vet report pretty good

Through the wife of a colleague I was tipped about a good veterinarian a 15-minute walk from my place. I phoned today and was delighted to hear they were open on this Egyptian national holiday (Sham el-Nessim, a Pharaonic-era holiday that has been retained).

Tamanya was so well-behaved as I carried her over there that I’m seriously thinking that daily walks might be an option.

On the whole, the vet thinks she’s doing very well for a kitten forced into such abysmal circumstances as a filthy alley without any friends. Her right eye is perfectly fine, despite my initial conclusion that she didn’t even have a right eye. (It was swollen so tightly that it looked like the eye had actually been removed.)

However, she is a bit anemic due to worms. They gave her the deworming medication in the vet’s office, and it must have been tasty because she gobbled it up. It looked like crème de menthe flavor. And she also needs to be syringe-fed two medications for the next 5 days.

Best of all, the vet can house and nurse her during my 8-day trip to England coming up. That was a concern. By summer she may be low-maintenance enough to leave with a friend on my longer trip, but in early May she would still be a full-time job for anyone.

On other fronts there is progress. She woke me again for feeding at 1:30 AM, which seems to be her favorite time. But after a good long feeding, she actually went into her box/nest and slept soundly there for 6 or 7 hours. And she continues to explore the flat more and more, though her hop-step running style remains comical.

But I’m going to have to watch out very carefully not to crush her accidentally. I almost sat on a blanket under which she turned out to have burrowed.

She’s also going to have to start dealing with my normal work schedule starting tomorrow.