Chicken Legs

Chickens may be insulted.

Our cat Ellie has chicken legs.

She is a very high strung cat - when we adopted her the adoption agency called her “high stim” - meaning, if she doesn’t want to be petted, DON’T. Her fur is very fine and holds a lot of static, so petting can be, literally, painful for her.

The interesting thing is that she is very affectionate, and loves to lay on your lap, and we have literally never had a problem with her. We’ve petted her, picked her up, schmoozed on her, and she eats it up. Of course, we’ve always been careful not to do too much of anything, so we are very aware of her boundaries. She is a wonderful cat, and we’re so glad Jackson decided he wanted to bring home a friend when we adopted him. 

Ellie looking relaxed

(Yes, they came together, and that’s a story, too. I found Jackson and his friend on line based on what our deceased cat, Tolstoy, had told me about what he was going to look like when he returned - Jackson - and that he was bringing along a friend. So when I went in, I was like “I want that one, and this one.” The rescue: “Do you want to get to know them first? Are you sure these are the two?” Me, so they didn’t think I was totally weird: “Sure.” That meet and greet took about two minutes. And of course it’s been a wonderful relationship with both of them.)

No pictures of Jackson and Ellie together, so here’s Jackson.

Back to chicken legs. Ellie has taken to over grooming. Her high-stim-ness has manifested itself in licking her back legs and lady parts until there is only a soft down of fur left. At first I thought it might be itchiness or maybe even parasites, but we took her to the vet, and they looked her all over and said “nope, it’s (some long word that means she is self-calming herself).” Nothing we can really do about it. 

I did get her some calming treats. She sits in the bathroom every morning and waits for her daily dose of goodies. I don’t know if it calms her, because she’s still licking, although one leg does now have more fur on it than it did before. She’s definitely grooving on the fact that she gets these treats and no one else does.

Aside from the licking, she acts completely normal. We do what we can for her, and refrain from teasing her about her chicken legs. We’ve looked at our own energy. At the next Animal Communication Classes Grad Gathering, I’ll ask my fellow communicators if there’s anything she wants to tell us. It’s hard to hear your own animals without “stuff” getting in the way, and this one has me puzzled. So long as she’s happy, and she seems to be. Except for the licking.