foster Kitten questions

[Ellen2010]

Yes I had a similar experience with a veterinary nurse and it was with my own cat.  She does not like being restrained and they always take bloods after they have prodded and poke her. Well the veterinary nurse came in and immediately grabbed my cat by the scruff well that is like waving a red flag at a bull. I immediately grabbed her told the vet to give me 5 minutes to calm her down by cuddling her and me and the vet would get the blood as I was not having the evil princess near my cat any more.  The vet just said will you be ok in here whilst I see another one and said yes, 5 minutes later calming my cat down and giving her some Reiki I held her whilst she shaved her neck and took bloods and no problems.  You can refuse to have who they fetch in hold the cat if they handle it roughly.

[snarf]

thats really interesting about the genes and ghost marking  a solid orange cat would be pretty interesting!

aye, if theres a risk id rather play safe. hes a little love  actually very well behaved. hes got small sort of turbotrack thing which he can play with on his own and lots of toy, he seems to like things that make a crinkly sound and he plays fetch! which is very cute.
he has black whiskers and dark claws- ive not seen it before so as he looks like hes just come down the chimney hes being called sweep for now

vet issue, now ive spoken to my coordinators,
while the vet was preping to take blood from his right forearm she got a nurse to come in and hold him (im not allowed to) and she was holding him badly, unsupported so he was struggling and then vn decided to scruff, but still not supported properly and he starts squawking (like the noise they make if you accidently step on them but over and over) so she takes away all his support and is literally holding him by his scruff!  i step forward to take him off her and she tucked him under an arm and squeezed him to stop him struggling (hes still squawking|) for the vet to actually take blood. when she put him down he had evacuated over VN and i saw a flash of red bottom and VN said to the vet "weve got a prolapse"   
that particular vet is normally good and she may well have come straight out and read the nurse the riot act and they had had to fit us in between appointments so couldnt necc get an experienced VN in (i hope shes not 'experienced') which was due to a what looked like work experience muppet on reception 
its the practice my 2 are with and im seriously not confident with them anymore. any thoughts?
Sweep is fine in himself now hes home and very sweet. not at all difficult to handle and very happy to be poked at and played with

[Desley (booktigger)]

I would still isolate, especially as he hasn't come from a home environment. Good luck in keeping him occupied.

[Mark]

Read this on Wiki

"The agouti gene, A/a,[7] controls whether or not the tabby pattern is expressed. The dominant A reveals the underlying tabby pattern, while the recessive non-agouti or "hypermelanistic" allele, a, prevents it. Solid-color (black or blue) cats have the aa  combination, hiding the tabby pattern, although sometimes a suggestion of the underlying pattern can be seen (called "ghost striping"). However, the O gene for orange color suppresses the aa genotype, so there is no such thing as a solid orange cat."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby_cat

[Ellen2010]

Hey I have read somewhere also there is no true black cat as in the sun the coat is actually brown admittedly very dark brown which gives the black appearance.

[Mark]

new foster arrived night before last- squeaks still here but he doesnt need the spare room anymore. Kitten is black - but i think i can see tabby markings on his face under the black- am i mad or is that possible?

I remember reading somewhere that ALL black cats are really dark tabbies. 

[Ellen2010]

Personally I would still do the seperation for the first few weeks as a precaution.  In all honesty you would not forgive yourself if either yours or the little kitten became ill.  With the possibility of one of yours being a carrier of cat flu I would be extra cautious as stress can cause this and with the kitten being only 4 months old if the stress and then picking up the virus off your own cat he could develop cat flu and at his age it could be quite fatal for him.

It could be he is harbouring the virus anyway and you would not want him to pass it onto yours either as the incubation is around 10 days for an animal to contract it from being in contact with it.

Hope this helps you in making your decision.

[Tiggy's Mum]

No idea about the health/introduction side of things but the tabby markings are called 'ghost markings' (although I'm not sure if that's my special name for them or the proper name  ). Riley is a very dark grey, almsot black and when he was little he had really prominent tabby markings but the stripes were darker wheras normally the tabby stripes are lighter, anyway as he got older these disappeared but in the sunlight you can still see them which is why I call them/they are called ghost markings.

Edit: I've just googled it and it seems it's common in kittens but may fade as they get older.

[snarf]

anyone? 

[snarf]

new foster arrived night before last- squeaks still here but he doesnt need the spare room anymore. Kitten is black - but i think i can see tabby markings on his face under the black- am i mad or is that possible?

hes been vet checked and is ok (despite his vet check - more on that later  ) fiv, felv negative. 4months old. fair number of fleas (brown not black, are they hedgehog ones?) but now flead and wormed.

i work full time so wouldnt generally have a single kitten so i was thinking it might be beneficial for him to get to know my cats sooner than i would have started generally (normally wait min 2/3 weeks before starting introductions as isolation/quarantine period) but is it safe for him? is it safe for them? his history is obviously unknown but to be honest, my 2 and squeak are ex- strays as well so could also be carriers of little nasties. Squeak (with his runny eye) is thought to have/have had flu or chlamydia.so is a known risk but would supervised contact be ok? Kitten is healthy apart from fleas and a little thin.

it doesnt feel fair for him to have to spend a few weeks largely on his own at this age but dont want to risk long term health concerns