Milo's Report Card

I took Milo to the vet this week for a check-up and to get started on his vaccinations. He weighs a hearty 4.5 pounds, and the doc estimates his age to be 12-14 weeks. He's just so little! The photos I have of him don't indicate just how tiny he is. He's outgrown his kitten face and his kitten body; right now, he simply looks like a miniature cat. I am trying to get photos of him with Jasper and Gus so that you can see how tiny he is compared to the two of them. I've had no luck so far. Milo is never still for more than a few moments when the big boys are around. I do, however, have a picture of him being held by my friend's nephew. You can get an idea of Milo's size in relation to a 4-year-old boy.

Milo and friend

Milo tested negative for feline leukemia and FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus---very similar to HIV), which was a great relief to me. I don't think I could have handled hearing more bad news about the health of one of my cats. He threw a horrible tantrum when he was having blood drawn for the testing! At one point, I thought that he was having some kind of seizure. Right before they drew the blood, they also inserted the "stool stick" in his rectum to try to extract stool so they could test it for worms. Oh my gosh...that little guy was pretty angry. But who can blame him? Apparently, his rectum was empty---no stool came out. When he's a little bigger, we'll apply a topical medicine that will kill any worms he might have...just as a precaution.

Oh. And he's definitely a boy. The doc thinks he'll be ready for snippin' in a couple of months. She says his li'l testicles have dropped, and everything feels normal. She said she prefers to "wait until they're big enough to handle." I laughed out loud when she said this, because it put a mental image in my head that, frankly, cracks me up.

I'm taking him with me tomorrow when I travel to visit my mother. I regret not having socialized Gus and Tucker when they were kittens. I feel like I have a fresh start with Milo.

Milo poses with a picture of Tucker