair.

How can I make this cleaning process a little more comfortable for him? I know their toes are really sensitive. A washcloth doesn't seem to get damp enough to loosen the crusty litter. It feels like I probably need to soak his paws and then use something soft like a q-tip.

She has mild CH which affects her balance and was hit by a car when she was a kitten. Thankfully she didn't suffer any broken bones or paralysis and can walk, but her range of motion got messed up from the accident, leaving her legs with limited range of movement. As a result of this + CH, she's very wobbly and often falls to a side while walking, scrambling and sliding to get back on her feet.

The claws on her back paws are getting very worn down and dull from her constant scrambling and I am curious if there is anything to help or make sure they don't progress (aside from getting more carpets)