Ripley

I don't think I've posted too many pictures of Ripley on the blogamathing.  Maybe one or two.  More on other social media platforms.  

We brought Ripley up the house in the spring of 2023.  Shyam had spotted her struggling to get around down at the farm, and took her to the vet to get her checked out.  She's known as a Wobbly.  She has a condition called Cerebellar Hypoplasia. It's a neurological disorder that affected the balance and coordination centers of her brain, likely due to parvovirus in the mother. 

She has significantly decreased balance and coordination.  She wouldn't have been able to survive down at the fish vats.  She would have been beaten to food, and been particularly vulnerable to more aggressive cats or other larger animals.  We made the decision to give her a home.

She's not particularly aware of any disadvantage.  She can still motor across a room when the mood strikes her.  She's feisty.  But she likes her naps and her fuzzy blanket.  Aside from her coordination issues, she's like any cat.

Selfies are hard.  It took about 16 attempts to get the above portrait.  When attempting to focus on something, her concentration tremors can take her out of frame very quickly.  And like a cat, she's prone to doing her own thing, and often her own thing doesn't involve taking selfies.

We had a scare with her last spring, after she'd been here about 9 months.  She started becoming lethargic, and Shyam made the wise decision to backtrack on how we'd been feeding her.  We reintroduced kitten formula, and bumped up the soft food for her, to make sure she was getting enough water.  We had a water feeder for her, but it was probably getting more use from the other cats than her.

She bounced back.  She's not the climber that she had been, yet, but as she gets stronger, that may come back.  

She's a good girl.  She likes sitting on the couch with me or Shyam and watching Jeopardy, or one of Shyam's crime shows, or baseball.  She's especially fond of professional wrestling.  Which makes her a good girl......