How Weeble Found Her Voice
When Weeble came to us, it was a Saturday during a particularly hot bout of summer weather that had followed a downpour.
Her dutiful mother had sought shelter for her babies in the bottom of a boat that had been covered by a tarp. The owners of the boat had gone out to get the boat ready to take to the lake and found Momma and her babies laying listlessly at the bottom. They brought them to us for help. Momma was in a very bad way. She appeared to be suffering from heat exposure. We made an appointment at our vet for the babies on Monday, settled them safely into a kennel, then rushed Momma to the emergency vet. A short time later, it was determined we were too late to save her.
The next day two of the three siblings started to show signs of illness as well. So, back to the emergency vet we went, this time with all three tiny babies.
Unfortunately, the two were having seizures and showing no signs of being able to recover. We let them cross the rainbow bridge to be with their sweet momma.
On Monday morning, we took the lone surviving kitten to our vet. We told him what had happened to her siblings and momma. He examined her as said that the likelihood that she would develop the same issues as her siblings was pretty strong. He suspected that the mother and siblings were killed by a distemper type virus. We understood that the odds were against us being able to save this little one.
The next day the tremors started.
They grew worse and worse until she could no longer stand. We spoke to the vet, but refused to give up on her. She could not eat on her own any more, so we held her up as she ate.
She struggled so hard, shaking and rolling over every time she would try to stand on her own. It was heartbreaking. We worried every minute if we were doing the right thing. But, we kept at it. Holding her to eat. Bathing her to keep her clean. Whispering words of encouragement into her tiny ears as we held her.
We increased her protein intake. This was attacking her brain. Protein feeds her brain. Our logic was simple. We had no idea if it would be effective.
A few days later, we put her food in with her in an attempt to keep it away from other cats. We weren't quite ready to hold her up so she could eat. But we came back to find that she was standing ON HER OWN! She was shaking something terrible but she was standing over her food bowl and eating.
Then a few days after that, she was playing!
We cried when she stood up and played with the dangling toy. She was still very shaky.
She continued to fight that for months. She still has issues with balance and when she gets excited and runs her back end kind of goes its own way. But our little fighter is here to tell the tale.
Now she has become the voice of our rescue. The little Weeble who wobbled and did fall down, but got right back up again. This little package of spunk beat the odds and endears herself to all who meet her. She is our miracle baby and has taught us so much about not giving up even when the odds are stacked against us.
She will speak for those who are too tiny, frail, or sick to do so. She will speak on behalf of the tiny souls who inhabit the walls of our rescue. She has a voice and she will use it.
She is Weeble and the Gotham Nation is her home!