Put simply, some CH cats will simply never be able to do stairs.
That said, some of our cats like to prove us wrong, by showing us exactly what they’re made of.
Here are three stories from readers who experienced just that — it seems the moment we believe stairs aren’t an option for our CHers, our cats are determined to conquer them. Here are their inspiring stories:
Kiki going down stairs.
Ruth: It was [Betty's] insistence on climbing the stairs on her own as well as insisting on clawing her way up the side of the bed AND leaping off, that is inspiring children all around South Florida.
I point to Betty and tell the kids I’m speaking to that if that little cat can do all that despite her disabilities, they can certainly reach whatever goal they have. They just need to remember to keep climbing those stairs no matter how difficult it gets, just like Betty.
Renee: When we adopted Kiki, we were told she could not do stairs. She was determined to prove them wrong, because that was the first thing she did after getting home.
We have since moved from that rental with the carpeted stairs to our first home with hardwood stairs. She has proved everyone wrong again by going up and down these all day without issues (she is very careful after one particular tumble down two or three steps). She climbs these now like a champ!
Emily: My CH girl, Sophie, is mild-moderate, and until recently I had no idea if she could climb stairs or not. We live in a one level apartment, so she’s never had the opportunity to climb stairs that I know of.
Ellie going down our stairs.
One weekend I took her and her non-CH brother and sister to go visit my parents. The fact that they have stairs never even crossed my mind until we got there. I put Sophie at the bottom of the stairs to see if she would climb them, and she just sat there. No interest whatsoever in climbing. I even tried making her climb the steps by moving her legs and trying to demonstrate to her how to do it. Nope. When I let go of her, she would just sit there. When it came time for me to go to bed (my room is on the second floor), I had to leave Sophie downstairs. I didn’t want her to go exploring in the middle of the night and fall down the stairs.
When I woke up the next morning, guess who was sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for me? Sophie! She looked so proud of herself, and I felt so proud and excited for her. After that, she wouldn’t stop going up and down the stairs. It was like a game to her.
Of course I was stressed and worried the entire time, afraid that she would fall and hurt herself. She never did. Delilah and Sampson (my other non-CH cats) were awesome though — they would wait at the top of the stairs for her, and if she would stop in the middle of the stairs (which she would do when she had an especially shaky moment), one of them would come down and meet her to give her an encouraging lick and show her how it’s done. It was the most heartwarming thing I’ve ever seen.
Do you have an inspiring story about your CH cat? Please share it in the comments or contact me!
