Speedy Kitten
The Little Kitten Who Could...
An Article by Your Guide Franny Syufy
http://cats.about.com/library/weekly/aa010201a.htm Born With Two Strikes
Speedy had two strikes against him at birth. First, his mother was a stray who birthed and cared for her kittens within an overgrown hedge on the property of an elderly couple in Pennsylvania. Second, he was born without a pelvis, with only small slivers of bones where his hip joints would normally be, making his back legs virtually useless. In another place and another time, Speedy would most likely have been abandoned by his mother and would have died of starvation or freezing in the harsh Pennsylvania winter.
Speedy was a lucky kitten though. He was born in July, and when the visiting son of elderly couple found him while pruning their hedge, they called a cat rescue group to pick him up. At this point, many people would have thought in terms of euthanasia, to put him "out of his misery." Not these folks, though. They took Speedy to the The Lincoln Highway Veterinary Clinic in Lancaster, PA, where Dr.Edwin Jeszenka and his staff took all of ten minutes to succumb to his charms enough to adopt him.
X-rays disclosed the deformities of Speedy's rear area. However, he soon proved that he was quite capable of getting around on the smooth flooring of the clinic, and his propensity for investigating every nook and cranny caused him to disappear at will, earning him the name of "Speedy."
Speedy Gets a Cart
Speedy's new family at the clinic became concerned when they noticed that by dragging his rear quarters behind them, there was a possibility for irritation and sores to develop. Dr Jeszenka sketched a drawing of a little cart that would hold Speedy's back legs up off the ground, so he could fully use his "front end power" for motivation. Linda Steinmetz, the office manager, used the sketch as a blueprint to create a colorful cart from K'NEX® toy parts. Speedy was soon zooming around the office on his brand new cart, the first of three (because he keeps outgrowing them.)
A Purrfectly Normal Kitten
Aside from the fact that the back half of him gets to ride around in a colorful little cart, Speedy is a perfectly healthy little cat, normal in every way. When he's not cart-riding, he's climbing onto the chairs in the waiting room at the clinic, waiting to pounce on a hapless 4-legged passerby; he's attacking the tail of Benny, the other clinic cat, when Benny happens by a hiding place; and he's generally entertaining and charming the people who visit the clinic. Speedy isn't particularly brave, because he doesn't know he has to be. In fact he seems to be blissfully unaware that there is anything unusual about his means of locomotion. Just a normal little kitten, doing what kittens do best. Like "The Little Engine that Could," Speedy's mantra is I know I can...I know I can...
Stu & Sharon Barnhart of Wishingwell Productions were so taken with the touching story of Speedy that they decided to give him his own web site. This site will be one of my nominations for the January 2001 Site of the Month. It is simple, yet appealing, and focuses on the uplifting story and delightful photos of Speedy, which is fitting tribute to a small kitten with a big heart.
Photos of Speedy are the property of Dr.Edwin Jeszenka, used with permission.
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