SUTURE REMOVED. THE REAL CHALLENGE HAS BEGUN

Susie here (hope not for long).

TinTin had the suture removal on Wednesday. Guess what?? He peed in the crate! That’s the second time (first time was poop) in 5 car rides within 4 weeks. He doesn’t seem to be scared of car rides. From what we’ve observed in the past month he is even braver than Nemo. I will not rule out medical issues. We’ll discuss with Dr. Liz about this soon.

TinTin’s eyes look good. The cuts are mostly healed. There is sign of inflammation but apparently it’s very common. After a couple of days it will heal itself. We just need to continue with the antibiotic drops until the swollenness and redness are gone. We’ve decided to keep his “cone” on until he is completely well.

As for TinTin and Nemo’s introduction, here’s what we are doing at this stage of the introduction:

Get them to swap rooms—Once a day (more on weekends) for longer period of time each day. We give Nemo treats while he’s in TinTin’s room. I also leave treats near TinTin’s bed, scratch post, and feeding area for Nemo to find. TinTin is a brave cat, unbelievably brave. Against the recommendations from experts, we just put him in his create and drop him in the middle of the kitchen or living room upstairs. As soon as the door is open he rushes out and trots around the house like doing victory parades! He has no problem with strange environments WHAT-SO-EVER. Sometimes I worry he’s too happy to explore that he forgets his mission—sniff Nemo’s scent. Both Nemo and TinTin do well with the room swaps, except that Nemo is a little hissy (at us) sometimes while in TinTin’s room. Last night the room swap lasted an hour. Nemo probably gained a whole pound from all the treats he got!

Oh! Almost forgot to mention one thing. Having TinTin upstairs really puts things into perspective—TinTin is MUCH larger than Nemo! He is, of course, not as wide but boy is he BIG and LONG! I can’t wait to see the comparison side by side.

Swap litter sands—I knew there’s potential danger in this methods. Considering how easy-going these two guys are with litter sands I figured our floors and carpets should be safe. I started off by exchanging only 1 teaspoon, twice a day. Now we’re at about ¾ cup. They have no problem with it at all.

Feed them on the opposite sides of the door—They are both big eaters so I figured doing this probably would be beneficial to the introduction. We started Nemo from about 4 feet away from the door. TinTin dived into his food, about a foot away from the door, right away without blinking since day one. Now Nemo is at about 1.5 feet. Together they’re eating about 2-3 feet within each other at the moment.

Let them briefly see each other before meal—As I said, Nemo and TinTin both LOVE food. It is a very powerful tool to use to create positive results. Before we close the door between them and put the food bowls down, we let them see each other for about 5-10 seconds. We close the door right away just when they become too intensely interested in each other. We’ve only been doing this twice. We’ll increase the time they see each other. It’s important to have these brief meetings end on a high note so we will have to be very careful.

Judging from Nemo’s reaction to the sight and scent of TinTin, I don’t think he is ready to be in the same room with him yet. He is still very intense and a little hissy. TinTin needs another 3 days before his eyes are completely well anyway. We’ll see how it goes with Nemo. Maybe we won’t let them be together until after next week.

ENTROPION CORRECTIVE SURGERY A SUCCESS

Susie here again.

TinTin had the entropion corrective surgery on Wednesday, the 14th. It was a success. The specialist commented on how sweet he was. Apparently he started purring as soon as he opened his eyes and saw humans. He wears a protective collar now because he tried to scratch his suture. He bumps into things a lot. Other than that he is doing great. He eats well and uses the toilet as usual. He even plays on his own from time to time. He also opens his eyes a lot more now. The lashes must’ve been hurting him pretty badly before.

The suture removal is scheduled for next Wednesday. We understand that entropion may recur after a while but we sincerely hope that won’t be the case with TinTin. He is such a happy kitty when he can have his eyes open. We know he is probably an adult but he really is just a kitten at heart.

EYE SPECIALIST APPOINTMENT

Susie here again. Nemo still hasn't given the "go ahead" for TinTin to come out and play on Catster. He's taking his time.

We took TinTin to an eye specialist today for his entropion. Dr. Ford said that he has roll in entropion of his lower outer eyelids, which is very easy to correct. Other than the entropion, his corneas look great, no scratches at all. Apparently his eyes have been well lubricated to protect the corneas from being scarred by the lashes. We will use simple water-based ointment on his eyes twice a day until the entropion correction surgery is performed. We are excited that TinTin will be free of sore eyes in less two weeks time. He will be just like any other kitty with perfect eyes!

Other than his entropion, TinTin has been doing great. He’s eating and sleeping well. We’ve switched him completely from kibbles to canned. Now he is in transition to raw food. We’ll take our time.

Today we also bought a HUGE container for TinTin as litter box. Apparently the box we use for Nemo is not good enough for him. Usually when he’s done more sands end up outside the box than inside.

Comparing to the regal Nemo, there’s nothing elegant about TinTin but he is a bundle of joy. We absolutely love his tiny “bean eyes” and his chipper personality.

BECOMING TINTIN

Susie here. TinTin is in quarantine at the moment. We promised Nemo (TinTin's older brother) that he gets to decide when TinTin will be allowed out, in real world and on Catster. Hopefully TinTin will be writing his own diary soon.

TinTin has been with us for a little more than 2 days and he has not stopped purring!! He purrs even while he eats, drinks, and sleeps. I hope he gives his poor throat a break when we’re not in the room!

He seems to have a little separation anxiety. In the beginning, he absolutely refuses to let anybody leave the room. He would “mew” and block the door. He even got over-excited a couple of times and grabbed and bit my leg (pants). He seems to get over-stimulated easily, too. We think he will settle down well after a few days as he is already a lot better than when we got him. I give him a little Rescue Remedy to calm him down. It seems to work quite well.

Another thing we noticed about TinTin is that he has tons of energy! Last night I played with him for AT LEAST 40 minutes with a fishing rod type of toy. At least half of the play session he was jumping and running like crazy!

So far he has been an absolutely affectionate and playful crazy little cat.