Tomorrow (Jan. 31) is the fourth anniversary of the day I adopted Duffy.  It's
hard to believe that four years have gone by, and he is a true treasure.  He
is the dearest, sweetest, most wonderful little guy I could ever imagine.
Most of you already know that Duffy has been blind since birth, but he does
almost everything that a sighted cat can do.  He even has his own "fan club"
among some of the readers of this newsgroup.  Duffy gets around so well that
I thought he might have a small amount of vision.  If I move a chair, he
will be sitting in it a few minutes later - there is no need to keep
furniture in a fixed location for him.  I arranged for an evaluation by an
ophthalmologist at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine
because I wanted to see if there was some sight (and, if so, what I should
do to preserve it).  There I learned that Duffy is completely blind and that
he has a condition known as "anterior cleavage syndrome." There should be
space between the iris and the cornea.  In Duffy's case, the two components
are pressed together, and there is no space between them.  This probably
happened before birth and possibly was caused by infection in the mother.

I want to thank Megan because she is the one who made all this possible.  I
was trying to help a friend find a cat to adopt.  I had been communicating
with Megan about another matter and told her about it.  She suggested that
we look at Petfinder.com.  We did, and there was a picture of Duffy.  He
looked like a sad little waif in the picture the shelter had posted.  In
fact, I thought he was a very old cat from his picture, but he was actually
estimated to be 3-5 years old at the time.  It was heartrending when I saw
that Duffy was blind, had been returned by someone else after two years (and
this was a *kill* shelter), and had been in the shelter for several months.
My friend simply wasn't interested in a blind cat and would not even
consider adopting, and I was really fearful of adopting another cat because
Holly had a history of aggressively attacking any other cat in my presence.
We even called her "the black tornado" because of the way she would hurl
herself at other cats.  She was my dear little shadow and followed me
everywhere, but she would not tolerate having another cat around.  Megan
kept prodding me to adopt, or even to foster for awhile.  She told me that
she would help me throughout the process and was positive that we *could*
get Holly and Duffy to adjust to each other.  Well, she kept that promise.
She walked me through every step of the slow, careful introduction.  Every
time I would think about speeding things up, she would remind me to be
patient and take it slow and easy (excellent advice for anyone adopting a
cat because I think this is the reason so many people have trouble getting
their new adoptees and their resident cats to accept each other).  She made
numerous long-distance calls at her own expense, and she always seemed to
recognize exactly what I was describing in the relationship and knew
precisely what would work.  I will also say that I was a "good student."  I
followed her advice every step of the way, and the result is that I have two
loving companions instead of the jealous reaction from Holly that I had
always seen previously.

Getting back to the ad on Petfinder.com...the notice looked so old (and the
shelter only promised to keep animals for 14 days) that I really thought it
was probably too late and that Duffy was gone.  It was Megan who kept
insisting that I give them a call.  "You need to check," she said; "You can't
just assume that he isn't there."  Ironically, I did call and was told that
he had already been adopted.  "Check further," she said; "Send them an
e-mail."  So I sent an e-mail to the director of the shelter - and learned
that Duffy was still there.  I have no idea what the first person was
talking about or how she could have been confused about a blind cat named
Duffy, but he was still in a cage at the shelter!  Kitten season was
approaching, and space would soon be at a premium.  I really believe they
could not have kept him for much longer.  He is such a sweet, loving cat
that I simply cannot comprehend how someone else could have had him for two
years and then returned him to a kill shelter (and especially not for they
ridiculous reason she gave - she said he had learned to get to her birds and
was teach her sighted cat to do the same thing).  That cruel decision turned
out to be my good fortune (and Duffy's and Holly's) because he now has a
forever home with us and I have truly been blessed.

MaryL

Photos of Duffy:      >'o'<
Duffy:  http://tinyurl.com/cslwf
Duffy and Holly together:  http://tinyurl.com/8b47e
Duffy and the Christmas tree:  http://tinyurl.com/clal7