I had couple of cats (orange male and tortoiseshell female) that lived 20 years after I picked them off the street. The female had only one kidney and the male had an extra vertebra but these things only became a problem in their last year.

They were both very calm creatures. The male was one of the most gentle cats I've ever known. I really miss him greeting me by nodding at me from the sofa when I got home.

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SwiftyBug 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Can you describe what the male looked like? I have a tortoiseshell who's all crooked. Her paws are twisted inward, her tail is shaped like a spring, her rear legs are longer than her front legs. She's all weird. Now I'm wondering if she has extra stuff like a vertebra too. Does your male cat looked overall normal despite the extra vertebra?

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bombcar 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

We had a cat with a "pig tail" as in his tail was shaped like a pig's and couldn't straighten out. The vet said it was some relatively common birth defect and wasn't a major issue.

	▲	SwiftyBug 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Oh, cool! I never heard about another cat with a similar tail as my tortie's. The vet said she was probably born like that, but didn't say anything about this being common-ish.

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forinti 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They both looked normal and where quite beautiful cats actually.

We only found out their health issues from exams.

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gausswho 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> and the male had an extra vertebra

My brain seized up trying to picture this. They didn't say vertebrum, so that's not just a wee bone but a whole other second spine! How does it even...?? I must know!

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forinti 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Sorry, it was just an extra bone.

Actually, I think I got it right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebra

	▲	gausswho 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You're correct. My neophyte Latin chops be exposed. Let me explain what I just learned with my figurative antennae (plural, not antenna which also ends in 'a' and is singular), something about first and second declensions and neutered... No that's plenty enough. Carry on!