The first picture is of Kona (the orange and white cat) and Noelani (she is mostly grey with some other colors). Kona and Noelani were part of a litter of kittens born behind the mailroom in the Consulate in Guangzhou. Around 3 old they were scooped up and taken in so we could get Momma fixed. In total there were 5 kittens. I kept 2 for my mother and the other 3 all found happy homes. Less than a week after adopting Kona and Noelani (who were now living with big brother Keiki) we recieved a call that one of the kittens from the litter had died from Parvovirus. Knowing how deadly it is for kittens we rushed our kittens to the Vet to get them checked out. Luckily Keik had already had all of his shots when this happened, but the kittens had not yet started their shots. The Vet did all the blood tests she could and determined they did not have Parvo, but they did have an infection of some kind. She gave them both medicine and a special diet. She told us to bring them back if they got worse. Noelani got worse right away, she was only 3 weeks old and wasn't able to regulate her body temerature. We were keeping her on a heating pad and wrapping her with towels. Two days later we had a follow up visit for the kittens. Kona was showing great signs of improvement, but Noelani was not. Her temperature was so low that the vet decided it was best to keep her for observation. The Vet wouldn't let her come home for 2 days, but when she started showing real signs of improvement (like regulating her own body temperature) the Vet said she could come home. Kona had his own share of problems when it came time to be fixed. He didn't take well to the anesthesia and ended up running all over the house like he was crazy. Before we could catch him he has started bleeding. We rushed him back to the Vet where he stayed until all the effects of the anesthesia had worn off. I'm not sure if they were meant to be small cats, or if their rough little beginings caused them to stay small. Noelani is a tiny 6 lbs (and she is all fur), and Kona is 7 lbs. They have been moved to the US with their kitty visas they won in the kitty visa lottery.
The Second picture is of my Keiki Monster. A Consulate guard in Guangzhou found him on his way to work. Keiki was in the middle of the road about to be run over by a car when the guard scooped him up and brought him to the Consulate Tower. We had a momma cat (the cat whou would later have Kona and Noelani) that was currently nursing 2 other older kittens so the guard though that she might take in the new kitten as well. I saw Keiki for the first time a few days later, he was adorable and fearless, he walked right up to me. I had decided if he was still there when I came back from my errand I would take him in. I came back a few hours later and he was gone. I found out the next day that another person in my building had taken him in to be a playmate of his much bigger kitten. Only this kitten was too big for Keiki. Keiki himself was less than 1 pound, Rocky the hopeful playmate was well over 7 pounds. Rocky also didn't understand that you must be gentle with the baby. Rocky's dad offered to let me adopt Keiki since he was having to seperate the two. I immediatly jumped at the chance to take him. I scheduled a Vet appointment for that weekend. The picture of Keiki was his first morning in my place, I had put him on the bed to get dressed. When I went to put him back into the bathroom while I was gone for work I couldn't find him. I searched everywhere thinking he had fallen off the bed. Then I moved the blanket around and found him curled up. The night before his Vet visit I found a really ugly spot on the end of his tail. I made sure that the Vet looked at that first. He told me that part of his tail was now dead, it must have been run over by a car, but don't worry it will just fall off and he will be fine. Of course I was worried, part of his tail was going to fall off? Then he told me how old Keiki was. I was thinking about 1 month old since he was so small. No, Keiki was 2 months old and less than 1 pound. I left with the orders to feed him and don't worry he will grow and gain weight very quickly. About 1 inch of his tail fell off, but you can't tell now taht anything had happened. And now at 2 years of age is is a happy fat 14 pound kitty. He's been on a diet since he was 7 months old and we've been pretty good at keeping him a consistent 14 pounds. He has lived in two countries and loves to travel.
