I've had probably well over two-hundred cats in my short lifetime of eighteen years. With these many cats (and I've had numerous other critters, too) I've learned a lot through not only vets, but extensive research. I always swore I'd become a vet and help animals with their troubles; even at the tender age of ten, I'd helped deliver babies, helped them live through fleas, sickness, sudden infant death, and even being deformed. I had dealt with a lot. And I also lived out in the country, so things were a bit more risky at points. I had cats get into antifreeze, get snake bit, get killed by coyotes, get killed by our dogs, etc. All this happened, and even by second grade, I'd read through every cat book I could get my hands on. I could name facts, tell you medical terms for kitties, and I even knew as many breeds as my tiny brain would allow me to remember.

     So, here's my point – years ago I had this random, and sadly very ugly, cat appear on our property. This isn't unusual. We have animals appear all the time, and though they stay most of the time, others tend to wander back and forth from wherever they come from to our home. But this cat stayed. She had a bobtail, was pitch black, had a smashed face (it looked like it) and had giant eyes – much larger than I'd ever seen in a normal cat. We had named her BobKitty, for her bobtail. Another weird thing about her was the fact she was really wobbly and clumsy and had issues throughout her life with us.

When she started having kittens, I'd only assumed it was like any other birth and litter before; small babies, lots of care, and a good mama. Though she was okay throughout birth and helped tend to the babies for a while, she eventually didn't want them and returned outside. She had four babies and two died within a day or so. That left two little ones, both bobtails, and we named them Rainn and Thunder. Rainn was a sweetheart, and when BobKitty had her babies outside, she'd brought Rainn to us and it was a day before we'd found tiny Thunder outside, too. He was A-OK on our terms and luckily hadn't been killed by the dogs (they've done it numerous times before to the outside litters).

One thing I'd noticed early on was the way the babies acted. Rainn was much like her mother: she had a more smashed-in face, though she did look fairly normal, she was very wobbly, and she usually fell over a lot or slipped in place. We'd had babies who couldn't walk for weeks and we'd do physical therapy on, so we casually worked with Rainn until she was stable enough. She never fully acted like a normal cat, per se, but she managed. It never seemed to bother the sweet baby when it came to her undeniably cute gait that faultered every bit. And her brother? Thunder was normal. He had a bobtail, like Rainn, and was black (whereas Rainn was black and white), and he walked like normal and played like any normal baby kitten would. He was such an entertainer! And so was Rainn, but she always needed more care than he did.

     Months later, when we had to tend to my great-grandparents being in the hospital (another common thing in our family), we had to spend a lot of time a few towns away and couldn't be home. So, my uncle and father were to tend to our cats. We had at least four or five in the house, as well as a dog. They decided to let our cats outside, which they'd never been. Rainn ended up being raped, scarred for life, and was never the same afterwards. She wouldn't return outside and her mental state seemed to worsen, as well as her gait. It was through a check up and tending to getting her cared for by our local vet that we learned she had a problem. But at the time, I didn't think about it or think to take note of it since he said it wasn't a severe disease and wouldn't affect her life at all.

BobKitty wound up having another baby, which was as tiny as a mouse and was much like her sister, except she wasn't extremely clumsy. She was a bit wobbly, like any kitten. The only weird thing throughout her life was the slight wobble she had, and how she couldn't focus much and she fell a lot.

Now, a side note is that when Rainn and Thunder were put outside, Thunder never returned. Rainn was found under our house, frightened beyond belief.

     Back to their health, though.

     Rainn wound up having kittens later on, to our surprise. She never had gotten bigger or showed any signs. It reminds me of the show “I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant” - there were absolutely no signs of her being pregnant. And she wound up with five kittens, but three were deformed. One of those survived with the other two who seemed completely normal. I noticed the weird sight upon its right front leg (the ulna). It was a mass, and at the time you couldn't really tell what it was since it was covered in a scab-like surface. That eventually came off, and I assumed it was bone that formed on the outside of the leg, which would have to be tended to by the vet. As for the other two, who looked just alike (no kidding) and were tiny – they couldn't lift their heads, move well, and had to be helped a lot. Rainn had trouble being a mother, but was still a good enough mother. As good as she could be for her case.

