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I had a cat up until last year when I had to move out of my home to live with family who doesn’t want pets in the home. I miss my cat dearly. I had him for years before diagnoses, and throughout my changing symptoms. In addition to providing comfort and emotional support, he made himself a Medical Support cat!
At the end of 2022, beginning of 2023, I didn’t know that I was headed towards a Myasthenic Crisis. Anytime my breathing got bad at night, he would wake me up with an insistent meow and a very concerned expression on his face. (My respiratory therapist did a poor job of setting me up with my Trilogy device and I hadn’t been able to take advantage of it.) It took me a couple of months to find out exactly what he was trying to tell me, but once I learned his special meow alert, which sounds different from his typical meows, I knew I wasn’t breathing well. For me, the weakness leading to breathing issues tends to creep up on me to the extent that I don’t recognize that it’s worsening.
He also will give me the meow if I’m exacerbating my breathing by walking around, basically telling me to get back in bed.
I truly believe he saved my life. So, Yes! He’s definitely worth the effort, even on the worst of my days.
As far as accommodations, an occupational therapist gave me one regarding changing the litter. I wish I could afford those crazy expensive self-cleaning litter boxes, but I can’t. He suggested placing the litter box in a location that would allow me to sit while scooping his litter. This suggestion was a huge help! I ended up putting one of those collapsable stepping stools next to the litter box.
My cat is pretty awesome! I hope that when I get my own place, I’ll be able to get him again. (He’s currently with my ex who may want to keep our cat.) If not, I will definitely be in the market for another.
Another sweet thing my kitty did, when I was too weak to pet him, he learned to self-pet himself by rubbing against my limp hand. Best cat ever!