by Nancie Vollmar

Hi ! Hunter,here. I’m a rescued, purebred, doll-faced Persian. I’m also a special needs kitty because I only have 3 legs.

My life began in a breeder’s cage in South Florida. The stud used is HCM positive. I had a painful, dragging rear leg the breeder ignored because she wanted me for stud. An irresponsible south Florida Bengal rescue got me, raised money to get my leg amputated, which was done at a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, not a fully competent vet. Unfortunately, they did little else for me in rescue. I was left in a crate outside in the south Florida heat and storms and insects. I was allowed inside once in awhile in a filty, urine stained bedroom with a lot of sick cats when she wanted to take my picture to raise more money to pay her personal bills. I didn’t even get all the antibiotics or pain meds the vet sent home for me after my amputation. I got a really bad flea infestation, ear mites, coccidia, ringworm and my beautiful fur never got brushed, so I had some painful mats. The rescue would brush me to fluff me up, and clean my eyes only to take pictures of me for their Facebook page to use to raise more money, but it didn’t go towards me or the other sick cats. This woman also was a Bengal breeder and used the money on her own cats.

As soon as my stitches came out she put me up for adoption and a lot of people wanted me. I found my furever home in Michigan. My new mom flew to south Florida to get me. The woman just grabbed me by my neck scruff and pulled me from her carrier and shoved me into my new mom’s carrier & never even said goodbye to me. She didn’t even want to talk to my new Mom; she just turned around and walked away. At the TSA screening a nice lady had to take me out & she fell in love with me and carried me around showing the TSA agents & passengers. They made my new mom get drug screened because they thought my incision was for smuggling drugs LOL I just kept purring all the time the TSA lady had me, assuring her I was a lover not a smuggler. I was quiet the whole long plane trip back to Michigan and happy to be in my furever home.

I was doing great, getting along with everybody, my first weekend home & saw the vet on Monday to get rid of my fleas, ear mites, parasites & ringworm & get my vaccinations (the breeder and rescue place didn’t get me any shots, except a rabies the day before I was going to fly home). Three days after coming home I got really sick. I went back to the vet & he ran a lot of tests & said I’d been exposed to FelV but the result was just slightly pink. My fever was up to 105* and it took a lot of meds & 5 days for it to break. Mom talked to the rescue woman who denied those sick kitties I was with were sick, but then that woman put on her Facebook page 5 of them died from Pan Leuk. Mom told our vet, who did more tests and confirmed I’d been exposed and began an aggressive treatment. All of this and I wasn’t even 4 months old yet!!! Today, I am 27 months old, happy, healthy & purring away in my furever home. I am not FelV positive and don’t have any signs yet of HCM although my identical twin brother, Channing, died in that bad rescue from HCM at just 4 months old, alone in a cage, outside, and untreated.. My humans had me tested for HCM because I do have a heart murmur, and so far, there are no indications I have the fatal disease. But, it was discovered that I have Osgood-Schlatter’s disease in my remaining rear leg, which I should grow out of as my bones develop and grow, and I am on pain meds and doing great. The vet suspects that was the problem in the leg the rescue cut off too and perhaps, it could have been saved with a proper diagnosis and pain relief protocol.

I have a really nice Mom & Daddy, 3 doggie siblings and now 8 other kitty siblings.

Jeni is a 9 year old Husky/Boxer/Beagle mix, and a special needs dog because she has seizures. She was rescued from the streets of Toledo.

Buddy, the Golden Retriever is my favorite dog.

Cooper, the 4 year old Yorkie, likes to play nurse when somebody isn’t feeling well. He was hit by a car directly in front of my human’s car, and tumbled uncontrollably beneath the car before it could stop. The humans rushed him to the vet, where thankfully, he only had a sever gash on his rear hip and leg. After 30 days of recovery with us and searching for his owner, the humans made him ours.

My kitty purrmates are:

Pookie Boo, a handsome black DSH rescue, who’d been abandoned as a kitten in an apartment by his owner. He’s 10 now and came with mom from Florida. He has extra toes on all four paws.

Jingles, a DMH gray and white tabby, who adopted Dad at a pet store).

Toby the Food Thief, is a 5 year old orange tabby DSH and a rescue, after his only owner had to surrender him when she had to go to a long-term nursing facility. He is extremely smart and eats everything & knows how to open the fridge & freezer.

Junebug B Bengal, Juno for short, is a 4 year old purebred F4 marbled Bengal that mom & dad got from the same rescue place as me. She’s really shy and talks a lot! We believe she is a retired breeder who’d been kept in a small cage her entire life and ever socialized to humans or other cats.

My 4 year old, smooshy-faced purebred Persian roomie, Jayden, also came from the same south Florida rescue as me, and had been kept in the same horrid conditions. He has IBD & an inoperable cloudy eye caused by a scratch that was left untreated. He was really, really sick when he arrived home & the rescue never said anything about it. He only weighed 3-1/2 pounds when he got here & was a week away from certain death the vet said. He’d been at the rescue place over 8 months & that woman said she never noticed anything wrong even though he was nothing more than fur on bones.

Mizz Cheevy is a pretty 4 year old Himalayan girl who was an owner surrender when the only human she ever knew got very sick and couldn’t care for her.

Mr. Mustafaleees aka Flea, is a 12 week old tuxedo kitten full of mischief from a local shelter.

I’m adjusting to my limitations as a tri-pod kitty. Mom & Dad have a lot of things to help me. They have wide, padded plywood perches to the narrow window sills so I can enjoy sitting in the window, because I cannot balance on the narrow sills. To get up to the windows, their bed and be able to watch our “birdie TV” cage up close, there are wide pet stairs for me. I can pull myself up to lower furniture, so the humans have placed out cat trees next to sofas so I can climb over to them from the arm of the sofa. While I enjoy catnip toys, my favorite toys are anything with feathers. I just love feathers.

Our humans are very conscious of our home environment and health conditions. As a result, they only use natural cleaning products, mostly made by Mom, to limit chemical exposures in our environment. We all eat a raw-based diet, including homemade, species appropriate proteins, vitamins and supplements. Jayden’s IBD is completely in remission as a result. We are all indoor-only kitties, and our home has been treated with safe, natural Borax, so no commercial flea products are ever needed.

As a result of our rescue experiences and special needs, Mom helped me make a Facebook page called HUNTER AND FRIENDS and I hope you’ll stop by and “like” me. We are strong advocates of Adopt, Don’t Shop, encouraging rescue and adoption of senior and special needs animals in particular. We are also firmly against declawing, and abuse and neglect. We work with a large network of responsible rescues to expose bad and scam rescues and get them shut down. We promote and encourage no-kill policies and hope to see all countries and governments recognize companion pets as family members, not disposable property. We are the voice for the voiceless among us. Mom cared for several feral colonies in Florida, and we promote feral colony care and management through TNR. We also believe, that with proper love, understanding and patience, all feral cats can be loving companion pets. We promote a holistic home environment, veterinary care and species appropriate diet. On my Facebook page, you’ll find pictures and videos of me & my roomies, great feline and canine information about care, health, environment, rescues, and more and of course, some funny memes.

I hope to share some headbonks and purrs with you. Please visit me at Hunter and Friends on Facebook https://facebook.com/hunterandhisfriends. I am also on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Like this: Like Loading...

Related