Today is Holly's anniversary

"Enfilade" wrote in message
om...

Happy anniversary, Holly! (born in early June, so she is now 9-1/2
years
old)
--
Photos of Holly and Duffy:
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")

They are both beautiful!

Duffy is blind?

--Fil

Yes, they are both beautiful; and yes, Duffy is blind. He is an
extraordinary little cat. He has adjusted so well to his blindness that it
often takes visitors awhile to realize it. He can't go "storming" through
the house like Holly does, but he is a little gymnast on what I call his
"vertical space" -- a big cat tree, a pole that I had mounted to the side of
the computer hutch, and climbing up the back of chairs (remarkably, without
damaging anything). He will even run at a pretty good speed if Holly is in
front of him; I call her his "seeing-eye cat." Duffy even notices tiny
little insects. He gets around so well that I thought he might have a small
amount of vision. I arranged for an evaluation by an ophthalmologist at
Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine because I wanted to see
if there was some vestiges of sight (and, if so, what I should do to
preserve it). There, I learned that Duffy is completely blind and that he
has a condition known as "anterior cleavage syndrome." There should be space
between the iris and the cornea. In Duffy's case, the two components are
pressed together, and there is no space between them. This probably happened
before birth and possibly was caused by infection in the mother. He is
content, active and happy. I suspect that the fact that he has been blind
since birth helped him to compensate for his blindness -- he has never known
anything else, so it is normal to him.

MaryL

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 14:56:34 -0600, "MaryL"
-OUT-THE-LITTER yodeled:


"Enfilade" wrote in message
. com...

Happy anniversary, Holly! (born in early June, so she is now 9-1/2
years
old)
--
Photos of Holly and Duffy:
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")

They are both beautiful!

Duffy is blind?

--Fil

Yes, they are both beautiful; and yes, Duffy is blind.

Duffy is a real SuperCat -- and so cute, too.

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 21:40:56 +0100, polonca12000 wrote:

Happy anniversary!
Best wishes,




Purrs and best wishes toHolly. MLB

MaryL wrote:
Today is the 9th anniversary of Holly's adoption. This is
Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), and she is one of the very special
reasons I have for being thankful on this day. My wonderful cat,
Amber, had died a few weeks
earlier -- actually, I had to make the incredibly difficult decision
to have her euthanized at age 16, after a long illness where it was
apparent that she could no longer have any quality of life. I had a
few days off for Thanksgiving, so I went to our local animal shelter
the day after Thanksgiving to look at cats and kittens. They were
closed, so I went next to a local pet supplies store. They sometimes
had kittens that people had "dropped off," but the cages were empty.
I got into a conversation with one of the women who worked there, and
she said "would you consider...." It turned out that she had rescued
Holly from a breeder who had mixed an Oriental shorthair with a
Persian and then was dissatisfied with the results. The breeder
wanted "dusty gray," but Holly is solid black (gorgeous and
marvelous). We made arrangements to meet the next day, and that was
the beginning of my wonderful life with Holly. I adopted Duffy on
Feb. 1, 2003, so now there are three of us -- one cat times one cat
became double the pleasure and love!

Happy anniversary, Holly! (born in early June, so she is now 9-1/2
years old)

Happy Anniversary, Holly! Lovely that you found a kitty and were able to
rescue her. I'm sure she's very happy with you and Duffy. I love happy
ending cat stories!

Jill

MaryL wrote:
Happy anniversary, Holly! (born in early June, so she is now 9-1/2 years
old)

Belated Happy Anniversary to Holly and you!

