My Absence

As I mentioned in my previous post my reason for not posting was my very sick kitty, named Callie. Here is a picture of her before she got sick:


She came down with FIP, a deadly cat disease, and died the end of March. It’s been a heartbreaking ordeal. A month ago we adopted again. We found a black and white kitten that we have named Oreo. We picked her up because she was neurotic, or so we were told. She was a stray that had obsessive-compulsive tendencies. When we played with her one on one she circled the room as she played and made us laugh. We knew she would be a good match to our family.

When I went to pick her up I learned one more piece of the puzzle: she is deaf. Instantly her circling began to make sense. She was a stray; she somehow survived out in the wild. She circled to make sure there were no predators in her area; to make sure she was safe. These so called neurotic behaviors were survival instincts.

I brought her home and put her in the second bathroom. While she was not looking I yelled and clapped. I felt funny doing the typical hearing test on a deaf child but needed to know. She didn’t respond at all. In the past month we’ve done numerous tests. She appears to be deaf but has some hearing in her left ear. She tends to circle with that ear out and will tilt her head to allow her left ear to hear. There are no real hearing tests that can be done on a cat so our assessments of her interaction are the best tests we have.

This kitty that was described as “neurotic” is not living up to the label. They called her special, she’s just deaf. She’s now a normal kitty. She still has some of her survival quirks, I’m not sure if those will ever truly leave her. She looks behind her while eating, she circles rooms. She also meows and trills to her little hearts content. She knows what sound is, since she will meow a heart-breaking meow when she can’t find us, and stop and trill happily once we appear. Her purrs are powerful but silent.

She is in the right home. My husband and I have started banging the floor to get her attention. We sign around her and she’s starting to watch us, maybe she’ll pick up a few words. I know she’s just a cat but I feel she should have the same access to communication a hearing cat.

It’s an ironic twist of fate. I know that we needed Callie to introduce us to having a pet. Oreo needed us to provide her with a good and safe home. Welcome home, Oreo. Welcome home.