What did I just get myself into?
I don't know anything about paralysis."
The back legs?
It's just the back legs, yeah.
Hi, sweetheart!
What's going on with you?
Can she drag herself around, or how does she get around?
I went to the shelter to pick up an orphan who was 2 weeks old.
And when I was there they said, "Hey, we also have this kitten who is paralyzed.
Would you like to take her too?"
Hi! OK, yeah, we got to take her right?
For sure!
I had never raised a paralyzed kitten before, but I couldn't say no to her.
If anybody can figure out how to adopt out a paralyzed kitten, I can probably find a way.
I thought I was getting one.
Surprise!
I don't have experience with like, injury paralysis.
Right, well we'll learn.
We'll learn and we'll make it happen.
I brought her home and all I could do was cry for the first two days that I had her.
I was not used to seeing a kitten drag themselves the way that she did.
And the first thing I did was reach out to people I knew had paralyzed cats.
With Chloe I'm doing things I've never done before like setting up the
home with yoga mats so that she can get herself around more easily.
We just have to kind of adjust things so that it suits her needs.
Oh look! See, she like lifts her legs up and stuff.
I was obsessive about it for the last three months, she's
been to more than 30 vet appointments.
As we've been working on those muscles and doing physical therapy,
we've been seeing these shocking things.
WHAT!
Even though those things are an indication that she's going to be, you know, a normal cat.
She does have the most extreme form of paralysis.
We're about to meet with her neurologist.
Chloe has her favorite little stuffed alpaca.
Unfortunately what every doctor agreed with is that she's lost all feeling to her legs.
The good news is (sniffle) they don't think that she is in any pain.
The bad news is they don't think she can feel anything in her legs.
I just cried and cried and I was so determined to fix her, you know?
I wanted her to be normal.
You know, the story is not, "Wow, she can suddenly walk again."
A pivotal moment in my understanding of Chloe was when we tried to get her a wheelchair.
I thought that having a wheelchair was going to give her so much more freedom and liberation.
Well we got her in the wheelchair and,
nope
she
HATED IT.
Come on, Chloe!
I think it really freaks her out.
So what I needed to do was look at her from where she is.
I need to meet her where she is.
I had all these expectations of like, "We got to be able to get her to walk."
And in that time what I discovered is that her life is not sad at all.
She can't walk.
She's paralyzed.
That's OK.
That's not how she gets around.
She still gets around beautifully.
She doesn't see herself as disabled.
She sees herself as a normal, happy, joyful kitten.
I started looking at her not from the perspective of my expectations of her but her expectations of me.
I think she started being a lot happier when we accepted her as she is.
Go girl!
Go Chloe!
Chloe is an amazing climber because she's really strong.
She pulls herself around cause, she's got strong front arms.
When Andrew is on the floor, she loves his beard so she'll just, like, climb all in his beard and purr.
She needs to get adopted by someone who has a beard.
She's so sweet.
Anybody who thinks that Chloe's condition is sad just doesn't know Chloe at all,
because she's the least sad animal you've ever met.
She's so joyful, she's so happy.
She's so loved.
I'm going to cry really hard when she gets adopted.
I'm usually very very strong about this stuff.
I have kittens coming in and out of my home all the time and
I want her to have a family that pays a ton of attention to her because
she's come so far and we've come so far with her and she's taught me so much.
I'm so grateful to her for the experience.
There it is! The old shelter.
That's where you came from!
Now we're going to the airport.
Chloe.
Hi! You did so good!
Are you ready to go?
Da ding!
Boop!
Hi, guys!
Hi!
You're so tiny!
Hi, sweet girl!
Chloe, let's go explore.
Come on!
Let's go see the house.
I sort of inadvertently have become the paralyzed kitten lady now because,
she inspired a lot in me and now
I feel so emotional about other paralyzed kittens coming into shelters
where I know people look at them and they think that they're broken and they're not.
I'm so proud of you.
OK, maybe I'm going to cry a little.
I know.
It's OK.
See you soon.
I hope.
You gave us this amazing gift.
She's amazing and you did such a good job with her.
And we're so thankful.
Chloe is now responsible for saving a couple other paralyzed kittens because,
just through people watching Chloe's story
other people have decided to go out and adopt these paralyzed cats.
And I hope that many more out there have gotten adopted or
will be adopted because people are no longer afraid to adopt kittens like Chloe.