Where the Eyes Don’t Have It
A sanctuary for cats with special needs
One day, when I was still working with Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a field mouse found her way into one of the cat rooms from the outdoor catteries. Instant red alert from 10 cats!
In the pandemonium that ensued, the mouse managed to evade all of them and scooted out under a door into the lobby.
A hundred cats, in four different rooms, were now on the alert, but the mouse escaped yet again. Then, back out in the lobby, there was more commotion, with cats running hither and yon in pursuit of the major excitement of the day. Eventually, they gave up and climbed into their favorite nooks for a snooze.
All except one.
Cassie froze. And then, in one giant bound, she was hovering over a stack of cat carriers in stalking pose – low belly, throaty murmurs, and quivering tail. The mouse, almost doomed, was rescued by one of the caregivers, and taken back outside.
One small detail: 15-year-old Cassie was totally blind.
A sanctuary for blind kitties
“A blind cat is just a cat,” says Alana Miller of the Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary. “He has no clue he’s blind. He knows he’s a cat.”
Miller and her daughter, Stephanie, founded the shelter in 2005 after adopting their first blind cat. Since then, the rescue has expanded its mission to accept cats with other special needs.
So it was a delight to read about their sanctuary in St. Pauls, North Carolina, and to know that blind cats have a new life there.
Most of the cats have sponsors, who give a dollar a day to help care for a cat who captures their hearts.
“We have some of the most wonderful donors in the whole wide world,” Miller said. “Most of the cats have sponsors.”
For the rest of the story, check out the Fay Observer.
And here are some blind cats at play at the shelter:
What do you say? Do you have pets with special needs? How do they deal with their “disability”? Let us know in a comment or on Facebook.