Euanna's Love

Mata kucing...

2011-12-13T14:09:00.000+08:00

Hari ni kita tengok gambar lain pulak yer... Mari kita lihat 3 pasang mata yang memukau pulak.. hehehe

3 years old and counting!

2011-12-12T23:11:00.004+08:00

Hmm selalu tulis kat sini in english yer.. kali ni aku nak try tulis BM jek pulak hahahaha...

Wow, diam tak diam dah 3 tahun dah anak2 kaki empatku... Sherbet dah 3 tahun September haritu.. Salem hujung bulan ni.. Shishi pun dah 1 tahun 7 bulan.

Setelah sekian lama tak update apa2.. yer la.. telefon bimbit kesayanganku.. Sony Ericcson W800i (kot..dah lupa model)..dah start gila..hu hu.. ambil gambar x cantikkkkkk.......... Nokia tu pulak.. ok lagi..tapi biasala, Nokia cantik ambil gambar 'natural light' aka cahaya matahari! .. Ni dah tukar Xperia Ray .. bolehla letak gambar cantik sikit.. Kali ni aku nak buat puzzle sikit gambar anak2.. hehehe...

Telinga comel siapa pulak ni..?

Kaki yang gebu!

Kaki comel!

Tunggu.......... kemunculan foto2 lain yang cencumel.. Hehehe

STOP ANIMAL ABUSE!!

2011-09-05T21:35:00.002+08:00

Stop Animal Abuse In Malaysia : Online Petition:

Animal abuse is increasingly rampant in Malaysia, with senseless abuses and killings by local councils and cold-blooded people. We must act NOW, and act FAST.

Let's play a role in stopping animal abuse and cruelty! We aim to collect 50,000 signatures ASAP and present it to our Prime Minister.

Please sign the joint online petition by leading Malaysian animal welfare NGOs, and show how much you care about the animals. Spread the word to your friends too.

Together, we can make a difference.

Sign Petition Now:
http://StopAnimalAbuse.PetFinder.my/

3rd HHP Catshow 27th March 2011

2011-04-03T00:01:00.011+08:00

Salem, me & bf with the 4th place

ribbon on Ring 3.

Me, Salem & Shishi on stage for

the fashion show..

Salem on my lap

Salem on judging table Ring 1

Salem on judging table Ring 2

Salem on judging table Ring 3

Shishi in the cage

Shishi during judging on Ring 1

Shishi during judging on Ring 2

Shishi during judging on Ring 3

Ahh,... another cat show and this time I entered two cats in it, Salem & Shishi. I trained them as I could and hoped for the best. Sadly, my best wasn't good enough. Salem & Shishi was frightened most of the time and Shishi was the worse. She was so terrified, she practically trembled most of the time.

I had my bf and sister with me, and they helped me with carrying the cats and whatnot. What a hectic day! A lot of tough competition and beautiful cats!..

We did the best and Salem snagged the 1st ribbon as 4th place on the 3rd Ring. On Ring 2, Salem got 5th place and Shishi got the 9th place. On the last ring ( Ring 1 ), Salem was out on the first round.. but Shishi got through. Sadly, she was so frightened.. she peed in the judging cage (thank god at least it wasn't on the judging table X.x).. So, we came back with 3 ribbons and I am so proud my cats did their best.

Next came the fashion show and I regret 1 thing........ entering two cats on my own. Imagine carrying 2 cats, 5kg ++ at least on both hands on stage. My hands were numb, and both cats clung for their dear life on my shoulder. But we did our best and got 7th place for Shishi's Madam Red costume.

The Bad Boy

2011-03-23T21:48:00.002+08:00

Ahh.. this two weeks was really maddening to me.......... My black banshee Salem has been destroying things around the house. A RJ45 cable, 2 telephone cable, 1 mouse, 2 chargers have been his victim.

I have no idea why he does it (even though I have put all the cables in protective tubes..and hid them), he still found them and chew them away. I guess he has a grudge with me? Maybe demands attention? All I can say is that he is now confined to his carrier every time I sleep (and of coz must be in front of my face) or he will howl the night off.

I can only shake my head at Salem and sighs...............

My cats

2011-01-08T11:50:00.002+08:00

The End of 2010, A start of 2011

2010-12-31T17:11:00.002+08:00

Ah, been a while since I wrote again in this blog. Thank you for the kind comments in the Salem's 1st Cat Show thread, I didn't realize I would get some comment (laughs sheepishly). With the ending of the year, I wonder what new things I can see next year (which is just a few hours away). This year has given me a taste of cat show as a participant. I think I'm hooked on it. A recap of this year for me has been good and bad.

Earlier this year, I lost a dear cat. My dear, dear Neko-chan pass away due to liver failure. Her liver was badly poisoned and the proper procedure wasn't taken. It was a hard lesson learned by me and made me realize how precious life can be. It was a big loss but I know she will be in a better place.

There is also a lot of new, happy experience for me and my cats. Sherbet and Salem grew bigger and healthier. Sherbet though is a somewhat proud cat which only come for petting session when his mood strike. Other than that, he will swipe any hands trying to touch him. Sensitive guy, that's all I can say.

Salem on the other hand is quite close to me (and my family). The older he got, the more attention he demands. Still the same old black banshee. But he is a very smart boy. When he wants to play his toy, he would come and mew at me. I would ask him, "What do you want, Salem?" He would blink his eyes, look at me and then turn his head towards the toys hanging by the door. I would ask him a few times and his response would be the same. Then I would stand by the toys and ask him, "Which one do you want, Salem?" he would stand on his hind leg, all stretched out leaning on the wall and point his paws at his favorite this red thread tied to a stick. Whenever Salem wants to use his bathroom (if I close the door to the kitty room), he would mew and roll around in front of the door. If he really, really has to go.. he would paw and dig on my bed as last warning. Smart boy, I say. Every time I talk on the phone, he would come nearby and stare. Probably trying to eavesdrop on the latest gossip (laughs).

Early October, I adopt another kitten to my household. I wanted a female kitten and Kak June gave me one she had rescued before. My bf and I named her Shirahime but we just call her "Shishi". We're still trying to adjust and adapt to each other. Although I wonder if I should have named her "Saru" or monkey in japanese (giggles). She is so active it's frightening. The good part about her is that she can play by herself, anything is toy to her. But the bad part is that when she's playing, she tends to go into hyper mode. This makes stuff falls down, she and the other two cats slamming into chairs and walls, spilled water and such. It also erupts into small fight sometime. So, when she gets into hyper mode I cage her in a carrier. When she calms down, I let her out. She is cute, and loves to climb.. a person's body. She also loves to come cuddle up especially with my sister. But Shishi is very possessive of her toys, she will hiss at other cats near her toys. It will take a bit more time to get along with everyone but at least my other cats isn't lonely. Sherbet run around to play more now and Salem mew for attention lesser than before.

When 2011 comes, I hope for good health for all my cats and myself. I want to join more cat shows if I could and expose my cat to crowds. I also love to make costume for my cat now. I wonder what costume I will make next. Granted my costume is not perfect (hehe) but I try my best. With the coming of the new year, I wonder what I get to see from my cats. More cuteness? More sauciness? More demands? Maybe even smarter cats (Hope my fridge will be safe..haha). There's always something new everyday, something to make me laugh and smile. Something that I can write about.. I wonder....

Lets welcome the new year and hope for the best everyone! :D

Salem's 1st Cat Show

2010-12-20T06:32:00.003+08:00

The ribbons / rosette Salem won. He got 2nd place on the 2nd ring and 5th place on the 3rd ring.

Salem and his rosette.

Me and Salem in his costume, haha.

Salem in his cage at the cat show.

Salem relaxing in the cage at the cat show.

It was a balmy and slightly drizzled Sunday morning. It was the debut of Salem in a cat show. I registered him for a cat show a few months earlier out of curiosity. He is the most well behaved at home (albeit the occasional mewing for attention and bad habit of eating unwanted things..). I carried him on the soft carrier which I had been using for more than a year now, equipped with a black cover to reduce his anxiety. I suspected Salem has motion sickness and it's a lot worse in a car. Riding on a motorbike isn't as bad (gauging from the sound of his mewing).

We arrived at 8.10am at The Mall, KL and took off to the 4th floor for the checking in. I found a familiar face, Pakcu at the cat show and it calmed me down. It's good to have at least a familiar face to reduce your own anxiousness. Everything went well, then vetting in was a bit hectic. Salem was scared and clings to me. I blame myself for not exposing him to crowds.

After the initial check-up and vet check, bf and I set up his cage (pretty bare to me >.< ) with a nice doormat and a small cat nip pillow. I sprayed some Feliway on the doormat to make Salem calmer. When the judging starts at around 11am, I was quite relived to see the judges go for longhairs and kittens at start. Plenty of time for Salem to 'warm up' and soak everything in. When his category came, he was the first to be judge (oh, the horror). Salem is placed under the Neuter Open Shorthair category and I see a lot of good competitors around. Oh my, there were so many shorthair tabbies it was daunting. Ah, I don't foresee Salem winning anything but it is a good experience. To have a certified judge hold and examine my cat is an accomplishment by itself. To show people my beautiful cat is an enormous satisfaction. The judge compliments Salem's shiny black coat but commented that Salem molted a lot. I told the judge Salem was too scared. Judge told me I should brush Salem a lot. I take in the comment and agrees on what the judge says. I do brush him daily, it's so nice to brush Salem's coat since he likes it and doesn't wiggle about like Sherbet.

After the second ring judging session, I put Salem back in the cage and sat at one corner of the huge hall with my bf. A few minutes later, my sister came by and we chat about the cat show. Ah, so many beautiful cats. I love admiring them. I envy all the owner of the longhair cats. They groomed their cats thoroughly, combing the fur and powdered the pets. Oh my, and their tails.. it was so enticing. The long, bushy tail swaying back and forth. Some of the kittens was so huge it's a feast to my eyes.

After a while, Salem's number was called yet again and I quickly took him out of the cage and put him in the judging cage. I wondered why he was called again and then the judge announce that the 10 cats around him is the top 5 cats for open neuter shorthair and longhair. Oh my, I was so proud to see Salem in the top 5. For a first timer, it was such a shock and joy. I came expecting a door gift and maybe a certificate of participation but not a placement for the top 5 in a category. It pleased me even more, Salem got second place. It was more than enough for me. I admit he has temperament problem (he's not used to huge crowds) but I was so happy when the judge compliment his lustrous shiny coat. I guess his sleek and lean body (with no flabby fat) is also a plus. I don't need to mention his diet consist of chewed slippers and plastic though (facepalm). The judge, Mr. Rick Low recommends giving Salem lean meat to have a better coat and muscular body but I don't think I can afford that. I hardly even eat red meat these days. In Salem's defense, I think the multivitamin for shiny coat helps a lot. Salem loves eating those multivitamin and I gave him 2 tablet everyday. Congratulations for winning the second place, Salem. You make me so proud.

We didn't get any placing on the first ring, Salem was somehow even more scared at this time. But he got the fifth place on the third ring. We got some more gifts and went back happy. I was suppose to join the cat fashion show but sadly it was cancelled due to not enough time. The cat judging took almost 9 hours and then there was the choosing for the best of the best. It was a nice cat show (albeit only for Household Cats) and it gave me a new experience. It was so exhilarating to be a participants, hearing the judges comment and getting a placement in the category contested. Though to me, winning is not everything. I love the scene, the sights and sound and the meeting of cat lovers. Everyone looks like they love their cats. From the colorful and many design of the carriers, to the grooming equipment the bring and use to the way the clap and shout happily when their cat got a placing. I understand now the exhilarating rush from joining a cat show and how people that once join, will always want to join again. Even my bf who was quite skeptical at start (when I registered Salem), felt the exhilaration and fun of joining a cat show. He too, agrees Salem need more 'crowd' exposure and was commenting that next in line should be training my latest baby, Shirahime aka Shishi. Haha, I wonder if I have time for that. It was, all in all, a wonderful experience. Congrats to all the winners, participants and organizer. It was so much fun to me, I think a lot of other people feel the same too. To be perfectly honest I was kinda glad we didn't win first place. The gifts were quite huge and plenty that we almost ran out of room on our motorbike. Good thing I brought with me a bagpack.

Sadly my bf, my sister and I kept forgetting to take pictures of Salem while he was being judged. I guess we were too anxious to see Salem's reaction on the judging table that we forget to snap a picture. Talk about being a novice, haha. Congrats again my black banshee.

Shirahime is spayed now..

2010-11-22T16:23:00.003+08:00

Yesterday at 9.26am, I send Shirahime to Klinik Kembiri Setapak for spaying. Seems there was a lot of female cats going to be spayed that day. I left her at the clinic and waited patiently for the phone call. At 1.45pm, I got the phone call that says she's done and ready to go home.

At 2.30pm I arrived at the clinic and took her back to my home. She was slightly groggy but already trying to stand on her own feet. I kept her in cage until now and she has gotten much better now. I saw her stitches it looks very clean, tidy and dying out nicely. I will keep her under surveillance and caged for a week. This is the time for her to relax :)

Shirahime's Pictures

2010-11-08T20:52:00.005+08:00

Shirahime in a costume I made (haha)

Shirahime, when she arrived in my home

Shirahime and her beautiful blue eyes.

Shirahime the cutie pie.

Shirahime - The White Princess

2010-11-08T18:24:00.004+08:00

Ah, the white princess. Although she is not entirely white *laughs*, it was a name I came up with my bf since all my cats have name starting with the letter "S". Sherbet, from Orange Sherbet (since he is a red /orange tabby cat).. Salem, from the show "Sabrina, the teenage witch" who has a black cat named Salem. My family and I just love that show, and of course the black cat. So feisty!

Shirahime comes from an anime I watched a few years back. I knew the cat was white but was never sure the actual color when it grow up. The anime was "Angelic Layer" and one of the characters have a doll name "Shirahime", a female doll wearing white kimono. It was the perfect name for my new kitten. Shirahime means "White Princess" in Japanese. Although Shirahime was somewhat of a seal lynx point, I think the name suits her well. But don't be deceived, although The White Princess seems like a very feminine and delicate name my kitten though is not *laughs*. She is small in stature, weighing 2.5kg at almost 6 months and she is fearless. She doesn't hesitate to pounce or hamstring her two elder brother who is twice, almost triple her size. She is a bit high strung, posses Salem's curiosity nature but Sherbet's cowardice facing new things. She is easily scared by any weird noise, any new things she hasn't seen and quite "scary" play time. She would pick one thing as her toy (a piece of felt cloth), a catnip toy, a tennis ball, etc and drag it around with her. She would pounce like mad on the toy she picks without caring about her surrounding. Sometimes I had to lock her up in a carrier or cage at night time because she likes to play near my bed and injured me (she scratched my eyelid once when I was sleeping). At the moment she is recovering from ear mites infection and things are looking really good. I plan to neuter her maybe end of this month, once her ear mites clear out.

On the other hand, Shirahime or Shishi has her cute side. She is affectionate and loves to cuddle. She doesn't squirm around when I carry her in my arms or put her in my lap. She also doesn't claw her way when people carry her (well, so far only my bf and I carry her around). She's not a very demanding cat, she likes to play on her own and hardly ever mew (unless she's really scared). Another thing I find funny is her ability to balance perfectly on my body. She likes to climb atop my body when I lie down on my bed. She would walk gracefully up and down, never once does her claw protrude. She would put her wet nose on my cheek and purrs loudly. It does make a good wake up call *laughs*. I even tried to put her on my bf's shoulder, and she stands on four legs gracefully. Such agility and balance. For now, I'm watching Shishi's development happily. Another good addition to my family. I just have to say having a female cat is different than male cat. They are more affectionate. Still, I love all my furkids.

