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CH Kitty Club Newsletter

November 2012                                   Issue #25  



Tardy Peebucket...In Loving Memory...
You'll never be forgotten, my Little Prince
 
Hi All, It's me Debbie Martin, Shakey's mom.
I will be putting together the
Ch Kitty Newsletter for the time being.  
Lizzie and Neal have asked me to take over for a while.
Did this issue quickly this morning to get it out for Nov. 1st.
Just so you know what I look like, here is a picture! LOL!
Debbie Martin 

"My introduction to CH" 

 By: Janice Branwood


 Hi!, my name is Romeo, and I am in a cage in Virginia. I didn't ask to be here, but I was told I was surrendered....I'm still a little kitten but my vet bills are too high because I am "sick". Today,a vet student adopted me here at my hospital and I am with her and A big dog, but its better because I know I wasn't going to be kept, if you know what I mean. My new friend is going to "post" me to,other students because I don't get along with her animals. Enter home number 3! Here I am with another vet student and 2 other kitties. Oh what fun running around with everyone, I have a big of a swingle in my hips! I hear my new vet friend say her aunt is coming and she wants a kitten....will she take me? I'm already 7 months old and although I'm cute they say I'm special. Yippie Aunt Jan is here, let me show her all I can do, I will play with her, chase the other kitties and purrrrr like crazy. Tonight I slept Under her bed and made it known that I love her but will she love me back? Ahhh, another night and this time on the bed next to her....it's now her last day here and I heard her say she's not sure and an 8 hour ride will be sooo long for me (can't I tell her I will be good??)....she's packing her car. 


YEA!!!! I'm in the car and on my way to NJ, I can't wait to be in my forever home with her other 2 kitties...ahhh a real home. Think she knows I'm "different"? Here we are, we made it thru the traffic, yippie WELCOME HOME, what a wonderful word....HOME! I so love playing with my new brothers and sometimes a dog comes to visit...he's fun too and chases me. Sometimes I fall over. My first and second vet visits were good, but I got so sick from the shots, mom was so worried. They say I may have a slight neurological condition...but mom just cuddles and loves me so....Three more years pass, and no more shots...my body doesn't like them and I would never bite anyone, I am a true lover and true to my name. I also have a new sister dog named Jazz, she and I play till I fall over but we have so much fun. I still have my wiggly wobbly walk but do everything the other kitties do and more.... 

My mom works such long hours, and on her day off always spends time with us. Today she was home most of the day, but she's going out for a few hours. OHHHH myyyy, what is happening to me? All of a sudden I don't feel good, and mom is not home. I am crying out for her, I'm in the closet mom....Oh good I hear the door...Mommie I'm in here, please hurry. She scooped me up and tried to quiet me...but for some reason I am still in pain and I can't stand. Mom called the vet and we are on the way, what's going on...I am feeling so lost? The vet people are so nice they took me right away and told mom to wait, Mom tells them she thinks I fell in the closet, my toes is bleeding too. Everyone is being so gentle, and they are calling mommie back. She is crying and talking with the doctor while she strokes me, I'm crying too. So much happening, but now all of a sudden things are getting better. The Doctor gave me a shot for all of the pain, she told mom I will be relived of all the pain....it seems I have had a kitty stroke, and mom knows the end is near. She keeps saying over and over I love you Romeo as she strokes my fur. OH joy I am in a beautiful place...its called Rainbow Bridge. I see so many others here running, playing barking and meowing...we are all eternal friends and I see moms other cats she talked about that were 19 years old when they came here, see I am only 6. But one thing mom never really knew was that I was a Special kitty...I had CH. I am one of the chosen few that God gives to special parents. Although I had the slightest case of CH, two years later mom had the fortune of being at our local Humane Society for a meeting when a ball of fur rolled to her feet. 

What joy was in her eyes and love in her heart when she picked up this little bundle. You see this would be my mommies next love and she named her Jewel, short for Juliet in honor of me. I see them cuddling, playing and sleeping all the time. Mom has found out so much about our disability thru her on line group and chats. I have now paved the way for Jewel to be another less fortunate kitty who has found a most fortunate life.

