A pretty kitty shows how cats with radial hypoplasia can live amazing lives when simply given a chance.
Tater Tot the Highland Lynx is gorgeous and lives the high life, once living in foster care with the famous rescued kitty Wolfie, the Smiling Werecat. Now, Tater Tot lives with Roo, the Kangaroo cat, and Venus, the stunning chimera cat. But his fate was uncertain when he came into the world.
Image via Facebook/Venus and Family
When Tater Tot arrived in foster care with Wolfie, he was already ridiculously cute. Wolfie was living with Jacqueline, who owns LA-based Friends for Life Rescue Network. (FFLRN).
Image via Facebook/Totally Tater
Tater Tot Has Radial Hypoplasia
Sadly, Tater Tot had radial hypoplasia leaving his front legs badly deformed. Unfortunately, his legs were “extremely underdeveloped,” with false elbow sockets that prevented full mobility. As such, it wasn’t correctable, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a happy life with veterinary care and the right family to care for his special needs.
Image via Instagram/wolfie_smiles
As with many fancy cat breeds, he originally came from a breeder, which we always firmly discourage. There are so many cats that need homes in shelters all over the world. And, as we all know, rescued cats are every bit as beautiful and make the purrfect companions!
Video via TikTok/wolfiesmiles
Tater Tot Avoided Euthanasia
Due to his legs, a veterinarian suggested the breeder euthanize Tater Tot, but instead, they reached out and surrendered Tater to FFLRN.
“My, what long, bent front legs you have! The better to hug you with my dear human!”
As luck would have it, Tater Tot would land in a home with Roo, who also has the mutation causing radial hypoplasia. So his new family was familiar with the condition and knew he would have a happy life, making a great playmate for Roo.
After arriving at his forever home at four months old, he was treated like royalty.
Since then, he’s grown into an affectionate house cat who acts like a guard dog in a home where the dogs act more like cats. His mom describes him as a “big floofy goofball fly eating bug catching watchcat!”
“…Instead of being a lap cat, I’m more like a guard dog,” Tater Tot shared on Facebook. “I position myself in the house where I feel I can watch over everyone and be a protector. At night rather than sleep on the bed, I sleep in the hall so I can keep watch over all the bedrooms. I don’t mind being picked up and carried, but I feel being a lap cat is kind of like sleeping on the job.”
Tater Tot is also prone to giving his mom a start by sitting right at the edge of the stairs to survey his domain.
“I regularly like to give Mom mini heart attacks by doing this.”
But most of the time, Tater Tot is prone to taking it easy right in the middle of the floor, belly up or in a sploot.
“I mean, the sign says RELAX, so…..”
Sure enough, when introduced, Roo and Tater Tot became “fast friends on day one.” Although both kitties have Radial Hypoplasia, they “have no problems playing, running, and even climbing despite being ‘special needs,’ the rescuer shared on Facebook.
Tater Tot Grows into Massive Paws
Tater Tot is also polydactyl with huge paws and extra toes. In all, he has 25 toes, 6 on each front, 7 on one back foot and 6 on the other.
Over a year, he finally grew into those paws and settled into a wonderful life with his furry siblings and humans.
Thanks to the rescuers, Tater Tot couldn’t be happier in his forever home.
“The pillow behind me pretty much sums up how I feel when my humans build me kitty forts.💙”
For more, you can follow Tater Tot on Facebook and Instagram.
