New Momma to Zoey!

I adopted Zoey (about 1 year) on January 18, 2014 from a local shelter. They actually had her loose in the shelter and she was perched atop a high shelf. I love grey tabby cats (my childhood cats an orange tabby, and grey tabby still live with my mom) so when I saw her I was immediately drawn to her. She purred so loud when I picked her up and I fell in love almost immediately.

Zoey had a rough first couple of weeks home, two days in her eye swelled up enormously, and she could not stop rubbing it. That resulted in a 10pm trip to the vet and her being boarded over night. The vet gave me ointment and put her in an e-collar as she had managed to scratch her cornea.

After a week in the collar we had  a check up, and while the first eye was getting better, her eyelids in the other were starting to swell. The vet suspected herpes and put her on lysine and kept her in the collar. After another depressing week and a half in collar, Zoey was declared healthy by the vet, and is only prescribed lysine when her eyes start to get yucky or she's sneezing a lot.

So after a month, Zoey's finally able to settle in to her new home. She's the sweetest thing ever, even though she can definitely be demanding when I don't wake up early enough for her in the mornings! I can't imagine why her old family surrendered her to the shelter, but I'm so enjoying being her mommy

Scary fact, the guy at the shelter said she was brought in just before Christmas, and today when I looked at the shelter's website (it's not a no kill shelter) I read that they out down cats after 3 weeks. So it sounds to be me like I found Zoey in the nick of time. I guess it was meant to be. I'm thinking of finding her a sister to play with, but she seems happy so I'm not sure if I want to rock the boat!

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Congratulations on being a new "Meowmy" as some of us say around here.    Welcome to TCS!

I would let her settle in for a while before getting another, especially if it stresses her out, & stress triggers the herpes breakouts,

but more people will share opinions as well, I'm sure.

As far as feline herpes, my boy has it too, & the first 2 yrs. I had him, he was on eye drops from the vet (Neo Poly) every couple

of months or so, for breakouts. The vet had me start him on lysine too, but he gets it everyday for maintenance. 

It's the suggested 250 mg. 2xs/day, so 500 mg total.

I just buy 500 mg. capsules, & give 1/2 in his breakfast, & the other 1/2 in his dinner. 

 If he looks like he is going to have a break out, (3rd eye showing more, just has that look),  I double it for a week or two,

until he is better. That is what many of us here have to do for our kitties w/ feline herpes. it's very common.

Enjoy your new baby, she looks like a sweet girl!

She's beautiful! Congrats on being a new fur mom! Also thank you so much for rescuing this baby.

I love her white socks! I vote for a brother!

allenkm said:

I love her white socks! I vote for a brother!

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I originally thought I would want a boy kitty too, but I read that cats usually bond better with cats of the same sex. Does anyone have any experience with this?

In my experience, male cats are more affectionate and less neurotic, usually.

I say this because every female I've ever had has been really neurotic in some way!

But also, I don't think gender plays any role in bonding. I've had three pairs of cats that were very closely bonded, and one of those sets was male and female. I think it's more about personality than gender. And I've never noticed any gender related hostility issues, all my cats mostly get along well, except for the occasional tiff.

unfortunately I have issues with Heinlein's attitude towards cats.

I know from his books that he was a cat person, but he was strongly against spaying and neutering, and also believed in letting cats outside. If he was still alive I would write him a strongly worded letter about this. But he's not.

Hi, welcome to TCS!  Zoey is gorgeous.  Thank goodness you got to her in time.