The Story of Louie

We weren't looking for a cat when Louie entered our lives in March of 2005 and in fact, RocketMan was in China for work when Louie came to live with us. My son was dating a girl at the time whose parents fostered cats. He had been telling me for few weeks about this 9 month old kitty who was afraid of all the other kitties and had 3 1/2 legs.

In a moment of weakness, I told him to bring the kitty over for me to look at. Well, one look was all it took and with a $100.00 donation, he was ours. He didn't come out from under my son's bed for weeks after we got him. He would only come out when we were sleeping to eat and use the litter box.

RocketMan was not happy that I did this without discussing it with him which was wrong of me. But Louie has become a part of our family and we really missed him while we were in South Korea. Our son was still living at home at the time and took care of Louie while we were gone. I always said Louie was his cat which wasn't true.

Shortly after we adopted Louie, his 1/2 leg (stump) began to bleed all the time and leave blood stains all over the house. I took him to the vet and it was determined the only thing to do was to amputate the leg at the hip.

Don't look at the next picture if you are squeamish at all!

The surgery went really well and thankfully RocketMan decided to go with me to pick Louie up. It was a good thing because when they brought him out, I felt all the blood drain from my head and I almost passed out. The incision was huge!! He recovered very quickly and today the only time you notice his is missing a leg is when he walks slowly. He has a huge limp but when he runs you cannot tell.

My mom can't believe we paid so much for a rescue cat. The surgery was about $500.00 so Louie costs us about $600.00. Money well spent for the joy he brings us.

He also is a misfit because he has mitten paws on all his limbs. It is really unusual and makes him all the more loveable.

Louie is still terrified of visitors and will hide under the bed until they leave. It's interesting when my folks visit because he will stay hidden the entire time they are here. I thought he might outgrow this fear but it seems unlikely at this point.