FCVH Articles & Posts

In late 2019, one of our clients came in with a 5-week old fluffy black kitten he had found in a pasture. On site, it was apparent that something was wrong with him. His back legs didn’t work and he couldn’t walk, and his front legs looked wonky as well. It was apparent that he had been born in that pasture, surviving there on his own. Our client assumed the kindest thing to do was to euthanize the kitten, a male with green-gold eyes. He was adorable!!! 

Gerrit looked at this little fluffy kitten who was busy purring and trying to attack his pen while he counseled the concerned client. He decided to give this little kitty a couple days at the clinic in a cage with a litter box, some food and water to see how he got along. After all, he had survived this long. Clearly, he was able to get through life somehow! 

The kitten stayed in a cage for about a hot minute before I got wind of him and came down to the office to check him out. He acted like nothing in the world was wrong with him. After viciously attacking a towel in his cage and then a fluff that was threatening him from behind the litter box, he dragged himself into the litter box and used it! So, I brought him home. We had recently fostered another black kitten at home that was about the same age, so I figured maybe they could be friends.

As it turns out, the kitten could move. He would sort of drag his hind end around because his useless little deformed legs couldn’t work correctly. We weren’t entirely sure what was going on back there. We were like, “Parts seemed to be missing…his feet look upside down…is that a claw? Maybe a toe?” We weren’t sure at that point, but he sure didn’t seem to notice. He quickly figured out that if he wanted to get somewhere fast, it was easier to push himself backwards. He looked like a squid shooting himself backwards across the wood floor. Thus, he became known as Squidlette.

Squidlette is about 5 months old now and doing great. He climbs to the very top of our cat tree with ease. He dangles from the rope and then plops into the cat basket hanging off the side. He has since figured out how to go forwards by sort of jumping on the nubs of what should be his knees, but the name Squidlette has stuck. He has absolutely no idea he’s any different than the other cats. We are supposed to be “fostering” him until we place him in a home…but it looks like he’s found one already – so much so that we have decided to make Squidlette the new company mascot for Five Cities Veterinary Hospital.