Ballerina’s story:

Ballerina was born in our home on 14th October 2006, there were 2 kittens in the litter – 2 lovely little blue-cream point with white girls.

Ballerina always got a “bottle” in the morning and in the evening as she would otherwise not keep up to the weight of her sister. A part from that she was completely normal to me until the age of 10-11 weeks.

Then her head started dropping when she walked, she would turn her head from side to side in order to see obstacles in front of her and her shoulder-blades became very high and visible. On 3^rd of January 2007 I took her to the first veterinarian. He had no clue what it might be but asked me if I wanted to have her put to sleep as she was not well. I decided to wait and see and brought her to a second vet 5 days later – and a couple of days later to a third vet who diagnosed her with “Cerebellar Ataxia”. In the meantime I had sent a video of Ballerina to Richard Malik as I had this strange feeling all along. Richard confirmed my suspicion, he also thought she was affected by Hereditary Myopathy, I took contact to Drs Marie Abitbol and Stephan Blot at Maison Alfort in Paris who on 19^th and 20^th February 2007 performed a clinical exam and muscle biopsies of Ballerina and her sister confirming Ballerina’s diagnosis of Hereditary Myopathy. Thank you Brigitte for having stood by me all this time.

I was devastated because I was told she would probably die shortly and I considered having her put to sleep as I didn’t want her to suffer. Sybil Drummond contacted me (sent by an Angel)

and offered some advice as to how best to cope so that Ballerina had the best possible quality of life. She gave me 14 wonderful months with Ballerina until she died much too young in the fire that burnt our house down to the ground on Thursday before Easter.

I’m grateful for every day I was allowed to spend with her, enjoying every minute she let me share with her. Her muscle-tone gradually faded, she would almost choke from time to time but I would always be there to help. I would hand-feed her, and when her choking episodes came I would hold her by her hind legs and shake her firmly, once, towards the ground. That normally did the trick, her airways became clear again and she would continue eating as if nothing had happened.

What a stubborn little girl, a real survivor. She would lie in a high position (she used the little steps we had put up everywhere so gracefully) just having fun looking at the others playing. Or she would cuddle up to our Golden Retriever, striking her head against Betty’s head. And Betty would have an expression on her face as if this was a disgracing situation, but finally always accepted :O).

Ballerina would always let us know what she wanted, and when she wanted it. If I went to the kitchen and she was hungry, she would follow me and sit there looking at me with her big lovely eyes with that special expression,  like a mere cat on her behind (that way she avoided the difficulties holding her head up).

If she thought it was time for love and affection, she would poke my legs until I picked her up – or jump on to the sofa using her special steps and not give in until she was sitting in my arms. She loved kissing, even holding her head up by putting her muzzle against my mouth – we could sit together like that for hours.

Ballerina, we miss you so much