     The one baby with the bone on the outside of its leg wound up being put to sleep. After examination, our vet told me of how the cartilage would have to be surgically removed, but that was not needed because of all the other medical issues the baby had. The baby would wind up blind for life, as the eyes hadn't formed properly and the third eyelid was formed to the second. The baby also had bones that didn't form properly. Another side note is that this baby had been with us a week and a half, and its sister had formed a close bond to it. She always slept by his side, and wouldn't move unless he did. And once the baby was put down, Soa (the little girl) noticed.

     Our vet had said that day that this was possibly the disease that BobKitty had that was passed onto Rainn and was affecting her babies; Rainn had deeper medical issues than just the gait problem, and we never figured out what it was. But after the babies were weaned, we had her fixed. After all that time she only worsened in her state – both mentally and physically. I played with her with a laser toy and noticed how she'd constantly look confused and fall over from just looking at it. Her little sister, Luna, often looked confused at it, too, and the other cats simply chased it.

     Luna wound up having kittens near the time Rainn did, too. She had four and she nearly gave up by the second one. She was small, and the babies were normal sized for newborns, but Luna just didn't have the strength. She made it, though. And the four looked completely normal and were the cutest things! They were all girls, too. Three calicos and one tabby, like Luna, with a hint of lighter colors. Sophie, the biggest of the bunch, and the one who seemed the healthiest and like she was doing great, died suddenly one day. And next was Lucy, the tabby, and hers was from fleas, I assume. She had them bad, whereas the other babies near her didn't. She was also smaller, like her other two siblings. Lucy was more my baby of the group and I was devastated when she passed away. But I noted from the group that she was one that had a stunted growth rate, like her mother and her aunt, Rainn.

     As the babies grew, we had Lizzie and Roxie, from Luna, and we had Soa and Reese from Rainn. Soa and Reese stayed small up until three years later even. With Soa, she grew, but she wasn't able to walk or move properly for months. Reese was like this, but he was more active and tried his best to wobble around and play. Lizzie and Roxie were much like Reese and less like Soa. Soa had more of a struggle and I wound up naming her Soa for a reason – I talked in a baby voice and always said she was “so wobbly”, which sounded like “sowabi”, and I liked the Korean name So Ah, so I named her Soa. Simple and fun fact.

     The condition that was always mentioned was Cerebellar Hypoplasia. That is when the brain's cerebellum is underdeveloped and is a congenital condition that usually occurs while the little munchkins are still within the Mama's womb. It shouldn't progress at all. It's not supposed to, so I was confused if this was actually what Rainn had. The blood test and other tests for Rainn would be “expensive” and my vet said he was certain that was the problem with Rainny-Poo. And often enough, vets do misdiagnose this condition. And I never got the chance to truly figure out what was plaguing this family of cats.

     This article [http://lifewithchcats.com/2012/12/16/can-a-cats-cerebellar-hypoplasia-worsen/] tells a lot about this.

     But here's the info for all the TL;DR. Hypoplasia of the cerebellum can be caused from trauma to the brain during pregnancy or even after the baby is borm, or they can contract a virus to cause the stunt. The virus known to cause it is Feline Panleukopenia, and this was mentioned, too, by the vet. I did a lot of research into the condition and the disease and while half of me decided to trust the vet on this one, half of me still wondered if it was something genetic causing a weird malfunction in the cats. Feline distemper (another name for the virus) is actually deadly and harmful to the cats. “It can be found nearly everywhere that isn't regularly disinfected, and it can survive anything you throw at it: freezing temperatures, alcohol, and iodine – all except bleach, thank goodness.” says an [http://lifewithchcats.com/2012/03/25/feline-panleukopenia-what-you-need-to-know/] article. And note, bleach isn't good to mix with cat pee, so be careful with that.

     The symptoms of distemper are general things you should notice that cause concern: fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea and/or vomiting, and other things. If cats survive, they are immune for life but still can carry the disease with them.

     Back to the hypoplasia though. Hypoplasia can be properly diagnosed through an MRI and blood tests. If they are infected with the distemper at the time though, the test for white blood cells should show. But what some don't realize is that the vet may not know of this particular thing – CH – and/or it'll be misdiagnosed, which is what happened with my babies. CH can improve, with proper physical therapy and even just from the cat. The brain can fix itself, and sometimes it can't, which leaves the cats with the wobble.

