The other night we got a call from the animal shelter to see how things were going with our cats. I can’t believe it’s already been five months since we brought Holmes and Watson home with us (in fact, I can’t believe we’ve lived in our house for five months already!).

Brad spoke with the shelter for a few minutes and mentioned that after the little scare we had when we first brought them home, everything was going well. Even though the shelter took care of the vet stay, the lady on the phone wasn’t aware of what happened. Brad briefly summarized that the day after we brought them home, the cats would not move from their carrier. They weren’t eating, drinking, using the litter box or purring. They also flopped over when we stood them up on their feet. There was obviously something wrong so we called the shelter and took them to the vet that works with the shelter.

Our kittens had to be kept there for two days and given IV fluids and medication. They had calicivirus. Something that they’d been vaccinated for, but much like the flu there are different strains and the stress of moving to a new environment made their immune systems unable to fight it off without some help.

It was sad to have them for one night. Then have them “hospitalized” for the next two, be allowed to bring one home, then have to wait a day for the other to come home.

The shelter volunteer who called was happy to hear that Holmes and Watson were active, affectionate cats and that we enjoy having them around. When Brad got off the phone I asked him, “Can you imagine what it would be like to be her if our cats hadn’t made it?” It would have to be the worst feeling to check-in on adopted animals to find that some form of tragedy had struck.

It made me thankful for our healthy little guys.

[and now is the part where I post cute kitty pictures]