Last Sunday, I woke up with a very strong urge to adopt a new kitty companion in our family. I had to act on it that day! Jeffrey and I were out of the house heading to Austin Animal Center by 11 a.m.!!
"Hello! I am Mikan"
After three hours of having fun with lots of cats, our heart was set on a tiny, scruffy, yet so adorable, orange tabby kitten. Jeffrey and I both had an instant attraction to that kitten. We named her “a little tangerine” in Japanese – Mikan (Mee-Khan).
She is about ten weeks old, underweight, and FIV+ (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus), which means her natural immune system is compromised. I thought of Tora as her companion – he is a laid-back cat with a strong need for grooming other cats (and humans sometimes)… FIV spreads to other cats through deep bite wounds, and not through grooming or daily sharing of food/water. We made a decision – we adopted Mikan!
Since she came to our house, Mikan stopped diarrhea, gained weight (she is 2.5 lb now), and she has been playing like a professional hunter!
We finally introduced two cats yesterday after five days separating the two (it required patience on our part because we were so excited for two to meet!!). Tora knew something was going on in the guest bedroom, but he had never seen her. Jeffrey opened the door casually, and invited Tora to come in to the Mikan’s room. Well, the result was…SUCCESS! Tora immediately approached and started licking his new sister, and the sister took it as if that was from her real cat Mom.
"Hey sister, you're little dirty. Let me clean you!"
Mikan was more eager to be close to Tora – she walked toward Tora more often than Tora did to Mikan. At some point, Tora stepped back realizing what he was doing (grooming her), kept space from her. No hissing or growling. He was staring at Mikan from a distance as if he was trying to make sense out of this whole encounter. “Who is she?” “She doesn’t look like Mimi…” “Can I trust her?” It was surely interesting behavior to me. We will be increasing time of their encounters more and more, day by day.
I am sure that Mimi is purring for our happiness from cat heaven…
"Wanna play?"
