Explorer and Snowbell
It all started when I was visiting my dad in Ovett, MS. There was a very little kitten that had been rejected by his mother. So, we tried to bottle feed it. My dad was a truck driver. He was going to be leaving out on the road again right after we left. Therefore, he told me to take the kitten home with me.
We took the kitten home. All seemed to be okay. That night I woke up several times to feed the kitten. The next morning things took a turn for the worse. The kitten appeared to be in distress. We rushed the kitten to the vet. The kitten died in route. We had named the kitten Little Pete. The vet informed us that the kitten was born with a life-threatening birth defect. The kitten was only about 2 weeks old.
My children were very upset over the loss of their new kitten. I suddenly had an idea on how to comfort them. We went to Cat Haven.
Since Little Pete had had blue eyes, my daughter wanted the new cat to have blue eyes. There was only one kitten there with blue eyes. This was a white kitten about 9 weeks old. A sign on his cage indicated that he might have FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) because his mother had tested positive and an earlier test showed a faint positive for this cat. However, it was still a little early to be sure. He would need to be retested at a later date. So, I ask some more questions about FIV. In the end I agree to take the kitten who we named Snow Bell.
My son by this time has found a kitten. This kitten is about 8 weeks old. The papers on his cage indicate that he is a very active kitten but loves to cuddle after he runs out of energy. My son believes that this kitten would be perfect for him. He is a mostly black colored kitten with a few stripes. We named him Explorer.
I call and make an appointment at the vet for both of the kittens. They are both sick with worms. Snowbell also has developed an eye infection. It takes two rounds of medication to get them well from the worms. Snowbell is retested for FIV because of the eye infection that does not want to get well. He is also tested for a few other things. Thankfully it is not FIV. Instead, this kitten has herpes. So, I learn about herpes in cats. Thankfully it is not usually transmitted to humans under normal conditions. Unfortunately, every time this cat gets stressed out about anything, he will have a flair up of herpes. That is why his eye developed an infection right after we brought him home. He was stressed out by the move. So, we now just keep his eye medication on hand for flair ups and try to keep the cat calm.
Explorer has most certainly lived up to his name. His favorite activity is exploring and getting into everything and anything. He is still very cuddly after he has run out of energy from playing.


