Leggo

After weeks of waiting Leggo is finally home. Without everyone's monetary support from this site it never could have been realized. Thank you so much !!!!!

A kind man named George volunteered to fly from Wichita to Grand Rapids and bring him home. To volunteer his time to do this was just such a kind act. Thank you so much George !!!!

After Leggo arrived home I took him to my Vet to be examined. Leggo has a lot of neurological problems and he was diagnosed with Cerebral Hypoplasia. Leggo has damage from his mother contracting a virus when he was in her womb. If she had been vaccinated this would never have happened.

Leggo was renamed in honor of his rescuer. I have named him Kyle. Sometimes I call him Kylee. : )He is such a sweetheart he loves to be held and loved on and be the center of attention like any other kitten.

Kyle will have a lot of obstacles to overcome throughout his life. Kyle will likely always need food that he can lap up due to his oral motor problems. He will also need help with toileting. Due to his motor problems he will likely always have problems with movement.

Kyle is like any other kitten in that he loves attention and is inquisitive and alert. But, he will always need extra special attention. But, he is so worth it and I feel so special to have the opportunity to be his mom.

Please continue to watch this site for updates. Thanks again for helping Kyle to get to Kansas. I never could have gotten him home without each one of your help.

It seems like yesterday that Leggo came home with me until we could figure out how to get him to Kansas. He got use to the car rides from his foster home to the shelter (where I work) and eagerly waited to be stimulated, fed, and played with. Cuddle time was the best! Boy does Leggo have a motor!

When it came closer to his big departure, I started packing. His bag of supplies was a heavy one! I packed everything I could think of that he would need and then packed extra for the "just in case". I even made sure all the blankets that would go with him smelled like his foster home to help comfort him for the long day. I also included sheets for both his flight companion and his new mommy to explain to them what to do/how to do it and when it's all being done. Included was an inventory of everything that went with Leggo so no one had to guess what the item was supposed to be used for.

I thought fostering Leggo would be easy. Just keep him for a bit and then just let go when the time came. I quickly learned after the first night with Leggo that he would be hard to say goodbye to. Sure he needed assistance for the daily tasks a "normal" kitten could easily accomplish. But he had so much drive and zest for life. I would question sometimes, is this actually the best for Leggo. I knew this was his path every time he started purring, every time he went for the toy and tried to walk. Every time he lovingly looked at me before he fell asleep on my lap.

Leggo is a treasure that was once perceived as a piece of trash. He deserves the best life possible. Though it was hard to hand over the carrier and supply bag to his flight companion, I knew that a strong, confident, stubborn (and mischievous) cat is what Leggo will more easily become once in the open arms of his new family. With his new mom, new vet, and all of your unselfish donations, he can be that cat and more!

Leggo, you will always be in my heart and on my mind. Don't get into too much trouble! And please don't forget me for I will always be - your foster mom.

Leggo started his trip at 10:45am where he made his way to the grand rapids airport. There he met his caring flight companion and purchased his plane ticket. Onward to Chicago!! After landing he had a nice lunch break and curiously watched as people walked here and there within the airport. Then off to Kansas!! His mommy is on her way right now to go pick Leggo up! To see pictures of his journey so far, follow this link:

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/renaelock/?newest=1

Again, thank you all so much for donating what you can. You all are truly amazing! Please keep passing on Leggo's story - we still need help with Leggo's future vet care.

Leggo is going home tomorrow! We have reached enough in donations thanks to all of Leggo's wonderful sponsors that we have bought the little guy a ticket and he is headed home to Kansas !!

His foster mother in Michigan, the wonderful shelter worker who saw his potential, is busy packing his bags. She knows it won't be easy to let him go and there will be tearful goodbyes but none of this would have been possible without his wonderful foster mommy.

A wonderful man who lives near his new mom will be flying out to get little Leggo. Then, they will fly home to Kansas together.

The little disabled kitten that was dumped beside the edge of the road is now being flown to a bright new future.

Thanks to all our wonderful sponsors who made this a reality!

Please watch for future updates and pictures.

