This article was written by my furiends at MeowAsFluff. If you love special needs cats, then you’ll love their website!
Meet Juno!
When Mick Szydlowski and his family attended an adoption event at PAWS in June 2018, the staff at the Washington state shelter told them about a special needs kitten who had recently arrived at the organization. “She was found by volunteers wandering the streets of Merced, California, with a severe eye infection and trauma,” explains Mick. “She was transferred to PAWS shelter in Washington state due to lack of shelter space in California.”
Image via @paws_wa on Instagram
Despite being approximately four weeks old when she arrived at PAWS, the kitten’s eyes were so badly damaged they had to be removed right away, even though her extremely young age made her a less than ideal candidate for any sort of operation. “There was a risk of her not surviving the surgery due to her small size,” says Mick. “Nonetheless, she survived the surgery and bounced back right away. She wanted to play the second she woke up from the anesthesia!”
Image via @thejunocat on Instagram
The kitten quickly adjusted to life without eyes, and when Mick and his family learned about her at the adoption event, she was only a couple of weeks away from being old enough to get spayed. Knowing it wouldn’t be long before the young feline would be ready to find her forever home, the staff at PAWS thought Mick, his wife Bethany, the couple’s daughters, Faye and Fern, and Klaus the cat would be able to provide the special needs kitten with the perfect family.
Image via @thejunocat on Instagram
“The PAWS crew knew we had another blind cat in the past — Oskar — and thought we may be a good match for the kitten,” explains Mick. Oskar — who was born with micropthalmia, a congenital condition that causes people and animals to have malformed and unusually small eyes — had a happy and fun-filled life with Mick and his family before he passed away suddenly in February 2018 when he was just seven years old.
Image via @theklauscat on Instagram
While his life was far too short, Oskar had a profound impact on his family, teaching Mick, his wife, and his children just how remarkable special needs cats can be. “They are fully capable of living fulfilling lives,” says Mick. “They also have this amazing ability to inspire you with the way they cleverly overcome challenges that may be less of an issue to sighted or ‘normal’ cats.”
Image via @theklauscat on Instagram
Consequently, when the team at PAWS asked Mick and his family if they wanted to meet a blind tabby kitten who was in need of a forever home, they readily agreed. “We went to the foster home where she was recovering around July 5th or 6th and fell in love with her playful, confident, almost-fearless personality,” remembers Mick. “She reminded us of Oskar a lot.”
Image via @theklauscat on Instagram
The Szydlowskis decided to adopt the kitten, naming her Juno, a reference to the family’s memorable vacation in Alaska’s capital city, as well as the Roman goddess who protects men and women. “Also, as a musician, I love the Roland Juno keyboard synthesizers,” says Mick. While the family wanted to take Juno home with them that day, she was still too young to be spayed, so the Szydlowskis agreed to pick the blind kitten up after she had the surgery.
Image via @thejunocat on Instagram
However, when Juno was being put under anesthesia two weeks later, the vet noticed tiny spots of ringworm, so instead of going home with the Szydlowskis after she was spayed, the special needs kitten was discharged to a different foster family. “She was placed in another foster home that specializes in ringworm cases as she was not able to be released from the shelter until she had two negative cultures spaced two weeks apart,” explains Mick.
Image via @thejunocat on Instagram
Ringworm is incredibly contagious and notoriously difficult to treat, so it was three months before Juno was completely free from the fungal infection. During this time, Mick and his wife and daughters visited her regularly, allowing them to form a bond with the young kitten. On November 10, 2018, the Szydlowskis were finally allowed to bring Juno home with them, and — like Oskar — she quickly learned her way around their Seattle house. “We had no fears about bringing another blind cat home because blind cats are exceptionally good at mastering their indoor spaces,” says Mick.
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Several months later, Juno is able to get around her home as well as Klaus, her sighted brother, and she’s just as happy and active as any other young cat. Like a typical feline, Juno loves to eat, and her passion for food can sometimes border on obsession.
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She also likes to climb, whether she’s scaling the cat trees or jumping on to the kitchen counters, and she’s surprisingly good at a game most sighted felines don’t even excel at. “She loves playing fetch with a number of balls,” says Mick. “She brings them back each time.”
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Despite being unable to see, Juno uses her other senses to navigate her home, often walking around with her paws outstretched so that she can feel objects before she bumps into them, much like how a blind person might use a cane. Like visually-impaired people, Mick believes blind cats like Juno are often underestimated, even though they are usually far more capable than they are given credit for. “Many people have some prejudices about loss of vision that essentially equate blindness with low expectations for success, happiness, and quality of life,” says Mick. “This is not the case for blind people and blind animals.”
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While people often assume blind cats need lots of extra care and special accommodations, this simply hasn’t been Mick’s experience with Oskar or Juno. In fact, aside from asking their young daughters to keep the floor of their home relatively free from clutter, Mick and Bethany haven’t had to do much to make it easier for Juno to get around. “She’s always first at the food bowl at dinner time!” says Mick.
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After losing a pet who was as special as Oskar, the Szydlowskis weren’t necessarily looking to adopt another blind cat. However, when they met Juno for the first time, they all knew it was a perfect match. Several months after that initial meeting, Juno is carrying on Oskar’s legacy, both as an advocate for blind cats everywhere and as an integral member of her family. “She is 100% part of the family, and like Klaus, she is treated just like another kid,” says Mick. “Basically, life would be much, much duller without her around.”
Image via @thejunocat on Instagram
To learn more about this adorable kitten, you can follow Juno on Instagram.
