Blog The Change: "Twisty cats"

Today we interrupt our weekly Toon Tuesdays to join forces with our fellow pet bloggers around the world as we work to help bring about positive change for pets.

For this Blog the Change post, we'd like to tell you a story.

Recently, our shelter, Wayside Waifs, rescued a 5 month old kitten found as a stray. That's not unusual - we do that quite often.

What is unusual is that this sweet little boy was born with an medical condition that ensured he would not last long on the streets.


Stiles is what is known as a "twisty cat". Sometimes called squittens or kangaroo cats, these kittens are born with front legs that have not developed normally.

In Stiles' case, he's missing one of the two bones in his forearms - the radius bone. And a few of the bones in his wrist are underdeveloped, too, causing his paws to permanently curve inward.

Our Monday Medical series is usually a written article, but this time, we made a video and saved it for Tuesday's Blog the Change. We interviewed Stiles' veterinarian at Wayside, so you could get firsthand information about this sweet little boy, straight from the source.

And yes, he's incredibly sweet, as you will see. In fact, one of our volunteers calls him a "special gives" cat, not a "special needs" cat, because he has so very much love to give.

She calls him that for another reason too:  because in caring for a kitty like Stiles, invariably you are touched and amazed by the big heart these animals have - and how utterly unaware they are that they are different in any way.

 Stiles is indeed a "special gives" kitten.




As much as Stiles wanted a forever home, all of us at Wayside were determined to match him very carefully with an adopter that understood his special needs and would give him the very best care.

Well, we're very happy to say Stiles got his New Year's wish!

A woman saw Stiles' video - and saw his news coverage on KCTV 5 - and called repeatedly to ask if he was out of foster yet. When she heard he was, she drove an hour and a half to come get him. And she plans to knit Stiles his very own leggings to protect those delicate wrists.

Don't you just love happy endings?

Since today is Blog The Change Day we wanted to highlight this very special type of cat.  Many shelters would have considered Stiles unadoptable and he would have probably been euthanized. And - horrifying thought - we heard during the course of getting to know Stiles that some people actually try to breed for this condition. To us that's cruel and inhumane - and there should be a law to forbid it.

We're so glad Stiles has a happy story to tell. And w wanted to shine a light on one incredible nonprofit organization that creates leggings for paralyzed and impaired pets like Stiles, to help make their lives more comfortable.

Please "like" Leggings For Life on facebook - and take a moment to share a word of thanks with them for their labor of love on behalf of disabled pets.