Please continue to spread Leggo's story. We are still soliciting donations to pay for his future Vet care. Thank you so much for caring!!!!



The link will take you to a picture of Leggo in his carrier. Adorable.

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/renaelock/?action=view&current=Leggoreadytogohome.jpg#comments

Check out Leggo's webpage at Cat Happy! There are more photos, his story, and even a beautiful digital oil painting of this proud boy: http://www.cathappy.net/Leggo.htm

At Bellwether, animals coming into our care are given a physical check up and given any medicines/medical treatment and/or vaccines that are needed and a kennel to call home (temporally of course!) set up with blankets, toys, food and water. Animals also receive daily socialization/training during their stay at the shelter.





A special thank you goes out to the kind person who brought Leggo and his littermates to Bellwether after rescuing them from the side of the busy highway. Their ordeal on the side of the road in the heat left all three kittens frightened, feverish and dehydrated. Bellwether staff set them up in a clean cage and offered them cool water and kitten food. They were so hungry and thirsty!



After the kittens were settled into their new kennel and recovering well from the heat, the on staff vet tech noticed something was different about Leggo. Leggo's brother and sister were alert and active, but Leggo was lying down when he showed much interest in wanting to play. We had our vet examine him. Leggo could walk, but he was slow and wobbly. Our vet decided an x-ray was in order. The x-ray revealed no broken bones.


We decided the best way to monitor Leggo was to separate him from his siblings. Over the next couple of days Leggo stopped trying to walk, but he was moving around in his cage. He wasn't using his litter box, but his blankets would be wet. Incontinence was suspected. It was then decided if Leggo couldn't get better with the daily therapy and vet visits that Bell Weather could offer it would be best to have Leggo humanely euthanized.

But Leggo touched a staff member's heart and she began searching the internet for exercises to help Leggo walk again. She found a website about cerebellar hypoplasia. The symptoms sounded so much like Leggo's. She found the CH yahoo group. Were there were tests available to confirm a CH diagnosis? Would anyone adopt a CH kitten?
Several group members replied and progress updates were exchanged. It is now suspected that Leggo may have more problems than just CH and incontinence. This is often the case with CH kittens because the virus that causes CH can often cause other birth defects. But the staff member soon learned there are some amazing people who provide homes for these special kittens and someone was very interested in adopting Leggo.


The staff member was so happy to learn this. She went to her boss with the news that Leggo had a chance for a good life and the boss deleted his last day date. It was thought best that Leggo go home with the staff member, his new foster mom, because he can't go potty on his own. With the help of Leggo's new mom to be, the staff member has been being a 'cat mom' (helping Leggo go potty like a mom cat does) and engaging Leggo in exercise with lots of fun toys until it is time to travel to his excited new mom in Kansas.

Five weeks old when he and his siblings were tossed out of a car, Leggo and his siblings were desperate for help. Luckily, a Good Samaritan brought them to the Bellwether Harbor shelter in Michigan. Bellwether is a privately owned shelter, and not your ordinary shelter. Here, animals are treated with dignity and respect.

Leggo's evaluation revealed some bad news. His back legs don't work right and he's incontinent. Even a shelter like Bellwether is not equipped to handle his very special needs, so he said goodbye to his siblings as they went off to the adoption room; and he was sent to hospice care as the staff sadly prepared for humane euthanasia.

But when shelter workers fell in love with his sweet face and cuddly purry personality, they sent out a plea for help, for a special home that could work with Leggo's very special needs. And that's where YOU come in.

Leggo is in Michigan. His very special needs home is in Kansas, where his new mommy is an espresso specialist-she is a specialist at helping kittens who can't go to the bathroom by themselves by expressing them to help them. And she knows all about paralyzed back legs. So Leggo is just waiting for the chance to meet her.

He needs money. Money for the airfare from Michigan to Kansas, and money for vet visits and special apparatus to help those back legs function.

Leggo will never be normal. But he can be happy and mobile and have a long, healthy life. Can you help him make those first steps? Thirteen hundred dollars will cover his airfare, diagnostic workup, and physical therapy