| Herpes |
Hi!
Meet Simon and Sebastian. They have Herpes.
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When Sebastian, our black cat, was a kitten, I decided he needed a friend. So I called the local pet shelter and it just so happened that a kitten was recently left in a box by the shelter door because, oh, how can I put this nicely, his eye was rotting in its own socket. We were told that he had an infection that had been left untreated for too long and the only option left was to remove his eye. At the time we didn’t know it was herpes, we just fell in love with him and wanted to take him home and love him. Besides, it was Christmas and who was going to bring home the cyclops cat for Christmas?
So after his eye was removed, we nursed him back to health and watched as his friendship with his new brother blossomed and laughed at him whenever he walked into a wall. Simon and Sebastian became inseparable. So inseparable in fact, that even Simon’s herpes didn’t want to be apart from Sebastian, and despite the fact that he received all his vaccines, he still got infected.
For the past seven years they have been passing their herpes back and forth between each other and taking turns getting pus filled eyes that need medical attention so they don’t disintegrate - or something like that anyways.
And because herpes is viral, it never goes away. As in, like, ever. The herpes bugs sit dormant in their bodies until a stressful event happens. So our cat’s life lines have looked something like this:
Travel – the herpes all come out for a picnic.
Move – the herpes invite all the other herpes in the neighbourhood over for drinks to get to know each other better.
Appearance of a dog – the herpes get jealous and start competing for our attention.
Appearance of a baby – the herpes call their friends who then call all their friends and all of a sudden it’s a wild out of control herpes party.
So we are in the midst of battling another bout of herpes (or conjunctivitis, better known as pink eye.) This time however, the herpes have evolved and after so many years of fighting the infection with the same antibiotics, they don't work anymore. The cats now require stronger and stupidly more expensive medicine to make them better.
I guess if there's a silver lining to the thousands of dollars the herpes have cost us, it’s that at least it’s a special kind of herpes that only loves cats.
Because the last thing I need right now is a big crazy dog with even bigger and more crazy herpes.
Labels: All in the Family, Comic Relief |
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I hope Sebastian can find it in his heart to forgive you for giving him herpes. There's probably a lesson to be learned there for Simon, about not licking others after licking yourself. I will certainly abide by that rule for now on. Unless I've had a few drinks, then all bets are off.
Yikes! That's not good. I have a similar situation with two of my cats. Our only boy cat, Archer, was diagnosed with...and yes, this is a real condition...."rodent ulcer" when he was younger...about 7 years ago. It makes his lips swell up in this weird way, and his whole face gets itchy enough that he actually scratches until he is removing chunks of his face! It's really nasty. Well, he decided to share this rodent ulcery goodness with one of our other cats, Quirk. She's had it for the last couple of years.
So now we have to weirdo-lookin' cats walking around with swelled up lips...it looks like they are puckering up! Funny, but sad at the same time. It is also caused by a virus that never ever ever ever goes away. So every couple of months they go in to get Prednisone injections. Ching Ching!!
BTW, your cats are super cute!
The things we endure for our pets, hey?
PS: Avelyn is taking applications for future suitors and is hoping to hear from Nate.
yes you and your herpes cats come in second..what is hilarious is when i got my kitten my dr told me i had to have him vaccinated against the kitty aids virus, and i said wait cats get aids and he said yeah they are sluts...i neutered my cat that same day.
anyway i know all about canadians being nice, one day while my husband and i were vacationing in mexico we met this canadian couple and she lectured me to no end about americans being shit heads, and how when a canadian says thank you the other person says your welcome, but americans if you say thank you we say YA.....i felt so bad i made this huge effort to say your welcome after that...
Wow, now see that is why I am perfectly fine to just have babies for now. I don't think I could stomach spending thousands of dollars on an animal's medication!
I'm glad that despite their herpes, they have continued to have a strong relationship. They make me miss my cats! (And yup, yoga pants! Those were sooo comfortable, I keep meaning to get a pair.)
My has just been diagnosed with a mega colon, yep she can't poop because her colon in all stretched out. So for now and all of eternity I have to pill her with meds that have to be compounded and some very sticky liquid laxative stuff that is everywhere, and we just sold our house and I keep finding random sticky spots on the carpet. I think all of our cats should get together and complain about their people torturing them with medicine. Toni in Oregon
Yeah that would be my cat has a mega colon. Toni in Oregon
I didn't even know that cat could get herpes. And I have 4 cats! Is the pink eye the only symptom?
That's quite an interesting and eclectic little household that you have there.
Aww you have a one-eyed herpes cat! That is the most heartbreaking thing ever and both of them are so, so cute!
Hey Christy
It's a form of an upper respiratory infection, so we usually know the outbreak is coming on because there is lots of cat sneezing going on, but other than that, it's really just in their eyes. They get full of pus, and the inner lid gets pretty swollen, which makes them winky.
Pray your cats never get it. It's so not fun! :)
Awe, poor babies! They're so cute though. Funny, my older son's name is Sebastian (Seb), fortunately though he's not a cat with herpes! Hope their little infections can be kept under control with the new meds...And hopefully they don't get toooo expensive.
Gross!
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Scott : May 25, 2007 
