Jezebel's Story...

Jezebel was a surprise joy that I welcomed into my home in October. I had been wanting a pet since graduating from college in May, but my landlord (my mom!) had flat out refused to allow me to have a pet. On the day of my sister's garage sale, this adorable stray cat kept coming up and walking around everyone, begging for attention. Clearly this cat was not in very good shape as you could see every rib and hip bone she was so skinny. I wanted her, but again was refused. About an hour later, I received a phone call that I could have the cat because my mom insisted that it was the sweetest cat she'd ever seen and that she thought she may be blind in one eye, because she kept running into things on her left side. Unfortunately, Jezebel stopped coming around my sister's house and I was afraid that she has succumbed to life on the streets, until I received a late night phone call that she had shown back up and my sister's boyfriend had caught her and had her in the basement for me to come get.

I had no idea what to expect from owning a partially blind cat. Upon our first vet visit, I learned that Jezebel was not only blind in one eye, but both. She had been born with no optic discs in her eyes. I was shocked and amazed at how well she had survived on the street for so long, as my sister said that she had been seeing her on the street for months, and she even had a puncture wound in her side from being in a fight.

Jezebel is genuinely the most affectionate cat that I have ever seen in my entire life (which is how she earned her name!). She is more like a dog than any other cat I've ever experienced...she greets me at the door every night, follows me throughout the house, and lays down at my feet and waits for me even when I am doing the most monotonous things. It is often hard to tell that she is blind and even when people see her, it sometimes takes me a little while to convince them that she is blind because she gets around so well and her head follows your voice, so she is typically looking at you. It's miraculous how well she knows where everything is and how she skirts around things, even when I forget and leave my shoes laying in the middle of the floor. She is a very vocal cat, often times mewing loudly. At first, this was actually a tad annoying, until I realized that she mews (I believe!) when she gets turned around and doesn't know where she is in the house, because the minute I say her name, she stops mewing and comes running to wherever I am at in the house.

I can honestly say that I don't understand how someone could have let this precious cat go and live on the streets to be at the mercy of other animals, cars, and having no food. She clearly was once someones pet, because while in surgery to be fixed, the vet discovered that someone had already taken care of that.  Oh well, one man's trash is another man's treasure and Jezebel is now fat and happy and the best companion I could ask for, for a busy young woman.

Krys
Middletown, OH