Apologies for not seeing her stump leg, she likes to hide it.

I have a theory that our dog might be afraid of bodies of water because the light reflecting off of it might be disorienting- does anyone else have a one-eyed pirate that recoils at the sight of water?

… I said “someone is missing a leg”. She buffered for a minute and then shouted “oh THAT’s why” and sped off. Oofa doofa, lady 🤦🏼‍♀️

My sweet boy is 4 and we found out last Saturday he had glaucoma, was nearly completely blind and was in immense pain. Monday he had his bilateral enucleation. I think this has been harder on us than it is on him but he’s going to be ok.

This is pirate Monty Blind in the blue eye and partially sighted in the other

Beyond grateful for this community over the past few weeks since we got the news our Frenchie quickly went blind in one eye and needed it removed due to glaucoma and an unhealable ulcer. Reading your stories and hearing how your pets are thriving whether they lost eyes or limbs has really helped us embrace our new normal. Thank you all!!🙏👁️🐶❤️

I want to tell a story, and see if anyone else feels the same. First off, my cat is alive and well. She is happy and as healthy as she can be in her current condition (ie - being a pirate). But after owning her I don't think I can have a pet without special needs.

Ever since moving in with my roommate she has had three cats. We got the first one when she was a kitten, and she lived a long life. She tolerated me, as long as I didn't touch her. I could get away with petting her if I fed her human food. She finally let me cuddle with her the night before she passed (Nov, 3 years ago). The second cat was a stray who bonded with my roommate. She and that cat were inseparable, and she hated anyone else coming near her. Like she was would freak out. We had her for a little over a year (she went the following April).

Move to July. My roommate needed a cat, she's always had at least one and feels incomplete being cat-less, but she is still grieving the too-quick double loss. I have always been a dog person, and had never bonded with a feline. Roommie was a little hesitant, but decided to adopt a 9-year-old, one-eyed cat that the shelter named Fetty. No one knew how she lost her eye, but she walked into the parking lot of the human hospital looking for help. She's a tough little fighter.

My roommate was afraid no one would adopt this cat because she was older and had an injury. Well, Fetty bonded with both of us. She is the sweetest, food-obsessed little creature. She screams when she's hungry and forces you to snuggle her eye socket. She cuddles with me and sits with me and gives me more love in a day than either of the other two ever did (no hard feelings to them). Once, less then two weeks after getting Fetty, she comforted me when I had an anxiety attack. She poked me with her paw to make sure I was ok, like literally patted me on the head while I was face-down in a pillow. I have had animals all my life and never bonded with any of them like this. I told my roommate, several months after getting Fetty, that I don't think I could ever get a normal pet again.

Cut to three years later, last October. Fetty has a cancer scare. Thankfully, she does not have cancer, but she had a nasty growth and needed to have her back leg amputated. Now I feel a very tight kinship to this baby, because I have a disability that causes mobility issues. It's hard for me to get around, and I understand what Fetty is going through, limping around the house. Meanwhile, six months post op and she's almost back to normal, jumping on the furniture and running faster than me (I foolishly hoped, not seriously, that she and I would now have the same walking speed).

But that's the story of how this cat changed my life. After living with this remarkable little creature getting any other pet without special needs seems unfulfilling now. And this is simply my personal take on the situation. You should get whatever pet speaks to you. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line I will meet an able bodied animal that I want to adopt, but for now I'm more than happy with Fetty.