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Bunny was born with a deformity called Radial Hypoplasia (RH) also known as foreleg micromelia or Squitten.
This is a forshortening of the Radius bones in the foreleg. She was part of a litter of barn cats that
were probably quite inbred, a common factor amoung cats with Radial Hypoplasia.
Bunny's front legs are foreshortened, the radius stopping at about 1/2 the regular length (but not the same
length on both sides), her paws twist and are basically vestigial. She has several claws that will not retract, so we need to keep them clipped.
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She is fortunate for a cat with Radial Hypoplasia, she has fair use
of her front paws and is able to groom herself.
When she walks, she scrabbles across the floor or hops, if she is in a hurry.
It means that our hard wood floors are hard for her to move along. We have carpet in "her" room, carpet on the stairs and
many rugs so that she can get around. Our cat condo has a carpeted ramp for her to get up and down on (although she can climb as
well as any of our other cats).
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To view her world she sits up on her hind legs, like a
kangaroo. She can sit like this for several minutes.
As much as I've wanted to catch her doing this with the camera... she manages to
move or get down (and won't back up) before I can snap the shutter. However my son-in-law caught her sitting up one day and snapped a shot.
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