New addition to the family

2010-11-06T01:06:00.003+08:00

Hurray!

I adopted another cat early last month. It was a cat rescued by my friend, Kak June and fostered temporarily with Suhaimy (both from PF forum). I thank you both of them greatly for rescuing and taking care of my newest family.

After the death of Neko-chan, I felt the house was too manly *laughs*. I have two healthy and active male cats but I still miss Neko-chan, the only female cat I ever had. She was more affectionate compared to my two boys and I thought about adopting a female cat after Slim was let go. After a suggestion from Kak June, I decided to adopt the kitten that she rescued after it's fully weaned.

1st October 2010, I pick her up from Suhaimy and took her into my home. She was somewhat scrawny but active. I named her "Shirahime" or White Princess. I took her for medical check-up the next day and she is negative on both FeLv and FIV. That is a relief, but sadly she was diagnosed for ringworm. For the next two weeks I had to put her under ringworm medication and then she was also diagnosed with ear mites. We're still in the process of clearing that but it looks very promising.

She is a funny and cute kitten. Always curious and fearless, she never hesitate to pounce her two elder brother despite her size. Another cute characteristic of Shirahime is that she likes to climb on my body when I sleep. She would walk up and down my body, balancing herself perfectly. She also doesn't wiggle away when I put her in my lap or cuddle her close. Loud purrs always accompany her but she is somewhat high strung. Easily frightened by anything new. I love seeing her blue eyes. I've always wanted a cat with blue eyes. Thank you for letting me adopt her. *smile*

She also doesn't demand a lot of attention from me. Everyday she would pick something as her toy. Some day a tennis ball, another day a plastic ball with a bell in it, sometimes a piece of felt cloth that fell off from the cat tree and another time, a small cat face plushie. She would play and pounce on it for hours, then carry it around with her around the house. She is so cute and adorable. I'll post her picture some day. Oh my, I've written a lot. I shall continue again some other day.. For now, I'm gonna watch Shirahime (or Shishi for short) and her cute antics.

Oh dear..

2010-11-05T22:53:00.003+08:00

Ahaha... *slaps forehead* I was so distracted I forgot to write on my kitty blog.. Shame on me. I can't believe last time I wrote was in May.. really? May? Oh dear, where has the time gone?

Anyway sometimes I don't feel like writing. Why? Nothing interesting happens. Well, granted my kitties behavior are cute but nothing out of the ordinary. Same old thing I guess.

Can't really say I was so busy with life I forgot to write here, not really. Sometimes you just find that your time passes so fast you don't even have time or feel like writing it down.

Does anyone follow my kitty blog? *laugh sheepishly*

To people who are follower, I thank you again. Of course, apologies are in order for my forgetfulness. I shall endeavor to write more of my kitty quirkiness and behavior. Let share all the fun moments shall we?

Kitty Journal 51 - Goodbye Slim

2010-05-15T02:34:00.002+08:00

I had just finished cleaning the kitty room. Sad moment, but I had no choice after all. Earlier, I made the hardest decision ever in my life. I released Slim into the streets. After much contemplating and discussion, I decided to let him go. He is a handsome boy, all muscle and active but regretfully he can't get along with my cats. Seeing Sherbet cower in fear whenever I let Slim out of the cage breaks my heart. Seeing the friendly Salem tiptoeing around Slim makes me sad. I wonder if Slim could ever get along with any cats, maybe a young kitten somewhere.

Slim was miserable in his cage, he wanted out and he wanted food anytime of the day and consume any food he sees. I can't let him out of the cage since he always gets aggressive towards Sherbet and initiates a fight. I don't think integration will ever work. Two months of seeing and smelling each others face and scent but still can't get along, I'm thinking they never were meant to get along. I've had enough of Slim's caterwauling and at my mother's suggestion, decided to let him go. She was worried Slim might have escaped from his cage and attacked Sherbet while I was sleeping or out.

With heavy heart I took a bowl of kibble and lure him to the nearby staircase and left him there. He came back twice but I closed the door and ignored him. I think he would make a great cat from first timer cat owners or anyone with no other pets but not me. He was so affectionate with me, my bf and my family. Sadly, he never liked my furry family. I bid him farewell and wish him well but I still open his adoption to anyone that is interested. He would make a great cat for any cat lover out there, granted they have a sweet kitten or non alpha pets. I will feed him daily as usual but alas, he cannot step into my house ever again. The last time he fought with Sherbet, I had migraine for days. Do I regret taking him in? Not really. He is a great cat, all muscle and soft fur. Loud purring and beautiful bushy tail. But sometimes we cannot save everything. I had done my duty by giving him medical treatment, food, shelter and neuter. I hope someone will see his charm and take him in. I have to say sorry to Slim, he is a great cat but Sherbet is my priority. Goodbye Slim, have a great life!

Kitty Journal 50 - Slim the dominator

2010-05-09T23:56:00.002+08:00

Sighs, that's all I can do these days. On the second day of integration, everything looks okay. At one time, they slept near each other. They seemed to tolerate each other though I still see Sherbet staying away from Slim most of the time. Salem just run away from Slim whenever he tried to pounce him. I thought maybe my cats need time to adjust with the new cat but I was naive.

On the third night, I left them by themselves for a few minutes while cleaning their litter box. I was shocked to hear them fighting and I know which of my three cats were fighting. When I opened the door I was truly shocked to see Sherbet and Slim neck to neck in an all out fight. This is no mere cat fight, this was totally battle of dominance. Slim was challenging Sherbet, who is the house's alpha male. Sherbet, knowing his rank in the house didn't stand down and put out a fight. I tried using spray bottle but it was useless, they chased each other and fought like mad. I was screaming like mad myself. It was frightening but I know approaching them might be hazardous for me. I soon realized Slim was doing most of the chasing while Sherbet defended himself and tried to get away. In desperation I threw a shoe at them, it didn't work. Eventually I got so angry, I took a huge amount of water and splash them. They eventually broke apart and I direct Slim into the nearest carrier and Sherbet into the other one.

I had never had such experience and it was frightening. Poor Salem stood watching anxiously from far. I surveyed my home, luckily I was never the type to collect breakable mementos. Half of my house was wet, some of my door mats were soggy. I found out Sherbet even defecates in one of the spot they fought earlier. He had some feces still stuck on his behind, I took him into the bathroom and clean him up. At some spot, he even urinated but I think it was due to stress. I called my bf over to help me settle back those two cats. As we were putting in Slim into his cage, Sherbet came into the room and immediately Slim went aggressive and tried to dash for Sherbet. I was lucky my bf had good reflex and stuck his foot on the cage door. Sherbet was so scared that for the next 12 hours, he slept by my feet and didn't even dare to go into the kitty room (where Slim is in his cage and the cat's litter box are).

After discussing with my bf, we decided to put him up for adoption. Although to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure anyone would adopt him. Granted his fur is soft, he has beautiful markings and has beautiful bushy tail but temperament-wise, he won't get along with other cats unless they submit to him. Him being a stray cat for quite some time (the vet told me he's between 1-2 years of age) made him quite a survivalist but that makes him wary of human and other cats too. The somewhat high adoption fee might also deter potential adopters, at RM200. It wasn't a price I put for fun or profit but rather the cost of his treatments, vaccinations, neuter and feLv/FIP test. Sad to see him go but I think I was too naive to think I could tame a stray cat like that. My mere 1 year plus cat experience was not good enough for me to mellow him down. To be honest, I am somewhat scared of Slim now. He is hard to read and change mood quite swiftly.

After much contemplation, I decided to give Slim a month to integrate and accept my other cats. While waiting for adoption, I will give him a chance to get along with my cats and help improve his socialization. I found a website that teaches procedures to integrate cats and I'm following as close as I can. I think I should have passed the 'scent familiarization' since they are mostly in the same room, only separated by a cage. Alas, I was wrong. The cloth with Sherbet's scent was totally rubbed off by Slim. When I took out the cloth to rub more of Sherbet's scent into it, he ran away frightened (body crouch low) and hid in his safe spot. While the cloth with Slim's scent was ignored by the food bowl (which means my two cat doesn't care about his scent) and my two cats ate as usual from their food bowl. Next, I tried swapping area. I took Slim and Sherbet into separate carriers and put Sherbet in Slim's cage while Slim was let free in the kitty room. Sherbet sat on one spot and didn't move much. From his body language, Sherbet looks alert but not too comfortable (his eyes were erect, but his whiskers were somewhat close to his face) and my observations says he was not in a relaxed pose. Slim on the other hand, just started rubbing his face and body all over the room and then just sat at one corner. I tried to crack open the cage door a bit (they can smell and look at each other but their head won't pass through), Sherbet tried to get out but Slim came to the door and immediately got irritated. His tail was swishing back and forth faster, I even heard a low hiss coming from Slim. I closed the cage door and touched Slim's back to tell him to back up, he immediately tried to pounce my hand. His tail was still swishing irritatedly and I showed him his carrier. He ignored me and lay down at a corner, watching me. After a while, his tail stopped swishing vigorously and I picked him up by his scruff and put him in the carrier. Conclusion : he still hates Sherbet and wants to pick a fight with him. I let Sherbet out of the room and put back Slim inside.

I called my bf and told him what happened and decided to give Slim until the end of the month. If he still can't get along and no one adopts him, I have to let him go out as a stray. It's sad and a cruel decision but I have no choice. But at least I've done my best and tried my hardest. I hope and pray Slim will change and live in harmony with my other cats but I have my worries. An alpha male stray which reigns over my apartment block for more or almost a year has lived as a tough street cat and a survivalist. When he fought, he will fought for his life and probably till his death. If I let him and Sherbet battle it out for one of them to stand down, I am sure one of them will be scarred for life. If I let him live his whole life in a cage, I think he will go mad or die eventually. Cats have to have their freedom, confining them in small space forever is such a cruel fate. For now I can only sighs. Tomorrow is another training day for him and me.

Kitty Journal 49 - Sherbet, Salem & Slim

2010-05-05T00:22:00.004+08:00

Oh my, I haven't written anything in quite awhile. It's been weeks since I last typed something in here. Oh well, let's recap what has happen in my household since mid April. After Slim got better from his neuter surgery, I still kept him in the cage separately. I still worry about feLv and FIP that he could have carried as a stray. Though he still makes a lot of noises (especially early in the morning), I endured it all for the sake of my two other boys. I have to say Slim is still the stinky boy in the house, phew his poo and pee could make my nose fall off (laughs).

One nice morning, I was boggled-eyed to see Slim running around with my two cats. I practically woke up and caught him and put him back into the cage. Male cats are so energetic, he even manages to open the cage door ..

Another same situation happened while I was preparing canned food for them, suddenly there were three cats by my feet mewing for food. I was taken aback for awhile and laughs later on. Seems somewhat harmless since all of them were eying the plates of wet food in my hands. After handing everyone their meals, I put Slim back into his cage.

April 28th, I took Sherbet for his 2nd vaccination and Salem the next day for his annual booster. It all went well, but the next day Sherbet had watery eyes. I thought that maybe something got into his eyes but after some examination, nothing was there and his eye kept on oozing clear liquid. On Saturday, I brought Slim and Sherbet to our vet for checkup and 2 in 1 (feLv & FIP test). The good new is that Slim is negative on for both disease and Sherbet had a mild case of fever (suspected from the side-effect of vaccination). Bad news was, it sure burned a deep hole in my pocket! (smile sheepishly). Upon the good news, I decided to let Slim out of his cage and mingle with the crowd at home.

At first they avoided each other but when I whip out the dangling toy, Slim and Salem forgets about everything else and played to their hearts content. Though I noticed Sherbet shying away every time Slim pounces the toy near him. After awhile, I had to go out with my family and decided to leave all of them in the cat room. Less than 5 minutes, the cats broke into a fight. The sound was almost alien in my house it took me a few seconds to realize it was coming from the room. I quickly open the door to the kitty room while my family stood aghast. Salem ran out, disoriented and fur standing on all ends. Sherbet was engaged in an all out battle with Slim, wrapped in each other ignoring everything else. I armed myself with my trusty fly swatter and a spray bottle. A squirt at them and they broke apart, Sherbet ran under the bed in my bedroom while Slim hissed madly and bared his fangs at me. I closed the kitty room door and braced myself for a showdown. Slim was spitting mad, from his body language I can see he was aggressive defensive. Touch him and he will swipe at me. I hit the fly swatter on the floor to scare him and after awhile, sprayed water on him at an angle. He dashed into the cage and I put in his litter box and close the cage door. Let him calm down.

My bf who came over helped me calm Sherbet down and called him from under the bed. The rest of my family was laughing at cute Salem with his fur standing on all ends, going back on forth in front of the room. Seems like he can't make up his mind either to help big bro Sherbet or ran for his life. We all agreed Salem is always the cute one. After thinking for awhile, I realized Slim has to go through a series of rehab. He has been on the street for quite awhile and god knows how his last owner treats him. I decided I will let him out of the cage on days I am free, to watch them mingle and accept each other. But Slim will definitely be in his cage when I am not around the house or sleeping. It will take weeks or months for them to accept each other but it's the only way. My bf asks me if I want to give away Slim but I told him firmly if Slim is unsociable, giving away is useless. He might get aggressive with new owner, their household, other pets, gets thrown away or send back to me. It's better for him to stay with me so I can train him and care for him.

Today is the 3rd day I let him out of his cage. He seems to mingle well with Salem, they chased each other around the house and tag each other. I don't see any aggressive behavior between those two so far. No hissing or standing fur or even wide swishing tail. Salem is a very friendly cat and always looks for a new friend. Sherbet is somewhat reluctant. I figured he would be tough to accept new cat in the house since he's the first cat in my home, and he knows it. Although I'm not sure whether he sees Slim as a prey or a predator. Slim would try to get closer to him but he'd run away of growl (I heard it once). I'm guessing Sherbet would need sometime to realize Slim is another friend and family. It will take some more time for them to accept each other. Integrating an adult cat to another adult cat is not an easy task in my opinion. They can be somewhat territorial and defensive. I guess it will take some patience and love to make the integration smooth. I wish them well and I hope this will wield a positive result in the end.

Oh yes, these are the latest picture of Slim. Though he's no longer 'Slim', he's actually a bottomless pit. I had to hide all the kibbles from him whenever I let him out of the cage. He'd eat any food he sees..

Slim drinking from their water bowl

Slim's face (looks so healthy now)

Slim stretched out .. he never stay put for a snapshot

Only time he's stays put.. while stuffing his face..

Kitty Journal 48 - Hot Weather

2010-04-19T06:50:00.003+08:00

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

2010-04-05T19:31:00.003+08:00

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

2010-04-01T16:16:00.004+08:00

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*

Kitty Journal 45 - Another Rescue Effort

2010-03-19T07:36:00.005+08:00

Opps, I did it again. Reminds me of Britney Spear's song and I have to admit it, I did it again. I rescued another cat. This time it's the black tabby dslh that has been hanging around my corridor. He looked beautiful at first, and I thought he belongs to someone but I was wrong (dead wrong to be exact).

