Meet Marshmallow
Meet Marshmallow! A very sweet special needs older kitten. Marshmallow is approximately 7-8 months old and is petite and very kitten-like still in appearance. Please read below before filling out an application- her special needs are described in detail.
She is wonderful with other cats and is quick to warm up to people. She loves following her foster mom around and will come when you call “Marshy!”
We think she would prefer to have a kitty friend because she snuggles and plays with both of the permanent kitties at her sub fosters home.
She is inquisitive and playful but also enjoys hanging with her human or humans and being part of the action. She plays fetch with some of her toys and she has absolutely no aggressive bone in her body.
In addition to being excellent with other cats, She has been around small dogs and would probably do well
with any dogs so long as they were cat friendly and gentle. We aren’t sure why but despite being around children in her previous home, the one thing she seems fearful and stressed by is children. She seems to be capable of moving past this based on what we’ve seen but it would require a patient child who understands she needs time.
Marshmallow’s “Special Needs “
What makes Marshmallow special needs is that she has brief neurologic episodes where she seems aware of herself and others but is unable to fully control her body. This presents as her being uncoordinated and shaky and sometimes falling over. They usually last a few seconds. The episodes may be seizure activity but she does not have Grand Mal seizures or lose control of her bladder or bowels or anything like that. She generally pops out of them within seconds and is on her way. Because she has had these long term with no worsening of symptoms we are presuming that it is either epilepsy or that she has an actual congenital or traumatically caused brain defect that occurred many many months ago.
Marshmallow has been fully worked up at the Vets and has had a physical and neuro exam along with baseline bloodwork. Additionally, to be thorough we tested her for an infectious blood parasite that can sometimes cause neurologic issues and she was negative. We also did a specialized test to check for a liver shunt and she was cleared of that. At this point, if her episodes were to at any point worsen or her adoptive family wanted to, a seizure medication could be tried. However we have found that her quality of life is still excellent and while she does have episodes they are short lived . Marshmallow has been lucky to find a foster who has been able to monitor her very closely.
Once Marshmallow finds an adopter(s)Care should be taken as far as her remaining indoor only and while you don’t have to keep her from going on tables or kitty furniture it would be best if she doesn’t have access to something like an open huge stairwell or drop just Incase. For whatever reason, she has avoided falling and seems to be aware enough during an episode to either stay away from an edge if she is on something or to go to the ground prior to becoming uncoordinated.