STD Kitty

About a year after my daughter graduated she decided she was an "adult" and wanted to be treated like a roommate and not my child. Basically this meant she wanted all the freedom of living away form home while still living at home. I foolishly agreed to this arrangement with some "rules" that were to be agreed upon by both of us. This was not somehting I would recommend unless thorough thought has been given but that is another story. WIth her new found "freedom" and more room in the new place we had moved into she decided to push a few boundaries by bringing home some additional "roommates" to share her space and push my sanity. After the boyfriend and two dogs had to be asked to leave her next addition to the our house was a kitten. She had gone shopping with a friend and returned with a costly package.
Almost on any given day one can find a litter of kittens seeking a good home at the grocery store, local Walmart or any other gathering place or the animal shelters that are filled to the rafters with these poor adorable creatures begging for someone to rescue them. My daughter however, going against everything I had ever taught her about impule buying bought a kitten at a pet store. Now one would assume that if a kitten was for sale at a high price it must be a special breed and be healthy, unfortunately this was not the case for this purchase. This kitten was an ordinary gray striped kitten that the pet store claimed had its shots but no paper work to verify this fact. She had not only purchased the kitten but also bought a carrier, a food dish, collars, a blanket to put in the carrier and toys. We did not need most of these for we still had a cat -Angel/Lucifer.
When she came home and proudly showed me her newest acquisition I was not pleased. After onelook at this animal I knew something was wrong for its eyes were running and goopy, it nose was also leaking. I told her she needed to take it back for there was no way that I could have an animal that had some disease be in the house and make the other cat sick. She refused and took him to her room with a promise that it was just a cold and it woudl be healthy soon.
Two days later the cat looked worse and the first of several vet office calls began. As she was waiting for the exam she ran into a friend that was there with her sick cat. The friend had an appointment before Alysa and when she over heard the vet say the friend's cat had herpes my daughter thought that was funnny and disgusting at the same time. For most of us the name herpes does not haved a pleasane connotation. My daughter confessed to me that she was glad she would never have to be hear those embarassing words about her sweet young kitten. Well she was wrong her cat also had herpes. As the vet explained it was a virus and they were finding it to be a common one that pets were contracting. The mortification and embarassment set in as well as her concern for the kitten. She was assured that the kitten would be fine, the antibiotics should help and the nice bill needed to be paid.
This was not the end of this kittens problems though for two days later it started scratching it ears and crying in oain when he did so. Another trip to the vet revealed that this kitten had ear mites. These mites were jsut not the ordinary variety or just numbering in the few digits. These mighty mites were large, and multiplying rapidly. The vet was shocked ot see them mate under the micrscope. Because of these mighty mites seemed to be od hte hearty type it would take some costly medicine and several treatments to rid of them; oh and because they were contagious as was the herpes that was still persisting it was decided my cat also should be treated as a preventative. I wish I could say this endeared him to Angel even more but as we all know she is not the friendliest cat and this newest edition to the house was definately not well received by her. I also did not enjoy the daily rituals of forcing medicine down the cats throats and in their ears.
The cat did get healthy and a name besides STD cat as I so affectionately still refer to him as- he is called Sampson. He is my daughter's cat. He cries for her when she leaves, has to be in her lap whenever he can, sleeps with her and his blanket. He still annoys Angel and after three years she still hisses and spit sat him whenever he comes near. I do not htink she will ever forgive him for those first couple weeks of torture withthe medicine dispensing. He has grown into a cat that seems to have some cognitive problems also, I think it the side effects from the being a "healthy" kitten.