Sometimes an animal comes into your life who brings so much joy, and so many lessons along the way. For us, that animal has been Jessie.

Born in Bosnia, Jessie was involved in an accident at a young age that left her without use of her back legs. She learned to get herself around by scooting along on her bottom. After spending 2 months in a vet and a year in a Bosnian rescue, she was imported by another UK rescue and directly adopted to a home which was unfortunately not able to provide her with the care she needed.

Jessie landed safely with Rescue Me in 2022, much to our relief.

We initially understood her hind legs to be completely paralysed, however on arrival she was assessed by Rescue Me’s wonderful veterinary team who discovered not only could she feel her legs but she could move them a little too!

With little or no muscle mass, incredibly tight tendons causing her back legs to be very straight, and deep spinal pain, the thought of Jessie walking again seemed impossible. But as she was, her toileting was causing sores and infections while the nerve damage to her back was no doubt responsible for severe discomfort. We had to do something to improve her quality of life, and fast, it just wasn’t fair to leave her as she was any longer.

It has been a long, incredible journey so far, with a wonderful team of fosterers, vets and animal physiotherapists rallying behind Jessie in her fight. She has weekly acupuncture treatments to aid with her nerve pain and spark activity in long forgotten pathways and no longer suffers with the painful sores on her rear.

Jessie has improved in her 18 months with us, receiving very intensive physiotherapy every few days. Although she is a very happy and affectionate cat, we cannot make any guarantees that she will regain full use of her back legs again, but she is becoming stronger and benefits greatly from regular sessions.

The road is very long for this kind of injury, so it is time to begin searching for her forever home.

Who are we looking for?
- Adopters willing to be involved in her rehab before adoption
- Able to continue regular sessions (currently six weekly) from a recommended, qualified animal physiotherapist upon adoption and keep up with her routine exercises at home
- An adult only home
- An understanding of cat behaviour, especially overstimulation
- Lots of TLC to give, Jessie says "cuddles on demand"
- Willing to find new, inventive ways for enrichment
- Able to give Jessie her very own, easy-clean, easy to navigate, comfy room!
- Experience with disabled or intensive care animals desirable but not essential
- Able to make visits to Southport initially are preferable, but these may be able to be conducted online for the right home
- Financially stable with an understanding her existing conditions will not be covered by insurance
- No other cats (calm dogs may be OK after careful, slow introduction)

If you are interested in Jessie, or would like to find out more information, please get in touch.