We first got to know little abandoned Felicity in April 2002. She is a litle grey tabby with a silky coat. She was in the isolation room at the Nanaimo and Region SPCA. She had a very deep amputation of one rear leg and her whole underside was covered with a really disfiguring skin problem called “hyperplastic eosinophilic dermatitis, moderate to marked with crusting, dermal fibrosis and folliculitis.” Her tail was, and remains, paralysed and it is permanently curved in an inverted U shape.

She had frequent visit to the vets and she was on heavy doses of depomedrol and prednisone. She landed up in the shelter manager’s office and she was clearly a difficult case as an adoption candidate.

Anyway, we were asked to drive her to the vets for her depo shot. We used to drive two or three days a week for the Nanaimo SPCA. As it was a long weekend she came home for lunch. The rest is history! We adopted her subsequently.

Felicity is an extraordinary little lady, who has no idea that she is handicapped in any way. She jumps with the best of them and insists on going every step of the way on long walks through the woods. When she runs she flies like the wind- her handicap with its related curved back just disappears! She climbs all over the place- to the highest spots in our cat run and she’s really a going concern. Her dermatitis has completely cleared and she has not been treated at all since we had her here, except for routine check-ups.

Everybody loves Felicity. She cuddles with all our guests and purrs and purrs and purrs.

Thanks to the Nanaimo and District SPCA. It would have been so easy to euthanize her as she really had such complex health issues. She was kept at the shelter for many months before we took her home. We really didn’t need another cat but we are so glad she is with us. She’s just a joy to have around.

This is just another example of how cats overcome handicaps. Reading about Mya’s wonderful Chiquita made me think about what a little trooper Felicity is and how wrong it would have been to out her down.