Wobbly kitten shakes off life's challenges

Amidst the summer kitten influx, the Auckland SPCA helped rescue one a bit more unusual than most.

Daisy has cerebellar hyperplasia - more commonly known as 'wobbly kitten syndrome'.

It's given her a gait that resembles someone staggering out of a bar late at night.

The kitten was rescued after SPCA inspectors were called about a young cat, then two months old, seen stumbling in the streets.

"When we were able to get it what we realised was that it wasn't actually trauma, or that somebody had done something to hurt the kitten, but that she had cerebellar hyperplasia," says Dr Shelsee Vigeant, SPCA Auckland's lead vet.

The syndrome is often either genetic or caused by the parvo virus, which is more commonly known as a disease which can fatally harm dogs.

Dr Vigeant says it's not hugely rare, but also "not common".

"By the time we get kittens, they're usually between two and four months old [and] the damage is already done - it doesn't usually get any worse than that," she says.

"They're really just kind of goofy and wobbly, floppy kind of kittens."

Because it affects their fine motor skills, the most notable symptoms are often head wobbles and a lack of balance.

It means Daisy, and others, are safer living as indoor-only cats, as she can't balance properly if she needs to climb a tree or a fence.

It's also what makes Daisy stumble like a drunk.

"They can walk because the overall walking isn't a fine motor function, it's a general motor function, but they can look all loopy when they do it," Dr Vigeant says.

"You wouldn't want them to run up or down stairs - if you had a big flight of stairs, that would be a concern because they could fall down."

In the last four years Dr Vigeant has seen five cats come in with wobbly kitten syndrome. Two had to be put to sleep due to the severity of their symptoms, which meant they couldn't eat, but Daisy is the third to be rehomed.

With it being the busiest season of the year for kittens, some workers at the SPCA were worried Daisy would be overlooked because of her special needs.

But her plucky and smoochy personality meant Daisy was only in the cattery for two days before she went home with a new family.

"Getting responsible owners who can rescue animals like this is the goal of what we do," Dr Vigeant says.

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