 Now, I rest easy and say Thank You Mommy I loved you too!
jewel

 

 "Jewel "

 

"My introduction to CH"
By: Jennifer Jasensky
 
I can tell you that when I learned about Lilly Grace I had no experience in CH. She is severe CH but I didn't know what that meant.

When I got her I called a friend and we tried to figure out what I was going to do, how would she use a litter box, she couldn't even get to one. I was near hysterics. Luckily a friend on a cat forum and a CH kitty person, Jo, she gave me her phone number. She has experience with severe CH kitties and she explained a lot to me.

A few weeks later, my sister gave me a swiss cheese chalet cat house that her cats had outgrown. I put it on the floor near Lilly Grace and she immediately climbed right in. Ron and I were so frightened that we would not be able to get her out, we came close to going to the vet with our mouse house in hand. Lilly Grace was popping her paws and head in out of the holes having such fun we finally relaxed.

It's been a few years and thankfully Lilly Grace taught me all I need to know. She tells me when it's bathroom time, when it's time to play and most importantly when she wants a break from mommy and simply wants to hang out with the other cats.

World According to Riley Dean

The Halloween Spirit!

 
By Riley Dean (With a Little Help From Mommy)

  

Trick or treat! It's Halloween time again, and besides a large collection of beautiful costumes, there are many other reasons that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! Halloween can be a fun time for adults and children alike, but sometimes all the excitement can be stressful on your CHer. Therefore, here are a few of Riley Dean's tips to keep Halloween scary for all the RIGHT reasons!

 

1. Keep the Halloween candy out of reach - Halloween is a great time of year to buy huge bags of candy in order to satisfy all of those trick-or-treaters coming to your door. However, be sure to keep candy - especially chocolate - put away and out of snacking range for your kitties and other pets. Chocolate is extremely toxic to both cats and dogs. Non-chocolate candy isn't so good for our tummies either, and it's VERY bad for our teeth!

 

2. To costume, or not to costume? - I have never been one to shy away from a photo op. My mommy has been known to put me in the occasional onesie, and I don't seem to mind it too much. However, my brother Gatsby HATES clothes. At most, he may don a cape for the Halloween festivities. Half the time, my sister Abbey wants nothing to do with clothing at all. Whether your kitty seems to be fine with going all out on Halloween (or at least for a quick picture) or takes the claws out at the mere thought, always respect his or her wishes and don't try to force it. Some kitties find those costume snapshots downright humiliating.

 

3. More cords mean more caution! - If you like to put up haunted house strobe lights, a fog machine, a light up pumpkin, or even just a scary string of ghost lanterns, remember to hide those electrical cords! Some kitties, CH or otherwise, like to chew on them, and this can be dangerous for both them AND the rest of the family! If there's no way to hide them and you have a biter, try to spray a little bandage/wound spray on the cords. It won't hurt the kitty, but it'll taste pretty terrible!

 

4. Put your CHer in a safe place on the big night - Lots of strangers, even little ones, and repetitive doorbell rings/door knocks can scare any pet, especially a CH kitty. I know that as soon as I hear someone at the door, I go running for somewhere to hide! To keep our stress levels down, it might be a good idea to keep us in a back bedroom away from the noise. You can even turn on the TV or some music for added calm.

  

 Well, that's all for now, everybody. And please, be sure to have a few extra kitty treats on hand in case I go trick-or-treating in your neighborhood, heh heh.

 

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

NEW RESOURCE: CH Kitty FAQ!

 

Hello CH kitty lovers!

 

My name is Elise and I love CH kitties!  Many of you already know who I am - for those of you who don't, I have 2 CH cats of my own (a 10 year old, mild girl named Hippa and a 2 year old, moderate girl named Nanako) and am also fostering a 13 week old CH boy, Lannister. I am also a volunteer on the board of directors at Red Door Animal Shelter. Red Door Animal Shelter in Chicago. In all of my spare time, I work to help raise awareness of cerebellar hypoplasia, network CH cats at risk, and help rescues, fosters, and guardians new to CH cats with any questions and concerns they have. After a couple of years of this increasing involvement, it became very evident to me that there were a number of questions that were commonly asked by people new to CH.