     What major difference I noticed was the fact my cats seemed to be in a confused state a lot, would stare at an object or off into space too long, fell over too much (not just from the uber wobbly state) and their heads didn't have the “bobble head effect” that many take note of with the cats who have CH. And my vet swore that was the issue.

     Now, Rainn wound up dying. She had gotten thinner and thinner and her mind seemed to just... disappear. Almost reminescent of human's Alzheimer's or dementia, because of her crazy-like and very confused state-of-mind. She was so loving and a total sweetheart, but she never had a chance. And her mother, BobKitty disappeared and she was much like Rainn, getting worse with time. We assumed she died.

     Rainn's babies – Reese and Soa – had different lives. Reese was a bubbly kitten that loved attention, was hyperactive, a clumsy cow, and had that same weird gaze that seemed to drift off. And Soa was more reserved, timid, and her clumsiness had gotten so much better and her only weird thing was the slight faulter at times and she stood on her tip-toes quite a bit. As did the others cats, I had realized. This was something I never thought to take note of until this year (2015).

     Luna wound up with only Lizzie and Roxie, and both had troublesome childhoods. Lizzie was constantly sick and at one point she couldn't walk and I swore she was going to die within the hour I had found her in my room, with the others, and she was crawling with her front paws – she was aware and responsive, but she would have a moment where she'd stare off into space. And note that these two babies of Luna's were very small, much like Soa and Reese and they didn't grow until after they'd reached the one-year mark.

     Lizzie survived and was much like the others – she was wobbly, confused, hyperactive, and eventually she nearly died once again, when we moved and she was outside, unresponsive, and burning up. She was bitten by a tick that was infected with something (we assume it was a tick; it was a small bite). She was pregnant, too, much to our surprise. And she was in their assumed ICU for well over a week.

     Roxie, on the other hand, was exactly like her mother: looked like her, with her somewhat smashed in face, wide eyes, timid demeanor, and skiddish. She was a bit clumsy, but got better. Lizzie's condition only got worse after being so sick and nearly dying yet again. And even now, they call her my “crazy cat” since she's not completely... “there”.

      Reese died thanks to our stupid puppies (who we put down there after) and Luna did, too. Reese had gotten a cat of ours, Lily, pregnant and the only way we knew it was Reese was because the babies displayed the same condition, and one – who resembled him to a T – had a shorter body, like him and his sister Soa, and couldn't walk properly. She still can't. Her tail wasn't formed correctly, and was bent, and her right eye wasn't completely formed (the eyelid, mainly), so it is much smaller than the other and is always bothering her. And her name is Tabby. Very befitting for a tabby and white cat, I know. But she is much like her grandmother in the sense she is one of the worst cases I've seen. She gets hurt so much because of her lack of coordination and she spaces off way too much. And yet, she doesn't have the similar defect like many CH cats. And due to the lineage dying down, I wanted to look more and more into the thing that was plaguing this line of cats.    

     Tabby's siblings – Teddy, a girl who has similar traits of the condition; Oliver, who is stunted in growth; Taz, who has smaller eyes with the third eyelids being formed abnormally; Violete, who has the high step and tip-toe thing like her family – they all had small bits that seemed just like Rainn, Reese, Soa, and Luna. But Tabby was the worst. Teddy is much like her and seems to be getting worse, like Tabby herself. Oliver, Taz, and Violet are just fine.

     Lizzie and Roxie had babies, but only three survived: Roxie's second litter, and her third. Her second litter wound up with three of the babies surviving, and they are small in stature, high stepping, and hyperactive. The smallest of the trio, Libby AKA Fluffy, has one eye, is a bit clumsy, but seems normal. Abby, who looks just like her mother, minus the coat of color, is hyperactive, acts much like Reese and Luna, and obsessively falls over. It looks like she's playing, but I notice she does it a bit too much. And the boy of the trio, Chester, has one eye with a deformed third eyelid, but otherwise he's normal, too. Thank goodness! The recent kitten of Roxie's to survive is a little white and gray one, who is doing completely fine. It's healthy, active, and friendly. Lizzie's litter died, and she raised two babies who were fostered, and that was her litter. She was fixed, wound up gaining a lot of weight, and still has health issues. But like Tabby, she is only worsening.

