Saturday, October 09, 2010

Introducing Nallie


Introducing Nallie
Originally uploaded by karmking1111
This is Nallie, the new member of the family. She's a rescue kitten from the hard streets of Seoul.

About a month ago, Seoul got pummeled by a category one typhoon. Somehow, Nallie got caught up in this and ended up in a storm drain. Arnold, a kind hearted English teacher, rescued her and then posted on Craigslist that he had a cat that needed a home. Kat (true to her namesake) felt that we could help and arranged a get-together.

Now I told Kat that I wanted to wait a bit (I've been telling her that for the last 3 years). My mom and sister were coming to Korea and I didn't want a kitten to complicate things.

However, when Kat took one look at this poor, malnourished kitten, I new exactly what was going to happen. See, Kat is a sucker for emaciated runts that can't take care of themselves. She likes fixer-upers (she married me).

So that night, tucked in Kat's purse, we took the cat on the bus and brought her home. We went to vet to find out she many issues. None too serious, but still, a host of things that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy: malnutrition, ear mites, skin fungus, and an infected airsack in her butt. That last thing was pretty gross. I mean the cat's butt is already my least favorite part of the cat, but especially so in Nallie's case. (Sorry Nallie. I probably shouldn't put your private medical history out there for everyone to see. She'll probably read this a few year in future and be mortified by what I shared.)

So, for the last few weeks, we've been cramming pills down her throat, shooting powder into her ears, and dosing her food with ill tasting medicine. To her credit, Nallie takes it all in stride. Never a hiss or a complaint. She's turning into quite the pretty lady and Kat and I are quite glad to have her in our lives.

BTW- We named her Nallie because the verb (nallieda) in Korean means to be blown away. We figured it fit.