Hi there, it’s Mom. In the last article I wrote about an encounter with Zoe and how she was cute. In this article, I will write how we met with Hugo. Now he lives in a relaxing life but there was some drama when he became a part of our family.
I hope this article will provide some insight with the people who are thinking of the second cat and who are currently have problems in having two cats.
Me and Dad have been thinking of two cats since before. Having another cat gives Zoe a friend, but I was afraid of building stress up in her. Nobody knows whether the chemistry for the two is right or not until the second one comes home. So we were not able to go forward to have another one.
Zoe’s vet advised us saying “Zoe has already formed her own world in your house. The second cat would take her world, but not vice versa. So please plan the things to have another cat considering Zoe’s feeling.”
The pet shop where Zoe spent some days allowed us to meet the cats to Zoe through a carry case in order to see how much they can get along. Me and Dad chose the calm female kitten. After some time we found out that the kitten tried to attract Zoe’s attention and Zoe stayed quiet. The relationship between them looked OK. We thought about welcoming her to our home. When we visited the shop next time, however, the clerk said that she looked infected by Chlamydia virus and was taking a medical care.
After coming back home, we started to look into Chlamydia. Its major symptoms are fever, cough, runny nose, eye mucus and swelling of the eyelids. It sometimes results in death especially when it comes to kittens and old cats. Since Zoe was then less than a year old, we were afraid that she would be infected by the kitten.
We kept visiting the kitten to see how the medical care was going. Though the symptoms were not that serious, Chlamydia stayed in her and the symptoms did not go away. After serious discussions with the clerk, we regretfully decided to give up on her. That was really a tough decision.
Me and Dad considered and suffered a lot, and were worried about the kitten. Would she be able to overcome the infection? Was our decision right? Would she find another family that could make her happy all through life? We were not able to stop having the guilty feeling toward her. However, we did not change the mind because we had to think about Zoe as of the most importance.
Some time later, we met a male kitten when we went to another pet shop. Three kittens were playing around in a room. We paid attention at a male kitten. He was an American Curl with cute curled ears. He was slim and lovely, but looked somehow diffident. I felt his body was warm comparing to the other cats, but was not sure whether he had a fever or it was his nature.
“This kitten is very friendly but never had a chance to be welcome by a family,” said the clerk. Dad seemed to take a fancy to him. I liked him at a glance, too, but more than that, I was anxious about how to regard Zoe of the most importance and how to make the two get along to each other. The experience of the female kitten whom we gave up came to my mind, and worried about this boy. “What destiny would wait for him if we do not welcome him?” I made discussions with Dad.
After a week me and Dad decided to welcome the male kitten- whom we named Hugo, with large responsibility which was different from the feeling when we had Zoe.
When we got out of the pet shop with Hugo in a carry case, he kept meowing. He might have been afraid of smell and sound of the outside. It was no wonder because that was his first time to get outside. I can never forget Hugo’s anxious face when we came back home. We prepared a room for him and talked to him, “Boy, here is our house, welcome. We are going to be a family. We love you.”
Hugo had loose bowel and we took him to the vet on the next day. It was surprising that the medication was effective not only to the loose bowel but to his warm body. “I thought he had fever though the clerk said he was fine.” I took care of him with taking a huff at the clerk.
Me and Dad slept with Hugo alternatively until he gets completely well. He snuggled up and fawned on us; oh boy, he must have been anxious. The medication cured his loose bowel in a week. His diffident facial expression disappeared accordingly and we got relieved. However, Hugo stopped snuggling up as he gets well, and that made us a little lonely…
The name Hugo is also my favorite, meaning “mind” and “intellect.” This is originated in European countries and we pronounce [u-go], more or less similar to Italian pronunciation. We also thought about “Theo” and “Noah,” but the Japanese spelling of ”Hugo” looked cute to us, so we decided to name him Hugo. As the name suggests, Hugo plays and gets into mischief in his own way.
About encounter of Zoe and Hugo… It took some while until they got along. When Hugo came home, he spent almost a month in a room by himself to get familiar with the environment. We often brought Zoe to his room and tried to have them to get along. Zoe first threatened Hugo while he is trying to fawn on her. After a month of separation, Hugo started to get out of the room and live with us.
When Hugo was young, he occupied the toys, CIAO treats and the turn to play with me and Dad. He was mischievous enough to chase Zoe around, and Zoe often used to be huffed at him. But it was fortunate that they started to get along after a month or so. In the next article I will talk more about the encounter of Zoe and Hugo.
BTW, the clerk later told us that the female kitten which we gave up found a new family. She was thought to be a calm girl, but indeed such a romping girl. We were so relieved. Be happy, Cutie!
