Post by raggiedoll on Mar 13, 2012 23:58:15 GMT
Letch is a white and tabby boy of around 18 months. He was found on the streets in Middlesex with a horrendous bite wound on his neck. the vet treated the wound and after a few weeks his wound was fully healed. But he bit the nurse and she cried "Off with his head", or was it "put him to sleep". Luckily I was able to drive up from Romford to take him into my care.
He started off in a crate and did growl and yell and spit a lot, and yes he did bite. But over the past year or so, he has settled down to a reasonable kind of life. He grumbles at other cats but doesn"t hurt them. He hates being stroked on his back but I am allowed to pat or scratch his head and stroke his nose. If you try to pick him up he screams. so I just don"t pick him up or stroke his back. I was really worried about the fact he would yell if I touched his back so C.H.A.T. performed an X/ray for me in case there was any internal damage. We even tried a course of painkillers. Neither showed any reason for his reaction to being stroked. He can live in a multicat household, so long as there are no bullies as he is frightened of dominant cats; he seems to be find around female domestic cats, and good with feral s.
I have rehomed Letch twice. The first time he had a home in a sanctuary but got out of his pen early and would stay outside, even when it was pouring with rain, he would just sit there as if he didn"t realise it was wet. The sanctury people were worried that they could not give him special needs attention and he came back. The second time was a wonderful home , and I could tell he really liked it there, but there was a bully cat in the multicat household and he attacked Letch in the middle of the first night. Letch just lay down and let himself be attacked. It was awful. Again he had to come home.
If was after these two events that I started to really study Letch and try to understand what was going on inside his mind. I started to notice things about him. His eyes and face are flat, rather like that of Down"s syndrome humans. Also, it seemed to me that he acted a lot like a small kitten in many ways. It started to occur to me that Letch is retarded mentally. I tried to get the vet to take this in but he thought I was mistaken. But, it is ME that lives with him day and night, and its ME that watches and studies him.
Letch needs a very very extra special home. He definitely needs to either live in a flat with no open windows or he needs to live in a garden that is catproofed. He also needs to be brought inside when it is cold or raining as he cannot see to work this out for himself. Yet, funnily enough, when the radiators are on, Letch likes to sit upright, right next to the radiator, with his eyes shut.
He tells me off good and proper when it is meal time and jumps up on the bench so he is first to be fed. But when he is up there, it is our favourite time. If I leave my hands out of the equation and just put my face to him, he bomps me with his head or face and kind of dances.
I do love Letch, but Letch needs a home where he will be given lots of love and attention and where his special needs will be supported.
He does use a litter tray and eating habits are tidy. He appears to be a well cat physically and I do not envisage any vet bills.
Like any disabled cat, he just needs a mum or dad who will love him in spite of his disability.
Please call me if you think you have a heart big enough to give Letch a decent chance at a normal life.
Bless his little heart. .
