The kittens visit the vet
I was concerned enough about Digger's behaviour and mannerisms to take the entire crew to the vet today, and it went about as well as one might expect. Lisa and Len scarcely put up a fuss about going into the carriers, but Digger completely flipped his lid. I armoured myself with a thick hoodie and gardening gloves ahead of time, but he still bit through the glove and drew blood. And yes, I washed it thoroughly and am concerned about it, but fortunately hours later it doesn't look too bad: two red puncture marks and a slight bruise, but nothing swollen, sore, or really red. After he bit me I switched to my rockhound/quarry gloves (wish I'd thought of that beforehand), and am not sure if he bit me again afterwards -- if he did, he didn't injure me.
Eventually I got the lot of them into carriers and they went silently to the vet's. Hell of a way to introduce them to other humans, unfortunately; this wasn't the way I wanted to do this trip, but I was worried about Digger's health (and the others as a consequence). He seemed fine during his exam and of course had a ton of energy when fighting me earlier, so if he is ill, it wasn't immediately obvious. The kittens have roundworms as expected, and are being tested for FIV, etc. They all had blood drawn, and when Len was taken out of the carrier again to get the deworming pill, I was shocked to see lots of blood on his leg and under him. Turns out he didn't clot very well, and with his fluffy fur it looked really horrible.
Then we got the bill and were staggered. Over $700 when we're already tight financially :\ Oh man, I wasn't expecting it to be that bad.
When we got home we gave the bathroom a good cleaning before letting them back in (no sense letting them get reinfected with worms) and left the carriers open inside rather than forcing the kittens out. I've mostly left them alone after the stressful day they had, though at last check they'd left to eat but returned to hide in the carriers :>
The funny news: Lisa is a boy and Len is a girl. Digger's a boy, so 1 out of 3's not bad :> Ever since I've been swapping between he and she whenever talking about the Snarts.
So...who wants to adopt a kitten?
Eventually I got the lot of them into carriers and they went silently to the vet's. Hell of a way to introduce them to other humans, unfortunately; this wasn't the way I wanted to do this trip, but I was worried about Digger's health (and the others as a consequence). He seemed fine during his exam and of course had a ton of energy when fighting me earlier, so if he is ill, it wasn't immediately obvious. The kittens have roundworms as expected, and are being tested for FIV, etc. They all had blood drawn, and when Len was taken out of the carrier again to get the deworming pill, I was shocked to see lots of blood on his leg and under him. Turns out he didn't clot very well, and with his fluffy fur it looked really horrible.
Then we got the bill and were staggered. Over $700 when we're already tight financially :\ Oh man, I wasn't expecting it to be that bad.
When we got home we gave the bathroom a good cleaning before letting them back in (no sense letting them get reinfected with worms) and left the carriers open inside rather than forcing the kittens out. I've mostly left them alone after the stressful day they had, though at last check they'd left to eat but returned to hide in the carriers :>
The funny news: Lisa is a boy and Len is a girl. Digger's a boy, so 1 out of 3's not bad :> Ever since I've been swapping between he and she whenever talking about the Snarts.
So...who wants to adopt a kitten?