#WobblyWednesday – Jumping with Sophie

Not being able to jump is a common characteristic of animals with cerebellar hypoplasia. Being unsteady and wobbly makes jumping much more difficult, so many cats with CH either won’t jump for fear of missing their mark or can’t jump because they have a more severe case of CH. When we first adopted Sophie, she fell into the first category. She has a mild-moderate case of CH, but she would never jump. If she wanted up onto the couch or bed, she would sit beside it and chirp until we would pick her up. After reading more about CH online and talking with other CH cat parents, I learned that the more we “babied” her, the less she would figure out to do on her own. If we stopped picking her up all the time and instead allowed her to do things on her own, she would adapt more and establish more independence for herself. As difficult as it was to “let go” and not run to Sophie’s side every time she wanted up on the couch or the bed, we decided it would be better for her to learn some independence. What a great decision that was!

Sophie’s constant chirping to be picked up eventually evolved into her climbing, which then eventually evolved into her jumping. I’m not going to lie, Sophie isn’t the most graceful of jumpers. There are still many times that she misses her target. Sometimes she jumps and instead of jumping forward onto the couch/bed, she either jumps just straight up or backwards. Every now and then she is embarrassed by these failed jumps (so of course we pick her up and give her extra attention and love), but most of the time she isn’t phased and just tries again. She is always so proud of herself, and of course we are proud too. She has so much fun doing it too – it has become a game to her. We will be sitting on the couch watching TV, and she will just jump up and down, and up and down, over and over again. 

Watching Sophie grow and develop has been an amazing journey. Sure, CH cats won’t “get better.” But they sure can adapt and learn! 

Check out Sophie’s jumping video… guaranteed to put a smile on your face.