Adopting a new cat tomorrow hopefully

Hi, Helen!!

Tomorrow Helen goes to the vet for a check up. She will need shots. I see nothing in her file from the animal shelter that she has had any shots at all. So for sure she will need Rabies and Feline Leukemia and I'd like to get her the Feline Aids one too. Plus whatever else they recommend.

She has an eye infection which I think is actually an upper respiratory infection because the shelter said they had some cats come down with that. So I think that is what she has. She was on antibiotics due to her spay surgery so the antibiotics helped and her eye isn't green and goopy anymore.

But it seems to still be bothering her and the fur around her eye is crusty. I try wiping it with a pet wipe and some of it comes off but not all of it. Plus she hasn't been able to groom herself with the Elizabeth cone on (which comes off tomorrow!!!).


I got her pet insurance and tomorrow I hope to get her signed up for her wellness plan and then she will be all set. She is venturing out a little more from the spare room. My Dad said he was doing the dishes this morning and she was underfoot. I take this as a good sign. She sat with me in my lap for a little while this morning and then I tried putting her on the cat perch but she wasn't having it.

Her appetite is definitely better. I worry about feeding her too much because she seems to always want more. I've been giving her 1/4 cup of dry food and a tablespoon of wet food at each meal (so twice a day) but she still seems hungry. I need to talk to the vet to see how much to feed her. My Cat Amelia who is a bigger, heavier cat, eats less than that.


Big day tomorrow. Can't wait to go to the vet and get Helen's eyes looked at and get her on the road to wellness.

Yeah that’s odd that the shelter didn’t give her her shots. I volunteered at a no-kill shelter and they neutered and spayed and chipped all animals as a routine and gave shots to all of them too. I was in the nebulizer group. We treated all cats/kittens and puppies with upper respiratory illnesses. We also treated fleas/ mites and other things which involved giving dips. All animals had to finish their treatments before they could be adopted. It was a first rate shelter but it was Austin Tx a large city. It had lots of funding though so maybe that’s why. They also hosted free enter/spay clinics 4 times a year. A free rabies clinic twice a year.

Yeah this is a city shelter but I am surprised they didn't at least give the rabies shot. I got Amelia and my Esther (who has passed) from a different shelter and they came fixed and with most of their shots and in healthy condition. This cat didn't come fixed (though they fixed her before I could pick her up) and didn't give her shots, and didn't make sure she was healthy before being adopted. I'm kind of disappointed in the city shelter. I support the city shelter with dropping off food for the cats, but I'm disappointed they didn't at least do the rabies shot. Even the new vet (Amelia's vet) that she is going to tomorrow said she should have had Rabies done but there is nothing in her paperwork that says she got any shots at all. And the vet that did her spay didn't offer to do any shots either (I mean, I would have paid for them). They just offered antibiotics which I paid for and the Elizabeth collar which I paid for so that way she could heal from the spay surgery. The shelter you volunteered at sounds really good.

It was and it had tons of dedicated volunteers. It was able to do so much more because of the quality of volunteers. I did a lot of outreach with them. They would go to different events around the city and have a booth for information about all the programs and how to care for your pets. They had free comic books info for what to do when you see animals and how to be safe with strange animals. I really in joyed my time there I only stopped because my back got too bad to do all the bending and lifting.

Slumberkitty, you might want to check with your vet before you go to your appointment. I adopted Dobby from a vet's office. He was neutered and started on his shots. He developed an upper respiratory infection shortly after I got him home. My vet did not want to finish his shots until the infection cleared up. I'd hate for you to take Helen to the appointment and find out they couldn't do what you came in for.

Helen coming out of the bedroom for cuddles and getting under foot is great!

Thanks Lizardlady! I did think of that, that they might not do her shots if she is sick. But she still needs to be seen because we are out of antibiotics and in case she needs more or maybe an antibiotic eye drop or something. We were giving her antibiotics orally. Maybe they have a shot they could give her. I'm going to take the box of antibiotics that she was on, since this will be her regular vet that she is seeing and we got the antibiotics from another vet. That way they know what she was taking.


If we can't get the shots today at least we can get her eyes looks at. Plus I need to know how to clean them better because the pet wipe that I have isn't getting all the crusty stuff off. I did order some pet eye wipes from Chewy but I haven't got them yet. Maybe today. So I am hoping that takes the crusty part off. I know it bugs her. It bugs me too. But I haven't wanted to pick at it.


She sat with me last night for about an hour. Just letting me pet on her and love on her and this morning she meowed at me. She has a really quiet meow and I haven't heard it often. It was nice. She ate up her breakfast real good. I still need to know from the vet how much I should be feeding her. I don't want to give her too much or too little.


Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it! HUGS

Awww Helen has a good mommy!

