Vinnie the orange cat is very intelligent, but not all cats are born with all their instincts. (Sally Cragin)
DEAR PET TALK: Can Cats and Dogs Be Born with Down Syndrome? – Parents with Disabilities
Dear Pet Lovers: I spoke with a friend who is a veterinary technician and he told me that Down Syndrome is a genetic malformation in humans and therefore cannot occur in dogs or cats.
However, pets can suffer brain damage for a variety of reasons, including lack of oxygen at birth. This can affect their walking, vision, intelligence, and other behaviors. We all know those “super smart” cats and dogs, right? Of course, there are also cats and dogs who are not top of their class.
I grew up in a time when the only time you took an animal to the vet was if they were injured. Those were the bad old days, when female cats were only spayed or neutered if you had no friends or family left to give them kittens.
We had a lot of house and barn cats in our home, including Ferdinand, a gray and white tuxedo cat who never wanted to grow up. Ferdinand loved to play but had very unfocused eyes. He was very attached to the other cats, and by the time his next litter of kittens was born, he was nursing from his mother, even though he was more than twice her size.
Ferdy also loved to sleep on the stove, sneaking in whenever he got the chance, and would often end up with half his beard burnt off because he always had his head over the stove.
But we loved him dearly, and he taught us two important lessons: first, pets are just as personal as people, and second, if your cat goes missing, the first thing to do is check the stove.
Sally Cragin is the director of Be PAWSitive: Therapy Pets and Community Education. Please send questions to [email protected].