Weeble and Wobble are two brothers my husband and I adopted in July 2002 from Whiskers Animal Benevolent League in Albany, NY. They joined two other cats who already shared our home, Fritz and Callisto.
(Skip to the point, if you like.)
Whiskers is a not for profit, no-kill shelter completely run by volunteers that rescues cats, shelters many, places others in foster homes, and helps these cats find permanent homes. Some cats are unadoptable, not by any fault of their own, and Whiskers provides a safe home for them for the rest of their lives. Whiskers takes in abused, abandoned, and stray cats. As the volunteer coordinator told me "Whiskers does not take in people's pets." Whiskers cats are shown at pet adoption clinics every Saturday at PetSmart at the Latham Farms shopping center in Latham, NY and Borders book store on Wolf Rd. in Colonie, NY. They are also shown online at Petfinders.com, and you can make an appointment to go to the shelter and see the cats who are ready for homes.
Weeble and Wobble are a bit of a special case. They most likely have what's called cerebellar hypoplasia. This means they have trouble walking ... often the hind end gets ahead of the front end and they do a lot of circling! I view it now as a special ballet they have ( ... it takes three circles before you can go out the door to the enclosed porch, which you just begged to have open... it takes three circles in the hallway before you can turn left to go into the room you wanted to play in.... you might push a door open to enter a room and your tail enters first!). They also have some twitchy problems ... the more they want to do something, like eat from a particular plate, the harder it is ... the head kind of twitches and turns away from the plate and the body won't locomote in the right direction. One guy leans on the wall as he walks, introducing a new cleaning challenge (... how DO I get that gray stripe off the wall?).
The part of the brain that is affected also controls eyesight, so often these cats have poor or no eyesight. Wobble has two eyes with a little peripheral vision. Weeble has one eye, the other appears to have never existed (he just has an empty eye socket, we have dubbed it his N'ye -- a contraction for Not Eye, since it is sometimes the subject of discussion or cleaning) -- and also has a little peripheral vision. However, they chase bugs, although they lose them easily, play endlessly with pipe cleaners, and can track moving toys and chase them at high speed all over the house somehow!
Anyway, the point follows in the next few paragraphs ... these cats were removed from a colony of feral cats living outdoors, during a neuter-and-release program. They were taken into a foster home and socialized with humans. Whiskers did take them to adoption clinics at PetSmart, but the brothers got too stressed out. I was told Weeble wasn't too bad, but Wobble was hissing and growling, which kind of made people not want to take him home. Oh, and they had to be adopted together since when they were young Wobble depended greatly on Weeble to guide him around. The short of it is, they didn't get adopted.
Time passed, they grew up into beautiful cats. But their foster parents separated, and they were at the home of the person who wasn't responsible for taking them in. Their person was moving out of state. It was important for them to find a permanent home, soon. Whiskers was trying to figure out a way to make a special space for them at the already full shelter.
During all of this, I had looked at the Pet Finder web site, and I had seen Weeble and Wobble. They really caught my attention, but I think at that time one of our cats, Jordan, had just died and a loving friend had given me a kitten (with an upside down, backwards tail, but that's another story!). However, a year later, I happened to look at that web site again and W&W were still there. I was specifically looking for special needs cats since we have no children and could provide a quiet home for such animals.
I sent some e-mail to see if they were really still available. We did go visit them at their foster home, where they hid under the couch and hissed. But I thought "They're cats, they'll be fine, even if they live under my bed for three months at first." A week or so later, we picked them up at the vet's office and brought them home. They were about two years old.
Both came out of their crate the first night ... Wobble first, then Weeble. By morning they were crawling all over us when we sat on the floor, and gave us the most incredible amount of unconditional love (well, ok, we did feed them ;) They're now integrated into the household.
The point is this: Some people cared enough to take them off the street, where they probably wouldn't have been able to make it. They cared enough to get them veterinary care, and shelter them. They cared enough to let them "belong" to their organization until they found a home, however long that took. It took about two years!
Weeble and Wobble make me think about Whiskers a lot, every time they jump up on my lap, every time they kiss my face, every time they give me cat hugs, every time they make a loud announcement that they've caught a pipe cleaner, every time I see them sunning by a window, every time they snuggle into bed with us.
Because of them, I have started to volunteer my time at the shelter and I am interested in helping Whiskers obtain what it needs to help more cats, most of them more "normal" than W&W, but all coming from bad situations.
So here's what I'm currently looking for!
Fresh Step cat litter is currently giving out what it calls "Paw Points" in its cat litter. These Paw Points can be collected and redeemed for various things. I am collecting these so I can redeem them for a coupon for 4 free cans of 9Lives cat food. I will give EVERY CAN to the Whiskers cat shelter.
View and print a useful flyer!
Oh yeah, how does a shelter feed its cats? Donations and food bought by the organization. There are currently about 80 cats in the shelter, Each cat is served 1/4 can of food in the morning, and 1/4 can of food in the evening plus dry food. (Guesstimate for cats that are not in cages.) Uhhh, unless my calculator is broken, that's 1200 cans a month. (Plus dry food and plus cat litter!)
So, what the heck? I'd like to try to put a dent into that cost and effort for Whiskers, for all the WeebWob McBobs out there, and bring in a few free cans.
If you can help, by buying Fresh Step cat litter for your cat(s) I would greatly appreciate it! If you know me, you know my address and you can send the Paw Points to me. Otherwise, you can send them to Whiskers!
Whiskers Animal Benevolent League
Box 11190
Albany, NY 12211
Everyone thanks you!
(That includes hungry cats Camille, Bogey, Francine, Eddie, Kipp, Parfait, Tyrone, Kilroy, Zoe, Yancey, Plato, Hyacinth, Irving, Quince, Ivan, Popsicle, Andrea, Emily, Jenelle, Aiden, Milkdud, Gray Ghost, Diana, Mimi, Meer, Sadie, Silky, Jill, Frolicky, Thelma, Guthrie, Dancer, Corkie, Spencer, Lady, Eli Whitman, Barley, Morgan, Lotus, Falene, Chelsea, Danny, Eva, Felicia, Misti, Angeline, Allison, Brianna, Virgo, Dusk, Davy, Harmony and Haley, Millie, Missy, Nino, Pheisty, Popsicle, Tasia, Alice, Peridot, Abner, The Silver Sisters, Aiden, Aubrey, Jazzy, Oscar, My Guy, Helen of Troy, Harlequin, Teddy, and a few others I don't know yet!)
Note: If you find this whole Paw Points thing too bothersome, I've heard that cash also converts nicely to cat supplies as well. Whiskers will use all your money for the cats, there are no third parties, no brokers, no agents, and there are no salaries to pay!