Hocus and Hobbit were born to Gracie, a momcat rescued by a kind lady named Dana in La Junta. As her frostbitten ear showed, she had a hard life, but Dana took her in and gave her love and a safe place to have her babies.
We found homes for their siblings, but Hocus and Hobbit turned out to have Cerebellar Hypoplasia, or CH, a neurological condition that makes them have issues with coordination and mobility. Hocus was moderately severe, which meant she could walk with difficulty, but Hobbit was severe and unable to walk.
Fortunately, last summer during our presentation on helping kittens with Hannah Shaw, the Kitten Lady, we met Rachel who loves to help special needs cats like Hocus and Hobbit. They had some health issues at first, and could not be fixed for some months because of that. Rachel’s nurturing of them in foster care helped them develop with confidence and spunk into two loving little babies who had no idea they were different than any other kitten. She’s a professional photographer, so she provided beautiful photos too.
When it came time to bring them to Happy Cats, though, we realized how much love it was going to take to care for them at home. They both had to be hand fed, as their heads move around too much to get enough food by themselves. They could both use the litter box, but needed some extra care with cleaning afterward, both themselves and their living area.
Fortunately, CH cats tend to be the most loving little cats on the planet. They played and purred and won the hearts of our staff and volunteers.
Volunteer Linda, who takes most of our wonderful photos of the kitties, found a Facebook group that focuses on CH cats. She reached out to the group, praying she would find someone with a heart big enough for both Hocus and Hobbit.
It turned out that Tammy was looking for a companion for her 2 year old CH kitty Kiki. She wasn’t sure she was ready, but when she came to meet Hocus and Hobbit, it was love at first sight! Still, they had to wait, as she had a vacation scheduled and couldn’t take them home.
Tammy showed up right on time on Adoption Day and the kittens were ready for her. They were so ready, in fact, that Hocus crawled right into the carrier and waited for the adoption to be completed!
We’ve since heard that these little ones, now Tilly and Thomas, are fitting right into Tammy’s family.
The embodiment of unconditional love, these special little cats give back every bit as much as they receive. We’re so grateful they found just the right person to love them the rest of their lives.
We couldn’t have wished for a happier Christmas gift!