After seeing him on and off these past 2 months (and feeding him whenever he comes to my door), I decided to cat nab him. I don't care if he was someone's cat, since he was looking worse each time he came to my door. I can see him so hungry, and patches of ringworm starting to be more visible on his head and scruff.

I took him in and gave him a bath (anti flea / mite shampoo of course). While bathing, I checked his claws and it was not as sharp as I thought it was. He was so skinny, practically skin and bones and his ringworm was a lot worse than I anticipated. I called my bf and decided to bring him to the vet the next morning.

At the vet, they gave him ringworm shot and a dose of Frontline, to curb the mites running around on his skin. We asked the vet to give anti-fungal cream to be applied on his skin. The vet told me the ear drop I bought months before can be used to cure ringworm too. But to be on the safe side, I asked for the cream (I wasn't sure if the ear drop is enough, I used it quite frequently to clean my other cats' ears).

Thus begin the extra careful, cleaning days of my life (it reminds me of the days I brought in the late Neko-chan into the household). Everyday I have to put anti-fungal cream on the cat and maintain a strict disinfecting routine. I cleaned the area outside the cage and the equipment I used since ringworm can spread easily to human (or other animals). Phew, I sure feels like a microbiology student *sweat*..all these sterilization and whatnot. Hopefully the black tabby (Oh yes, we named him 'Slim' since he's so skinny and it goes well with my other cats name i.e Sherbet and Salem) will get better in a week or two. Last time I treated the late Neko-chan, she got better after a week. Good luck to me and Slim now! *thumbs up*

Hello, my name is Slim

I may look healthy but I am quite sick :(

Kitty Journal 44 - Picky Cats Sighs

2010-03-09T12:23:00.007+08:00

Arghh.. this week I want to rant about my picky cats. I have Sherbet who needs to take his liver supplements daily who is somewhat a picky eater. He's suppose to take his supplements with wet food BUT he prefers dry kibbles and most of the time refuses to eat the wet food mixed with supplement *groan out loud*. I even try fasting him, but still Mr-Picky-Eater refuses to finish his food (even though I only put a spoonful of wet food so that he will finish the food). On the other hand, Salem is the lover of wet food. He prefers wet food over dry food but when there's no other choice, he would still eat the dry kibble.

At this moment I have to separate Salem and Sherbet when feeding wet food and usually have to confined Sherbet in the cat room until he finishes his food.

On a side note, I found this article about stray cats in Japan and I find it somewhat cute
It's A Cat's World
Here is more about Tama-chan, the famous cat Super Station Master.. isn't he cute?
Cat In Hat Can't Quit

Picture courtesy of Lets Japan, Cats Eye Stationmaster Posts

Kitty Journal 43 - A Very Good News

2010-03-05T15:35:00.002+08:00

After two weeks of eating liver supplements, I send Sherbet for another blood test today. As usual, he's scared witless going to the vet. Mewing loudly and restless in the carrier I brought him in. He was trembling but it went well. Vet weight him and if I remembers correctly, he gained 0.06kg the last two weeks. My red tabby is now at a whopping 5.56kg. He's gaining weight and this is a good thing to me, it's a sign that his appetite is back. Though the vet caution me not to feed Sherbet too much else he'd get too fat and can easily get heat stroke. I'll try to reduce his portions now.

Every cloud has a silver lining and after a month of being worried and anxious, my silver lining has shown itself. A month after Neko-chan passed away and more than three weeks after Sherbet was diagnosed with liver toxicity, I was granted a good news today. At 3.06pm, the vet called me regarding the blood test. The liver parameter has shown normal results. I breathe a sigh of relief. Finally after weeks of going back and forth to the vet and making sure Sherbet finishes the supplement vet gave me, his liver is back to normal. Thank god for his recovery. The vet told me to continue Sherbet's liver supplement diet and then come in next week for another blood test. If it's still within the normal range, then he is clear and can stop taking the liver supplements. I gave my thanks to the vet and smile happily. My naughty boy is finally getting better and I feel so relieved.

I didn't want to think how much I have paid for his recovery but I am so glad he's getting better. No one is to blame for the cost except myself for endangering my cat's life. I'm glad I figured out the problem and took care of it before another life is lost. Thank god for everything and thank god I have given another chance to be with my beloved cats much longer. Today is a good day..

Kitty Journal 42 - Hello March!

2010-03-01T16:45:00.005+08:00

Ah, how time flies, it's already March 2010. Where did the time go?

Let me list out the timetable for Sherbet. What Sherbet does most of the day..

8pm-4am
Nap and then occasionally wakes up to snack on kibbles.
Sometimes I climb onto the chair or the shelf beside Mama to nap.
Sometimes I climb onto Mama's computer table and naps on Mama's hand. It's so warm and nice.

4am-7am
Walks around the apartment and mew at mama, wanting snacks (snacks are hidden).
Sometimes comes to sleeping mama and begs for food.
Sometimes comes to cuddle with mama.
If mama is on computer, I jump up to the computer table and ask for petting. I like staring at the colorful picture on the computer *stares*. Mama gets angry sometimes because I made the computer do beep beep sounds.
Naps here and there. It is so hot, I like to take naps.

7am-11am
I mew at mama and begs for food. Mama says no, but I make a cute, sad face for mama to give me snacks. Mama laughs at me but still says no to snacks.
I play chase with Salem and we fight around. I like pouncing with Salem, he doesn't back down or get frightened. We are like brothers!
Sometimes I climb the cat tree Mama made and stare at the scenery. Many people and animal outside, I like looking at them. Oh look! There's a yummy bird flying by. *Stares*

11am-11.15am
Mama take out the dangling toy. I like it when Mama take out that toy. I chase it up and down, across the room. Sometimes the red toy ran away, I like pouncing on it.

11.30am
Mama takes out yummy food for me and Salem. Oh, the smell is so good! Hurry hurry Mama, I want to eat it fast! It's so delicious.

12pm-3pm
Finish eating, groom myself and laze around. Ah, my tummy is so full.
I like taking a nap near the front door on the blue carpet. The wind from outside is cooling.

3pm-8pm
I walk around the house, climb the cat tree and pounce Salem. We play and chase each other till Mama tells us to slow down. It was so much fun! Sometime I follow Mama around and stalks her. Mama loves playing hunter and prey with me.
Sometimes I hear noises outside our door, it frightens me. I hide under Mama's table.
Sometimes I snack on kibble Mama put out. I like the kibble, it's yummy.

Kitty Journal 41 - Bath for Sherbet!

2010-02-27T12:40:00.005+08:00

Today, I decided to give Sherbet a bath. Why? Because he hasn't bathe in three weeks. Salem already had his bath last week so he was exempted. I boiled water, pour it into a pail and mixed with cold water. At the right temperature (slightly warmer than to my liking), I pour some into a basin and mixed in Earthbath Cat Shampoo. Ahh, love the smell. Then I grab the struggling Sherbet and in he go into the basin. I'm guessing the temperature is perfect for him since he didn't mew at all. He was just busy trying to get out of the basin. After a few minutes of scrubbing, another few minutes of rinsing and another few minutes of wiping his face with a wet cloth, he's all done. Smelling good and totally wet. I wrapped him up in a thick towel, then rubs him as much as I can and voila, into the cage till he's not dripping wet. I don't use hair dryer on him since he's terrified of the sound. Let him dry out on his own.

Here is the semi-wet Sherbet, after a bath.

I gave him wetfood mixed with his liver supplement and after a few hours, Sherbet is back to his fluffy but smelling good self. After having a nice bath and eating good food, he's down for his usual nap.

Kitty Journal 40 - D.I.Y Cat Toy and My Cats Video

2010-02-25T04:57:00.007+08:00

I modified a dangling cat toy that I made a few months back. I used a wire hanger, fishing thread, a bit of yarn and a small bell.

Voila, a homemade dangling cat toy

Look at how my cats played with it

Another trait my cats have is licking each other, but mostly Sherbet demands grooming session from other cats namely Salem and my late Neko-chan. Here is a video of how thorough Salem is grooming his "brother's" face. Though they are not blood related at all.

P/S: Sorry if the quality is not very good, it was taken via mobile phone camera and I don't have video editing software. XD

Kitty Journal 39 - Hello There

2010-02-23T16:32:00.007+08:00

These past few days, a sort of black tabby stray kept coming to my front door asking for food. He looks beautiful, a bit on the skinny side but his tail is beautiful. I didn't dare touch him since my Sherbet is still under precaution due to liver problem, so I just watched him from the door. My bf came over and helped me feed the cat, we call him Kelabu (Gray). He is somewhat fierce and territorial, which I think is typical for an intact male cat. Sometimes I see him engaged in cat fights at night time downstairs. I wondered if he's a stray or someone's pet, but I guess I'll never know. He could probably be the typical outdoor pet, some so-called owner feed him but let him roam and defecate wherever it pleases. The typical mindset of some cat owners I think.

He will be gone during the morning and then appears at noon till night near the front of my door to beg for food. To be honest, I would have taken him in as one my own if I could but at the moment I am somewhat tight with a cat that is sick and I already have two adult male cats. Having another adult male cat in the house will be somewhat difficult, especially with Sherbet being very territorial. I am somewhat glad I put up netting on my front door, so I can keep my indoor cats and Kelabu apart. Even so, Sherbet doesn't hesitate to hiss and spat at Kelabu when he comes to beg for food.

I wish Kelabu the best and ponders his fate. If I were not this tight with money now, and he is confirmed a stray, I would take him in a heartbeat. Keep him caged, neuters and put him up for adoption. That's the right thing to do. Alas, I can only smile, feed him and greets him. The timing is so wrong..

P/S: His expression reminds me of my late Neko-chan, that fierce piercing eyes.

Kitty Journal 38 - Another Day At Home (Pics)

2010-02-23T11:54:00.017+08:00

This morning I snapped a few pictures of my sleeping cats. They looked so adorable together, reminds me of the days when they were so much younger. I don't feel like writing anything much today, just post pictures to feast your eyes on. Behold! The cuteness of the ultimate cuteness! :D

1 year ago

Yesterday

Sherbet, the computer technician?

Salem, hanging out on the D.I.Y cage

Naptime!

Sherbet's napping expression (looks somewhat like an old man hehe)

Salem's sleeping expression (looks very kitten-like hehe)

Kitty Journal 37 - Post Second Bloodtest

2010-02-20T14:32:00.004+08:00

Today is the 3rd day I gave Sherbet his supplements. He looks normal, same affectionate and active cat. He plays around and slept together with Salem. Watching them sleep together is so cute. To be really honest, I'm glad the liver problem was detected quite early. From what I'm seeing, the supplements is helping Sherbet's liver flush out the toxins by itself. But I should not be too relaxed, I should practice more vigilance! Everyday I took the time to groom Sherbet and peek into his ears, watch the skin coloring and watched their pee clump and poo. Noting if there's any different in the color, amount and frequency. So far nothing out of the ordinary.

For one thing, I practice better hygiene for my cats now. I throw away kibbles that are exposed for long hours and washes their food and water bowl every few hours. I am also more careful at leaving dirty dishes in the sink. Either I wash them and put the clean dishes away, or I cover them with something so my cats can't have access to dirty dishes. I always kept the garbage bin closed, so that my cats can't ransack the garbage. It was funny how these thing was somewhat insignificant a few months back. Now, it is my duty to keep dangerous things away from my cats.

It was sad losing a cat, but it made me realized a lot of things I haven't realized before. Cleanliness, safety and hygiene from the eyes of cats. On a broader view, the death of Neko-chan made me look at a lot of things more critically. On a side note, the diagnose of Sherbet's liver problem somehow made me forget about my sadness. I was too busy worrying about another of my furkids and somehow it helped me get through the grief. A blessing in disguise of some sort I reckon. As I watch Salem and Sherbet huddled together in a corner, I smiled to myself and think "Oh, how cute". I wish for them to stay like that for years and years to come.

Kitty Journal 36 - Blood Test Result 180210

2010-02-19T05:00:00.007+08:00

I waited patiently for my phone to ring yesterday. At around 10am, the vet called me to give report of the blood test. It seems Sherbet still have liver function problem. The result of the tests still shows somewhat high toxicity in the liver. Although the vet told me he can't really compare both the result since it was done at a different machine. For some reason, the vet that took the blood send it to another lab for testing. Hence, it's somewhat difficult to gauge the exact range of toxic in the liver. The platelet count, from what I saw was at the borderline. This is good for me since the last blood test shows the platelet count somewhat in below the normal range.

After some consultation, the vet told me give Sherbet the same liver supplement they gave the week before for seven days. The supplement is called Samylin (for small breeds), 1 sachet per day for seven days.

SAMYLIN®

The liver has an essential role in many body functions, such as metabolism and storage of nutrients. Daily it is exposed to many threats and toxins. SAMYLIN® helps protect the liver via a complex of antioxidants that work synergistically to provide the best possible protection. It contains the antioxidant Glutathione precursor SAMe and thiol donor Silybin, vitamin E and C for management of liver disorders.

-taken from VetPlus uk website

I'm guessing Sherbet is still out of danger, and we're hoping that he will get well by himself gradually. I asked the vet's opinion about Sherbet's condition, whether is is something contagious but he said, from the test everything else looks normal except for his liver function and the borderline platelet count. From his experience, it is probably poison ingestion and not infection of some sort. I raked my brains with my bf on how Sherbet and the late Neko-chan could be poisoned but not Salem. They are all indoor cats, my apartment never had any invasion of rodents and hardly any insects came in (I chase flies like a maniac in my apartment with my fly swatter). What does the two of them have in common that's different from Salem? I asked myself. After talking to my bf, we realized Sherbet and the late Neko-chan loves eating the kibble I bought for them. Neko-chan ate the most, Sherbet was second in line and Salem barely ate the kibble. Salem prefers wetfood than dry kibbles. After awhile we realized it was something in the food. We also realized the amount of kibble they ate had reduced greatly since last November.

In October, 7kg was barely enough to feed them for a month but by November I only needed around 6kg. After each month it was reduced to barely 3kg a month. I thought it was due to the smaller portion I gave them each feeding. My family was commenting Neko-chan looks fat and worried she'd get obese and get sick. So I reduced their feeding portions. How I should have paid more attention. After much discussion, my bf and I realized that in October I bought an automatic air freshener to mask the strong litter box odor at my apartment. Every 28 minutes, the air freshener would spray the perfume and although it was high up the door frame it was close to the cat's food and drink bowl. It dawned to me, that probably the residue of the air freshener seeped into their kibble and they've been ingesting the chemicals for the last 4 months. In other words, the last four months I've been accidentally feeding my cats poisonous kibbles.

Since of all the cats, Neko-chan is the big eater and also easily stressed out she was the one most effected by the poisoning. Sherbet ate a lot of kibble too but he is less stressed out than Neko-chan hence the slower effect. Salem who ate the least kibble and the least stressed, shows no signs of poisoning. I tried to read up on the air freshener but not much information was available but after much consideration, I see no other cause for poisoning. Neko-chan was never a curious cat compared to Salem who was much more curious and naughty, hence the conclusion of the disease plaguing my household. I immediately took out the air freshener and leave it in the no-cat room (which is actually sort of like my dressing room). I mopped the floor, wash and changed their kibble and water. I have a feeling Sherbet will get better eventually, but it will take a lot of effort from me. I think he will also have to take the supplement for awhile before he is deemed healthy. The good news is that Sherbet is free to roam inside the house now. He is happier and less stressed. Though he have liver function problem, Sherbet is still the same naughty and active cat. He run around the house playing with Salem. Pounce on the dangling toy, eat kibble as much as he can and rolls around near me or my bf. Salem looks happier too since he has his playmate back with him now. Now that I have realized where the fault lies, I will put more effort into taking care of them. I shall update my little cat notebook and monitor their health and habits more. This 1 year has taught me some lessons, good ones and bad ones. I shall take everything in and strive to be a better parent to my cats.

