Ever have your cat become depressed? Oscar (Toph’s seeing eye cat) hit a low point when house mates Frederick and Potato moved out with their family. He was not interested in playing much and just loafed about most of the day. This was the catalyst that led us to start searching for his furever friend. Matt and I knew we would have to find a special friend for our handicat – more on that later.
Toph came from a hoarding situation that led to her and a littermate requiring eye removal from a terrible upper respiratory infection. She went to an amazing foster to care for her while she recovered enough to be adopted from the shelter. She was still struggling from the return of the upper respiratory infection but was so happy to be held and talked to, she could not stop purring. Immediately we knew she was the one, it was an easy decision to add this sweet girl to our family. A few names were bounced around and Toph was an easy win – for those who don’t know her name comes from a character in Avatar the Last Airbender (the show, NOT the movie).
Due to her special needs and infection we opted to keep her set up in the room across the hall from our bedroom to start. Oscar was very intrigued about our new house guest and would constantly sit outside the door. It was hard to leave her in there alone at bedtime, she would start crying but as soon as you talked to her she would settle and go to bed with her stuffed Triceratops. For the first two weeks I took her to work with me so I could give her medication and my co-workers could give her plenty of affection. My manager had no problem with her taking up kennel space until she got acclimated, working in a veterinary clinic definitely helps when taking on a pet with special needs.
After about a week we started to slowly introduce Oscar and Toph allowing at first just a few minutes at a time to be in the same room. Almost immediately they became obsessed with each other, he has always been
so gentle and patient with her. You know how crazy kittens are, constantly pushing boundaries and figuring out what they are capable of, nearly an infinite amount of energy. It’s almost criminal how precious they are together.
Adopting a pet is a big responsibility, especially when they require extra care and need the environment tailored to their needs. I highly recommend doing your research before choosing to adopt or purchase any type of critter, so you are not overwhelmed and are properly prepared for what you are bringing home. Pets are family in our home, and we are lucky to have found these amazing creatures, but this was not a decision we went into blindly… I did as much research as I could on how to acclimate a blind cat to the home and found little resources to help. We came up with a care plan and successfully integrated Toph into her environment with ease. I hope with this site we are able to expand representation of pets with special needs, provide resources to help families care for them responsibly, and share adorable content with you.
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