Déjà Vu in Reverse

I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but I haven’t had much to say about She Who Must Be Named. That’s because she wasn’t here to be named. A few days after Miss Nameless and Sophie joined our household we went to the vet for immunizations and general health check. The three of us waited in the exam room for the vet to come back with the results of their blood tests and when I was told Miss Nameless tested positive for feline leukemia I thought I was also being tested but instead of testing my blood they were testing my sense of humor. Hahaha ... don’t give up your day job. Turns out they weren’t joking. They told me the virus is incurable.  Sometimes mother cats pass the virus to their kittens in the womb and the kitten can rid themselves of it but I wasn't getting the impression that the vet thought Miss Nameless would be fine.  On top of that, it was going to involve an eight week wait and a retest to find out if Miss Nameless would actually fight the virus off and to be sure Sophie (who tested negative) wasn't still going to test positive.  During that eight week wait both kittens would have to be separated so Miss Nameless could not pass it on to Sophie.  

I didn’t think I could keep the two of them separated for the next eight weeks, but more than that, I just wasn’t up to becoming attached to a kitten who might be sick and watching her suffer so soon after I’d had to put Lily to sleep. So I walked in to the vet's office with two kitties and I walked out with one. I left Miss Nameless and her foster mom and dad came and took her back home.

Flash forward to yesterday, eight weeks later. Sophie and Miss Nameless are at the vet being tested for the virus again.  Miss Nameless' appointment was 20 minutes before Sophie's so her results were in first.  Negative.  (woo hoo!)  She had worked it out of her system. While we all waited for Sophie's results we shared kitty stories and reacquainted the sisters. Sophie’s blood test was finally completed and she was still negative. (more woo hoo!). So Miss Nameless' foster parents said a tearful goodbye to her and this time I walked out of the vet with two kitties.

Sophie, the sweet, cuddly, affection kitty we have come to love has not been putting her best foot forward as she's become reacquainted with her sister, Maybe Maisie  (formerly Miss Nameless/She Who Must Be Named).  

How could you not love those little mitten paws?



 

Maybe Maisie

 

Who is in my chair?!



    

There has been some hissing, some growling and some stalking.

 

Little Maisie is still timid and nervous and probably wondering where the heck her foster mom is and why that mean little kitty doesn’t like her. Sophie and I have had some serious discussions about her behavior, but so far she just looks at me, pretends to pay attention and then totally ignores everything I’ve said.

As time goes on and Maisie and Sophie adjust to each other I hope to have more (and better) photos and some kitty stories but for now we’re all just happy she’s back (and healthy!), and giving her space.  We're patient.  We'll wait as long as it takes for her to decide she's darn good and ready to crawl out from under the couch.  When she does finally make longer appearances I’ll sit her down and tell her how to deal with bullies. 

Who?  Me?  A bully?







◦

Déjà Vu in Reverse