(no subject)
So a week ago from last Thursday a guy comes into the shelter. He's an older gentleman, white hair, casual clothing and tells me that he's just come from Jiffy Lube, where he got his oil changed. In my head I'm already thinking "and this has what to do with animal control exactly?". He then proceeds to tell me that "while they didn't find a tiger under my hood, they did find a kitty cat". Somehow the cat survived a trip in a running engine for who knows how long (I'm inclined to believe this story because why make up something that elaborate?). He says the cat is out in his trunk and very energetic. I have noticed that shelter staff opinions on what makes a cat "energetic" and the public's opinion differs greatly. Is this a cat that is merely alive? Is it going to run? Is it going to try and eat my face off?! After a few minutes of trying to nail down what this guy thinks is "energetic" I go ahead and grab a leather glove and head out to his trunk where the cat is now.
We get out to his car and he opens the trunk. The first thing I notice is that there is no cat. At least, not as far as I can see. He's got the usual in his trunk, crate of emergency car supplies, umbrella, bag of groceries. Then I notice the bag of groceries has a small orange ear. I move the grocery bag and find a kitten who is maybe four months old. He's staring at me with huge persimmon colored eyes and absolutely terrified. I tuck away the leather glove and scoop him up. No scruffing necessary. As soon as I have him in my arms he buries his head into the crook of my elbow and stays there, clutched to my arm with his little kitten claws, until I take him inside and put him down in the cage.
Skip forward five days. I've spent the week visiting with the kitty when I'm working and thinking about him when I'm not. So last Tuesday I decide to take him, foster him for ten days and if Ninja doesn't kill him (or seem to want to), adopt him. Now I already knew he was sneezing a little bit and its common for cats in shelters to get the sniffles. But he is still bounding with energy (seriously - a little gazelle) eating voraciously and generally loving on everything in sight.
Skip forward two days. Our kitten has now become lethargic, has runny eyes, runny nose, blows snot bubbles when he tries to purr and sneezes constantly (don't worry, this story has a happy ending). I start him on the antibiotic and nose drops the shelter supervisor gave me in case he got worse.
Skip forward two more days (its now Saturday morning for those of you trying to keep up). Kitty is now having to breathe with his mouth open and starting to wheeze. I go into work and promptly fall apart. My supervisor (in her 'I will take charge of everything' attitude) calls up the vet and asks him what to do. Vet says he wants to see him. I try not to worry about this because I know that no doctor of man or beast wants to make a diagnosis on the description of symptoms described over a phone. I call up Chris, tell him to take in the kitty (the shelter and I use the same vet).
Skip forward a very nervous hour. My eyes are now raw around the edges because I've been crying so much and can't stop. We finally get a call from the vet. This is one of those times where too much knowledge is just as bad as not enough because I know exactly how sick my little guy could be. Fortunately, its not the worst case scenario. He does have a virus, and a pretty darn nasty one at that. His temperature was over 105 degrees (normal is 102). The vet said that the care we had given him had kept him in good shape (I say this not to compliment myself but to reassure myself that I didn't make it worse). He still had an appetite, was still drinking water just fine and using the bathroom normally. He also said that he saw absolutely no reason why our little kitty shouldn't get better.
So now he's on two antibiotics, an immune booster specifically designed to boost the part of the immune system that fights viruses, and nose drops. All but one he has to get twice a day. He no longer snuggles with me as much as I'd like because I am now the nasty person who scoops him up and makes him swallow nasty stuff (seriously - the doxycycline looks like the caster oil you always see in Charles Dickens movie). I can't really blame him, I just hope that once this month is over I can win his heart again with yummy treats and handling that doesn't involve medical treatments.
Long story short - we have a new cat. His official name is Samurai, which Chris isn't terribly fond of so he's nicknamed Sammy. He's a deliciously snuggly, follow you like a puppy, oh please rub my belly little kitten. Ninja's learning to love him. His sickness has had a bit of blessing in disguise, because as soon as he got lethargic sick Ninja stopped hissing at him. Even now that he's feeling better she's still not hissing. Though it may have something to do with the fact that every time she sits near him and doesn't hiss she gets canned food. She now looks forward to us letting him out of his crate :)
And I know you all want to see pictures of him so these first two are him snuggling with Chris's grad school friends and the last shows how well he sits and poses. Seriously, he sat there while the red-eye blinked in his face and then the flash. As soon as he saw the camera he posed, as soon as he heard the “click” noise he wandered off. We are soooo smitten with the kitten!!!
http://nekopisica.deviantart.com/art/Snuggly-Sammy-106913974
http://nekopisica.deviantart.com/art/Snuggly-Sammy-2-106914185
http://nekopisica.deviantart.com/art/Sammy-poses-106914338
and let me know if they don't show up, I'll try something else.
