The Newest Member Of Our Household (2009-08-15)
On a recent Saturday afternoon, Takeda-san with our chosen kitten, arrived at our train station where KL had been waiting to take them to our apartment. It was a super hot day and the kitten, being lugged around in a carry case under the hot sun for 20 minutes (time that takes to walk to our apt), was really traumatized (considering he's never seen the outside world or even left his room). Before he was released from the case, KL and Takeda-san did all the paperwork including signing an agreement to take good care of the kitten. At the end she very politely asked for a donation for future stray cats which I think is very reasonable after all the care she puts into keeping them.
For our kitten, he's had all his vaccination, flea and worm
treatment,
blood test (for FIV and Feline Leukemia) and an additional doctor's
visit the day before he came to check his eye for which he was given
medication to take home. Takeda-san even brought a generous
amount of the food
he's been fed, a toy and a handful of cat litter from his litterbox
to put into ours so that the kitten could familiarize himself with the
new litter box. That's just super thoughtful of her to do all
this work!
Okay, now that the kitten has arrived, the next task is to give him
a name. And he shall be called EFOO (二富) because he's the
successor of DAIFOO (大富)!! Being so traumatized from the long
travel time and his natural timid disposition, all he could do the
first 24 hours was cower in his bed and hiss. He hissed at us
EVERY SINGLE TIME we went near him but he would never strike, scratch
or bite; he hardly ate, didn't drink, or go
to the toilet the first day and he felt very hot, like he was burning
up despite the air-conditioning. We worried if he was sick but he
started taking a few bites of the soft food brought by Takeda-san
.
His appetite remained poor and I was about to take him to the
vet. On Sunday night, I gave him a treat made for kittens and he
gobbled the lot! Early Monday morning, he was able to eat on his
own but not the one he was supposed to have been on. I gave him a
can of Science Diet kitten food and he loved that. By Monday
night, he was eating and eliminating normally, whew!
Takeda-san repeated over and over (four times to be exact) that if
it didn't work out with Efoo, we could return him, she said she would
even take him back if one day we decide to leave Japan and can't take
Efoo to Australia with us. To be honest, it did cross our minds
to return Efoo after finding how extremely timid he was. It's
just not the personality we were looking for; but then he started to
warm up to us and the thought of him back in a crowded room and the
possibilty of being put down if no one wants him worries us, we
just couldn't abandone him.
We realize there will never be another cat like gutsy Daifoo.
We'll have
to learn to fall in love with one who is timid, nervy
and downright craven. Efoo is not a kitten, he's a chicken!
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