      It was only recently that I made the discovery that sent me into a pile of goo and made me want to cry like a happy child. I knew there were other possible things that could affect the cats, but CH was the closest thing I could find. I had searched, and searched, and why I only just had found it... I don't know.

      There were possibilities like inner ear infection, trauma of some sort, distemper affecting them, some brain issue, or even something severe like cancer. I'd seen cancer in our animals before and I knew the signs, so I knew it couldn't be that. And it's not, thankfully.

But here's what I learned;

     Cerebellar Hypoplasia has a similar condition much like it, but with different effects and outcomes for the babies affected. CH has the “bobble head” effect, the wobbly gait, the wide-legged gait, and anything that has to do with an effected cerebellum which is what controls the stability.

Cerebellar Abiotrophy is much like this. CH has the underdevelopment of the cerebellum, and CA occurs when there is a loss of Purkinje cells in said cerebellum. This can occur during pregnancy, but usually happens soon after birth. And it continues. Like a disease, it can worsen and can be affected by numerous other things; outside life, other disease, viruses, etc. With CA, the cells die off and with that... the cats can lose their sense of awareness, space and distance, balance and coordination; this is all noticeable up to six months after the baby is born.

      Like CH, ataxia, wide-legged gait/stance, head tremors – they are all like that. But with CA, things can be much worse and have a wider variety of issues going on. They can be hyperactive – which is sometimes hard to distinguish between normal hyperactive kitties and ones like so. They seem to have a lack of menace effect, which wasn't the case for Soa. And what got me was the fact CA has a symptom listed as a high-stepping gait. That made me want to start crying. My cat didn't have CH... my cats had been inflicted with CA!

      Other symptoms are noted as jerky head bob while in motion, poor depth perception, inability to coordinate themselves and be aware and determine space and distance. This is what the case was for every cat affected by this devestating illness. Tabby's unusually clumsy demeanor, high step, and weird moments of extreme hyperactivity; Reese's similar case with the addition of being too unseemingly aware; Rainn's extreme symptoms; Luna's symptoms more similar with CH; all of them were affected by this crazy thing that seemed nearly worse than CH itself.

The cause for CA isn't known, but they think it is due to an intrinsic metabolic defect. With the loss of the Purkinje cells that cause this, things definitely go haywire. The cells are stacked like dominos and are very large. Fibers run throughout this and some cross with ones leading to the medulla. In humans (and mice) there is evidence that bone marrow cells either fuse with or generate cerebellar Purkinje cells, and it's possible that bone marrow cells, either by direct generation or by cellular fusion, could play a role in repair of our central nervous system's damage. This, of course, links to the adrenal glands. So, compared to cats, it is a thing that affects major parts of our body and could heavily damage us if we lost it.

      Now, the condition is intrinsic. So, it depends on its own chemical composition. It says that in biology, intrinsic effects originate from inside an organism or cell, such as an autoimmune disease or intrinsic immunity. The immunity part refers to a set of recently discovered cellular-based anti-viral defense mechanisms. Unlike adaptive and innate immunity effectors, intrinsic immune proteins are usually expressed at a constant level. And if you're not familiar with these terms, Google helps. I am familiar with a lot of this due to the fact I suffer a couple autoimmune issues and had to learn a lot about the body and immunity. Intrinsic can simply be remembered as an inside job.

      What's sad is that CH is known to come from a virus or trauma, and I learned CA is genetic. It can't be prevented, it states, but selective breeding can help. And that did, of course, since some of the cats' litters aren't very much affected by said condition. Others... others are bad.

But this finding gave me hope. I'm used to having so many conditions in my personal life pop up, so I'm constantly looking out for problems and symptoms of others. I like being perceptive. And to figure out the plague that's caused much trouble to generations of cats... it's amazing.

BobKitty, from wherever she came, was our cause for all these beautiful babies suffering. And I don't blame her. I actually miss her terribly. But, to me, I wish the dogs wouldn't have killed off Reese and Luna, I wish some of the litters would have survived, and I wish BobKitty was still here so I could see how she'd progress.

