The amazing Zero!

He’s the one that’s blind. He must know his own limitation, above anyone else and do what he feels he is capable of doing. He will know when to stop or not to do something. He must have amazing natural instincts. Recently he has been crawling up in to our bookshelf and becoming lost to us. We have been letting Hana and Zero out into the main living area of the apartment more frequently and we had to search for Zero for an hour last night, unable to find him. While still looking in another area of the house he magically appeared in their room, drinking water and unbeknownst again that we bewildered. We had to search for him a second time and we found him curled up on the bottom shelf of our bookcase.

It's summer. It's hot. Today was the hottest June day in the last 12 years in Seoul. I was lucky to be able to play outside with my students then come home and spend time with my kitties and in the midst of all this summer heat, Zero has been growing white hairs! And his tail, it has turned white and looks like a bunny rabbit's tail! Really, see for yourself! 

Don't mind his skin patch, that's the old fungus all cleared up now and growing in new hair, but dang! Look at that tail! Not to mention Zero has almost completely caught up to his sister in size. What a little gem!

As for Hana, look at how pretty she is!

Zero and Hana are growing and maturing so quickly. It's been about 3 weeks, almost 4 since we found them. Time passes so quickly, I can't believe it when I say it. Zero has had a big hard belly for about a week, making him seem so bottom heavy with a small head and two skinny arms, but he is finally balancing out and growing more proportionate. His belly is softening and he seems to be getting longer.

It's official, we have a sixth eye!!

So I can no longer say that we only have 5 eyes between the 4 cats. Zero's eyeball has risen up from within the depths of where ever an eyeball can hide. Presumably it was down in his cheekbone and causing that great infection that was covering that eye when we first found him. So here it is, blue with a hint of cloud and from what we can tell, totally useless. For aesthetics only if you will.

What a pretty girl!

 Such a sweet girl!

Awake or asleep, Hana is so cute! 

Tired after the third trip to the vet...

Here is Zero relaxing after his third trip to the vet. He's been given the all clear except for a minor fungal skin infection that is quite common in the street cats that we rescue from the streets. The infection is easy to treat with a cream applied daily, but unfortunately, I have been known to contract the skin infection too. Luckily, it is easily to treat in humans with a few application of the cream. Helping these baby kittens from the street is worth it! Zero has gained so much weight he is almost catching up to his sister weighing in at .45 kg. Hana is now a soft and squishy .65 kg.  

Adhering to their true nature, our cats sleep a lot...

Gorri jumped in my drawer the minute it was opened!

Siamese Twins!

Gorri (left) and Biya (right) sleeping while Zero walks nearby.

Hana and Zero love to cuddle!

They saw the vet again~

To presume that a kitten, as small as Zero and also having a handicap, is going to make it is a little brash.  I was hoping and remaining postive, but trying my hardest not to get too upset when thinking about his odds. It's Monday, Buddha's birthday, and a holiday in Seoul. Our vet is open and Zero and Hana have been with us since Friday night at this point, and are due for their check-up.

Zero has doubled his weight! He has increased from .17kg to .26 kg! And Hana has been doing great, as expected. Our vet gave them both a thorough look over, a little shot of medicine and a clean bill of health with no need to return for a whole month! The two are still too young to have a surgery to completly close up the holes so they are not open to the possiblility of infection. We will probably do that next month. Our vet let us know that Zero's one eye is coming up into the socket from where it had been lodged, but that it is rendered useless. Poor guy, I can look at his pretty blue eye now, but it's cloudy and fogged over. I wonder if it will have to come out?

His update at the vet. (In Korean, but you can see the numbers).

 So, all things considered, this little guy, Zero, is teaching me that no kitten is ever too small or too special to presume that they will make it. I'm going to go ahead and keep presuming~