Barney

Barney was one of the 4 kittens of the Mama, 3/12 family. Mama cat kept all of her kittens pretty close, so they didn't warm up to us at first. One day, when they were a little older, we discovered Barney hiding under one of our plants not moving very well. We realized he was hurt and rushed him to the Vet. What was discovered is that he was hit by a car and had a damaged hip. At first the vet tried to put the hip back in its' socket. This meant keeping Barney, somewhat feral, in a wire cage so he would not move too much for a few weeks. Barney being a young cat and not use to being in a caged was not very happy with this situation. So keeping him still and not moving around did not last long. Therefore the joint would not stay in the socket.

The next choice was to remove the hip joint. Apparently cats are very adaptable and can live with this. What we discovered was Barney as other cats will do, created a new hip socket or joint and it was like he had never been injured! Who would have thought! During all of this process, and him being isolated, we were able to start bonding with him and ending up making him less wild and more domesticated. I think he liked all the attention! 

He had a long life of 15 years with us. We would find him staying in the yard sleeping on the outdoor chairs, wrestling with his big brother Linus or sleeping by the fireplace when the weather turned cold.  He turned out to be a fun, friendly and cuddling kitty. We had quite the kitty family at that time!