It saddens me somewhat when I showed the vet the result of my late Neko-chan's blood test. He says her liver function test is bad, but it is still good. They had a cat warded there that had 1.3K amount of liver toxicity (which is almost triple of the late Neko-chan's result) but that cat fell from the 5th floor and injured it's liver. From the way the vet said it, Neko-chan could probably be saved. But it no use wondering the "If", I made the wrong choice and lived to regret it. Again, this is a bitter lesson I have learned. Now, I have to calm down the somewhat stressed out Sherbet. Being locked up for 8 days is getting to him and the visit to vet (twice in a week period) really scared him. Other than the usual petting session and playing session, I gave him catnip to calm him down. Let's all wish Sherbet, get well soon! Your wishes will surely reach him.

Kitty Journal 35 - The Anxious Day

2010-02-18T05:22:00.004+08:00

After more than a week of confining Sherbet in a cage, I finally took him to the vet for a second blood test. He was somewhat scared and trembling when we got to the vet. Poor boy is really afraid of strangers. After some maneuvering, the vet managed to get Sherbet's blood samples. Off they go to be tested. In the meantime, Sherbet have to stay another day in a cage. Poor poor boy, hates being caged. His sad mewing can be heard all day long, heart-wrenching and so pitiful. But it had to be done, for I or the vet are not sure if what he had is contagious.

Although I have made some arrangements for Sherbet and Salem. Every once in a while, I let Sherbet out of the cage and cat room so he can roam the house (not that my house is THAT big anyway). Salem is kept in the cat room, but not inside the cage. I locked the cage when Salem is confined in the cat room. Sherbet happily roams the house, rubbing his face everywhere he goes. Following me around, rolling on the floor near my feet. I can tell that's he is so happy to be let out. But Salem on the other hand is jealous. He would mew loudly, scratching at the door wanting to go out. Such demanding kitty, no compassion for his "brother". I usually ignores Salem until it was time for Sherbet to go into his cage (usually after an hour or two). I kept their litter box separated, same as their food and drinking bowl.

"I demand to be free!"

Both my boys look very healthy, running around whenever I took out the dangling toys. Can't really see if any of them are really sick. But of course, the blood test will determined Sherbet's fate. I wait patiently for the doctor's phone call which will decide his future. Will Sherbet be staying longer in a cage? Will Salem be the king of the house when Sherbet is being locked down? Will Sherbet accept being in the cage longer than he's ever been before? All I can do is wait, hope and pray for my cat's well-being. February is a sad month, it was the month I broke my arm when I was 12 and it was the month I lost one of my dear cat. It is also the month a lot of cat lover lost their furkids. Let's hope the coming days bring more joy (as it is the Lunar New Year). We can't wallow in misery and sadness, we must move on to happy things.

Kitty Journal 34 - Trial For Me

2010-02-10T17:01:00.003+08:00

After the incident with Neko-chan, I was more anxious about my other cats. Since her death was somewhat shrouded mystery, the actual reason her liver problem / failure was not known. I was afraid it was something contagious. I decided to change vet when the vet I went to before told me to wait until everything settles down when I asked if I should bring my other cats for blood test. I find it rather odd, and alarming. I went to another vet, recommended by a friend who is really good with cats. I even called the vet in advanced and asked for opinion whether I should do blood tests on my other cats.

Since I goes around on motorbike with my bf, we decided to bring one cat at a time. Salem was chosen to go first and we endured the loud mews until we arrived at the vet. He was quiet at the vet and slightly frighten but as usual Mr-Stress-Free-Salem went in to see the vet with tail erect and purrs. He is always the happy cat. We were shown the FeLV test and I was relieved to see it negative. Vet told us the blood test result would be ready the next day and will give me a call when they get the result. I went back home with Salem and asked my bf's opinion when to bring in Sherbet. I have to say, cat's bill was really denting my pocket. But I love them and I don't want to suffer another loss. After discussing, we decided to bring in Sherbet the next day. It's better to bring him early and be at ease rather than being too late.

Vet called me in the afternoon and told us Salem's blood test looks very good. Everything is normal and healthy. Can't say how relieved I was to hear that news. One live has been spared, and I was glad Mr-Nosy-But-Stress-Free-Salem is clear of diseases. That evening we brought in Sherbet for testing. He was scared (he is the coward in the household) but he was happy during examination. His temperature was slightly higher, I'm guessing due to being very scared during the journey. He was also tested negative for FeLV (Feline Leukimia Virus) and I felt another weight has been lift off my shoulder. We brought Sherbet back and waited patiently for the blood test results.

The next afternoon, vet called me but I was not relieved. They detected some abnormalities in the blood test. His platelet count was low and his liver test shown slightly higher numbers. Vet says it could be due to a lot of reasons, poisoning, viral infection, bacterial infection and further testing will show what the actual cause of liver problem. They told me to come in and take the medicine for Sherbet. I quickly got ready and went to the vet with my bf. We were told to give Sherbet the medicine one sachet a day for the next seven days and then do another blood test at the end of the seven days to see how his liver looks. I was told to separate my cats and not share food, water or the litter box. Hearing Sherbet has liver problem makes me remember the sad days of Neko-chan. I couldn't save her but by god I will save Sherbet. Hence the painful days of Sherbet in confinement. I had to clean the cage where I confined Neko-chan on her last days with disinfectant and then put Sherbet inside. He mews sadly whenever I pass by his room but it can't be helped. Unless the sickness was determined, he had to be separated from Salem.

This is another trial for me, I must stay strong and take care of my cats. I pity Sherbet mewing sadly in his cage but it's for his own good. Seven days of trial, seven days for my cats to be healthy. I pray that all will be well for my beloved cats, my dear family.

Kitty Journal 33 - Post Funeral

2010-02-05T22:16:00.004+08:00

After burying my beloved Neko-chan in the rain, I went home and shower. I remembers not saying anything at the vet when I went to pick her body. I kept quite, trying to stop the tears from bursting. Faded pink towel wrapped around her, and the vet put her slowly into the carrier. All the way, silent tears dripped on my cheeks. I prayed furiously for the rain to stop but I guess the sky had cried for her too. My bf and I stopped by a hardware shop and bought a new hoe. We went to the car park at my apartment and started digging. The rain was falling hard but the spot we picked was shaded, we didn't get hit by rain too badly and at least my beloved Neko-chan will not be drenched.

After saying a small prayer, I lay her lifeless body into the ground and cover soil over her. She has lain to rest and I thank her for all the good memories, the fun and the fight she has fought. As I walked back into my apartment, all the good memories flashes before my eyes. The day I picked her up and nurse her back to health. The time she got bad diarrhea and I had to clean her cage almost every hour. The time she got healthy and chubby, I was so proud of her. The times she purrs loudly even before I pet her. Her love to groom herself and other cats, her cute mew when she runs up to me. Her cute swagger when she follows me around the house. Her demands for belly rubs and her sleeping beside me on the bed. I will miss her a lot since she was so close to me.

It's more than 24 hours since I buried her and the pain is still raw to me. I avoid looking at her pictures, I haven't looked at her grave since yesterday. Only memento of hers I have at the moment is her collar. Her toys, bedding and such are thrown away for fear of harboring germs. Last night as I cleaner her litter box, I felt like she died all over again. I threw away her last clump of pee in her litter box and cried as I wiped the last 2 yellow stains of her pee on the litter box. In my mind I kept thinking, this is her last moment here at my home. Even now I try not to think too much of her as my tears will run down my cheeks.

I wonder if the time will come when I think of her and not cry, if I can visit her grave or accept her gone from my life. The memories of her last few days with me rips at my heart. I wonder if I will ever manage to forgive myself. To rid of this guilt. I wonder if a love lost can be found anew. I can only wonder if time will tell.

Kitty Journal 32 - A Love Lost

2010-02-04T17:05:00.003+08:00

At 3.19pm, I got the call from the vet. I sit up in attention, listening to the vet's voice. I was crestfallen after the vet told me she didn't make it. The pain is so raw, I kept crying and crying. Today is a sad day for me. The love I have found is lost today. My beautiful girl has left me behind. She has gone to a better place, and I should remember that.

She had struggle hard and suffered. I blame myself for everything, for failing to see the symptoms earlier. I was too late. And she has left me forever.

Kitty Journal 31 - The Sum of All Fear II

2010-02-04T12:38:00.005+08:00

Today, I woke up at my mobile phone rang. It was the vet and he told me of the blood test results. Neko-chan's liver doesn't look very good. The toxins in her liver is 6x the normal amount and it's distressing. I told the vet she stopped eating and drinking, and was told to brought her in immediately. I brought her in and was ushered into the examination room, vet told details of the blood test and what it means. From her white cell count and liver examination, she has liver problem and it's probably something parasitic. I told the vet she's gone comatose, and he took her out of the carrier.

She was so weak, she didn't even fight when the vet lay her down on the examination table. She only mew weakly in pain and my heart hurts. The night before I cried when I went into her room, comforting her. I see her life ebbed away before my eyes and I felt so helpless. I can't do anything to help her. Vet told me he'll put her on IV drip but I watched again helplessly as the vet tried to put IV drip on her front leg and failed. Her blood circulation is so bad and it's impossible to put it on her front leg. Vet told me to go home first and he'll try to put her on IV drip again and will contact me in an hour. I walked out of the clinic somewhat dazed and blank. I felt it was very serious and deep inside I felt her chance of survival is 50-50. I pray she will survive, I pray she fights hard to survive. I'm waiting patiently, sad but determine to see her well.

Kitty Journal 30 - The Sum of All Fear

2010-02-02T16:28:00.003+08:00

Today, I send Neko-chan to the vet. I have suspected Neko-chan is sick since Thursday but never realised it was something serious and dangerous. Since she spend most of her time lying down and sleeping, I never realized that she had lost a lot of weight. It was until I saw her walking around, that it got me thinking, "She's so thin". Then it hit me, have I really seen her eating heartily? I realized then I haven't seen her eat much. I guess I thought she was bored of the kibble that I gave them, since my other cats doesn't eat a lot either lately. But as I looked at her more, I became worried. Though I delayed sending her to the vet, didn't want to be too protective I guess. Maybe I was too obsessed with my cats but that was my biggest mistake. I am still pondering why I didn't send her to vet quickly. I have no answer. I should say I am a bad owner, a bad mother no less. I am ashamed and angry at myself.

I bought her wet food and was more surprised she barely ate it. She just licks the juice and not eat the chunks of juicy chicken. That was very alarming. I knew something was really wrong but the vet has already closed and the next day was a public holiday. After some thinking, I thought maybe the kibble was not fresh enough so I opened a new batch of kibble. Neko-chan ate and I was relieved. After a while, she still didn't eat as much as I hoped for and again it got me worried. Monday was another public holiday (and the vet is closed on Monday anyway), I waited patiently for today and send her to the vet as quickly as I can.

From the early diagnose, it seems that it is something serious. She's already jaundiced and lost 1 kg since the last time the vet took her weight (in December). Vet told me she probably have liver and kidney problem, a blood test will show the problem more clearly. Since she was too fierce at the vet, she had to be sedated for the vet to draw her blood. I'm waiting for the call from the vet to pick her up. It's frightening, but I hope it is something that I can handle and I hope Neko-chan can get well soon. I hope she will be fine. Deep inside I realized I have no paid enough attention to them. To be honest, I was trying to be less confining and less constricting. I realized Neko-chan had some stress problem, so I let her have her freedom but I guess I didn't watch closely enough. I hope I learned my lessons. I shall wait patiently for now and hope for the best.

Kitty Journal 29 - Cats post-boarding

2009-12-18T09:14:00.003+08:00

I SEND MY CATS FOR BOARDING! You read it correctly, I send them for boarding. I thought long and hard about Hari Raya Aidiladha and decided it's better for them to be send for boarding. Granted it burned a deep hole in my already thin pockets, I calculate carefully and saved money to send them to boarding.

To be completely honest, I was never comfortable sending my cats to other people to take care of. I've known to be very possessive and the thought of other people handling my cats just bothers me. Deep in my mind, nobody takes care of them like I do (granted I don't give them the most expensive food / grooming or vet). But I worry a lot letting them stay with strangers. Weighing facts, pro and cons I decided it was the best choice. I don't really want to trouble my parents by borrowing their car or suffering 3-4 hours of Salem loud mewing in the car. I decided to go with a petshop that provided boarding and they even came to pick up my cats (which is the most important criteria since I only have a motorbike). The cost was affordable for me and I booked a week of boarding for my cats in advanced and counted the days.

A week before they came over to pick up my cats, Sherbet show signs of stress. He was overly affectionate and kept molting. I was surprised to see Sherbet's fur everywhere in the house and whenever I pet him, more fur would fall off. He was even more vocal than usual. I guess he knew I was sending him away (although only for awhile). My other cats seems to go through their days happily without worries.

On the day they came, I can't help but feel worry. It was my first time being away for quite a long time from my furkids. The longest I've been away from them is probably 8 hours. The pick up guys were nice enough, bf & I helped put the cats into the carrier they carried. Salem as usual, loved attention (especially from strangers). Neko-chan was hissing in the carrier (I'm guessing they didn't clean the carrier properly and the smell of other cats before is still there). Sherbet struggled to escape from the carrier and ran off under the chair. I had to coax him out, carry him and assure him it was okay. It kinda break my heart to see him so scared. I gave them instructions, left them a memo in the paperbag which carries the cat food and the multivitamin for Salem & Neko-chan. When they left, the house felt so empty and quiet. It was so weird, I can't believe how lonely I felt. Although I used to live alone before, the loneliness was even more apparent now. I stare at the empty cat room and the toy that littered the floor. It was heart-ranching, I wanted to cry because I've missed them already.

The next day, I went back to my parents and everyday I counted the days I can see them back. I didn't tell anyone how worried I was about my cats. I kept picturing them running away and got hit by a car, scared being with strangers. Maybe the boarding shop caught fire and my cats were trapped.. I kept imagining the worse. But my bf assure me they are all fine and told me to wait patiently for the email or MMS they're sending. On the 6th day, I finally got a MMS from the boarding shop and saw my cats. I was glad to see they all look healthy. They missed Salem's pic and I sms them back, asking for Salem's pic. I was somewhat worried about that little banshee. The next day I got Salem's pic and laughed at Salem's picture. He looks so happy and content, all stretched out on the floor. I said to myself "Salem, you slut! I worry over you for nothing".

My cats came to me all healthy and happy the next day. Sherbet as usual is wary of strangers and ran to hide under the chair. Salem stretched out on the floor as if nothing unusual had happened. Neko-chan ran and hide. I thanked the boarding shop and hugs all my cats. It was good to see them.

