So, on Monday (end of the long weekend) I get a photo text from a friend with a picture of a kitten. The caption is: "I found a kitten that needs to be saved"
It's no secret that I spend a lot of time building free websites for local animal shelters and rescues, donate as much time and money as I can, and am otherwise fairly active in trying to help out.
Hubs and I see the picture, and go into a panic. That's an obvious URI (upper respiratory infection) that's gone untreated for far too long. I'm terrified that the infection has gotten to the point of causing vision loss. We ask a million questions about the kitten's condition to make sure it hasn't passed into pneumonia yet, and go pick her up.
Three agonizing and miserable face cleanings and one full out bath later, this is what we had:
Luckily, severe vision problems seem to have been avoided. She has fleas, and nasty earmites, but aside from being scrawny seems healthy. We set up a kitten quarantine in the bedroom to keep her away from the other animals, and hit the 24 hour drug store to get her some food.
Steph named her "Mira" which apparently means "look" or "sight" in Spanish (I wouldn't know, I'm not trilingual
), and we set up a vet appointment for her as soon as the office opened on Tuesday.
Well.... she went into the vet this morning and the judgment is: URI, fleas, under nourished, and ear mites galore. They cleaned what ear mites they could out today, and we take her back on Monday to (hopefully) get the rest. She has been dewormed, aged (about 5 weeks old), and given special anti-biotic eye drops for the next 10 days to clear up the eye infection. She is quarantined for the next four weeks, and won't be strong enough to get vaccinated for at least another month - she goes in October 4th to get looked at again, and if deemed healthy enough they'll vaccinate her at that time.
But! She's on the road to recovery, and her prospects are very, very good.
Initially we though we would take her in, get her treated, and then find her a home (we already have two cats, two fids, and one of our soon to be roommates has a dog).... but the hubs is falling in love.... and after four more weeks with her while she heals (at least!) .... I don't think he'll be able to let her go. I find this absolutely terrible, If you can't tell. Why on EARTH would I want a sweet little fluff ball purring all over the place? Geeze. (
)
And now, I will post a happy picture. Because as everyone should know....
Happiness is a warm lap