--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
...
Today is the 9th anniversary of Holly's adoption. This is Thanksgiving (in
the U.S.), and she is one of the very special reasons I have for being
thankful on this day. My wonderful cat, Amber, had died a few weeks
earlier -- actually, I had to make the incredibly difficult decision to
have her euthanized at age 16, after a long illness where it was apparent
that she could no longer have any quality of life. I had a few days off
for Thanksgiving, so I went to our local animal shelter the day after
Thanksgiving to look at cats and kittens. They were closed, so I went next
to a local pet supplies store. They sometimes had kittens that people had
"dropped off," but the cages were empty. I got into a conversation with
one of the women who worked there, and she said "would you consider...."
It turned out that she had rescued Holly from a breeder who had mixed an
Oriental shorthair with a Persian and then was dissatisfied with the
results. The breeder wanted "dusty gray," but Holly is solid black
(gorgeous and marvelous). We made arrangements to meet the next day, and
that was the beginning of my wonderful life with Holly. I adopted Duffy on
Feb. 1, 2003, so now there are three of us -- one cat times one cat became
double the pleasure and love!

Happy anniversary, Holly! (born in early June, so she is now 9-1/2 years
old)
--
MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Holly and Duffy:
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")


Happy Anniversary, Holly! May you have many, many more
--
Elise (supervised by Gossamer & Jeeves)
dragonandthistle at snet dot net
pics:

He is
content, active and happy. I suspect that the fact that he has been blind
since birth helped him to compensate for his blindness -- he has never known
anything else, so it is normal to him.

MaryL

I think it does make a great deal of difference....if he grew up that
way, he simply learned from the start how to do "cat things" like
climbing and running based on what he perceived as his "normal
abilities."

I did not realize that a cat could adapt so readily to life without
sight. I will certainly keep his example in mind should I ever hear
of someone considering putting down a kitten simply because s/he is
blind.

(No wonder those photos of your home are so tidy: my home is an
ever-evolving organism of what I call inspiration and my mom calls
clutter. I don't think Duffy would like it here.)

--Fil

"Enfilade" wrote in message
om...
He is
content, active and happy. I suspect that the fact that he has been
blind
since birth helped him to compensate for his blindness -- he has never
known
anything else, so it is normal to him.

MaryL


I did not realize that a cat could adapt so readily to life without
sight. I will certainly keep his example in mind should I ever hear
of someone considering putting down a kitten simply because s/he is
blind.

--Fil


Oh, yes, please do that. A blind cat can do almost anything that a sighted
can do. In fact, Duffy was used as the focal point of a newspaper article a
few months ago in which the journalist wrote about some blind kittens who
needed a home. Duffy's blindness shows if he becomes frightened because
then he will bump into walls and furniture. That seldom happens.
Otherwise, he is a playful, alert, happy little cat. He is also a very
talkative little cat. He makes the cutest "mrrrp," "mrrrp" sounds as he
follows me around. It is really a tragedy that some people think a cat
should be euthanized simply because of blindness. Duffy is an absolute
delight and has brought tremendous joy into my life (and I to his, I hope).

MaryL

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message ...
Today is the 9th anniversary of Holly's adoption. This is Thanksgiving (in
the U.S.), and she is one of the very special reasons I have for being
thankful on this day. My wonderful cat, Amber, had died a few weeks
earlier -- actually, I had to make the incredibly difficult decision to have
her euthanized at age 16, after a long illness where it was apparent that
she could no longer have any quality of life. I had a few days off for
Thanksgiving, so I went to our local animal shelter the day after
Thanksgiving to look at cats and kittens. They were closed, so I went next
to a local pet supplies store. They sometimes had kittens that people had
"dropped off," but the cages were empty. I got into a conversation with one
of the women who worked there, and she said "would you consider...." It
turned out that she had rescued Holly from a breeder who had mixed an
Oriental shorthair with a Persian and then was dissatisfied with the
results. The breeder wanted "dusty gray," but Holly is solid black (gorgeous
and marvelous). We made arrangements to meet the next day, and that was the
beginning of my wonderful life with Holly. I adopted Duffy on Feb. 1, 2003,
so now there are three of us -- one cat times one cat became double the
pleasure and love!

Happy anniversary, Holly! (born in early June, so she is now 9-1/2 years
old)


Happy anniversary! I hope you have many, many more with your beautiful girlkitty.

------
Krista