After sending them to boarding, I noticed some changes. Salem has become less vocal and demanding. It was a good progress to me since he would always mew loudly for attention and became destructive before. But after sending him for boarding, he hardly ever mew for attention. He even spend his time playing by himself (either chasing scraps of paper, balls, hiding under the rug, etc). Sherbet on the other hand, became more vocal and affectionate. Some might say he's cuter for being so affectionate but I find it somewhat stifling. He would come up to me anytime he wants and mews. If I ignored him he would jump on the computer table, plopped his butt in front of the keyboard and lie down across the table and demands to be pampered. I can barely use my keyboard when he does that. He even used one of my hands as his pillows. All I can say is that, I guess he switched personality with Salem. Oh well.. at least my cats has more character now *smile*

Kitty Journal 28 - The Problematic Salem

2009-10-16T08:33:00.006+08:00

Curious what's the picture is all about? Simple, it's Salem doing one of his antics. His new found hobby is scratching on the bathroom door. Sometimes when there's nobody in there (I kept the bathroom / shower door closed so my cats won't be licking or sniffing bleach) and sometimes while I was in there *sighs*. He would scratch and mews at the door till I opened a bit (if I were inside) and then he would stop and just stare at me or sit down quietly in front of the bathroom. Other times he would just scratch on the door and then stare at me when I scold him (even though there we nobody in the bathroom). Granted his behavior is typical to when he was locked up in the cat room or in a cage, it still mind boggles me. In my opinion, he still acts like a kitten when he's practically an adult (at nine months old). My other two cats just stare at him whenever he's throwing tantrums. The good news is that he realized that my fly swatter is a deadly weapon (I smack the ground / carpet real hard in front of my cats to scare them whenever they're up to mischief) and he will run into their room whenever I caught him scratching the bathroom door. Granted it was fun to have Salem follow me around the house, when I'm in the kitchen he will sit nearby. He was always outside the bathroom whenever I shower or use the bathroom. I called him the black stalker or the bodyguard *laughs*.
Last week, I bought a book on cats at a local warehouse used book sale. It was really good, with a lot of illustration on how to take care of cats, first aid and grooming. It also features problematic cats and the remedy for them. I came to realized that Salem is a dependent cat, solely dependent on humans (namely me and my bf). He follows us around, would even try to follow my bf outside the front door whenever he leaves. Follows me all around the house, even sleep beside my feet most of the time (I find that somewhat cute though). But what annoys me is his constant mewing when he demands attention. He would sit on his but, usually on top of the coffee table and mew from the top of his lungs. He would only stop when I reprimand him *loud audible sigh*.

Like these sandals? This is another of Salem's antics.

See the bite marks? It's all Salem's doing, sometimes I wonder if he's a cat or a dog in disguise. He chewed the black shoe off, it's unwearable. I grew tired of scolding him, anytime I take my eyes off him, he will chew the sandals. Once I was shocked to see bits of the shoe stuck to his teeth.. it mind boggles me why he would chew shoes, it's not as if I didn't feed him T_T

It all come down to Salem being too dependent, so I'm guessing he needs a new companion. I'm debating about adopting another cat but it's not a bad idea. ( I love cats anyway, it's just my pocket isn't deep enough to splurge on them *laughs*).

Oh well, it's the trials of a cat owner. I have to learn how to cure this nasty behavior of Salem's and then make him a better cat. ; )

Kitty Journal 27 - The Noisy Ride

2009-09-29T12:07:00.002+08:00

I was busy last week with Hari Raya Celebration and such, didn't have much time to sit in front of the pc to write. I brought back my cats with me last week, what a journey! Neko-chan and Sherbet were well behaved (or too scared to misbehave..) and sat quietly in the car for the 4hours journey. Salem was being a bad boy as he is and didn't stop mewing all the way from KL to JB. It was dreadful, I tried taking him out of the carrier and putting leash on him but he still won't stop. Good news is that it kept me awake (lol). We endured the noisy journey till I arrived at my parents and put all the cats into the cage.

My family and relatives were excited with my cats (especially Sherbet). The fluffy fur, the big body, Sherbet was everyone's eye candy that's for sure. At 1 year old, he weighs almost 7kg but sadly he's very scared. He huddled in a corner whenever my relatives came to look at him. Salem is the usual over-friendly cat among the three of them and always demands attention. He personally met every members of my family, shameless boy that he is. Neko-chan is the cool cat as usual, sat or lie down anywhere in the cage nonchalantly, as if she's right back at home. It was nice to see my family accepting my cats (even my mother who hates cats).

On the 4th day, I let them roam the house. Sherbet the timid and shy sniffs around cautiously while Salem just walk about anywhere, went downstairs and playing on the stairs. Neko-chan sniffs cautiously and made herself comfortable under the sofa. I let them out once in a while but Salem is starting to aggravate me. He slipped outside while I was having breakfast and didn't want to come in. After that incident, I had to close all doors and windows since Salem kept trying to go outside. Overall, it was a good experience bringing back my cats with me. But, on the way back to KL, as usual Salem made a racket and mews all the way back. I haven't seen my dad drove 4 hours JB to KL before, I bet Salem helped him stay awake. *Laugh*

I'm still contemplating on Hari Raya Haji, maybe I'll put them in boarding or bring them back. One thing's for sure though, I'm not bringing Salem back with me, he needs some kind of training being locked up *sighs*.

Kitty Journal 26 - New cage at parent's & Cat Tree

2009-09-15T07:42:00.007+08:00

I went back to my parent last weekend to borrow my dad's car for the Hari Raya holidays. Since cat boarding is quite expensive (especially when I'm going away for 11 days), I decided to bring all my cats with me this holiday.

I also brought back two projects with me, to built a cage and a cat tree for my cats. I find that buying the ready made is too expensive and not up to par. I was lucky too, since my dad has a lot of equipment to do simple carpentry. I was also lucky I took up AutoCAD back in the days. Designing is so much easier and cleaner with AutoCAD. It took 2 days to gather materials (although some stuff was bought by my parent before I came back to their home.

I have to say it's much more easier to find materials in my hometown rather than where I'm living now. It's so hard to find a fully stocked hardware store in KL. I showed my dad the design for the cage and cat tree and he'd comment the problem with the design, whether it's structurally stable or not, how much brackets needed, etc. Dad did most of the heavy duty drilling and screwing the wood. A whole day of labor, the cage is ready. We had to buy some more materials (the wire mesh) because we miscalculated. It would finished earlier but I dallied, only decided to assemble the cage after dinner.

Voila, the finished product. It's a bit crooked but hey, it's the first time I handled metal frame cages (the first cage I did used pvc pipe frame). My parent bought kitchen metal rack as the base frame of the cage but after some discussion, we realized using angle bar would be so much easier. Oh well, the important thing is that the cage is ready.

The completed cage, at the foot of my bed.

My second project was a cat tree, I never bought one before (was too expensive in my opinion) so I decided to make my own. It way easier than the cage and cheap too. It's rather bare at the moment but touch-ups can be done later.

The "bare" cat tree & Salem posing on the highest platform.

Next is my trip back to my hometown which is this Thursday. I look forward to a trip with my cats :)

Kitty Journal 25 - Excited for Hari Raya

2009-09-07T02:13:00.003+08:00

I am somewhat ecstatic for the coming Hari Raya, not with the biscuits and cakes or dresses. But anxious on bringing all my cats with me. I will be back at my parents for 11 days and bringing my cats with me. Earlier this year, I thought of leaving my cats in boarding facility but after some calculations, it's too expensive. I decided to come back a week earlier and borrow my dad's car and then drive back to my parent's a few days before Hari Raya.

My sister of course is happy since she doesn't have to buy a train ticket back *laugh*. Even though the trip with my cats is somewhat a fortnight away, I'm already making a list of things to bring back with me. One must be cautious and write down what my cats need. Cat food, litter box, litter material, some toys, food & water bowl and the list goes on and on. I prefer to buy everything I need here in KL since I'm not sure the variety at JB (my parent's). Besides, I will be busy the first 4 days and I doubt I'll have time to run out and buy cat stuff.

Anyway, the clock is ticking and I hope I will be ready for the trip. This is so exciting, it's the first time I'm taking my furkids with me on a long journey. Thumbs up for us!

Kitty Journal 24 - Sexy Pose

2009-09-07T01:55:00.010+08:00

Today I decided to write a little face-off, Salem vs Neko-chan on sexy poses.. *giggle*

It amazes me how I still go ooh and aah over my cats even after months of having them with me, they never cease to amaze me. I still laugh while looking at them sleeping, all those funny sleeping positions.
I haven't posted pictures of them for quite sometime, here goes..

Salem vs Neko-chan

Almost the same pose, but I feel Salem is sexier.

The staring contest..

Oohh.. tough one.. which stare is more piercing... hmmm

The last but not least, the "sleepy-look"

Ahh... this is even harder.. both looks adorable........

To all this my Sherbet says...

No comment, I'm the winnah...... :P

Kitty Journal 23 - The Road to Recovery

2009-09-01T18:57:00.002+08:00

After 10 days of applying the cream on Salem, he seemed to get somewhat lethargy. I'm guessing it's the side effect of the cream. Either he licked the place where the cream was applied and ingest it or maybe it's the effect of the cream as it's absorbed through the skin.

We delayed the second re-visit due to some unforeseen circumstances. On the 25th August, we went for the second visit. I made a mistake of applying the cream the night before since it made diagnostic more difficult. I slapped my head hard, darn it!. The doctor took sample of Salem's skin and checked it under the microscope. Said Salem is having yeast infection problem. He was given antibiotics, antifungal pills and special shampoo for skin infection. Next re-visit will be in 10 days.
It's hard to say if things are getting better, I think it will take quite sometime before Salem get backs to normal.

Kitty Journal 22 - Balding Spot II

2009-08-13T17:40:00.004+08:00

I forgot to write down about Salem's balding spot problem. We decided to go to the government vet hospital for check-up, I showed them the bald spots on Salem and they gave him an injection. They didn't offer explanation, and I guess I assumed it was maybe flea allergy reaction. I guess, as a cat owner I still fails at getting explanation from the veterinarian. In a way, I usually forgot to ask. Then I toss and turn later in the night and wondered why I didn't ask in for more details.

Enough about my silliness, lets talk about Salem. After the injection, the vet told us to come back in three weeks for re-visit and evaluate the treatment. We waited patiently for 10th of August to arrive but I was getting anxious, Salem's problem has yet to go away. Some of his balding spot kept getting bigger and no improvement whatsoever.

On August 10th, we went for a follow-up. A different vet attended my Salem and he said my Salem had fungal infection. I was somewhat shocked, fungal? I asked if fungal infection is contagious and he answered yes. It's very contagious and should be quarantined. I was puzzled, if it really is fungal infection, wouldn't my two other cats will be infected too? Since they've play together for more than a month (especially after I've neutered Salem & Neko-chan). Yet I didn't see any hints of balding spot on Neko-chan or Sherbet. The vet seems sure of his diagnose so I just let it pass, but he told me to take Salem for blood test at any private vet if the problem doesn't improve in three weeks. At the counter, they gave antibiotics for Salem.

The mention of blood test got me slightly worried, and I had to find a private vet for consultations. I asked a friend, June for opinion and she told me to go for blood test earlier rather than wait three weeks. It could be deadly by then, so I decided to look around and asked others. I got lucky because June told me, another PetFinders forumer had consulted a private vet not too far from my area and the cost was very reasonable.

I went earlier this morning and met Dr. Ragu. She was friendly enough, checking Salem's body thoroughly and asking questions about flea control, and then she took scrapings of Salem's skin (on the balding spot) and looked under the microscope. Good news is that my Salem didn't have mite, tick or flea problem. He also is cleared from fungal infection problem. The doctor told me it's probably due to slow fur growth. Doctor gave Vitamin B-Complex and topical cream for Salem and come for re-visit on the 23rd. All in it was rather cheap, since it's a private clinic. I was happy to hear that my Salem didn't have dangerous disease.

Now, I have to remember to rub the cream twice a day and give Salem his vitamin once a day. Lets hope for the best ;)

Kitty Journal 21 - Daily Routine

2009-08-04T06:52:00.003+08:00

*Sigh* I haven't written in this blog for quite some time. Nothing much to write in my opinion, some things are best to be seen and memorized, etched into my memory. I think I am not a person that likes to write down whatever comes through my mind. I prefer to quietly keep them deep in my mind and recalls them in future. But then, what purpose of this blog if it's not to be written in, eh? .. I contradict myself.. ick.

I shall start with Sherbet. His daily routine is sleeping, usually on the pile of slippers and shoes I have near the front door. For some unknown reasons he loves sleeping there. I tried to carried him away to my bed or somewhere for, comfortable but he will wake up and walk back to the piles of slippers and sleep there. I gave up trying to move him. Then he will wake up, stretch his body (Ah, I love to see cat stretching) front leg stretched out, front abdomen on the floor while the lower abdomen high on the air. Then there's the spine curve stretching, he will bring his front and hind leg close, stretch middle of his spine upward till it make a small bump. Cats looks so adorable when they do that. Sherbet will usually wakes up Neko-chan or Salem for grooming, he always disturbs them sleeping and make them groom him thoroughly.
After some stretching, he will come and scratch the carpet which I laid out on the hall. Then it's off to snacking or coming to me for a nice rub. Next is the playtime, usually Sherbet would be running and chasing the other two cats or wrestling with them. These are the usual Sherbet's routine. When he wants attention, he would usually climb the table and sit in front of me. This means rub time. When he wants to beg for special food (raw chicken, tablefood..etc) he would lie down near my feet and roll around, stretching his body. Compared to my other two cats, I think Sherbet is the closest to me and most affectionate.*chuckles*

Next is Neko-chan. Her routine starts as usual, sleeping usually on the pile of dirty laundry I have in the room. Sometimes she sleeps on the chair near me or on a small rug near my computer. As the other cats, she will stretch her body after waking up and scratch her claws on the carpet. Sometimes she would come over when I'm lying down or sleeping and purrs in my face or, lick my hair. She loves playing with long hair and I have to be careful when I let my hair loose so she won't end up pouncing my face instead. She's the most well behaved among the three cats I have at home. She always play by herself of chase the other two boys around the house. She is also very well adapt at climbing, I've caught her climbing atop my clothes hanger and climbing naco windows. Hence I always opened my windows no bigger than 2 inch wide. Falling from the second floor can be rather deadly I think.
Neko-chan is very close with Salem, I always see them hanging out together. Maybe it's the closeness in size, maybe it's the fact that both of them were strays picked up from the streets. Then again, it could be because of their age. I assume Neko-chan is probably one or two months older than Salem since her molar tooth are more well formed than Salem. Neko-chan is also a healthy eater, she eats almost the same amount as Sherbet. Though I wondered where all the nutrient went, she's still scrawny in my eyes. A bit plump on her lower half, but still have a rather petite face. Neko-chan is also the best sprinter in the house. It took sometime for me to catch her if I want to groom or bathe her. Sometime I would just chase her around the house for fun. I think she loves to run around too. She can be quite vocal too, especially when she wrestles with the boys. She won't hesitate to meow loudly if she doesn't like how they play with her. It's really funny to hear the voice she made when she saw a fly somewhere in the house. *laughs*

Last but not least, Salem. He's already seven months now but still such a baby. He likes to sleep somewhere near my feet, next to me on bed, or on a rug near my computer. Although he stays close, he doesn't like to be hug or carried around much. After waking up, he would usually stretch and scratch his claws (same as my two other cats). Then he would come over to me for his chin rubs, and then the usual cloth sucking. Mind-boggling why he would still do that even though he's already seven months old now. He loves to run, chase and wrestle with the other two cats. But he's the most demanding cat in the house. When he's bored, he would sat atop the table and mew at the door or at me. He would climb atop my computer or television when he's in a bad mood, and always try to steal table food. Any form of discipline doesn't work for this bad boy. I've tried water spray, loud voice and even ear flick, doesn't work at all. In the end, I had to keep him in a room if I want to eat.
Salem doesn't like to eat kibble but loves to eat chicken or table food. He would eat anything he can get his paws on. Luckily he has somewhat strong stomach and get diarrhea. Although he's a bad boy, he's a regular receptionist at home. He's very friendly towards visitors, circling their feet, lying down and rolling about in front of them. He loves it when people gives him body rub or give attention to him. He is such an attention seeker. His other cute trait is his huge orange eyes. He would stare with round, orange eyes whenever someone is talking about him. He would sit on his behind, front leg vertically straight, stare at a person and slightly tilt his head. It is so adorable that people that came over can't help but love him. He's also very close to my boyfriend. Whenever my boyfriend came to visit, Salem would be the first by the front door waiting. Same thing happens when my boyfriend is leaving. Salem would be waiting by the door when he hears the sound of keys jingling and sometimes went out to follow. But he never go further than in front of the front door. He's still scared of the outside.