Well Helen has an eye infection. So no shots yesterday. We can go back in two weeks for her shots. She was given an oral antibiotics--either 10 days or 7 days I forget--but it is on the box. Twice a day. And then Antibiotic eyedrops for 14 days twice a day, twice in each eye even though I think only one eye is infected but maybe it is to keep the other eye from getting the infection. I asked the vet tech how much food to give her because she often seems hungry (though I think she was food insecure when she was brought in to the shelter--she gained a pound at the shelter in a couple of months so she is at a healthy weight now). She said we could give her 1/3rd cup of dry food twice a day and the wet food which is a little over an ounce twice a day. So we had been giving her dry food 1/4 cup twice a day plus the wet food twice a day so we are giving her more now and of course this morning she didn't eat it! She ate the wet food and picked at the dry food. Maybe the antibiotics have her stomach a little queasy. My Dad is going to try to feed her again later since I am at work. We have her moved out of the guest room since we have guests coming next week. So she has decided to come into my room. Which is perfectly fine with me. My other cat doesn't lay on my bed much. A little in the winter and once in a while in the summer but this cat will lay on the bed. Of course now that her collar is off she can get under the bed! So that's fun since I have a queen sized bed. We found a pet sitter for when we will be gone in July so that's a weight off my shoulders. It is someone I know from Church and she has done this before for our pets so I know she will do a good job. Now if only we could get those shots done. But I know she has to be well first. The vet was so surprised (as was I) that the shelter didn't at least give her the rabies vaccine. Appointment otherwise went well. Besides the eye infection she is healthy. It cost me $167 but that was to start her wellness plan and the antibiotics and the eye drops and something else. So she has her wellness plan started and her pet insurance will kick in on July 3rd (she is in the waiting period) and then she will be fully covered. Yeah! Hopefully she gets a good nap today and gets that eye cleared up. I feel bad for her that she is sick. I hope she feels better soon. She loves having the cone off. She took a long bath last night licking in between her toes and all over her body. I made sure she didn't lick the incision too much from the spay but she didn't seem overly to fret about it. They said the incision is still healing but that it looks good. Thanks for being on this journey with me of getting a new pet and getting her settled. It's nice to have a place to discuss things with like minded folk who love pets as much as I do!

Thank you, Kit, for sharing all of this journey! And it's wonderful to hear how loved & cared for Helen is.

Yay! No more collar! Freedom!

Kit thanks for sharing Helen's story. I check each day for updates.

That's great that she likes to sleep on your bed. Don't know about you but I sleep better when at least one furbaby joins me.

Yes, I sleep better with a furbaby too. My Esther who passed last month was my nighttime pal but since she's been gone, I've missed having a pet in my bed.

Helen's eyes are doing much better. She doesn't seem to have any tears or any goop stuff coming out of her eyes anymore. The antibiotics (liquid) and the antibiotic eye drops seem to be doing the trick. She doesn't like the eye drops so maybe one of the two actually soak into her eye but we are getting there. She is in a biting phase right now. When I am playing with her or cuddling with her she wants to bite my hands. Amelia has bitten me maybe twice and Esther used to bite when she was a kitten, but not as a two-year-old. I'm not sure how normal it is. It hurts but its not excruciating. She hasn't left any marks with her bites although she has scratched me with her claws while we are playing. Not sure how to deal with that. I think biting is a sign of affection but I'm not used to it with older cats.


Today or yesterday, I forget which, Amelia my other cat who is very skittish and up until this point has been scared of Helen, was sitting in the dining room on a rug next to the doggy door. She was facing into the house. Helen walks up from the back of the house and goes onto the rug under the table. She slowly makes her way forward and gets to the edge of the rug (where she is about 3 feet away from Amelia) and lays down and just looks at Amelia. I expected Amelia to bolt with Helen that close but they sat there for maybe two minutes just looking at each other. Then Amelia turned and went out the doggy door. I'm thinking this is progress! Maybe one of these days they will be friends and will rub up against one another like Amelia used to do with my late Esther. Here's hoping!

Oh and Helen has been sleeping with me too. She isn't curling up next to me yet, she's more like by my feet but it's still nice having a fur baby in the bed.

Maybe you could use toys to play with Helen instead of your hand. She probably never learned not to bite, claw people. I also find it helpful to say "no" if they get rough playing.

Helen is still rough playing. My hand is scratched up. I will be petting her and then sooner than I know it, she has her claws out and her mouth on my hand. I know she likes to be petted because she will jump up on me and rub up against me but she likes to bite too which is a little frustrating.

Today she is at the vets getting her shots. Finally. She is getting Rabies, and a shot recommended for indoor/outdoor cats (so far she is indoor but sooner or later she'll probably figure out the doggy door and then will be indoor/outdoor). I'm not sure what other shots she is getting as I am at work and my Dad dropped her off at the vet.

Disturbingly, I couldn't find my other kitty this morning Amelia (the one in the photo by my name) and she didn't come in to eat. She is indoor/outdoor but she spends a lot of time outdoors especially in the Summer. She has a zillion hiding spots so she is hard to find. I talked to my Dad a bit ago and he said he still hasn't seen her. I'm stressed about it because I don't want her to have wandered too far and gotten lost or hurt or something. I'm hoping she shows up for dinner tonight. We have a brick wall in our backyard but she is strong enough to pull herself over the wall so there is no limit to how far she can go. I think sometimes she goes to the neighbor's house and eats there so I think maybe she is taking a nap there too. But I hope that she returns soon. I miss my baby. I don't want anything to happen to her. I need cat GPS!

Oh Kitty, I hope Amelia was home by the time you got there. Please keep us updated.

Amelia was home by the time I got home. And then this morning I couldn't find her. I looked all over the back yard. I looked all over the front yard. I looked in the side yard. I looked in the garage because she has some hiding spots in the garage. I was fairly certain she wasn't in the house. So I told my Dad I couldn't find her and if he could please look for her. Then as I was leaving to go to work, she came walking back across the road like it was nothing. Ay ay ay. I was like, "Amelia! What are you doing?" She just meowed at me. Cutie pie. I get the GPS collar on Saturday. I hope it works. I want to be able to keep better tabs on her.


Helen's vet visit went well. She was tested for Feline Leukemia, Feline AIDS, and heartworm and all of those were negative. She got her Rabies shot and her Feline Leukemia shot. It was all covered under her wellness plan so it didn't cost me anything. I thought she would be miffed at us for having been at the vets all day but she seemed fine. She played for a while then she got up on the cat perch and took a nice long nap. I fed her dinner and she was content and happy and purring.

What nice things to hear. Glad all her tests were negative.