 

There are TONS of resources on the web answering all of these common questions and more about CH kitties, but people had to search for the answers across a number of different sites/resources to find them all...it could be quite a hassle, and quite time consuming when you've already got your hands and heart full with a new CH kitty!  The result is that the CH Kitty Club Yahoo forum and Cerebellar Hypoplasia Cats & Kittens Facebook  groups frequently see the same questions posed over and over by new members.

 

In order to help people new to CH find the answers to these commonly asked questions in a quick and easy manner, I've created the CH Kitty FAQ! This list compiles 30 frequently asked questions about CH kitties. It covers topics such as care, medical concerns, and adoption of CH cats, as well as more general questions about the condition. Please check it out and pass it along to anyone you know who needs some CH kitty questions answered!

 

And if there is a common question you think should be added to the list, feel free to email me at [email protected] 

 

Here's the link!  http://chcat.org/faq/

 

Love & headbonks,

Elise

Interview with Ziggy

By Riley Dean

  

Hello Ziggy!  

Ta da! Here are my questions:

1. Tell me about an average day in the life of Zig. Favorite spots? Favorite activities? What do you do for fun?

Hi Riley Dean!! My life is wonderful!! My room is bright and sunny, and Mommy gave me two new kittens to play with! I wasn't sure about them at first, but they make life even more fun!! Every day starts out with the mommy cat opening up our door and the whole day gets brighter!! She walk in and pets us all and gives us all kinds of loving! (then she cleans our poopy towels, yuck) Then our door is open for the day!! We get to wander all over the place!! We have places set up for play in all the rooms!! Mommy has to carry my little brother, Spike, where ever we go, he can't walk. She sure loves him! Around mid day the mommy cat bring us a plate of wet food, oh yum!!

2. What is the most frustrating thing about being a CH Kitty? What is the best thing?

Frustrating?? I can't think of anything, my life is good, we are spoiled and given all kinds of treats and new toys and attention. The best thing is being SOOO loved!!

3. Tardy, the King of Everything, left you some big shoes to fill. How have you been coping without him?

No one can fill Tardy's shoes. I still see mommy sitting at her desk crying, I feel so bad, I try to give her lots of love, but it's been so hard for all of us with out Tardy. The kittens keep our mind occupied, but they aren't Tardy, no one can ever make the hurt of loosing him go away : ((

 

4. What is it like to be the big brother of Spike and Luna? Any friction there?

I like being the big brother now. At first it was really hard, for me and for the mommy cat. I wanted to smack them all the time, I just wanted my big brother to come back. Now we are ok, they are cute, and they are pretty special. I still have to smack them some times, but that's not because they're not sweet babies, but because I have this evil energy I have to act on. 

5. Now let's focus on romance. Tell me more about Ginger. What is your relationship like?


Oh, my girlfriend : )) Truth be told, she forced herself on me!! Every time I would lay down she would come over and plop herself next to me!! Pretty bold, eh?? After a while, I realized that she likes me!!! I tried smacking her a few times, but she kept coming back! So, I guess she's here to stay!

6. Ziggy, let's be honest. You have a reputation for being an "evil" kitty at times. Is it the infamous CH temper, or are you just misunderstood?

No, it's true, I have this evil side that takes over some times. I am working on it : )

7. If you could let people know one thing about CH kitties, what would it be? 

 

We want to live, we want love just like any other creature. Don't kill us just because we are a little different!

 

The CH Family Dynamics

By: Elise Murphy

 

Meet the Canzano family!

