Kitty Journal 48 - Hot Weather

Well, these few weeks the weather has been somewhat hot. From my observation, Sherbet is highly effected by the hot weather and is molting more than usual. Salem is the same usual cute and naughty boy. Slim is always lounging in his cage and sometime mewing loudly at me for food.

Another thing I've discovered is they drink a lot these days. Which is good, gotta keep hydrated in this hot weather (cant' say the same to me since I prefer flavored drinks rather than plain water >.> ). Their activity level drops down a few notches lately, especially during the day. I assume the hot weather is making them lazier (I always see Sherbet sleeping around during day time and Salem sleeping spread eagle too). Sadly, I have no air conditioning to help them cool down. We'll just have to make do with the fans I have at my home.

Sherbet had his vaccination but the sad part is that he have to re-do his vaccination because I delayed his annual booster more than a month. It was done due to the fact he had liver toxicity since early February. So, he's due for the 2nd booster end of April. Same thing for Slim too especially since this is his first vaccination. His poo smells better after deworming, though his pee still smell more pungent than Sherbet or Salem. The funny thing is that Sherbet and Salem is due for vaccination on the same day with Slim's second vaccination a week after that. Phew, it'll be such a busy month for me.

Though after more than a month having Slim in the house, I haven't made up my mind to keep him or put him up for adoption. Plenty of time anyway, I have nothing to rush. I still haven't let him out of his cage to interact with my two other cats and haven't seen his real personality. I've heard he's somewhat fierce, but seems very fond and affectionate towards me so far. His fur has gotten really soft and silky (thanks to a month of Blackwood consumption), his face looks so much better than when I first took him into my house. Now I have to slowly manage my funds and see if I can do feLv test on Slim sometime soon. His neuter stitches has healed completely and I look forward to the day he can be free in my home. Gambatte Slim!

Kitty Journal 47 - Slim Post-Neuter

After some contemplation, I took the next step to cat rearing... I send Slim for neutering. I called Klinik Kembiri last Wednesday and got an appointment on Sunday. Luckily enough, my parent came to visit last weekend and having a car around is much more easier than riding on motorbike with a cat.

After following the usual procedure of fasting the cat, I send him to the neuter clinic at 9.30am. Slim was the 12th cat to be neutered that day. I left him at the clinic and took Sherbet for his liver test at another vet. After a month, I am confident that Sherbet's liver has gone back to normal.

At 11.30am, the neuter clinic called me to inform Slim is all done and can be taken home. I rushed off and picked him up at the clinic. I was somewhat surprised to see the cost of neutering has raised up to RM20 since last year. Last year, neutering male cats only costs RM40 but it's RM60 now. Oh well, at least the waiting period is shorter and still cheaper compared to private vets. I was quite surprised to hear the assistant saying Slim was somewhat fierce in the surgery room. I was like "Huh, really?", he was never fierce before to me or my bf (though I'm guessing feeding him on and off since February made him more friendly to us ). My mom did say Slim hissed at her when she went open the cat's room to let out Salem and Sherbet. Hmm, the only way is to wait and see how Slim reacts to the vet when I bring him in for vaccinations (probably next week, after his stitches dried up).

Slim was more active than my other cats, awake and was steady on his feet when I brought him into the house. Whereas my other cats (Sherbet, Salem & the late Neko-chan) took almost all night to really be awake and steady on their feet. Maybe it's the anesthetics that they used? Maybe it's the fact that Slim is older than the others for neutering (Sherbet, Salem & the late Neko-chan was neutered at 6 months old and I think Slim is more than a year old). I'm looking forward to a better and healthier Slim. He weights around 4.5kg I was told (by the assistant at the neuter clinic) and looks better than the first week I took him into the house. Lets all wish Slim better health!

Kitty Journal 46 - Slim's Update

Oh my, I haven't written my kitty journal for quite awhile now. Why is that? *ponders* I guess I was busy taking care Stinky Slim and nothing much to write about my cats.

How is Slim (or sometimes I called him Stinky Slim)? He is getting healthier and last week, thankfully his ringworm cleared up. No more bumpy, scaly bumps on his face or body and no more mites. Hurray for Slim! I combed him for mites and thank goodness none was around. Yay for Frontline! The annoying thing at the moment is Slim's contant mewing. He is a sexually matured male adult cat (I assumed he's adult) hence he spend most of his time answering mating calls. Usually in the wee hours of the morning *groans out loud*. After some contemplating, I decided to send him for neutering this weekend. Hopefully the neutering will also reduce the strong urine odor that he discharged. He is somewhat a gluttonous eater and eats anything I put in his bowl instantly. I guess living as a stray, barely having any food is still ingrained in his mind. It will take months of feeding for him to realize food will always be there here in my home. At the moment, I constrict his food intake since I saw him getting diarrhea last week. After withholding food for a day, his poo was back to normal. I decided since he can't control his eating habits, I'd better control it for him for now until he gets better.

It took some effort for me to balance out cat's funding and my personal expenditures. I'm glad everything is within limit and are as I expected. The good news is that my two cats and Slim seems to tolerate each other very well. I never heard any hissing so far and that is a very good sign. According to my calculations, Slim would get his vaccinations finished by early May and then get a feLv test soon after. The result of the feLv test will see whether he will be confined for quite awhile or free to roam my home. I hope it is the latter and I can't wait to see Slim free and lounging happily in my home. Although I am somewhat worried about Slim's litter box manners. I caught him pooing outside his litter box yesterday while I took his litter box out of the cage for cleaning. I still wonder if his action were intentional or accidental. It will be a hard habit to break in my opinion, since he is used to defecate anywhere on the floor when he was still a stray. All in all, I look forward to Slim's recovery. In my eyes, he's doing better everyday. Lets wish Slim good health and see how he goes! *Thumbs up*