My kitten got an A+ at the vet

Aura the Ragdoll kitten has had quite the first 6 months of her life. In the hospital overnight with pneumonia, several bouts of green diarrhea and lost appetite, and couldn’t be vaccinated until she was 5 months old. (Although she was de-wormed and de-flead, both of which she needed.)

I had her vaccinated with a 3-in-1 modified live vaccine in January. I called all over town looking for a veterinarian that offered a 3-in-1 killed vaccine, and could only find 4 and 5-in-1 killed. Finally I found a vet that did 3-in-1, but it was live. I decided on that one because I’m not comfortable with pumping in a whole lot of viruses at once, and I’ve heard good and bad things about both live and killed vaccines, but most importantly I’ve heard that live vaccines usually take hold better with less need for boosters.

The vaccination went fine. The vet said she might be sleepy that night, but she was not, she was herself. He went and got a feline leukemia vaccine on his own, but I told him to not give that to her. I have heard it should only be given to cats who are at risk of exposure and that its a dangerous vaccine, especially for Ragdolls.

I then had Aura spayed at a low-cost clinic a week later. It would have been better to wait another week, but I was too nervous that she would go into heat any day.  The above picture shows Aura the day of her surgery. Doesn’t seem to be in much pain 🙂 The dark line is a tattoo, so in case she and I should ever become separated doctors will see she has already been fixed. As a matter of fact, this came in handy for someone else at the clinic that day. When I went to pick up Aura, I overheard another woman being told that her cat was shaved and a tattoo was found. Yay!

Unfortunately, the spay clinic said they had to give her her rabies vaccine. That really upset me, as I was planning on doing it in two months, after her vaccination booster. I didn’t want her to have any shots at the same time as her spay surgery, as that was enough for her immune system to have to contend with…or so I thought.

 

When I picked her up, along with about 35 other people picking up their pets from this very busy clinic, we were given a lecture about how they may not be themselves tonight, and tomorrow when the pain meds wear off we might notice a change in them again. None of this was true for Aura. After she got home she did look drunk for about an hour, but she still wanted to play and run! By the end of the day she was already jumping up on the furniture. I left her in a room that first night to try to keep her out of trouble, but really she was already on the road to recovery. I also got her microchipped! The spay, rabies shot, microchipping, and nail trim together cost $85. That’s half of what it would have cost at the veterinarian’s office (sorry, Aura’s vet).

One month later, Aura went back to her vet for her vaccination booster. She saw a new vet this time, and as he looked over her chart he said “Wow, she’s lived the medical life of a few kitties already.” He mentioned the fact that it was a little too soon for her to have gotten a rabies shot, and I agreed and told him they “made me do it.” He gave her her first report card. She got all “normals” which as far as I’m concerned means straight As. And she got extra credit: under “teeth and gums,” the vet hand wrote “very good!” I would like to think this is because she eats no canned cat food or kibble, only whole prey mice and chicks.

So I finally think that all the scary times are behind us. Aura is doing great. I give her lysine treats daily, as she had one weepy eye, and that seems to have solved that issue (the eye may have feline herpes in it, and lysine is a natural anti-viral). I also give her a little probiotic every day, just because.