Tabby's Place - Donny

I felt the need to blog about Donny today. He’s in need of some good thoughts, friends, and some extra special attention – via my blog right now since he needs his sleep as well.

“Donny Brook”, better known around here as Donny, is an adorable little marmalade boy that came to Tabby’s Place towards the end of the summer of 2008 (I was out after my surgery when he first arrived). He, along with his little family, came to us from a shelter in NY when he was still very little and nursing from his mom. Just when Donny was big enough to be fixed and potentially be adopted, we found out he had ringworm and into treatment he went … and remained for a very long time.

After being treated for ringworm for about 4 months (because several kitties that we got from that NY shelter had the most persistent damn darn ringworm), Donny was finally out of a cage and free to run around our lobby area. He was able to be socialized by all, loved up, have play time with his brother Ulysses and our paraplegic boy, Tashi, and was able to seen by the nice people that come to visit us here at Tabby's Place – all new things after being caged for so long due to that pesky ringworm, all things that could lead him to finding a great home of his own – and he did! A volunteer fell for that sweet face of his.

However, while out and running around, it was noticed that Donny had a funny way of walking … and running … and lying around. Then, the thought occurred to us, “Hey, maybe all that hissing and 'attitude' was not poor socialization, but a reaction to pain? Maybe there was something wrong with our boy?”

As it turns out, Donny has luxating patellas in his hind legs, meaning his knee caps have a tendency to slip in and out of place. Although some cats do fine with this condition, Donny appears to be very uncomfortable. We were told he definitely needs surgery on one knee, most likely needs surgery on his other knee and depending on how those surgeries go, Donny might also need a third surgery done on his one hip. That would be three surgeries his intended adopter could not plan for or possibly even pay for. Not to mention, just when he got out of a cage and free from ringworm, he’ll need to be on strict cage rest for at least 2 months after surgery, which means Donny might be caged for the next 6 – 9 months if he needs all 3 surgeries.


Donny already had one surgery at the end of the last week and Donny’s in a great deal of pain now. Not only is recovery rough in general, but the poor guy just wants to get at you for some love and that means he's moving and causing himself incredible pain!

Have you ever known someone that needed knee surgery done? Do you know how much you use your knee throughout the day? Now imagine having a surgery to fix your knee (possibly even involving shaving away at the bone so that the knee cap can fit properly) and no one being able to explain to you not to use it! Donny has no idea that just lying in one place with make life easier (not "pain-free", but definitely more stable). The best we can do is provide pain meds, make sure there’s a lot of padding around him and remind Donny that we love him (which, of course, includes signing his bandages).

Please send Donny some good thoughts ... and donations are always appreciated. It is generous people just like you who have taken the time to read this that allow Tabby's Place to care for kitties like Donny and the rest of the cats here.

On a totally different note: things that rock – Hocus Pocus ... but I've missed most of it, so I'm going to watch Medium instead since that rocks too

*note - check out the labels and you'll see "TP". I've said this before and I'll say it here again, I do that to try to keep my personal blog from popping up on search engines for my work place, but since this entry is about Donny and the amazing work Tabby's Place does, I referred to this great place by its proper name in this entry.