Osman Kaplan is a compassionate man who makes cardboard houses for the animals living on the streets of Ankara, Turkey.
Kaplan adopted the Anatolian cat named Zeyna, who lost her two front legs. He wanted to give his kitten the best care possible. One of his inventions, a specially designed feeding table to accommodate his disabled kitten’s needs, has been garnering a lot of interest within the social media.
Then 2 months-old Anatolian kitten got attacked by an animal, probably by a dog, suffered serious injuries and lost one of its front legs and the other one was broken at 5 places.
“A lawyer friend of mine called me and told me that there was a cat who had lost one of its legs.” said Mr. Kaplan, “He asked me if I could take it”.
The following day, Mr. Kaplan came to rescue a kitten. He noticed that kitten’s right leg was completely severed. He took it immediately to the Veterinary School, where the kitten received the necessary treatments.
Osman Kaplan takes Zeyna to the Veterinary School. Photo credit: Osman Kaplan.
“The veterinary doctor told me that the kitten’s leg had been severed 36 hours prior to me finding her. She lived like that [with a severed leg,] and she is [only] 2 months old. This shows us that she is a strong fellow. So sad that she got attacked…”
Zeyna lost her other leg too. Photo credit: Osman Kaplan.
Although veterinarians tried to save Zeyna’s leg, the damage was too severe so they had to amputate it.
Kaplan and his Anatolian cat Zeyna. Photo credit: Osman Kaplan.
Kaplan explained the reason why he decided to adopt Zeyna:
“After the operation, she looked at me in such a way that I told her ‘I shall be your arms that you don’t have and you shall be my happiness that I don’t.’ to which she replied with a meow.”
Fortunately, Zeyna, whose name comes from the warrior princess Xena, made a speedy recovery, growing stronger with each passing day.
Kaplan witnessed Zeyna falling on its face many times when she was trying to eat since it had no front legs to support itself. He knew he needed to do something about this. So Mr. Kaplan decided to make a special tablefor his little feline friend so that it can eat from feeding bowls without any problems.
Mass Image Compressor Compressed this image. https://sourceforge.net/projects/icompress/
The special table helps Zeyna to eat without hurting herself. Photo credit: Ömer Çetin.
“Cats normally get support from their front legs when they eat. Because she lost her front legs, she kept falling down on her face and as a result, rarely get to eat anything. When I first made the table, my friends pointed out my mistakes to me. So, I lowered the height of the table and put a foam in front of it to prevent her chest from getting hurt.” said Mr. Kaplan.
Kaplan admits that Zeyna has become an important part of his life:
“We got pretty used to each other. I haven’t been to the workshop for the past 20 days. We got really used to each other.”
Cover photo: Ömer Çetin
In Turkish:
Engelli Yavru Kediye “Pati Ayak” Oldu!
References
Çetin Ö., Poyraz, S., F. (2018, January 20). Ön ayakları olmayan kedisi için düzenek yaptı. İhlas Haber Ajansı
Daily Mail (2018, February 2). Disabled kitten who lost her front legs in a dog attack gets a special table to stop her falling on her face when she eats.
