Category: Hachitaro News

Hachitaro News, 23 January to 1 February 2007

Even though that (private) part now looks like a pickled plum, Hachitaro is very healthy. Finally, the day came to remove the stitches!

The other two were also neutered, but they had no treatment to remove stitches.
We took Kyoku to a different animal hospital, and Kuro got stitches that dissolved after a while, from the same vet as Hachitaro. (We guess that the vet wanted to avoid seeing stray-cat Kuro again. He had caused a lot of trouble. Just to be clear: Kuro has become a calm inside cat compared to that time. The vet may not believe it.)

In the morning, about an hour before we went to the animal hospital, we made him take a pill that we got after the surgery, on January 22nd.
When Hachitaro became a little sleepy, we left home with him in a net inside his basket. At the animal hospital, we didn’t need to wait for a long time. The vet swabbed disinfectant down there, removed the collar, and cut the three stitches with scissors. Heachitaro was groggy because of the pill, but otherwise the procedure went without a hitch.

The vet said the pill would be effective for about ten to sixteen hours: it depends on the cat.
When Hachitaro got back home, he had a good appetite, and wanted to play even though he was groggy. However, his body didn’t work as he wanted. Did he feel chilly? (Yes, inside our house it is cold.) After that he was shivering for some hours, so Chris and I each took him inside our rooms, but he never became quiet. (He went here and there, up and down all the time. In my case, my patience wore out after about ten minutes.)

And that night, Hachitaro was much more lively than usual.

Postscript
Currently, Kuro weighs five kilograms (about eleven pounds), Kyoku four kilos (about nine and a third pounds), and Hachitaro just under four (about eight and a half pounds).
When we made Hachitaro wear a collar, we thought his small kitten face changed and looked like a rice ball. And both brothers have loose skin over their muscles compared to Kyoku. Which means, do they have a lot of spaces that might fill up with fat?? The devil brothers always have aggressive appetites.

– YS, 2 February 2007
Seven years ago today, we moved to Japan.
The eighth year has just started!

2 February 2007