When Kathy’s coworker told her about a questionable breeder who was looking for a home for a blind Himalayan cat, she knew she had to help the young special needs kitten. “He asked [my coworker] if she would take her for free and take care of her,” remembers Kathy.
Curious about the two-month-old feline, Kathy learned she had lost her vision due to an eye infection that went untreated. “One eye became very big and the other small,” says Kathy. “It was probably very painful for her.”
Eager to get the Himalayan cat out of what appeared to be an unhealthy situation, Kathy and her husband agreed to adopt the fluffy kitten before even seeing her. In fact, their only stipulation was that she had to be free from viruses, because they didn’t want to put their own cats at risk. “We knew that we wanted to help her and could provide a good home for her with the attention she needs,” explains Kathy.
However, before the couple could bring the blind kitten home, they had to wait for her to have surgery to remove her badly damaged eyes. On December 18, 2021 — the day after the operation — Kathy and her husband brought the kitten to their home in Plainfield, Illinois, giving her a new name to commemorate her new beginning. “Her full name is Josephine Quiche,” says Kathy. “We like old names for our girl cats and all of our cats have breakfast food middle names.”
Despite being blind, Josephine — or Josie — didn’t waste any time adjusting to her forever home, although she did need a little help figuring out how to get down safely from high places. “My husband taught her how to jump down from furniture,” explains Kathy. “He taught her the word ‘down’ and let her know when it was a safe distance to jump down.”
Several months later, Josie — who is Kathy and her husband’s second special needs cat — is doing extremely well, and while she may not be able to see, she’s an extremely playful and active kitten. In addition to pouncing on the other cats who share her home, Josie loves playing in her tunnel and with crinkly balls and toy mice. “[Some people think that special needs cats] can’t have a good quality of life,” says Kathy, “which is totally not true!”
However, Kathy has found it’s important not to move things around too much, including Josie’s toys, because doing so can disrupt the mental map she has created of her home. Still, Josie really doesn’t have a lot of difficulty getting around, especially when it’s time for her to run upstairs to eat! “Animals adjust and adapt very well to special needs, even blindness,” explains Kathy.
While Kathy and her husband adopted Josie because they wanted to take care of her, they’ve found this sweet and affectionate girl looks after them just as much as they look after her. “I was in bed with Covid last week and she rarely left my side,” says Kathy. “My husband works from home and she spends the day ‘helping’ him.”
In fact, Kathy and her husband refer to Josie as their “emotional support animal,” proving just how rewarding it can be to adopt a cat with special needs. “Josie is amazing and means the world to us,” says Kathy. “She is a little furry angel.”
To learn more about this beautiful cat, you can follow Josie on Instagram.
