Well, after much dithering, I got back from work 2 days ago to find that my brother had brought a cat home.

Since our last cat died he has wanted to adopt another (we always go cat's protection) but I was loath to do so. Eventually he went and did it alone and while she's cute I don't agree that we should have taken her.

Firstly my brother, whilst 27, is a teenager really. When our last cat was ill, he was "too tired" to get out of bed at 12 noon to drive my dad (84 years old) to the vet. Instead dad took the poor thing on the bus, he had no choice (I work all day and i don't drive).

Brother is basically looking for cute kitty and I don't think he can be arsed to look after it.

Dad can't - he is 84, mostly blind and deaf and is a bit like a toddler, he chases the new cat around endlessly to the point that she has to hide to get some peace.

I will look after her as best I can, but I am out all day every day at work. I think the sanest thing is to get insurance for her (which I will be expected to pay for).

Thing is, she has come to us with health problems already - she was born with either missing or malfunctioning eyelids (could not get the full story from brother) and has conjunctivitis needing eyedrops twice a day.

She has a sensitive tummy and is on special food until it clears up and I am seeing blood in her stools (guess who does the cleaning up..!). And, she's sneezing (cute but worrying).

She has just been spayed and has had her 1st load of jabs, and will go back to the vet on the 20th for the next., assuming brother gets out of bed to do it...

I do like her, she is very sweet and loving, but I am not sure this is the right home for a delicate soul like her.. what do you think, will her problems clear up?

Where did your brother get her from?

What does the vet say about the blood and the sneezing?

(It does sound worrying)

Where did your brother get the kitten from?

a Cat's Protection foster mum. Wek new she had the runs ("sensitive stomach") and conjunctivitis, but sneezing was never mentioned. I think the blood is from soreness tbh, it's not dark blood that's been digested suggesting internal bleeding.

I don't think the CPL should ever have re-homed the cat in it's current state. Are they covering the cost of eye drops and special food?

Tbh, with all the best will in the world, your set up doesn't sound right for this particular cat in her current state. I would ring up the CPL tomorrow asking their advice about possibly returning her. I'm sorry, it's probably not what you were wanting to hear, but you sound like you have this cat's best interests at heart, so I commend you for that.

Good luck. It's not an easy situation to be in.

They have provided us with the bottle of drops she was already on, and a few packets of wet food plus a small container of dry bickies. Don't have an issue with that, I mean we'd be daft not to expect to feed her, but I agree - I think she should have been well to start with, and I've a feeling she will be on the eyedrops for good which they never said. But her eyelids won't grow now, will they!

Yes, we are experienced cat owners but I am not at all sure about this.. I may not always be living here to take care of her and I cannot be certain that the other members of the family can or will be bothered to give her the care she needs.

Sounds horrid but if they want a cat it needs to be healthy and trouble free - we've always had cats that look after themselves.

I think what I will do is get her back to the vets for the next round of jabs and see what they say, and if she gets no better I will have to try and have a grown up chat with my idiot brother.

THAT will be fun...