We get out to his car and he opens the trunk. The first thing I notice is that there is no cat. At least, not as far as I can see. He's got the usual in his trunk, crate of emergency car supplies, umbrella, bag of groceries. Then I notice the bag of groceries has a small orange ear. I move the grocery bag and find a kitten who is maybe four months old. He's staring at me with huge persimmon colored eyes and absolutely terrified. I tuck away the leather glove and scoop him up. No scruffing necessary. As soon as I have him in my arms he buries his head into the crook of my elbow and stays there, clutched to my arm with his little kitten claws, until I take him inside and put him down in the cage.
Skip forward five days. I've spent the week visiting with the kitty when I'm working and thinking about him when I'm not. So last Tuesday I decide to take him, foster him for ten days and if Ninja doesn't kill him (or seem to want to), adopt him. Now I already knew he was sneezing a little bit and its common for cats in shelters to get the sniffles. But he is still bounding with energy (seriously - a little gazelle) eating voraciously and generally loving on everything in sight.
Skip forward two days. Our kitten has now become lethargic, has runny eyes, runny nose, blows snot bubbles when he tries to purr and sneezes constantly (don't worry, this story has a happy ending). I start him on the antibiotic and nose drops the shelter supervisor gave me in case he got worse.
Skip forward two more days (its now Saturday morning for those of you trying to keep up). Kitty is now having to breathe with his mouth open and starting to wheeze. I go into work and promptly fall apart. My supervisor (in her 'I will take charge of everything' attitude) calls up the vet and asks him what to do. Vet says he wants to see him. I try not to worry about this because I know that no doctor of man or beast wants to make a diagnosis on the description of symptoms described over a phone. I call up Chris, tell him to take in the kitty (the shelter and I use the same vet).
Skip forward a very nervous hour. My eyes are now raw around the edges because I've been crying so much and can't stop. We finally get a call from the vet. This is one of those times where too much knowledge is just as bad as not enough because I know exactly how sick my little guy could be. Fortunately, its not the worst case scenario. He does have a virus, and a pretty darn nasty one at that. His temperature was over 105 degrees (normal is 102). The vet said that the care we had given him had kept him in good shape (I say this not to compliment myself but to reassure myself that I didn't make it worse). He still had an appetite, was still drinking water just fine and using the bathroom normally. He also said that he saw absolutely no reason why our little kitty shouldn't get better.
So now he's on two antibiotics, an immune booster specifically designed to boost the part of the immune system that fights viruses, and nose drops. All but one he has to get twice a day. He no longer snuggles with me as much as I'd like because I am now the nasty person who scoops him up and makes him swallow nasty stuff (seriously - the doxycycline looks like the caster oil you always see in Charles Dickens movie). I can't really blame him, I just hope that once this month is over I can win his heart again with yummy treats and handling that doesn't involve medical treatments.
Long story short - we have a new cat. His official name is Samurai, which Chris isn't terribly fond of so he's nicknamed Sammy. He's a deliciously snuggly, follow you like a puppy, oh please rub my belly little kitten. Ninja's learning to love him. His sickness has had a bit of blessing in disguise, because as soon as he got lethargic sick Ninja stopped hissing at him. Even now that he's feeling better she's still not hissing. Though it may have something to do with the fact that every time she sits near him and doesn't hiss she gets canned food. She now looks forward to us letting him out of his crate :)
And I know you all want to see pictures of him so these first two are him snuggling with Chris's grad school friends and the last shows how well he sits and poses. Seriously, he sat there while the red-eye blinked in his face and then the flash. As soon as he saw the camera he posed, as soon as he heard the “click” noise he wandered off. We are soooo smitten with the kitten!!!
http://nekopisica.deviantart.com/art/Snuggly-Sammy-106913974
http://nekopisica.deviantart.com/art/Snuggly-Sammy-2-106914185
http://nekopisica.deviantart.com/art/Sammy-poses-106914338
and let me know if they don't show up, I'll try something else.