I have special nick name for my cats, Sherbet is known as Mr. Affectionate and Mr. Mastermind. He's the most affectionate in the house and always up to secret mischief. Climbing kitchen stove, playing in the bathroom, climbing into the washing machine and a lot more. But, he knows when I'm angry at him. He would lie down flat on the floor, ears down and stare. Can't be angry long with him anyway.
Neko-chan is known as Miss Cleaner since she's always grooming herself or the other two boys. I would say most of her time is spend grooming. I guess she likes to stay pretty all the time. She's also very vocal when she's uncomfortable. When she doesn't like something (grooming, baths, etc) she would be growling angrily. Although in my opinion, it tamed a lot since I adopt her from the streets a few months back.
Salem is Mr. Nosy since he's always curious about everything I do. Whenever I do house chores, cleaning their litter box or fixing things, he would come sniffing and nosy about. He loves when people play with him (usually with a piece of cloth waved about) he would jump and chase after it. At the moment, Salem is still having balding problem. I'm still worried but the doctor said to bring him next week for second inspection.

All my cats love to hang out by the windows sometime. They would take turn to sit in front of the window and watched the activity outside, night or day. I wondered what they see sometimes, must be something interesting out there I guess..

Kitty Journal 20 - Chasing Flies & Balding Spots

2009-07-16T17:29:00.003+08:00

Chasing Flies

It's really fun to see my cats running around the house, jumping up and down chasing flies. Now and then stray flies get into my home and it gets the cats scrambling to catch it. I have to say my cats have boundless of energy. Seeing them running back and forth, jumping high, trying to climb wall is so much fun. I would call their names and ask "Did you catch it? Go catch em!". I would let them chase the flies for awhile and then I'll take out my small fan, smack! One hit and down goes the flies. Flies-0 Me-1. *Laugh*

In my opinion, flies are a hazard to health but it gives my cats plenty of exercise. Just let them live for awhile and then take them down in a blink of an eye. *Evil grin*

Balding Spots

I'm still worried about Salem. It's been almost two weeks since I spotted Salem's balding spots. At first, I thought it was due to flea allergy but after thorough checking, grooming, I found no indication of flea population in my home. The other two cats are flea free (I could see flea poo on Sherbet or Neko-chan's fur if there's any flea infestation since their fur is rather light-colored). I assumed it was food allergy (maybe the Kitzyme tablets I gave them before). But I've stopped giving them the tablet almost two weeks now but Salem is still scratching like mad. It bothers me to hear him scratching his body vigorously, making his collar bell rings. His balding spots are more visible and new spots are emerging.

After some discussion with my bf, he told me to wait till next Monday to send Salem to the vet. Maybe Salem need some kind of injection / medication to reduce the itching and balding. Other than the itching and balding, Salem seems to enjoy life as a normal cat. Running around, jumping up and down, playing with the other cats and demand his usual cloth sucking. Oh well, a few more days to go see the vet. *Smile*

Kitty Journal 19 - Post Neuter II

2009-07-13T16:27:00.004+08:00

Two days have passed since I send my cats for neutering. I let Salem out of the cage, I'm not too worried about Salem. He is active but he's not the type that likes to climb onto high places. I checked his stitches everyday and it looks good, drying up nicely. I put Gamat Gel on them to increase the recovery rate. Although Salem does look cute with his bum shaved *laughed*.

Neko-chan can move about in her cage but she still looks a bit weak. She doesn't move vigorously (expected, with and inch long stitch on her lower abdomen). I made some boiled chicken for her but she doesn't seem to like it. I bought a can of tuna flakes cat food and she loved it. I gave her some kibbles yesterday (seems she prefer kibbles more than boiled chicken) and she loved it. I'm still doubtful whether I should give her more kibbles or just go with wetfood now. I put Gamat Gel on her stitches too, hope it will increase her recovery rate. Although I am somewhat worried she likes to sleep in her litterbox *frowns*. I'll just monitor her for now.

Sherbet is always curious (as usual). He would come and poked his head in their room, hang out near their cage and walk all over the place. I guess he's bored since both his playmates is resting. Salem is out and about but I always watch him and Sherbet. If they play too much, I would shout at them. I don't want Salem's stitches to open. So far everything looks good.

Kitty Journal 18 - Neuter Part II

2009-07-11T13:26:00.003+08:00

I tossed and turned in my bed last night, worried that my two cats would escaped from their cage. It was in preparation for their neutering this morning. I slept and woke up, running to look at their cage and was relieved to see both of them staring back at me behind the wire mesh. I dreamed they escaped and drank water, which disturbed their fasting process. In the middle of the night I woke up a few times because Sherbet kept jumping on my bed, and lying next to me.

6.29am

I woke up a minute before the alarm rang on my mobile phone and went into the bathroom. After bathing, I dressed up and checked all the cats.

7.20am

Salem & Neko-chan all ready in the carrier and good to go. I head out to meet my friend, June to go to the neuter clinic together.

7.40am

Bf & I arrived at the said location at met up with June. I went with June to the Neuter Clinic. We chat about cats and had a few laugh.

8.20am

We arrived at the clinic. We can see a few cars parked outside the premise. We brought our carriers out and sat in the shades. The doctors haven't arrived yet, so we just wait till they're officially opened.

8.30am

The guard told us we can bring the cats into the office and we brought them in. Filled in some forms and left them in the clinic till they're done. We head out for breakfast while waiting. I had fun, chatting with June about our cats and experiences.

10.00am

We head back to the clinic and met some other cat owners. We chat about our cats, their behavior and health. We were somewhat shocked to hear a lady lost 2 of her cats while trying to get them into the clinic. What was even more saddening to me was she blamed her maid for not latching the cage door properly. I find it mind-boggling. The cats are their owner's responsibility, and a part of their family. Why would the maid be responsible for the cage door? Shouldn't the owner double check it on her/his own?? I wrapped extra support for my carrier, even extra wire tied to the cage door so my cats won't ran off. But how can some owners forget these?? It was mind-boggling but I shouldn't judge them. Each to their own.

11.30am

June and I sat outside the clinic and chat up to fill in the time. Salem & Spot (June's kitten) had already done the neutering and are resting inside the clinic. Neko-chan's surgery will probably take time since the doctors usually deals with males before females. As we chat, we were surprised to see yet another escapade. A light-brown seal point siamese look-alike ran as fast as it can across the yard into the bushes. We were stunned to see it happened right in front of our eyes. What was even more surprising was, the cat was carried in what looked like a bird-cage. I shaked my head and frowned. Both June and I were flabbergasted. The cat was bigger than Sherbet ( Sherbet at the moment weights around 4.5kg) and it fit snugly into a carrier I bought in March. Imagine something bigger than 4.5kg in a flimsy bird cage. We discussed the stupidity of some cat owners. As the owner went to looked for the cat, we went inside the clinic to see if our cats are done. I was glad to see Neko-chan up and about and was settling the bill when the siamese look-alike and it's owner came in.

The cat was struggling and the owner was handling it the wrong way (holding it's legs). The cat bit the owner and scrambled inside the office, causing a lot of ruckus. I can see how frightened the cat was, it was crazy running around panicking. The office looked like a tornado had swept in, everything was tossed all over the place, the window blinds broken in pieces. Eventually the cat stood between the window and the blind. The doctor's helper came and catch it, stuff it into a sturdy carrier. I pity the cat, can't say I pity the bleeding owner much. Seems like they don't know how to handle their cat. I just shrugged and thankful the ordeal is over. I glance at the scared siamese look-alike and shake my head. Poor thing, so scared. I settled my bills and went back with June. I was thankful June could send me over the busy road so it'll be easier (and less stressful).

12.30pm

I arrived at the designated place, with my bf waiting to pick me up. I said my thanks to June quickly and ride the motorbike home. I hold the carrier real close and carefully, and ride home.
I am happy all my cats have gone through neutering process with no complication and all that's left now is the nurturing process. I kept them in separate carriers for now and wait till they starts mewing before I let them out into the bigger cage. I want to make sure they are fully awake and stable before transferring them to the cage. My poor cats is still so groggy and weak. The biggest hurdle is already over for me, now all that's left is their monthly food and litter supply, the yearly vaccination and lots of love. I hope they will grow bigger, stronger and healthier.

Kitty Journal 17 - MCC Cat Show 3-5 July & Family Invasion

2009-07-07T15:40:00.005+08:00

MCC Cat Show 3-5th July

I woke up early Sunday morning and went to MidValley Megamall to watch beautiful cats on display and hang out with some friends I made through Petfinders.com.my. There were a lot of people at the event, and some of them brought their pets with them.. beautiful dogs, cute sugargliders, racoons, birds, cats and rabbits. I looked at the cats in the competition and they are beautiful. Although some are quite afraid, probably not used to big crowds and loud noise but still beautiful to my eyes. I met up with friends, chat up and gossip, absorbed everything I can with my eyes and commit them to memory. I have always love looking at beautiful cats and envy them (especially their owners). I could probably get my cats THAT beautiful but will sure need alot of effort and *cough* money. For now, I am just so happy when family and relatives tells me my cats are beautiful and healthy. It means I did the right thing somewhere.

I was glad I went to the event, and get to see close up how cat grooming is done. It looks easy but it gives me a more clear idea how I'm supposed to groom my cats. It has always been sort of a trial and error on my part whenever I groom my cats. Now I know how to do it the right way *smile*. I congratulates all the friends that won on that day, they are brave to enter their cats and I salutes them. I would love to try someday but I will need a lot of practise. My cats need a lot of training as well. When we are confident enough (my cats & I ), we shall venture into the world of cat show!! Although I am not sure when that'll be *laugh*. It was a fruitful day , in my humble opinion and I was happy. What makes it all even more meaningful was that my bf was there with me and we enjoyed the show..

Family Invasion

My family came to stay over yesterday and I welcomed them. My sister is due back at her university for the new semester and it's common for them to put a few nights at my home. This time the visit was rather short because my dad has a guitar class later today (my dad took additional jazz class to deepen his knowledge of jazz for guitars). I am used to my family sleeping over unfortunately, my eldest cat (Sherbet) is rather afraid. Why? Who knows. He has always been a scaredy cat and this time it's the worse.

As soon as my family steps into the house and I let them out of their room, he ran away, body crouching low and ears somewhat lowered (scared stance) and ran into hiding. Salem on the other hand is a regular receptionist. He came over and greets everyone, weaving through their legs, sniffing here and there, rolling about in front of my parents and sister. They were easily charmed by him, the little rascal. He shows no sign of being frightened at all and we all agreed that he is most suitable is I were to take part in a cat show (too bad he's suffering some bald patches at the moment *sighs*). After awhile, bf and I searched the apartment for Sherbet but we couldn't find him. I got worried but after 10 minutes, my bf found him behind the toilet seat, hiding. I slapped my forehead hard and shakes my head. I carried Sherbet into the bedroom and he jumped down, hid under the bed. I know he was kinda shy with my family but this time it was too much. He didn't come out hours later after I sprayed him with water, and ran into another hiding spot. It got me worried too since he didn't touch his food or even use the litterbox. I knew he was scared, so I just let him cool off and calm down. I was kinda disappointed since my family was so looking forward to meeting him.

It continued throughout the day till sleep time. He won't show his face and hid either under the bed or at the edge of the cat's room (where people can't see him). I just let him be and went to sleep. Poor Salem was kinda lonely but luckily my parent was having fun playing around with him. Later that nite, seems Sherbet came out of his hiding and went to greet my parent. He was rolling about beside them, asking for petting services. Once in a while he would come on my bed and sat beside me or near my feet. Such a pampered brat.

As the morning came, I thought he was over being scared but I was wrong. Once he heard the sound of the water kettle whistling, he reverts back to the timid cat and went crounching and all into hiding. My big, eldest cat.. afraid of.. almost everything. I slapped my forehead hard yet again and shakes my head.. What am I going to do with you, boy? And looked at him, wondering.. while he looked back at me with his big, golden eyes..

Kitty Journal 16 - Salem, Food Allergy perhaps? & Litterbox Management

2009-07-06T03:40:00.006+08:00

Salem, Food Allergy perhaps?

I asked opinion from friends in Petfinder and some suggested that Salem's problem was due to food allergy. It made me think, perhaps that is correct. From what I read, food allergy is hard to diagnosed. Only way to find out is to do a food test and see how he reacts. I was thinking flea was the problem but the other 2 cats didn't show any flea allergy reaction (or even signs of flea attacks). I don't see them scratching much.. and they looked fine. Only Salem shows signs of allergy reaction (itching, excessive grooming, bald patches).

I suspected the Kitzyme supplement I bought for my cats. Though the other 2 is fine with it, I guess the ingredient doesn't sit well with Salem. So, for now I will stop giving them Kitzymehindlegs and stomach is balding badly. *Frown* supplement and just stick with the ones vet suggested. I hope Salem will get better though, his

Litterbox Management (and Odor Control)

I have come to love litterbox deodorizer! I admit at start I was rather skeptic but after using them for a month plus, I LOVE IT! It started out as ways to reduce the odor from my cats' litterbox. As an owner of 3 cats, I assure you the smell of cat faeces doesn't faze me at all. I guess, with time, you get used to the smell. In my opinion, if you have cats and you're not used to the smell, you have a problem. But of course, that doesn't mean cat faeces doesn't make me squeamish. *Laugh*

I started goggling about litterbox management and odor control. It was mind boggling how some people can prolonged the use of 5litres of cat sand for more than a week (some even can extend to 1 month). I seemed to run through 5 litres of cat sand for a week, sometimes only for 5 days. Usually the sand starts to smell on the third day.
-I wondered if my scooping technique was wrong.
-Maybe too much force made the clumping balls break?
-Maybe not enough force and left behind residue?
-Maybe my cats is a sewage machine? *giggles*
-Maybe even my scoop or my cat sand is not good enough?

I wrecked my brains trying to figure out how to manage their litterbox. Granted I am kinda lazy and only cleans the litterboxes once a day and am kinda tight on budget but I want to know how other people managed it and I couldn't. Cats will be cats in my opinion, regardless of breed and the amount they poo or pee should be the same. So I goggled and read, voila! found the perfect solution.

