our retarded kitty.

we have a retarted cat. wait, i mean intelectually diabled kitty. the doctor refers to her as neuro-kitty. her name is reiki, cause i felt she needed lots of it to get through when we first got her, er, i mean when i first took her from a client. this is her at 6 weeks old:

yes. that is her at six weeks old. i saw her litter mates. i was there the day they were born. i know the timeline. although the 4 oz. alien i am holding surely doesn't look like she's six weeks old. or going to make it. but she did. she's a tropper. she was hand feed every 2-3 hours for about 4 days. they 5-6 times a day for 3 weeks after that. she had a hot water bottle 24/7 to keep her body temperature up. if i had to work, she went to "kitty-care". she slept in a box near the bed. she had to stay in quarantine from our other cat and the dogs for 5 weeks, not for their sake, but for hers as her immune system was so low. she had a heart murmur and given a short life expectancy. but she survived. here she is at 3 months old:

my daughter calls her miracle kitty. no, not because she survived. but because she can climb ANYTHING, fall, and get right back up and do it again. now i know, "uh, heather, that's what all kittens do". yeah, but not like reiki. she has no kitty grace. she wobbles when she walks, runs, stands, sits. she has no concept of no, fall, ouch, oops - i could kill myself. she's slightly crazy, oh, and retarded. but we love her. she's been so fun, and good for the kids. and good for this mom!