 

Family Statistics:

 

Humans:
2 - Michelle and her husband Daniel

Cats: 16 - Marvin (11yrs/male/grey tabby), Bugzy(9yrs/female/orange tabby), Ayla (8yrs/female/tortie), Quinault (7yrs/male/black DSH), Chevy (7+yrs/male/ginger tabby/seizures), Onyx (6yrs/female/black DSH), Jasmine (6yrs/female/black DMH/partially blind, semi-feral, deformed front paws), Kaia (5+yrs/female/tortie/semi-feral, head trauma), Mia (3yrs/female/manx/Manx Syndrome), Cubby (3yrs/male/black manx), Gypsy (3yrs/female/black DMH), Shadow (2yrs/female/blue), Munchkin (1yr/female/black DSH/partially blind), Oliver (1yr/male/grey tabby/CH), Tyson(6mos/male/grey DMH/Hydrocephalus), and foster kitten Poshine (7mos/female/brown tabby)

    

Overall interactions:

Peaceful and pretty darn content!

The 16 Canzano cats all get along very well for the most part. The only cat that is separated is Kaia, because otherwise she may be harassed. Kaia does receive many visitors though, especially visits from her friend Bugzy! Sometimes Quinault and Marvin have issues with each other, but nothing that can't be resolved so the peace can resume.


Siblings/BFFs:

Cubby and Gypsy, 3 year old black kitties, are siblings.

  

Bugzy, or "Bugz,"a 9 year old orange tabby girl, gets along with everyone and everyone loves her! She is especially good friends with Kaia (see above) and Jasmine, a 6 year old special needs girl.

CH Kitty Additions:
 

Though many of the cats in the Canzano household have special needs of some kind or another, Oliver is the only CH kitty. Michelle was concerned that the more dominant cats would pick on him and cause issues for him, but they don't -they just leave him alone to do his thing. When Oliver first came home, there was a major ice storm that caused a power outage for several days. During that time, all of the cats were very clingy, and Oliver's addition was eased. Oliver does play with Tyson, the hydrocephalus kitten, on occasion, too.


How they help each other:
 

Shadow, the 2 year old blue girl, plays "big-sis" to all of the younger kittens and watches over them. Poshine, the 7 month old foster girl, has helped teach Tyson, the hydrocephalus boy, how to be a kitten.

Interesting tidbit:


Most everyone has an amazing story to tell behind how they came to the Canzanos. Here are some of the stories Michelle shared with me: 

 

Oliver - Oliver is our CH kitty. I was asked to do a transport for a friend of mine who does special needs rescue. He was coming from Montana. This was in January. Not that best time to be crossing the pass and heading east but I agreed to go. The trip over was fine. The group from Montana met me in Spokane. I stayed the night at my aunts. When came home the next day and the weather had turned on the west side of the mountain. We came down into 6+ inches of snow. We made it home fine. But the road got worse so my friend and I put off finishing the last leg of the transport. So we set the transfer for the following Thursday. That Tuesday Night we had a big snow storm and followed by a severe ice storm. We lost power and the roads were impassible. So Thursday never happened. Then my friend was going to Hawaii for vacation so I said that I would watch him while she was gone. During that time Oliver bonded with me. After everything he went through before coming to me, I couldn't break that bond. He has been one of the best kitties I have ever had.

  

Tyson - Tyson came to me from a local vet hospital. They had contacted my group and my director thought he had CH. She did realize he had Hydrocephalus. The vet hospital called me to see if I could help them. He was about 7 weeks old and they said he didn't use the litter box and was extremely vocal and that if they couldn't find someone to take him they would be putting him to sleep in two days. I of course couldn't let that happen so I met them that night and picked him up. Turns out he was slower to learn. He was using the litter box but he had diarrhea and he hadn't learned how to cover it yet and was stepping it and tracking it all over. The reason he was vocalizing was because he was in an unfamiliar place and he is super people oriented. He was just trying to find out where the people were. With the help of Poshine he has developed into a normal kitten. At this point he doesn't have any deficits but our neurologist said that he could potentially still develop complications over the next two years. So we decided to keep him. He is a wonderful snuggly boy. He continues to grow and develop. We are very hopefully that he will not have issues.

