A week ago, Skyler (my 4 year old) adpoted a kitten from Animal Welfare. Her sign on her cage said she was seven months old and had been in a home but a boy was allergic to her. She is a cutie. I asked about how long she had been there and if she was healthy. I was told her had all her shots and was healthy or she could not be on the floor for adoption. Skye and I met her and she was attentive and loving and even allowed Skye to hold her. So we adopted her and she was supposed to stay to be "fixed" but the next day I got a call saying she was too little (she needed to be 4 pounds but was only 3.4 pounds) so could I come to pick her up and take her home until she was big enough? So of course, Skye is all excited that her baby is coming home a day early.

So we get there to pick her up (me and the kids) and while the woman is going through paperwork for me to now put down the deposit for her getting "fixed" (they do that to make sure people bring them back) she said there was no way she was 7 month and it must have been a mistake because she could only be three month at most. That was not hard for me to believe because we had looked at anoher cat just before her that had a sign saying 1 year but was the wrong sign and this one was really 7 years old when I started asking questions. So the man hands me her box and paper work with a bottle of medicine...as if i was aware of the meds. I told him I did not know anything about the meds. So the woman helping me went into the clinic to find out what they were for. She comes back to say it is for a paracite that kittens sometimes have and that it would not be contageous. She said she had a little diarrhea but should recover completely with the meds in a few days. Now I am not a vet and I have not had kittens since I was a child (our old men cats both died in the past 4 years or so at over 17 years old) so I believed them. I must have looked a bit worried because as i was leaving the lady goes,"well at least you have the 10 day health guarantee." as if that makes it better!

So she gets home and is happy to be there. She was loving and interested in what was going on. I started doubting the 3 month old thing though because she appeard to be versed in the way of a house and just did not look that young. She ate a little, hissed at the dog, loved to be held and petted, and played a little...you know normal cat things. We did not see any diarrhea until a Monday. And she has gone down hill from there. She mostly sleeps all day on top of the cable box where it is warm and eats very little. She does not get up to greet us too much anymore. Her third eyelids do not seem to open all of the way and I cannot describe it but her eyes look weird...almost dry.

So today Lou took her back to the shelter vet. He just called from there. He said the doctor said she is at least 6 months becuae she has all her adult teeth and she is only 2 pounds... where she should be 6 or 7. He said the nurse took her in back to get a temperature and then put her back in the box and when the doctor went to take her out, there was blood in the box.

I am so sad and Skye is there with him and is going to be crushed! I am so mad at the shelter for pushing her off on us without her being healthy...not just for us but because she should have and could have gotten better care at the clinic than at home with us.

So now, Lou said our options are to just pick a new kitty and forget about Lita or they will keep her at the clinic and try to help her (which they should have done to begin with!). But there are no guarantees that she will make it. WOW, it has been a week and it just does not seem fair to anyone. Our poor, little Lita has apparently been through so much and we want her to be ok and to be able to take her home and give her a good life but she has to make it through all of this first!

I told Lou to leave her and tell then that we still want her but we do not want her at home where it is up to us to either get her healthy or to watch her die. And we will have to think about adopting another (which we would be entitled to if she were to pass) if we come to it. I hope it doesn't. I am so mad at them for how they handled this whole situation from the first cat (the 7 year old posing as a 1 year old) to sending us home with a cat they had to have known was very sick. But I am really a firm believer in adopting our animals from a shelter...we got Dakota there (our shepard mix) almost 11 years ago and she was and is perfect! But this whole experience has left me scared to work with them again. And I am sure there are many more animals in our future.

So anyway, please pray for our little Lita so that she can come home soon and be a healthy, happy house cat.

Thanx guys!