Shelter Staff Spotted This Kitten Walking Weirdly Then An X ray Revealed Her Unusual Condition

shelter staff spotted this kitten walking weirdly then an x-ray revealed her unusual condition accepting kittens into the shelter wasn't odd in itself but there was something unusual about the new batch the runt of the litter wasn't just small she also looked different to the others the kitten walked strangely and it was obvious from the get-go that she wasn't like the other cats in April 2016 Animal Control picked up three kittens in Gainesville Virginia the officers took the litter to the Animal Welfare League of Arlington Awl a much shelter staff noticed something right away one of the kittens stood out from the others the problem was with the runt of the litter cat families occasionally have one sibling that's smaller and weaker than the others for example when they newly arrived runt was approximately two months old she weighed just one pound but there was something else too On January 5th 2016 Marnie Russ co-founder of the National kitten coalition and Casey told love meow what set the kitten apart from her fur family she was considerably smaller than her siblings and the staff of the shelter noticed she was walking weird Russ described given her strange walk it was likely the kitten had some form of disability if that was indeed true the kitten would need the help of NKC the group states on its website that its mission is to increase the survival rates of rescued kittens and those include cats that are most vulnerable such as those with birth defects in fact Russ said that a physical disability could be the cause of the kittens small stature it's possible that it affected her mobility and prevented her from getting as much milk as the other cats and the kittens problems didn't end there animals with disabilities are generally harder to find homes for than able-bodied ones in 2016 petfinder.com looked into the figures of so-called less adoptable pets and made a surprising discovery of surveyed shelters 33% stated it took up to two years to find disabled pets home furthermore 27% of the investigated rescue groups revealed that it can take and longer than that aw la took the kitten to Arlington's Nova Cat Clinic and one of its that's no to something as a result of her disability the young cats paw turned inwards consequently the vets perform more tests including an x-ray to get to the bottom of the kittens troubles when the results came back they confirmed what the vets no doubt suspected it turned out that the little cat had a condition called radial hyperplasia radial hypoplasia in cats is a genetic defect that affects the length of the felines foreleg cats suffering from this condition have difficulty putting weight on their front limbs additionally they often sit on their hind legs like a kangaroo in the case of the kitten however her legs were the standard length she was just missing her elbow joints her inability to move her limbs like an able-bodied cat was the cause of her issues moreover one of her legs had even less flexibility on the upside as far as doctors could tell the kitten was otherwise healthy and felt no pain because of her kangaroo stance rescuers called her Roo a WLA also realized that Rou needed special treatment if she was to blossom Chelsea Lindsey a spokesperson for a WLA told the dodo just then on April 5th 2016 we knew that Rou needed to be separated from a litter and get one-on-one care she said and we knew just who to call that person was n Casey's own specialist Russ Russ is an expert in cat care especially neonatal kittens and cats with special needs subsequently she welcomed little Roe into her home initially she was only supposed to care for ro until she was strong enough to find a forever home but Russ had other plans Russ fell hard for Roos charms and decided to adopt the little scamp permanently I adopted her there was never a question she told I heart cats on June 6 2016 I couldn't bear the thought of her leaving she's so sweet all she does is purr and jump in my lap and purr all the time Russ continued she's pretty amazing and since little Roo Russ as she's now known found her forever home she's flourished good food love and physical therapy has done wonders rust old love meow she's learned to use her front legs like a normal kid he would so you didn't know her story you wouldn't think anything was wrong with her except when she walks she's shorter in the front Roo's stayed small though roo is actually really small russ described she's barely 5 pounds but she's so fluffy people tend to think she's really big roo may not be physically big but she's got a huge personality and a big heart Roos definitely a people person and according to Russ just looking at her will make her purr but her love isn't limited to humans Russ's dogs Skeeter is also adopted Roo as his first sister Russ told the dodo that Roo follows him around like a shadow and they're always together in fact Roo is also showing love to people and animals she's never even met in 2017 Russ told bored Panda she's been successful in helping raise thousands of dollars for the organization that helps save her the national kitten coalition she's so great at giving back she doesn't even know it