Nervysquervies: Showing that cats with medical issues can be happy with loving owners

Nervysquervies is a a place where owners with special needs cats can show off their precious pets.

The goal of the subreddit is to help educate people about the medical conditions and disabilities that cats can be born with, or indeed acquire throughout their lives.

These include cereballer hyposplasia, a neurological congential condition that can sometimes occur as a result of a brain injury, or the malnourishment of the kitten mother while pregnant.

The most common cause, however, is the result of a pregnant mother becoming infected with feline panleukopenia virus which “preferentially attacks rapidly dividing cells”.

This condition causes the brain of a kitten to not develop properly, and depending on the severity, can affect a cat’s fine motor skills, balance, and coordination, to certain degrees.

This cat shows the most obvious signs of cerebellar hypoplasia, the ‘wobbly’ or ‘shaky’ walk that denotes the neurological condition:

Must. Inspect. New. Toy. from nervysquervies

Cats’ needs

Cereballar hypoplasia is not a painful condition, and is not contagious, which means that these wobbly cats can live full and healthy lives.

Depending on how severe the condition is, some cats like this might need to be kept inside and have their food and beds be made more accessible to them.

But otherwise, they are just as adorable and sweet as any other cat.

Here is wobbly cat Hera playing while chasing a laser light with her cat friend:

My wobbly wonder Hera chasing the laser light. from nervysquervies

These cats and their owners show that having a cat with special needs doesn’t mean that they don’t also have the usual cat needs, like playing, cuddling, and causing mischief.

Special cats

The nervy squervie subbreddit doesn’t just focus on wobbly cats, it also highlights less defined conditions, some of which are congenital diseases like spina bifida or Manx syndrome.

Black cat with Manx syndrome sitting on a desk — Clarice, a cat with Manx syndrome which impacts their ability to care for themselves. Pic credit: u/feffie1213/reddit

White cat with spina bifida sitting on a cardboard box — Luka has spina bifida, which also impacts his ability to care for himself. Pic credit: u/feffie1213/reddit

Cats like Clarice and Luka in the pictures above need to wear diapers and often have paralysis in their hind legs.

But despite these challenges, their personalities shine just like all other cats, all they need is some extra love and care.

With owners who are able to care for these special needs cats, they can live long, enriched lives.

As proof, here’s Clarice stretching out on the back of her couch looking 100% sassy:

💯 sass from ntbdbiwdfta