The website suggested the usage of litterbox deodorizer and an extra way to clean the litterbox after each the routine scooping. I was rather sceptical at start, can it really reduce the smell? Prolonged the usage of the sand?? I've tried shredded newspaper but the smell was too strong I can't handle it. I even tried recycled paper litter but the ammonia smell was really strong after the 5th day and it was somewhat expensive. Wasting too much money on litter material is too much, don't you think? (Especially since I'm rather tight on budget .. *cry*).

The website suggested to spread a thin layer of litterbox deodorizer on the bottom of the litterbox after you cleaned the litterbox, before putting in new litter sand. (The routine once a week litterbox clean-up). Then put a centimetre or two of litter sand over the thin layer of litterbox deodorizer. Then put another thin layer of litterbox deodorizer, followed by another thin layer of cat sand. I find that the pee and poo clump better and sticks less to the surface of the litterbox (since one of my cat love to dig deep into the litter).

After the routine daily scooping, light up a lighter and run a fire over the surface of the litter sand (as close to the sand as you can). If I remember correctly, it is to burn out the unwanted odor. Then sprinkles a thin layer of litterbox deodorizer on the surface, followed by topping up a small layer of litter sand. I tried it for a month and I have to say it works wonders! The odor is reduced greatly and the sand can last up to 2 weeks. The cost is not as expensive since a bottle / box of litterbox deodorizer is only around RM16-RM19 (I find that the Arms & Hammer Cat Litter Deodorizer works best) and can last to a month or more.

Why I wanted to find solution to litterbox odor? It's because I want guests coming to my home (usually my family) to feel comfortable and not smell cat poo or pee. I want to tell them proudly that I have cats and are not having any foul smell problems (apart from the smell of my garbage bin *laugh*). If you are reluctant to use Litterbox Deodorizer, Soda Bicarbonate works too although it's less effective but it can reduce the odor too (prolly around 20-30% odor reduction). Sadly, I can't remember which website it was....

Hmm enough of my ramblings.. I've written alot today.. I'll write more when I can think of something kitty-related *Smile*..

Kitty Journal 15 - The Return Of Fleas

2009-07-04T00:33:00.003+08:00

THE RETURN OF FLEAS!

Yes, flea attack happened again to my cats. My poor Salem is balding in some spot of his body, poor boy is allergic to flea bites. It pains me to see him scratching non stop but there's nothing much I can do. I watch helplessly and count my coins.

The minute I gather enough money, I bought Frontline Spray, Machiko Shampoo (for flea, tick and lice). I bathe all my cats with Machiko Shampoo, dried them thoroughly. Today, I sprayed Frontline on them and I hope it is enough.

I'm waiting till Sunday and see how Salem handles flea allergy. If he doesn't get better, I'm taking him to the vet.

Weird enough, both Sherbet and Neko-chan doesn't show any symptom of flea allergy. Both looks fine and doesn't scratch as much as Salem. I guess they have more resistance than Salem.

Kitty Journal 14 - Cat's Pregnant Perhaps???

2009-06-23T22:42:00.003+08:00

I send Neko-chan for her 2nd vaccine and it went well.. I even asked the vet to check if she's pregnant.. can't be confirmed though.. maybe she is and maybe she's not..but left side of her abdomen was hardened, so the doctor can't check properly.

It's a mixed reaction, I frowned upon the knowledge that my kitten is pregnant, and worried about her safety .. but on the other hand I am happy I could be a grandma to cute kittens. I want to spay her but I read up that spaying pregnant queen is equal to abortion.. do I want to do that?? Can I do that?? But if I let her come to term with the pregnancy, can she handle it? She was sick for so long due to diarrhea and ringworm, she aren't even 1 yr old. I read that it could end fatally for mother or kittens or both. What do I do? Which one is the right decision?

In a way, I blames myself secretly. I didn't confine her properly and she got out of her cage a few times, hang out with my other kittens (one of em is still intact). Perhaps I was naive in thinking the male kitten is yet to be sexually matured. Ahh.. foolish me. Lesson learned in a hard way.

As I stare at my kittens, I wondered if I can support another kitten. I sat and ponders to myself.. decisions.. decisions....

Kitty Journal 13

2009-06-14T00:35:00.002+08:00

I haven't written in this blog for quite sometime, too busy with life passing by and not making a habit to write it down I guess. My apartment (looks more like a flat) .. have been livelier with each passing day. Sometimes I frown, sigh and even gets angry but most of the time I am happy, smiling and laughing. All thanks to my three little kids : Sherbet, Salem and Neko-chan.

Everyday they bring me joy and I'm hardly ever gets bored (except when I missed my once a week window shopping session.. it gets me real testy).

Sherbet is growing beautifully, already reached 4kg at 8 1/2 months. By the end of this month, he's practically an adult. I really can't believe, the puny, small and skinny kitten I brought back from SPCA in December has grown so big and healthy. Nowadays I need both hands to carry him around, it's hard to balance his whole body with just 1 hand. Doesn't mean he's slowing down as he grows older though..still run around the house with the other 2 kittens.. It scared me when he slams onto the table when he slides while running...

Salem is growing in a way. Not as plump as Sherbet, but more elongated. His coat shines beautifully, he's healthy and active. Although he still suck on shirt, mews loudly when he's bored and eat whatever he come across.. *face palm*. So far, he's the naughtiest but when he looked at me with his big, round orange eyes.. I can't help but laugh, pick him up and stroke him. He's also the friendliest among the three. He will purrs loudly whenever anyone pick him up (even at the vet). Another cute thing about him is the kink at the end of his tail, looks like a cute hook to me. Out of the three cats, he's the one that doesn't even care if he got scolded. Whenever I scolded him for his bad behavior, he'd just lick his fur as if nothing happened or look at me with his huge eyes ( put in flatten ears and he could be the Puss-In-Boots from Shrek2).

Neko-chan is growing healthily too. I was surprised when i brought her to the vet for vaccination, she already weight 2.5kg. She was just 1.5kg the month before when I brought her for diarrhea treatment. She has delicate, small face but her body is getting plumpier. She is more vocal these days. I laughed when I saw here making cute noises while chasing a fly all over the house. She has also shown more signs of being in heat. Having another male cat intact at home really worries me. Even though Salem doesn't look like he is sexually matured, I will never know. I can't keep an eye on them 24-7 to make sure. So, for the meantime I have to confine her in the cage until I can spay her (prolly mid July). A friend told me, she has to wait for 2 weeks after her 2nd vaccination before she could undergo spaying surgery.

Kitty Journal 12 - Neko-chan & My Other Boys II

2009-05-23T20:11:00.007+08:00

I am happy to say my kittens is happy and active. Although I do have some flea / lice trouble at the moment, it will take some time and effort to clear that problem. Be Vigilant!

Neko-chan has gotten much better, I let her out of her cage and let her play with the boys.. She run here and there, wrestle with them. It gives me such delight to see her so active. Her diarrhea is gone, but I still monitor her soft poo. I still gave her Natural Balance Green pea & duck formula, now slowly incorporate Blackwood into her bowl. So far it goes well.. but her poo still smell sour, maybe because she hasn't had any deworm or vaccination yet. I'll get her for those next week :)

Sherbet is as usual, healthy, sneaky anc active. With a female kitten running around and wrestling with Salem, it makes Sherbet more active and running around the house too. He still does mischief, I just need to call out for him to stop and lie down still. Notti boy Sherbet.

Salem has flea allergy .. some of his fur is balding.. and he kept scratching himself. I send him to the vet, he got a jab for flea allergy and I put Frontline combo on all of my furkids. He's growing bigger now, more elongated than plump and such an affectionate kitten. He doesn't want to be held much, but whenever anyone hold him, he would start purring.. *laugh*. He's not a screaming banshee much these days, only when he's hungry or wants to get out of the cat room. Most of the time he spend his days chasing Neko-chan and Sherbet, wrestle with them and lie down wherever he wants.

House is always noisy these days, every now and then I can hear stuff falling down. Luckily I don't have any breakable ornaments in the house. Although I worry whenever I hear any of the kitten screamed in panic. Usually the other kitten were playing too rough. I took some pictures of them and I find Neko-chan is the hardest to snap a photo, she always move around. :)

I edited this photo of them, sniffing on catnip put under the pillow's cover.
Salem, Sherbet & Neko-chan

Salem, lying down on my mattress

Close-up of Salem, my my ..what big eyes you have!

Neko-chan, hiding from my phone camera.

Neko-chan!

Kitty Journal 11 - Neko-chan & My Other Boys

2009-05-08T22:10:00.009+08:00

I haven't written anything on this blog for quite sometime.. Most of the time I think my life and the kitties are rather mundane, monotonous. Sherbet is as naughty as every and Salem is still the whiner. He seldom screams like a banshee but he still whines now and then when he feels bored or need the attention. Neko-chan has improved alot after I gave her Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck Formula. She no longer has runny poo but it's still rather soft and the frequency is still abnormal. I tried really hard to control her food intake these days, didn't want her to get even worse.

Tonight I let her out in the house and she spend the evening running around with my two boys, Sherbet & Salem. Makes the house a bit messy but as long as they are happy, I am content. Since the last time I wrote here, I've brought Neko-chan to the vet for four times in two weeks. I have to thank Kak Zai, one of the Petfinders forumers that gave me the suggestion for Neko-chan to try on Natural Balance kibble. It's worrying to see a female kitten's litterbox is more overwhelmed than the one shared by my two boys. I have a feeling it's still quite a long way before I can get this kitten fully recovered and healthy. The tough part is making sure she doesn't have access to any table food (or any other cat food) so I have to be vigilant and kept other cat food away from her.

These are her latest pictures:

Neko-chan

Salem and Neko-chan on my bed.

Kitty Journal 10 - Neko-chan & The Mines MCC Cat Show

2009-04-17T16:36:00.005+08:00

I haven't post anything the last few days.. I was busy checking on Neko-chan.. Poor girl was so sick..

I went to the vet on Tuesday to get Neko-chan her vaccination and deworming. Unfortunately, she was running a fever and was denied both. I told the doctor she has been suffering from diarrhea and soft poo, so the doctor gave her 2 injections, told us he'd give antibiotic tablets and liquid medication for the diarrhea. We gave our thanks to the good doctor and settled the bills, went back home.

To my chagrin, Neko-chan's situation got worse.... her stool was so watery, eventually mucus came out.. I was worried, but I decided to wait and see if the medication would help lessen the situation. As day became night.. she was still suffering from diarrhea. I wondered that maybe it will take the meds a few days to cure the diarrhea. As time goes by, she got worse, really watery stool and I spend the time wiping the floor of her cage.... It was worrying, and she looked weak. Her stool has even lost the smell and form of normal cat stool, and it smells bloody. I decided to take her to the vet again today.

I woke up early and gave the vet a call to see if they're open and lucky enough, they're open. I got ready, put Neko-chan in the carrier and took her to the vet for the second time in the week. I was really worried.. Sherbet had had diarrhea before, but never this severe. We went in to see the vet and I told the vet what happened, even brought a sample of her stool. The vet says she probably got a case of viral infection and needed IV drip coz she was dehydrated. I smile, and told the doctor to be careful becoz Neko-chan is much more fierce compared to my two boys. She was growling when the doctor put in the needle and was in pain. Normal I reckon, IV drip is somewhat painful. I tried to hold her but she was moving too much it fell off... *sweat* .. the doctor said it was okay, enough liquid went into her body to ensure she's hydrated. Then the doctor gave her 2 injection, that was quite hard. By now, Neko-chan knows the stranger does something painful on her. She was growling and went quite feral it made the doctor jumped. Luckily nobody was scratched.. *laugh* and the good news is Neko-chan got treated. I asked the doctor about the antibiotics the gave me before and told me to stop the said antibiotics and they will give a new one. I said my thanks and went out of the consultation to settle the bills and take the medicine.
Arrived home 10minutes later and put Neko-chan back into her cage. I monitor her stool, the frequency of her diarrhea and found that it has improved a lot. There was less stool outside the litterbox and the consistency of the stool is much more better. I can see the digested food from her stool and no more mucous. She can eat and drink, although seem a bit lethargy, it is understandable. Even human would feel so weak with such a disease, imagine a small kitten.

Today is Monday, 3 days after the last I went to the vet and Neko-chan has improved a lot. Her diarrhea has reduced massively and her appetite has improved a lot. She was more affectionate, started to play around on her own or with me more and no more stool outside litterbox. With each passing day, I can feel she is less in pain. Her stomach was tender the first day, but by today she has no trouble with me holding and rubbing her stomach. Everyday I would take some time and let her out of her cage and roam the room. I can't let her play around with my two boys since she and Salem aren't neutered yet. I don't want to have births in my home, not ready and don't even want to breed cat. Too many strays roaming around my area makes me sad. Made me wonder how many kittens actually survived..

Yesterday I went to see a catshow hosted by the Malaysia Cat Club at the MINES Shopping Complex in Seri Kembangan with my bf. We went at 11.30am and toured the display. So many beautiful cats catches my eyes. I saw a familiar face from Petfinders but didn't have the courage to walk up and say hi. I wasn't that familiar with the person anyway, would be embarrassed if I walk up and says hi but the person would not even know me.. hehe.. I am a shy person anyway (roll eyes). I saw a sphinx, beautiful in it's own but I find it odd to see a fur-less cat. I saw a few Maine Coons, some Persians, Exotics but then again.. they could all be Domestic Long Hair, Domestic Semi-Long Hair or Domestic Short Hair for all I know.. (laugh). Still, they were all beautiful. Some were really huge .. I even commented they are like the St. Bernard of cats and some were petite. I hang out quite some time at Argo, a cat owned by Pakcu, a Petfinders member, at the catshow. I recognize him from the picture posted in forum and called his name from outside the cage. He was so affectionate, rolling over in the cage (I assume expecting a belly rub) and rubbing his face and body on the cage. Ohh, how adorable and cute.
Although it was a nice catshow and alot of people came, I was somewhat frowning at the visitors that came to the show. A lot of them poked their fingers in the cage, from one cat to another, some poked in straws, paper and even tissue into the cage. There is a lot of education needed to educate people on the danger of simply stroking one cat and another. The risk of transmitting disease, their oily fingers would rub off oil onto the shiny coat of the cat, and it also made the cats more scared. I fumed secretly inside, I am neither an owner of the cats there nor the committee. So I just stared at these people and wonder if they even listened half ear to the announcement the catshow committee has been saying. My bf pointed out it's human nature to want to touch something beautiful. True, but it is wrong. People should know that all the cats are part of family of the owner, would you be comfortable with strangers poking and stroking your child? I resisted the urge to touch any of the cats there after I read the complaint of a fellow catshow enthusiast. There is a lot of education needed to educate malaysians on the proper behaviour at catshows, or any exhibitions in my opinion. Probably the next time a catshow is held, a restriction walkway have to be created a meter away from the cages so that people won't poke their fingers in. I even saw a guy trying to get a picture of a cat by shoving his mobile inside the cage. Too bad the cat was too well behaved. I wish the cat was like my boys at home, swiped the mobile phone and push it down to the floor from the side of the cage (evil grin). I saw a kid got swiped on the face by a cute kitten. Serves the kids right (I laughed and said to my bf). Parent should educate their children how to behave in public and not poke a finger inside a cage (or your face in front of the cat's..haha ). I later found out the cat belonged to another member of Petfinders, EJ and the cat's name is Ray. Found out the cat has been rather grouchy the past few days, he even swiped the judge (laugh). I guess some guys have bad days (smile). Then again, if I were those cat, I would be grouchy too. It was noisy, strangers poking their head and fingers at me, it smells weird, I can smell so many different cat scent in the air.. I would be a terrified cat or a grouchy one, I tell you.
It was a nice experience for cat owners to put their cats in a catshow. Other than showing off your beautiful cats, you get to meet new people, make friends other cat lovers and get experience how to handle your cat during a catshow. I would probably love to join a catshow, but not till I can handle my cats properly. One is a "easily-terrified" kitten, one is a screaming banshee, and another is still sick and not to mention very grouchy. I can imagine Sherbet mewing frightened (or huddled in a corner shivering), Salem would probably mew from the top of his lung like he was destined for the gallows and Neko-chan would probably swipe and growl at every person that tried to peer into her cage(laugh). I bought some rubber mice for my kittens and a bag of clumping cat litter to test how good it is. I heard from some friends that Katty Cat clumping sand is very good and cheap at some places, so I decided to try. Better to try small amount before I buy a huge bag.
Next in my agenda is Salem's second vaccine and next week, if Neko-chan is healthy enough, it's her turn to get a vaccine. So many things to do everyday, life could never be boring. Never regret the decision I made to adopt a kitten, look where it got me now.. I feel happy everyday, I have plenty of exercise (scooping litterbox is serious business, I practically went into Master Archaeologist mode) and I get to have unconditional love and affection everyday. What else would a girl want? *Smile*

Kitty Journal 9 - Neuter Part I

2009-04-12T01:28:00.006+08:00

Saturday, April 11th

5.30am: I woke up early this morning, somewhat anxious for my 1st neutering experience. I've kept Sherbet in a cage without food or water the night before and imagining, how the process goes.

