The Verdict
Well, I think we have finally come up with a name for the new kitty. Her name is Puka. Puka is Hawaiian for "Hole," meaning she's already causing a hole in my pocket.
I took Puka to the vet yesterday, and found out she has THREE different parasites in her system, plus the goopy eye thing. Altogether, the vet visit cost me $150. I have to take her back next week, which will probably cost me another $60 (this is just my guess, but I could be wrong and the follow-up visit might not cost anything).
For those who may not want to know details of her condition, please turn away. This might be TMI for you.
She has ringworm, which is a parasite that can be transmitted to other animals, including humans. Most adult humans have a strong enough immune system to avoid getting it, but children are more likely to get it. Thankfully no children here, but we do have Bela, and he might get it... so we're trying to avoid having the two of them out and about at the same time. She also has coccidia, which is a microscopic parasite in the intestinal tract. This can be transmitted through contact of infected feces, so the best way to prevent spreading this is to keep the litter box clean at all times. She also has tapeworms. This one will be taken care of later on, when she gets a little older. According to the vet, Puka is younger than what we were told, probably 4.5-5 weeks instead of 6-7 weeks. I guess she's not quite old enough to get the tapeworm medication, so we'll be taking care of the other crap first.
I have ointment for her eye, liquid gel medicine for coccidia, liquid gel antimicrobial treatment (to boost her immune system for any other problems she might have), and a medicated dip for the ringworm. Medicated dip? We haven't done this one yet... going to do this tonight. It's a sulfer-based medicine that is diluted with water and will be sponged onto Puka's entire body, and paintbrushed onto her face area. There's a spot on her nose where the ringworm discoloring is visible, so we must make sure to treat that area. Sulfer-based... yay... we're gonna have a stinky kitty. We have to dip her once a week, for anywhere between 4-6 weeks. oh fun.
Someone had told me to give up on her and get another cat. What? that's like adopting a child and then saying, "oh, this one is broken, take it back and get a new one." at least that's how I feel, anyway. At the time, I didn't know how the foster lady got her kittens... until I was already interested in adopting Puka. The foster lady and her boyfriend trap feral kittens and raise them and adopt them out to people. It's a good way to control the feral cat population, but at the same time, you have no clue what illnesses they might have. I guess she does all her own medicating, rather than taking them to the vet to do check-ups. I was under the impression she took them to the vet when they got old enough for it, but perhaps I misunderstood. In any case, Puka is our responsibility now, and it's gonna be quite a journey the next couple of months.
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