     I've had probably well over two-hundred cats in my short lifetime of eighteen years. With these many cats (and I've had numerous other critters, too) I've learned a lot through not only vets, but extensive research. I always swore I'd become a vet and help animals with their troubles; even at the tender age of ten, I'd helped deliver babies, helped them live through fleas, sickness, sudden infant death, and even being deformed. I had dealt with a lot. And I also lived out in the country, so things were a bit more risky at points. I had cats get into antifreeze, get snake bit, get killed by coyotes, get killed by our dogs, etc. All this happened, and even by second grade, I'd read through every cat book I could get my hands on. I could name facts, tell you medical terms for kitties, and I even knew as many breeds as my tiny brain would allow me to remember.

     So, here's my point – years ago I had this random, and sadly very ugly, cat appear on our property. This isn't unusual. We have animals appear all the time, and though they stay most of the time, others tend to wander back and forth from wherever they come from to our home. But this cat stayed. She had a bobtail, was pitch black, had a smashed face (it looked like it) and had giant eyes – much larger than I'd ever seen in a normal cat. We had named her BobKitty, for her bobtail. Another weird thing about her was the fact she was really wobbly and clumsy and had issues throughout her life with us.

When she started having kittens, I'd only assumed it was like any other birth and litter before; small babies, lots of care, and a good mama. Though she was okay throughout birth and helped tend to the babies for a while, she eventually didn't want them and returned outside. She had four babies and two died within a day or so. That left two little ones, both bobtails, and we named them Rainn and Thunder. Rainn was a sweetheart, and when BobKitty had her babies outside, she'd brought Rainn to us and it was a day before we'd found tiny Thunder outside, too. He was A-OK on our terms and luckily hadn't been killed by the dogs (they've done it numerous times before to the outside litters).

One thing I'd noticed early on was the way the babies acted. Rainn was much like her mother: she had a more smashed-in face, though she did look fairly normal, she was very wobbly, and she usually fell over a lot or slipped in place. We'd had babies who couldn't walk for weeks and we'd do physical therapy on, so we casually worked with Rainn until she was stable enough. She never fully acted like a normal cat, per se, but she managed. It never seemed to bother the sweet baby when it came to her undeniably cute gait that faultered every bit. And her brother? Thunder was normal. He had a bobtail, like Rainn, and was black (whereas Rainn was black and white), and he walked like normal and played like any normal baby kitten would. He was such an entertainer! And so was Rainn, but she always needed more care than he did.

     Months later, when we had to tend to my great-grandparents being in the hospital (another common thing in our family), we had to spend a lot of time a few towns away and couldn't be home. So, my uncle and father were to tend to our cats. We had at least four or five in the house, as well as a dog. They decided to let our cats outside, which they'd never been. Rainn ended up being raped, scarred for life, and was never the same afterwards. She wouldn't return outside and her mental state seemed to worsen, as well as her gait. It was through a check up and tending to getting her cared for by our local vet that we learned she had a problem. But at the time, I didn't think about it or think to take note of it since he said it wasn't a severe disease and wouldn't affect her life at all.

BobKitty wound up having another baby, which was as tiny as a mouse and was much like her sister, except she wasn't extremely clumsy. She was a bit wobbly, like any kitten. The only weird thing throughout her life was the slight wobble she had, and how she couldn't focus much and she fell a lot.

Now, a side note is that when Rainn and Thunder were put outside, Thunder never returned. Rainn was found under our house, frightened beyond belief.

     Back to their health, though.

     Rainn wound up having kittens later on, to our surprise. She never had gotten bigger or showed any signs. It reminds me of the show “I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant” - there were absolutely no signs of her being pregnant. And she wound up with five kittens, but three were deformed. One of those survived with the other two who seemed completely normal. I noticed the weird sight upon its right front leg (the ulna). It was a mass, and at the time you couldn't really tell what it was since it was covered in a scab-like surface. That eventually came off, and I assumed it was bone that formed on the outside of the leg, which would have to be tended to by the vet. As for the other two, who looked just alike (no kidding) and were tiny – they couldn't lift their heads, move well, and had to be helped a lot. Rainn had trouble being a mother, but was still a good enough mother. As good as she could be for her case.

