EPT
![[image loading]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2575/3990176235_60440ba16f.jpg)
Meow.
I've always been more of a cat person so when I moved into an apartment that actually allowed pets I began looking around the shelters. I was leaning towards getting a tabby (a high school friend of mine had a very playful tabby cat), but when I met this little guy I knew I'd be taking him home.
Due to work and the shelter's ridiculously short hours I didn't get around to adopting him until a week after I saw him the first time. The volunteer that 'interviewed' me at the shelter was very nice and supportive of my choice. Maybe it was because it was a kill shelter (they euthanize animals if they have too many), but when I went to an adoption event at the local Petco before, the volunteers were very rude and even told me that I should reconsider getting a cat if I worked full time with possibly no one to take care of him all day. Anyways, the volunteer here told me the background about the cat: DSH, 4-6 months old, had URI (which is apparently cat cold?) when he was taken in, was neutered and vaccinated anyway. They gave me a bag of cat food and a certificate that said that my new cat had helped a vet-in-training receive her degree, which was cute.
When I brought him home he eased right in. The kid wasn't afraid of people, which was good, and he fell right over to be pet if you pushed him a little. A real cute son of a bitch.
![[image loading]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2666/3990179713_bac5ce38b6.jpg)
I sort of felt bad leaving him by himself from 9-5, but thankfully he seems to be able to keep himself busy with various toys I leave him or something, since he hasn't gone crazy and thrown my room into disarray. I did notice that he digs incredibly fucking deep in his litter box (I had to make a 2-cardboard box construction for him around the litter box to contain the mess), and he has moments of pure energy where his eyes dilate like crazy and he bounds from one end of the room to another, pausing only to chase his own tail. Other than that, it's been great.
3 of his nails fell out last week, and then his appetite and energy dropped like a rock, so I went to the vet to get it checked out. Apparently he had an infected nail bed (interestingly not in the same paw/toe as the ones where the nails fell out), and it was bad to the point where the vet thought my cat was polydactyl at first. Then she noticed that he had tapeworms. Always fun. The trip ended up being an expensive vet visit, but hey, I didn't want him to live on with so many problems at such an early age.
It's been a few days since then, but he's full of energy again and playful as ever.
![[image loading]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3469/3991530035_118ae1003e.jpg)
He's gotten a shot of antibiotics for the nail bed, and I'm dousing his paw in disinfectant for 5 minutes every day like my vet told me to, but the paw still looks like shit. Hopefully it's gotten better today... I didn't get a good look this morning because he pawed me awake at 6:30 AM and I was just stumbling around until I left for work.
More photos at my flickr, if you are interested.
