Arhu and Helen's Story & Pictures

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Arhu and Helen's Story

Arhu (pronounced uh-rue) was born to a feral momma in May of 2004 on a ranch in rural New York that I used to work at. I went to visit and the other wranglers there had caught a kitten from a feral litter (they don't spay and neuter the cats there). They said the cat was easy to catch because she would follow the walls. She was tiny, maybe a month old and had a very unusual face. It became apparent that she was blind as her tiny eyes were completely clouded over. I took her home with me on the plane back to California and she became my apartment kitty. I took her to an opthamologist and she was diagnosed as having microophthamalia, basically really tiny underdeveloped eyes. Since I got her, her eyes have stayed the same size (about that of a small pea) despite growing. You can hardly see them now but every once in a while I catch a glimpse of blue. She's also polydactyl but that causes no problems other than constant nail clipping.

She's always been blind so adapting wasn't a problem. For a long time she would run into walls though because he had that high speed kitty energy and the slightest misjudgement would send her into the wall. Despite all this, people would come visit and constantly argue with me about whether or not she was really blind. I would grit my teeth and tell them that the opthamologist assured me that while she reacts to strong light, there's nothing else there. She does have INCREDIBLE hearing though. Sadly the problems with the walls and her head her calm down a little faster than most kittens and since she was acting like a 5 year old cat at 6 months I decided to get her a playmate.

That's when I found Helen, she came into a shelter in my town in California as a malnourished and completely blind kitten. She also had a very serious URI so it took months for her to be put up for adoption. When she finally was, she had regained her sight in one eye but still couldn't see out of the other one. She will also have a permanent congestion problem the rest of her life, defined as sinusitis or rhinitis by the DVM, but for me it means snot dried all over the walls, lol. I took her to an opthamologist, and it turns out that while herpe virus damaged her sight, she also had a birthdefect where the cornea grows to attach to the pupil, severely clouding her vision which explains why she never got her sight back in that eye.

I like to joke that between the two of them they have one good eye. They're great playmates and play off each other's weaknesses. I attached a bell to Helen's collar because she took to sneaking up on Arhu, now she just sits very still until Arhu comes close enough to pounce. Arhu on the other hand seems to have learned about Helen's blind side and occasionally makes her jump 5 feet.

You'd never know that either of them have sight problems though. Helen tears around the house like a banshee and Arhu chases after her. Only once in a while when Helen hits a door on her blind side or Arhu smacks into a chair that's not normally in a certain place do you know that something is wrong. Sometimes I joke about how Arhu has the advantage because she doesn't use sight at all but her hearing is so excellent that it often makes up for it. Helen however depends on her handicapped sight and as such doesn't realize sometimes that the desk is higher than she thinks it is (no depth perception!).

It's great living with them though. While neither of them are really cuddle kitties with each other, they are affectionate to humans and put up with me constantly picking them up and messing with them.

Arhu's the gray and white tabby, and Helen's the siamese mix. Another thing I forgot to mention is that there the same age within a month (best guesstimate).

-Sydney

Pictures of Arhu and Helen