     The one baby with the bone on the outside of its leg wound up being put to sleep. After examination, our vet told me of how the cartilage would have to be surgically removed, but that was not needed because of all the other medical issues the baby had. The baby would wind up blind for life, as the eyes hadn't formed properly and the third eyelid was formed to the second. The baby also had bones that didn't form properly. Another side note is that this baby had been with us a week and a half, and its sister had formed a close bond to it. She always slept by his side, and wouldn't move unless he did. And once the baby was put down, Soa (the little girl) noticed.

     Our vet had said that day that this was possibly the disease that BobKitty had that was passed onto Rainn and was affecting her babies; Rainn had deeper medical issues than just the gait problem, and we never figured out what it was. But after the babies were weaned, we had her fixed. After all that time she only worsened in her state – both mentally and physically. I played with her with a laser toy and noticed how she'd constantly look confused and fall over from just looking at it. Her little sister, Luna, often looked confused at it, too, and the other cats simply chased it.

     Luna wound up having kittens near the time Rainn did, too. She had four and she nearly gave up by the second one. She was small, and the babies were normal sized for newborns, but Luna just didn't have the strength. She made it, though. And the four looked completely normal and were the cutest things! They were all girls, too. Three calicos and one tabby, like Luna, with a hint of lighter colors. Sophie, the biggest of the bunch, and the one who seemed the healthiest and like she was doing great, died suddenly one day. And next was Lucy, the tabby, and hers was from fleas, I assume. She had them bad, whereas the other babies near her didn't. She was also smaller, like her other two siblings. Lucy was more my baby of the group and I was devastated when she passed away. But I noted from the group that she was one that had a stunted growth rate, like her mother and her aunt, Rainn.

     As the babies grew, we had Lizzie and Roxie, from Luna, and we had Soa and Reese from Rainn. Soa and Reese stayed small up until three years later even. With Soa, she grew, but she wasn't able to walk or move properly for months. Reese was like this, but he was more active and tried his best to wobble around and play. Lizzie and Roxie were much like Reese and less like Soa. Soa had more of a struggle and I wound up naming her Soa for a reason – I talked in a baby voice and always said she was “so wobbly”, which sounded like “sowabi”, and I liked the Korean name So Ah, so I named her Soa. Simple and fun fact.

     The condition that was always mentioned was Cerebellar Hypoplasia. That is when the brain's cerebellum is underdeveloped and is a congenital condition that usually occurs while the little munchkins are still within the Mama's womb. It shouldn't progress at all. It's not supposed to, so I was confused if this was actually what Rainn had. The blood test and other tests for Rainn would be “expensive” and my vet said he was certain that was the problem with Rainny-Poo. And often enough, vets do misdiagnose this condition. And I never got the chance to truly figure out what was plaguing this family of cats.

     This article [http://lifewithchcats.com/2012/12/16/can-a-cats-cerebellar-hypoplasia-worsen/] tells a lot about this.

     But here's the info for all the TL;DR. Hypoplasia of the cerebellum can be caused from trauma to the brain during pregnancy or even after the baby is borm, or they can contract a virus to cause the stunt. The virus known to cause it is Feline Panleukopenia, and this was mentioned, too, by the vet. I did a lot of research into the condition and the disease and while half of me decided to trust the vet on this one, half of me still wondered if it was something genetic causing a weird malfunction in the cats. Feline distemper (another name for the virus) is actually deadly and harmful to the cats. “It can be found nearly everywhere that isn't regularly disinfected, and it can survive anything you throw at it: freezing temperatures, alcohol, and iodine – all except bleach, thank goodness.” says an [http://lifewithchcats.com/2012/03/25/feline-panleukopenia-what-you-need-to-know/] article. And note, bleach isn't good to mix with cat pee, so be careful with that.

     The symptoms of distemper are general things you should notice that cause concern: fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea and/or vomiting, and other things. If cats survive, they are immune for life but still can carry the disease with them.

     Back to the hypoplasia though. Hypoplasia can be properly diagnosed through an MRI and blood tests. If they are infected with the distemper at the time though, the test for white blood cells should show. But what some don't realize is that the vet may not know of this particular thing – CH – and/or it'll be misdiagnosed, which is what happened with my babies. CH can improve, with proper physical therapy and even just from the cat. The brain can fix itself, and sometimes it can't, which leaves the cats with the wobble.

