Please Read: Chase No Face is a really joyful cat with a wonderful quality of life. She was in a car accident as a kitten that left her missing part of her nose, eyelids, and upper jaw but that tragic event occurred over 8 years ago, and since she has lived with a wonderful family and seen two kids grow up. She is a family member and deserves all the respect and acceptance that you would give any living creature, no matter WHAT she looks like.

I have been very surprised at the reactions my friends and family have given me since I started posting about Chase… frankly they are grossed out. I hear a lot of ‘oh I cant look at that’ from horror movie buffs who spend at least one day a week watching zombies eat living characters on TV and don’t even flinch. I can’t watch that, I’ve actually had to stop watching The Walking Dead because of how disturbing I find it. But I didn’t give Chase a second thought as soon as I learned that she was in no pain. She is really playful and up beat and by all accounts happy.

I know Chase’s deformities are intense because of how unusual they are, but they really call into question how we view the superficial as important, and how when faced with something different and initially scary we are allowed to make a choice, an informed decision on how we process the information and react. It can be with slander or it can be with curiosity and respect.

We live in a time where we are primed to move past the idea of ‘freak’. We communicate on a relatively faceless Internet and are given the tools in that to build relationships without fear of visual judgment. We are exposed to the kinds of special effects that allow us to normalize seeing aliens, and monsters, and things that are classically grotesque in a way that looks as real as any ‘normal’ human character on TV and in movies. We’ve seen it. Perhaps too often portrayed as the bad guy, or as sick, but it is no longer an anomaly that is outside the realm of our imagination.

There are people all over the world, people with burns, or cleft faces, accident survivors, and victims of gender violence whose faces have been severely deformed. They are regular people just like me in everything save that an event, or a small genetic defect changed the way the world would see that most important purveyor of first impressions, their face. I ask you to look at Chase and know that she is without question a happy, healthy cat. She gets some eye drops every day to help maintain her vision, she has a pension for licking people’s faces, and she loves feather toys. How do you feel about seeing her? -- Carli Davidson

-- Carli Davidson Pet Photography

Donations for her eye drops can be made if you follow the links on Chase No Face's FB page