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| Name: |
Jakob
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Age: |
Four years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
Tabby
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| Home: |
Bolingbrook, Illinois, USA
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Jakob
is known around our house as 'The Prince' because he is royalty - he
even has his own 'throne,' as seen in the photo. The reason he has his own
chair is because it serves a special purpose. He is deaf, so seeing what
is happening on the kitchen counters is the only way he can understand
what is going on, since he can't hear. But I didn't always know that he
was deaf - that took me three years and $1000 to come to understand, and
even then it was one of those epiphanous moments. But let me back up a
little bit.
Two co-workers were on a walk together one day and came across this little
itty-bitty kitten in a parking lot with no other cats or kittens to be
found anywhere nearby. One of them said she couldn't just leave it and
asked the other one to call me because I would know what to do (as the
resident cat lady). It was too far to walk to in a hurry so I had to find
someone to take me, as I was riding the bus and didn't have a car. For the
sake of making a long story short, let's just say it turned into a huge
undertaking to get this little kitten from under a car, even disturbing
the village mayor during his trip around town. I finally had to reach
blindly into one of the inner tires with only a vague notion of where he
was. Out he came by the bottom hissing and spitting for all he was worth!
I quickly held him to me and soothed him enough to go into a nearby 7-11
to get a little Half andHalf (it was all I could find) to hold him until
we could decide a course of action. He didn't look dirty or unhealthy
enough to have been feral-raised, but he was awfully small and we never
could find anyone who knew where he came from. So I called my hubby and
asked him to come get me. I swore I wasn't keeping this kitten because I
didn't really want to, but we took him to
our vet
to get checked out.
Needless to say, he had a name before the end of the appointment, but that
wasn't the end of it. My diva cat (Katie) was not happy about this little
uber-wild kitten and it went downhill from there. So we did the next
logical thing and went to the local shelter and got another little
uber-wild kitten (I said I was looking for a terrorist kitten) to play
with Jakob (his name is Jazz). Perfect match in the terror department and
they grew thick as thieves.
I used to let the cats out with me while I was gardening but one day Jake
got away from me, but he came home a little later seeming no worse for the
wear. The next day I picked him up (which I didn't do too often because he
didn't like it) and realized my hand had blood on it - - Jakob didn't even
act like anything was wrong! I discovered a gaping hole in his back left
hindquarters, called my vet, and took him in immediately. Turns out there
were two holes - - one on each side - - indicative of a dog attack. Jake
had surgery the next morning at which time his 'petiatrician' had to cut
him from wound to wound to clean it out because it had already been at
least 24 hours. A few days later, I noticed that Jake's eyes were unevenly
dilated - - turns out it was 'shaken-baby' syndrome and our vet had us
take Jake to an ophthalmologist vet to confirm. We treated him and,
fortunately, he recovered w/o loss of vision (that we can tell). Thus, the
$1000 for all that, but we were happy to buy Jakob back. It also served to
make him way more affectionate with me since I spent the first few nights
holding him in the bathroom, with him sedated so he wouldn't tear at his
stitches (he was having none of the cone collar and I didn't want him to
get more stressed).
Still, it stumped us all how a dog could sneak up on a cat, as dogs are
prone to advertising their intentions, usually rather loudly. It would be
another two years before I finally figured it out and that was a pure
fluke. I was messing with Katie and Jazz on separate occasions, whispering
their names to watch their ears turn toward me. Then one day Jakob was
lying in a pool of sunshine on the floor in front of the couch, where I
was sitting, and I was admiring his beautiful coat inch by inch. When I
got to his ears, that was when it hit me and I thought about how I had
previously been playing with Katie and Jazz. So I started whispering
Jake's name, louder and louder each time - - nothing, even after yelling.
So I went online to find out how to be absolutely sure a cat is deaf (and
not just ignoring you) and learned that the #1 indicator is usually the
vacuum cleaner. That's when I knew. All I have to do is touch the doorknob
of the closet where we keep the vacuum and you couldn't find Katie and
Jazz if your life depended on it. Jake, on the other hand, will eventually
come to see what I'm doing and then sit there and watch me vacuum with a
look on his face that says, "What are you doing?" It has been quite the
learning experience living with a deaf cat and has given me a new
appreciation for parents of deaf children. But Jakob is very smart and it
didn't take me five minutes to teach him what the chair was for and he
loves it! What's really amazing is that the other two have never had the
slightest interest in it and have never even jumped up on it. Hubby gave
me grief for it at first, but now he says how intuitive I was for knowing
exactly what Jakob needed. A funny thing about Jakob is that he looks
startled that we find him getting into trouble - - it's like he can't
figure out how we knew because he can't hear all the noise he's making!
Jakob is such a beautiful boy and we love him so much! And we are very
grateful to have the best vet ever! What's funny is he is primarily a dog
vet and is somewhat allergic to cats, but I trust him explicitly!
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