 

Bugzy - Bugzy came from a pet sitting client of mine. One night he was out riding his quad and he had stopped to talk with a friend and something brushed up against him and it scared him so he kicked it. It turned out to be this little orange tabby kitten. He felt AWFUL because he loves cats. At the time he had two elderly sick cats and they were going away on vacation. So he asked me if we could take her so she could be inside and not be at risk of getting pregnant. Of course I said yes. They were gone for two weeks. We fell in love. When they got home they found that there was a second kitten. So they ended up keeping her and we kept Bugzy. She is named Bugzy because she likes to chase bugs.

 

Quinault - After losing my 7 year red Maine coon Ace to CHF that year, I had the opportunity to go into the Native Nations in our area and provide veterinary services. I went with one of my coworkers. We helped do many spays/neuters. We were at our second location on the trip and the first morning that we were there while we were setting up we had an elderly gentleman come in asking if we would put to sleep three kittens he had because their mom had died. The head person said yes. He had to go get the kittens. During the time he was gone I talked to the lead doctor and asked if we had supplies to support these kittens and if it was okay with him if I offered to give the kittens a chance. I would be responsible for them even after the trip ended. He said yes to all accounts. So when the gentleman returned I rushed over to before the head lady could get to him and I offered him the option to give the kittens a chance to live. He started crying he was so grateful. It turned out that the mom had been killed by a log truck 24 hours earlier. The kittens were only days old and there had been 5 but the rez dogs had gotten two and had tried to get a third. So we ended up having to tube feed them for about 2 days because they were so weak and we had to treat the one that had been almost gotten by the dogs for a wound on its chest. That is how I got Quinault and his two sisters. His two sisters were adopted by the client of mine who I got Bugzy from.

 "Betty Talk"
Book Signing,  Nov. 3rd.
  "The True Story of a Brave Bobblehead Cat" 
  
By Author: Ruth Berge
 
Ruth Berge who is an inspired author has written a lovely Childrens Book about her beloved CH Kitty Betty.  To our knowledge this is the first book written about a CH Kitty which is wonderful and such a great leap in spreading awareness for Cerebellar Hypoplasia Kitties.

 Ruth will be having her second booksigning and talk on Novemeber 3rd. in South Florida.   If you are in this area, please attend.

This is a wonderful book for children and adults too!  The holidays are comming up so what better gift to give but a book about a brave CH Kitty named Betty! 
To order your copy please visit her website by clicking below

Book Signing November 3rd. at 2:30PM
303 Anchorage Drive, North Palm Beach, Florida 33408
 Adoptable Angels
This month we are going to do something different for the many CH Kitties who need homes.   Below you will find an interactive map to see where CH Kitties are looking for homes. 

 

However there are many who are not on this map so in the next week or so I will be sending out another Newsletter format stictly dedicated to CH Kitties who need homes.

 

CH Cats Available for Adoption
Search for your town and find the CH cats closest to you! Click on the points in the map below to find information about CH cats available for adoption around the world!

 

*hint* click on the name of the pet after clicking on their map point to view their Petfinder bio or Facebook album

View CH Cats Available for Adoption in a full screen map

Please Click this link:     http://chcat.org/adoptable-cats/



                        

                                        Bye Bye everyone!   

                                               Love,Ziggy 

 

 

 

 

Hope you loved this month's newsletter, we love making it happen!!!

 

Ziggy Wigg'n

Little Demon 

A PurrFect Face    

 

Elizabeth Holochwost

Founder of the CH Kitty Club (really)

[email protected] 

 LizzieBarrett.com 

 

Neal Helman

Editor and Best Daddy Cat and Ziggy's best friend 

[email protected] 

www.NealHelman.com  

 

Debbie Martin

Adoption Specialist/ Temporary Newsletter Editor

[email protected]  

 

Elise Murphy

Temporary Newsletter Editor

[email protected]

 

In Loving Memory of Tardy Peebucket

President of Love and his mommy's heart 

[email protected]

www.TardyPeebucket.com  

 

I miss you Tardy  

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This month's Wonderful Articles!
Welcome
My Intro to CH: Janice
My Intro to CH: Jennifer
The World According to Riley Dean
CH Kitty FAQ
Interview with Ziggy
The CH Family Dynamics
The Inteviews
Betty Talk
Adoptable Angels