     What major difference I noticed was the fact my cats seemed to be in a confused state a lot, would stare at an object or off into space too long, fell over too much (not just from the uber wobbly state) and their heads didn't have the “bobble head effect” that many take note of with the cats who have CH. And my vet swore that was the issue.

     Now, Rainn wound up dying. She had gotten thinner and thinner and her mind seemed to just... disappear. Almost reminescent of human's Alzheimer's or dementia, because of her crazy-like and very confused state-of-mind. She was so loving and a total sweetheart, but she never had a chance. And her mother, BobKitty disappeared and she was much like Rainn, getting worse with time. We assumed she died.

     Rainn's babies – Reese and Soa – had different lives. Reese was a bubbly kitten that loved attention, was hyperactive, a clumsy cow, and had that same weird gaze that seemed to drift off. And Soa was more reserved, timid, and her clumsiness had gotten so much better and her only weird thing was the slight faulter at times and she stood on her tip-toes quite a bit. As did the others cats, I had realized. This was something I never thought to take note of until this year (2015).

     Luna wound up with only Lizzie and Roxie, and both had troublesome childhoods. Lizzie was constantly sick and at one point she couldn't walk and I swore she was going to die within the hour I had found her in my room, with the others, and she was crawling with her front paws – she was aware and responsive, but she would have a moment where she'd stare off into space. And note that these two babies of Luna's were very small, much like Soa and Reese and they didn't grow until after they'd reached the one-year mark.

     Lizzie survived and was much like the others – she was wobbly, confused, hyperactive, and eventually she nearly died once again, when we moved and she was outside, unresponsive, and burning up. She was bitten by a tick that was infected with something (we assume it was a tick; it was a small bite). She was pregnant, too, much to our surprise. And she was in their assumed ICU for well over a week.

     Roxie, on the other hand, was exactly like her mother: looked like her, with her somewhat smashed in face, wide eyes, timid demeanor, and skiddish. She was a bit clumsy, but got better. Lizzie's condition only got worse after being so sick and nearly dying yet again. And even now, they call her my “crazy cat” since she's not completely... “there”.

      Reese died thanks to our stupid puppies (who we put down there after) and Luna did, too. Reese had gotten a cat of ours, Lily, pregnant and the only way we knew it was Reese was because the babies displayed the same condition, and one – who resembled him to a T – had a shorter body, like him and his sister Soa, and couldn't walk properly. She still can't. Her tail wasn't formed correctly, and was bent, and her right eye wasn't completely formed (the eyelid, mainly), so it is much smaller than the other and is always bothering her. And her name is Tabby. Very befitting for a tabby and white cat, I know. But she is much like her grandmother in the sense she is one of the worst cases I've seen. She gets hurt so much because of her lack of coordination and she spaces off way too much. And yet, she doesn't have the similar defect like many CH cats. And due to the lineage dying down, I wanted to look more and more into the thing that was plaguing this line of cats.    

     Tabby's siblings – Teddy, a girl who has similar traits of the condition; Oliver, who is stunted in growth; Taz, who has smaller eyes with the third eyelids being formed abnormally; Violete, who has the high step and tip-toe thing like her family – they all had small bits that seemed just like Rainn, Reese, Soa, and Luna. But Tabby was the worst. Teddy is much like her and seems to be getting worse, like Tabby herself. Oliver, Taz, and Violet are just fine.

     Lizzie and Roxie had babies, but only three survived: Roxie's second litter, and her third. Her second litter wound up with three of the babies surviving, and they are small in stature, high stepping, and hyperactive. The smallest of the trio, Libby AKA Fluffy, has one eye, is a bit clumsy, but seems normal. Abby, who looks just like her mother, minus the coat of color, is hyperactive, acts much like Reese and Luna, and obsessively falls over. It looks like she's playing, but I notice she does it a bit too much. And the boy of the trio, Chester, has one eye with a deformed third eyelid, but otherwise he's normal, too. Thank goodness! The recent kitten of Roxie's to survive is a little white and gray one, who is doing completely fine. It's healthy, active, and friendly. Lizzie's litter died, and she raised two babies who were fostered, and that was her litter. She was fixed, wound up gaining a lot of weight, and still has health issues. But like Tabby, she is only worsening.

