I texted my vet “Sakura’s” photo to ask if she/he is male. She says the photos are not clear, but I’m really quite sure he is male. So whether male or female, Sakura is now officially Hiro.
Hiro is a gender-neutral name.
Hiro (ひろ, ヒロ) is primarily a Japanese given name with multiple meanings, dependent on the characters used. 裕 means “abundant”. 寛 means “generous, tolerant” and 浩 means “prosperous.” Hiro is also an uncommon Spanish and Greek masculine name which is a variant form of Chairo and Jerome. It means “sacred name”.
Your name is now, Hiro. Girl or boy, it does not matter, you are our hero. You survived on the street and you’re going to fight this severe flu with all your might. And win!
The vet confirmed, from the photos, that Hiro is not a tortie but a black-grey tabby, as I finally realised…haha.
First helping of Coco&Joe’s. Fantastic appetite this morning.
Second helping.
Third helping and this is a big heap too.
He still weighs the same as yesterday. No weight loss is good. It’s going to take time for the flu to heal and hopefully, for the right lung to start inflating/working again. As of yesterday, only the left lung is working.
Meanwhile, upstairs…
The princesses ate a lot at 3am, so they are still full now. All huddled up for a siesta.
I wish I could bring them down to earth on the grass. But I’ll still wait a bit.
They still have to learn to use the litter box, though. They aren’t using it. Just peeing and poo-ing on the floor. Looks like they will have to be trained. Minnie’s boys did not have to be trained. Just took to it naturally.
Our queen is distancing herself from the kittens already, which is good, so that her milk dries up and she can be ready to be spayed and returned to get back her place in the porch.
It’s going to be quite a drama since Misty has taken her place.
Early this morning, at 5am, I almost caught Misty.
“Almost” being the operative word here.
But I was tired (having got up at 1.30am and could not get back to sleep), it was dark and I was alone. I did not have the energy to make the attempt. Fingers on both my hands are swollen due to being bitten by Hiro and the princesses (during feeding). Half my mouth is still painful from the dental surgery. The (new) dentist was so rough with the instruments, my gums are ulcerated at all the wrong places so that is more painful than the surgical site itself. It’s trauma ulcers. Sigh… I wasn’t ready to get injured by Misty again. I need to recover first.
So what I did was, I took the biggest carrier we have out to the porch. Then I placed the bowl of food for her inside the carrier. Of course no self-respecting cat would go in. Gerald had already come into the house the moment I opened the door, so he’s out of the picture.
Misty was suspicious and decided to forgo food. She nibbled at the remaining kibble in another bowl. I waited patiently.
No approach by the suspicious cat.
“You wait, I also wait”, she said. But I know she’s hungry.
So I relented and took the bowl out, but still near the carrier.
She finally came to eat. Then, I slowly pulled the bowl closer to the door of the carrier. I was actually right there, very near her. Near the carrier too. Near enough to close the door of the carrier.
I finally pulled the bowl and placed it inside the carrier. Our queen was already eating, with me interrupting her meal (sorry, Misty!), so she also walked halfway into the carrier to continue eating.
At this point, if I had wanted to, I could have pushed her in and slammed the door shut, but….
But…she might be faster than me if I made a sudden move and she’ll scoot off and never trust me again. It would also be so traumatic for her. I have enough trauma in my life at the moment.
So it was very possible to push her in and close the door, but it was also possible she would have jumped the moment I moved a muscle.
In any case, Gerald was in the house playing with Riley and THEY made a loud sound which spooked Misty so Misty moved away.
That’s that. I also was half-hearted in catching her today because I can her mammary glands are still full.
What if she is still feeding kittens somewhere and only brought Hiro to me because Hiro was sick?
Could Hiro be the only sick kitten or is Hiro the only surviving kitten? I’ll never know. But if Hiro has such a severe flu, the others (if alive) would have contracted it as well. Where are they?
All questions with no answers.
If Misty is still feeding her other kittens, I should not catch her yet. But with the pedigree Bushy coming, Misty could get pregnant again.
Sigh…
It is Samantha’s story all over again, isn’t it?
And I definitely cannot be bringing Misty into the house as I did Samantha. There is no space left and my husband already said I should just CNRM them, ie. neuter and return them to the colony. Enough felines in the house. He’s not keen to have any male in the house because he says “eventually” they will all spray. Males can only stay in the catio or Bunny’s Place.
Ok, I know.
We will see what we can do.