New kitty

[ladyjanelly]

New family member, hope he makes it through the night.

So a few days ago, Kendra found a kitten in a field near Austin, probably a pet that someone got rid of.

Sweet little black thing.  her friend told her to take it to the shelter in Richardson, that they'd check it out and stuff.  So we went back today to get it, and they hadn't done anything, no idea if it had FIV or what.  So we picked him up and took him to the vet.

He's got a hidious upper respiratory infection.  He's skin and bones, and severely dehydrated.  The Richardson animal shelter is beyond shitty.

We aren't willing to invest the $225 for the full regimen of treatments and tests and what-not when we don't even know his FIV and Lukemia status and we've only had him an hour.  We got him de-fleaed, picked up the antibiotics, and the Vet's assistant slipped us some of the high-calorie-protien-vitamin stuff in little syringes (for free). 

I'm hand-nursing him for a few days to see how he's gonna do.  He's already more responsive than when we picked him up, trying to drink water on his own and purring through his snot.  I've never seen a cat make snot-bubbles before.  When he tries to eat or drink something besides the syringe, I think he's suffocating so he's given it up.  He seems pretty happy to have me hand-nurse him. 

The FIV test takes a couple days to come back.  Figured we'd make sure he'll live before we spring for it.

Anyways,

Comments

[ladyjanelly.livejournal.com]

I think we're gonna make sure he lives before we bother. In the time between when they take the blood and when the results come in, he could die, so we're spending the money on antibiotics first, and then give him a week. It's cheaper to get him on a health-plan thingy, and he can only get on if he's healthy at the time.

Thanks for the well-wishes though. He's moving more every time I go feed him so it looks hopeful.

[skuf.livejournal.com]

Ah, I read that wrong - understood you were waiting for the FIV test. But it makes sense - I'm all about giving pets proper medical attention, but it is also very expensive, and if he's too weak to live, it doesn't make sense to shell out such an amount of money :o(