      It was only recently that I made the discovery that sent me into a pile of goo and made me want to cry like a happy child. I knew there were other possible things that could affect the cats, but CH was the closest thing I could find. I had searched, and searched, and why I only just had found it... I don't know.

      There were possibilities like inner ear infection, trauma of some sort, distemper affecting them, some brain issue, or even something severe like cancer. I'd seen cancer in our animals before and I knew the signs, so I knew it couldn't be that. And it's not, thankfully.

But here's what I learned;

     Cerebellar Hypoplasia has a similar condition much like it, but with different effects and outcomes for the babies affected. CH has the “bobble head” effect, the wobbly gait, the wide-legged gait, and anything that has to do with an effected cerebellum which is what controls the stability.

Cerebellar Abiotrophy is much like this. CH has the underdevelopment of the cerebellum, and CA occurs when there is a loss of Purkinje cells in said cerebellum. This can occur during pregnancy, but usually happens soon after birth. And it continues. Like a disease, it can worsen and can be affected by numerous other things; outside life, other disease, viruses, etc. With CA, the cells die off and with that... the cats can lose their sense of awareness, space and distance, balance and coordination; this is all noticeable up to six months after the baby is born.

      Like CH, ataxia, wide-legged gait/stance, head tremors – they are all like that. But with CA, things can be much worse and have a wider variety of issues going on. They can be hyperactive – which is sometimes hard to distinguish between normal hyperactive kitties and ones like so. They seem to have a lack of menace effect, which wasn't the case for Soa. And what got me was the fact CA has a symptom listed as a high-stepping gait. That made me want to start crying. My cat didn't have CH... my cats had been inflicted with CA!

      Other symptoms are noted as jerky head bob while in motion, poor depth perception, inability to coordinate themselves and be aware and determine space and distance. This is what the case was for every cat affected by this devestating illness. Tabby's unusually clumsy demeanor, high step, and weird moments of extreme hyperactivity; Reese's similar case with the addition of being too unseemingly aware; Rainn's extreme symptoms; Luna's symptoms more similar with CH; all of them were affected by this crazy thing that seemed nearly worse than CH itself.

The cause for CA isn't known, but they think it is due to an intrinsic metabolic defect. With the loss of the Purkinje cells that cause this, things definitely go haywire. The cells are stacked like dominos and are very large. Fibers run throughout this and some cross with ones leading to the medulla. In humans (and mice) there is evidence that bone marrow cells either fuse with or generate cerebellar Purkinje cells, and it's possible that bone marrow cells, either by direct generation or by cellular fusion, could play a role in repair of our central nervous system's damage. This, of course, links to the adrenal glands. So, compared to cats, it is a thing that affects major parts of our body and could heavily damage us if we lost it.

      Now, the condition is intrinsic. So, it depends on its own chemical composition. It says that in biology, intrinsic effects originate from inside an organism or cell, such as an autoimmune disease or intrinsic immunity. The immunity part refers to a set of recently discovered cellular-based anti-viral defense mechanisms. Unlike adaptive and innate immunity effectors, intrinsic immune proteins are usually expressed at a constant level. And if you're not familiar with these terms, Google helps. I am familiar with a lot of this due to the fact I suffer a couple autoimmune issues and had to learn a lot about the body and immunity. Intrinsic can simply be remembered as an inside job.

      What's sad is that CH is known to come from a virus or trauma, and I learned CA is genetic. It can't be prevented, it states, but selective breeding can help. And that did, of course, since some of the cats' litters aren't very much affected by said condition. Others... others are bad.

But this finding gave me hope. I'm used to having so many conditions in my personal life pop up, so I'm constantly looking out for problems and symptoms of others. I like being perceptive. And to figure out the plague that's caused much trouble to generations of cats... it's amazing.

BobKitty, from wherever she came, was our cause for all these beautiful babies suffering. And I don't blame her. I actually miss her terribly. But, to me, I wish the dogs wouldn't have killed off Reese and Luna, I wish some of the litters would have survived, and I wish BobKitty was still here so I could see how she'd progress.