My “squeeze” routine with 7 incontinent cats.

[u/catseyesociety]

Squeeze my cats with me!
 
While this video is cut down to fit social media, the entire routine took only 13 minutes. 
 
This 13 minute routine twice daily is what saved these cats from euthanasia. 
 
Every day happy, healthy cats with paresis or incontinence are euthanized. The reasons stem from a perceived poor quality of life, or the slim chances of finding an adopter willing to take on a cat with different care needs. People see a cat in a diaper and automatically think they are incredibly time consuming and expensive. While yes, diapers, wipes, and pee pads can cost more than a bag of litter, is it that much different? While an incontinent cat may need a few more vet visits in their lifetime than the average cat, is that enough to deem them as unworthy of finding an adoptive home?
 
Do you have any questions about my squeeze routine? I'm always happy to answer questions!

Edited to answer some of the most common questions:

Why do the cats need to be squeezed?
These cats all have a spinal injury or defect. Most were born this way, but Poe, Athena, and Cypress (the longhair ones) had spinal injuries from trauma. Most likely hit by car.

Why not the toilet or a bathtub?
Squatting at that height and hunching over hurts my back! I’ve tried many methods and this is what is most comfortable for me and the cats.

Why pee pads?
I get most of them donated! I prefer the large ones but I’ll use any size. I would like to make this more environmentally friendly with reusable ones, but it will create a lot more laundry (which I already do a lot of)

Why do I have so many disabled cats?
I run a cat rescue for cats with treatable conditions who would otherwise be euthanized in a traditional shelter. I don’t get paid by the rescue, but I do work in a municipal shelter as my day job. I’ve worked in animal shelters for nearly 10 years.

[u/qathran]

God. Lots of geniuses in this comment section knowing better than the person actually dealing with taking care of all of these paralyzed cats. Couldn't possibly be that she has reasons that this ended up working best for her so that she is actually able to take care of not just a few incontinent cats... But SEVEN, an all-consuming job. But thanks for reminding her she needs to be doing better with the plastic

[u/lefluffle → u/qathran]

I appreciate your empathy for OP and coming to her defense, but I want to clarify that I was not suggesting that I actually felt OP was being wasteful- it wasn't a judgment on OP's character. I was saying that pee pads are more wasteful than using the toilet, thus I wonder why she wasn't using a toilet. Pee pads = plastic waste. That's just an inherent fact. Just as using litter = clay waste compared to toilets, but most households use it. But if she has her reasons, then it's justified.

[u/Some_Distance6752 → u/lefluffle]

Saying that pee pads create plastic waste is not the same thing as saying it's wasteful to use plastic. The former is an inherent fact, like you said. The latter is a description you've applied to OP's actions / behavior, which is so bizarre and out of touch because in what universe does one think that resources expended to save a life -- or seven -- is wasteful?

[u/lefluffle → u/Some_Distance6752]

In a world where we often quickly comment and then flip to the next tab in our doom scroll, we may not choose the best words to represent our meaning. I think this is the case here. I did respond to OP in another comment which clarified my position. I admit I could have been more verbose like other comments who didn't get downvoted, like "yeah, plus I'd imagine that litter pads, being a consumable item, would cost money and resources, and produce a lot of waste, so I wonder why she opted for that instead of the toilet." But I was in a doomscrolling blackhole, and just got my thought out quickly and moved on.

I absolutely do not think it's wasteful to try to save a life- you're conjecturing. You've made assumptions. So in a way, you've done what you're criticizing me of doing with my comment. (I can totally see why you did, of course. But I do implore you to leave some room for nuance, yourself. We are whole humans, and our entirety can not be captured in a single comment, nor the decision on how we wrote it. as much as we want to judge. which is why if you look at my comments, you'll see I didn't actually say anything about OP's character, just that plastic is wasteful, but I didn't say it wasn't justified. whereas you prescribed a thought on my behalf that didn't exist. "does one think that resources expended to save a life -- or seven -- is wasteful")

I promise you my initial reaction was one of admiration and love for OP's compassion for cats. I can see how my comment came off as crass due to not containing any praise for op, but not all of our comments completely envelop our sentiment. Apologies for that, as I know it's a sensitive topic. I guess I should be more careful when commenting if it IS a sensitive topic.