It's official, as of this morning. We have agreed to a reciprocal adoption. Remember the skinny black female stray cat that magically appeared here a few months ago? Her first vet visit (that we know of) was today, with the first order of business being to get tested for feline leukemia. Thankfully, it was negative. We did not want a repeat of our experience with Barney. :-(
For some reason, we thought Lola was less than a year old, maybe because of her initial petite stature. (The poor thing was starving!) We had noticed the notches in the edges of her ears, which might indicate she had some age to her, but still we thought she was youngish. 
We should have checked her teeth. (I'm so embarrassed, being a dental hygienist and all!) She has a fair amount of calculus (tartar) on her molars, indicating she's not a kitten. The vet estimates that she's 3-4 years old. I wish she could tell us how old she is, where she came from, whether she's had any kittens before, etc.
I told him that we had suspected she was pregnant when she first arrived, due to the size of her belly, but no other symptoms were present and after two months had passed with no kittens, we rethought things. Maybe her belly was enlarged due to malnutrition? His verdict - it's probably due to her being full of worms. (Ewww.)
So the first order of business was to deworm her, which involved a pill and a half that thankfully, Dr. DuVall gave her. Giving a pill to a cat is tricky and Lola took it like the cat she is. Then she got her first set of vaccines - one for feline leukemia and one for distemper. She seems to be pretty healthy (other than the worms) and weighed in at a whopping 8.8 pounds, which is probably twice what she weighed when she first came around. Because we don't want any kittens - heaven knows we don't need any more cats - she will make a return trip to the vet on Thursday, in preparation for being spayed on Friday.
She's finding her place among the resident cats, letting out a loud meow if one gets a little too friendly for her taste. She never growls at us and is turning out to be our shadow if we're working in the yard. Hopefully, she'll end up being a nice addition to the family. So far, so good!
Official cat population at Our Little Acre: 9
Unofficial cat population at Our Little Acre: 12 (includes Tiger, the neighbor cat, who apparently would rather play at our house)
"Bejeweled"
15 comments:
There can never be too many kittycats! ;-)
I'm so glad that Lola is going to stay with you and that everything turned out allright with her feline leukemia test as I have not forgotten about Barney. That was so sad, so happy smiles all around now that Lola is negative. Hurray!
Yes, worms can make their bellies look very swollen. But never mind, that can, luckily, easily be remedied.
Give Lola a hug and a pet and a little kiss from me, will you?
Hi Kylee and thank you for your kind comments. Congratulation to LOLA she cute. I just wonder is you Acre an acre (4047 sq.meters)or does the name come from something else? / LOL Tyra
Your Lola reminds us soooo much of our Pandora who passed away a few years ago. Same eyes, body type and color. It was a little spooky seeing the pics at first. Then we pulled up our old pics of Pandora and it made us smile. Thank you for the memory or our little girl. :)
Lola is beautiful and seems to love the camera. She is one lucky cat to have found you!
♥Rosemary
Hi Kylee, Lola is lovely and so sweet. I enjoyed very much hearing her story and your kindness in taking her in. I always thought you could tell if a cat had been a mother before by the droopy belly, sort of like humans. ;-> She looks elegant with the fall foliage in your garden. I like her standing up for herself with the nosy inhabitants at your place already. She is a lucky girl.
Frances
http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/
I agree with the others--Lola is so fortunate to have found a caring and loving home. The word is getting out in the cat population -- YOUR house is the place to be! :-) Lola is perfect for Halloween! Those eyes are something, aren't they? Cameron
Bless you for giving this beautiful little cat a home and loving care. She's very lucky to have found you.
My daughter has a cat named Lola. She is a dear and I am sure this Lola will be a dear for you too.
I remember the story you wrote when she first arrived. You had me in tears.
I very glad to hear she's happy and healthy.
Kylee... you know, back in the days of hobos, they had little marks they'd put on your front gate to let other hobos know you were a kind person and would give them a handout or a bed... I wonder if cats do the same? :o)
Don
oh happiness!!! what a beautiful little girl:):) I wish I had the space for as many cats! I would never be able to say 'no' to a stray!
Little Lola is a real trooper! She's such a pretty and mysterious little lady.
I like how you've got an official and unofficial count. We have the same thing. We base it on how many are indoors (official) and then how many are wandering the garden regularly (unofficial). Thanks to two neighbor's cats our unofficial count is up at the moment and we're hoping they decide to go back home after the construction at their house is over.
Cindy
Charming post! It is so wonderful of you to bless Lola with love and a home. Kitties are the best creatures God ever made.
I fostered a stray momma (who looks just like Lola) and her kittens this summer. I'm planning a post about them this weekend.
I love it when cats adopt you. We had a beautiful older female cat adopt us (same thing, we didn't check the teeth) and though she was only with us for a short time, we loved her dearly.
Wow, I think you guys like my kitties more than my flowers! LOL!
Yolanda Elizabet ~ Lola sends her love. :-)
Tyra ~ Yes, we live on an acre of land and I'm doing my best to fill it up with plants and kitties! ;-)
Andy Guo ~ Thanks for visiting!
Shibaguyz ~ Oh, I'm so sorry about your Pandora. We too have lost several kitties here, so my heart goes out to you. Each one is so special and we miss them, don't we? *hugs*
Rosemary ~ You would love her. She is so affectionate and gentle!
Frances ~ We feel lucky that she came here. Get this...we took her to be spayed and picked her up this morning, and the vet was shocked to find that she had already been spayed!! There was no visible scar! (We looked and so did he!) He only charged us a nominal fee for the anesthetic, but I felt bad that she had to go through another incision! She seems to be fine though, acting as if nothing happened at all. It makes me more upset though, to know that she once belonged to someone and for who knows what reason, she has been out there long enough to be near death. The fact that another one appeared at the same time that looks identical to Lola makes me think they were both dumped. It's just too much of a coincidence.
Cameron ~ She does indeed have great eyes. But really, I've never seen a cat that doesn't!
You are right - the word is out. Oh dear.
Plantwoman ~ It's hard to turn away a kitty in need. She is really sweet!
Lisa ~ Love that name! And yes, Lola is already a dear. :-)
Patsi ~ We are glad, too. She was just skin over bones when she arrived here. Not now!
Don ~ I wonder, too! And I'd heard that about the hobos. In fact, the sign is of a cat and it meant kind-hearted woman. Well, in our case, both my husband and I have a soft spot for kitties. :-)
Jessica ~ We find it hard, too, although we have done it. We can't feed them all, even though we might like to.
Cindy ~ I know what you mean about the neighbor cats. At first, we thought Lola might belong to the neighbor across the road, but they take good care of their cats and there would be no reason anyway for any cat of theirs to be starving like Lola was. But we know she belonged to someone at one time. I wish I knew her story!
Kathleen ~ I agree! We just don't understand how people can truly dislike cats. I'll have to check out your blog to read about your kitties!
Ottawa Gardener ~ No matter how long we've been blessed to be the caretakers of any of our cats, we feel honored with their presence and that they deem us worthy of their affection and loyalty. We really do. I think rescues know that you are doing them a favor and treat you in kind.
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