Thanks, everybody, for all the great advice so far! We just got back from the vet, and the most surprising thing we learned is that Sammy is........a girl!
I thought I saw "bumps" back there, but I guess it was just some fur or something - we're still going to call her Sammy though, but now I keep getting mixed up and saying "him" - it will take me awhile to readjust. Everybody at the vet's office was fussing over her - she must be as cute as we think she is! (One lady there said to the kitty, "hey, these people even buy antibiotics for rats - you'll be in good hands!"
)
She is a very healthy little stinker - no ear mites, no sneezing/discharge, no goopy eyes, and her appetite is VERY good! She eats pretty well from her plate, and really chowed down on the ground up dry food this morning - she even kneaded and made little kitten sounds while she was eating it!
(She eats with her entire head - I have to get some waterless shampoo to clean her off with between meals!)
I got her to drink a little water, and the vet said there's no harm in still giving her kitten milk, but she's old enough to not really need it as much as water. She was still too young to test for FeLV, but will be tested in 3 weeks, along with a second worm test. Apparently it's a good idea to do a series of worm tests in case there was a false negative the first time around. She does have a round, fat belly, but the vet didn't think it was anything unusual. We have some dewormer to give her for the next 5 days, so we're on the right track. She'll be getting all the vaccines an outdoor kitty would, on the off chance that she would sneak out of the house on it (it's been known to happen
), and she'll be given Frontline and Heartgard when she's old enough.
We're using one of the old rattie cages with carpeting in the bottom as her "crib" while we're not home, since she's VERY curious and would get into heaps of trouble! It's 3 feet by 3 feet, and about 18" high, so she will have room to beat the crap out of glitter balls in there.
We also plan to keep this cage in a separate room from the mean old big brother, who really doesn't want to get anywhere near her anyway, until we get her test results back.
(The little peach fuzzball in the front is Sammy
) We're heading to the pet store now to get some properly-sized food and water dishes, and a litter box. (And probably some toys, and 10 or 20 totally useless but cute things..........)
Last edited by All Creatures Great And Small; 10-22-2008 at 11:55 PM.
The legend says that Mohammed adored cats. When one of them was sleeping on his sleeve and he had to go out, Mohammed supposedly cut off the sleeve so as not to disturb his pet.
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast - Proverbs 12:10
How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
What greater gift than the love of a cat? ~ Charles Dickens
There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person. - Dan Greenberg
If purring could be encapsulated, it'd be the most powerful anti-depressant on the market. ~Alexis F. Hope
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