6.45am: I was ready to go and meet June, a forumer from Petfinder who is willing to give me a ride to the neuter clinic.

7.00am: Bf picked me up in front of my block and send us to the gas station not far from June's place. I covered the carrier with a T-shirt so that Sherbet won't be too frightened of the noise and sound while on motorbike.

7.15am: Arrived at the said petrol station and waited for a few minutes. A silver kancil, driven by a petite lady honked at us. Aha! It's June.. I recognize her from pictures I saw in Petfinder forums. I shake hands with her and off we went to the neuter clinic. We chat along the way, telling stories about cats. It shows how much she love cats and rescues them. I admire her dedication. Such effort is not cheap, or easy. It is time consuming and cost quite alot too.

8.00am: We arrived at the neuter clinic. Some workers are loitering around, waiting for their duties and the guard told us the clinic won't be open till 9am, we just nodded. Luckily, June bought some newspapers and we read abit while chatting about cats, experience with cats and such. I love meeting a person who has so much knowledge and experience. A good opportunity to learn. She told stories of a Persian, ran off frightened into a bushes nearby because the owner came without carrier of leash. A few barks from the dogs in the dog pound and the poor thing ran into the bushes. Said to take quite sometime to find it, owner got scolded by the doctor there (I was like.. it's so obvious.. stated in the rules and regulation to bring carrier / leash pets..*rolls eye*) I guess some owner didn't read much *laugh*.

8.30am: The staff there gave us Green colored form to fill in our particular and pet's. It's a neuter form, so I filled it and waited.

9.00am: Dr Krishnan came. We greet him and followed him into the office. By now, around 4, 5 people have arrived, carrying their pets for neutering. I love seeing other cats.. so beautiful. We went into the office, get our numbers and tag and leave the our cat in their respective carrier. We walked to a nearby stall to chat and have breakfast while waiting for the neuter process.

10.15am: We went back to the clinic to check on our pet but they haven't come out from the operating room yet. June told me, the vets there usually prefers to neuter male first than spay females because the procedure is much more easier. They just need a small incision, pull out the testicles, sew and cut it. We waited outside and chat.

10.30am: Many cats have been brought out of the operating room including my Sherbet. He looks weak and groggy, but he managed to lift his head and looked around. I heard from the assistant there, they will only let the pet leave operating room after they can lift their head up. My Sherbet looked weak and disoriented, poor kitten. But I know he will feel better soon. June's female stray cat hasn't come out yet. It's probably because there's a lot of male cats today, they do the neutering on male cats first. A man came with 2 cats was denied a neutering on 1 of his cats because it has an eye infection. The assistant explained to him the cat has some watery discharge from it's eye and advice the owner to get the cat to a vet for treatment before neutering. I just listened abit, paid the bill and waited outside.

10.45am: A couple came in with 2 huge carriers, each holding 3 cats. All the cats looked like adult. At a glance, they looked beautiful. I especially love the black one, and another brown colored pointed cat. As I peer into the carriers, I can smell pungent urine coming from the inside of the carriers. Hmm, I thought..that's odd. My Sherbet is a really scaredy cat but he never peed when he's scared. Closer inspection shows the cat's coat was rather dull. June asked the owner if the cats are stray, the guy told us it's theirs and they're giving it away. We went outside the office, sat there and discuss. The cats looks like it's not properly cared for.. they smell and the coat is dull. From the way the owner looks, they are not from a low income family. The car looks expensive, the carriers look sturdy and expensive. Can't help but wonder why they are giving away their cats.. but I dare not ask. Each to each own I guess...

11.15am: June's cat came out of the operation room, looking groggy and weak. She paid her bill and we went out the clinic. It was smoldering hot but we have to rush back. June has to rush for her work and I hate to impose on her. I told her to drop me off where she picked me up before and I'll tell my bf to pick me up there.

11.45am: We arrived at the petrol station and lucky enough, my bf arrived a minute later. I shake June's hand, give my thanks and went back to my place. Sherbet inside the carrier, covered with a T-shirt. I am totally indebted to June for the ride. I would have trouble getting my kitten to the neuter clinic but she has helped me tremendously. From the bottom of my heart, thanks alot June. I can't give you anything much than a thank you for now :-S

12.00am: I arrived at home with Sherbet safely. Put him in the cage and monitor him. Poor thing peed and wet himself. I read up cat after neutering will have trouble controlling their bladder and I understands. I am just glad Sherbet successfully went through the surgery. I am so relieved. The first experience was always the most frightening (for me anyway)..but I'm lucky to go with a fellow cat lover who is more experienced. I will be more ready for my next kitten neuter :)

The first few hour was gruelling for me.. I worry seeing Sherbet try to move around.. sometimes holding his head up.. sometimes falling asleep. I tried giving him kibbles and water..but he kept tilting the plate. I cleaned up the mess and asked fellow forumers about post-neuter care. Luckily BB pointed out it's better to give wet food for easier poo. I take out the kibbles, dump it in Salem's bowl and take out the wet food. It was lucky I kept extra wet food since Petsmore have some wet food promotion. I split a can of wet food for 3 kittens with me. Both Salem and Neko-chan ate fast and finished within minutes. Sherbet took hours to finish his share. Poor boy. I gave him encouragement and called his name. His cage smells of urine but I wasn't sure what to do.
I text June and ask her opinion on wiping Sherbet with wet towel, she gave the green light. Wiping is okay but keep it minimum. I carried Sherbet and locked him in the carrier, mopped the floor of the cage, wipe it dry and then takes Sherbet out, wiped his body with a towel dipped in warm water. I cleaned half his body which was covered with his own urine earlier. He didn't mew, so I'm guessing a wipe is okay for him. I cleaned him up and then put him in the cage again. He can already poo, which means he is getting better.
A few hours later, Sherbet can already sit comfortably and eat with more appetite. I am happy to see the development. I hope he will get stronger and better. He meow slowly when I called his name.. Such an affectionate boy...

On another note, Neko-chan is getting so much better. Her face is less "coarse" and the big crusty ringworm patch on her right abdomen is gone. It's smooth and fur less at the moment but I'm sure the fur there will grow back soon. I am really happy with the development and that she's getting better. I will monitor her more and give update on her soon.

Salem the screaming banshee..? He's happy and active as usual.. nothing bothers him..except if he's locked up somewhere or left behind somewhere (e.g : when I go to the bathroom and locked the door.. ). He mews loudly when Sherbet and I was at the clinic (my bf said).. I'm guessing he was worried about his big bro. As loving as this may sound.. he will still try to steal his brother's food if he can. Such a bad boy Salem... *laugh*

Kitty Journal 8 - Rescuing the Smoky Stray

2009-04-10T05:17:00.006+08:00

After seeing the kitten, I can't help but feel sorry for it. I wanted to do something but financially, I am not very ample. I posted the picture, some brief description and my worry about the kitten. I would take it if I could.. but I have 2 kittens, male.. another kitten, female..would mean my finance is stretched really thin. I asked friends in Petfinders, what would they do? In other words, I wondered if I should do something about the kitten.. Most probably I needed a nudge..
A few forumers replied, expressing worry and pity over the kitten. Some even offered to sponsor the kitten (since I was kinda tight).. for medical cost and such. I agreed to save the kitten. Was it because of the enthusiasm of the forumers? Definitely. Was it because I have some degree of compassion? Probably.. Was it because some people, stranger I never met would give me a hand with a stray nobody looked twice at? Most definitely. These people's love and helpfulness touched me. Some of them have a lot of cats and still are saving strays. Granted I am not as rich as I want to be (mostly because I don't even have a job..) but saving a kitten, a life should be important.

I decided to pick up the kitten as suggested by forumers. I was going to agree to have them give me some money for saving this kitten but I feel guilty. What if, after these friends I met through a forum gives me sponsorship for this poor kitten but I decided to keep it? Doesn't that make me a cheater? How will I pay them back? Can I pay them back? Will they trust me? and Do I trust them? All these questions circled my head. I asked my sister, who had agreed to help me finance my kittens to pay for her share. She had skipped payment for two months abd I have to push her to pay. She was the one that gave me a nudge to adopt kittens, but balked when told to pay. She promised, and she has to keep it. I am no push over. I knew she would never want the responsibility.. only wants to have fun and play with them. Well.. she has to play her part .. *grin*. I decided to decline the finance helped offered by forumers, I want to try and help her myself. I promised them, if I were too broke, I'll let them know. Sad to know I still have allowance, and from this allowance, I split my money for bills, groceries, kitten food and such. I know I'm really stretching my money thin this week, but I have to do something. I will have headache later when I have to pay my bills.. but I will worry when the time comes.
On wednesday night, at 11pm, I wore latex glove and searched for the kitten. It was sitting in front of a neighbour's door. I picked her up and quickly put her in the bathroom. I bathe her thoroughly with anti flea and mite shampoo, she didn't struggle much, just mews softly. Compared to Salem's loud screaming, hers was so soft, it's music to my ears. I scrubbed her clean and combed her fur to push out all the mites. I tried to rub her with a towel, but she struggled, so I just left her in the bathroom. I create a small compartment for her using a turned laundry basket, with makeshift shredded newspaper litterbox, food bowl and drinking water. I grabbed her in the bathroom and put her under the laundry basket. She mews for awhile..but stay quiet once under the laundry basket. I had kept both my boys in their room prior to picking her up. I cover the basket with cloth and let her rest in there for the night.
Thursday morning, I woke up early and waited for bf to come pick us up. We went to the government vet, 10minutes ride from my place. To my suprised, she hardly make any noise.. only a few mews and she was quiet all the way. It was mind-boggling, I had two screaming boys and this girl doesn't even make a squeak. She is well behaved in my opinion. At 8.30am, the vet has had a few people lining up for consultation. Thank god I came early, I told my bf. Vet has yet to open, but we're already no.4 that morning. Luckily the waiting was short because two people before us had appointment for neutering. We went in and showed the doctor. I was worried this ktiten had mange, a kind of burrowing mite. But doc looked and said it's ringworm. The side of her belly was infected too and was injected with some kind of steroid. She was angry, doc said the meds has burning sensation, it's bound to make the poor kitten angry. After a frontline smear, she's all done. Doctor told bf and I to put medicated cream on the infected area twice a day, and come back next week for vaccine, again in three weeks for the ringworm follow up check. I was slightly relieved there was nothing else dangerous. We went back happily and I started surfing for information on ringworm.
It was terrifying, this disease is highly contagious. I have two kittens at home and I worry, but I can't totally isolate her, it's too cruel. So, I decide to put her, still under the laundry basket and changed her bedding everyday. I make sure I wear gloves when handling her and wash my hands and feet after handling her. I'll try to be as careful as I can. We put the cream after we came back home and she slept, lie down quietly in her little spot. But I've noticed the scratching has reduce tremendously. The night before she was scratching all the time, but after the first medication, she has improved alot.
At night time, bf and I put the cream on her again and I was flabbergasted to see most of her face was infected with ringworm. It breaks my heart to see such beautiful, small creature hurt so badly. As heart-breaking as it is, I think the little kitten has it hard. She is confined in a strange house, she is being rub with some kind of icky stuff, and she has humans near her, but nobody pets her. I hope I can do more for her. I really hope so. As the night grow long and quiet, I glance at her in her small space and pray with all my heart, she will be better and healthier. I will ask friends in Petfinders if they have some alternatives, additional advice to help this kitten. I also feel I have to check her thorougly and see how bad her ringworm is. She doesn't trust us, but I hope she knows we're trying to help her. I will not say how she will end.. or where will she be in future.. for now.. I'll just say she's mine. The well mannered lady from the block. I will help you, as much as I can..
Oh yes, did I tell you? Bf and I named her Neko-Chan. :)

Kitty Journal 7 - Salem's Vaccine, The Sick Cat & The Smoky Stray

2009-04-08T01:04:00.005+08:00

Salem had his first vaccine yesterday, and he looks okay. When my kittens get their first vaccine, I breathe a sigh of relief.. this means their chance of survival is upped and I won't worry as much.. Salem reacts differently to the vaccine though.. last time, when Sherbet got his first vaccine, he slept all the way home. Salem, as usual, screams loudly all the way. Guess that's a way to know my black banshee here is healthy.. *laughed*.

At the vet, we saw a lady holding a huge cat, wrapped in a sarong. The cat looks beautiful, white with black spots. As we smiled at her, she told us her cat has blood in pee problem and the bloody smell was too much. As she walked by, we can smell the urine and I thought this cat have a serious problem. There was alot of people at the vet and Salem, the little banshee was really restless. He was probably looking for Sherbet, and uncomfortable with crowd and the smell of other cats and the dogs. After waiting for almost an hour, our number were called into the consultation room. Lo and behold, the white cat earlier was on the table in the same consultation room, sedated. It's huge eye were wide and unblinking, sending shivers down my spine. I looked and saw a small pool of blood in a metal bowl on the table, his pee wets the thick paper lining the table and the doctor was checking his fur. I guessed the cat had flea or mite problem and I was right, as I saw the doctor put on Frontline on it's neck. As the doc put the cat on IV drip, I asked "what was the problem?" and she said "The cat's can't pee, too much eating low quality cat food and nothing else". I was shocked, the doctor named some brands and I gave my kittens those brand back when I just started having cats at my home. From the conversation we had earlier with the cat's owner, the cat is 3 years old and been eating the said cat food for the duration. It was horrifying, for a cat to eat the cat food for 3 years and get THAT sick. Imagine if he ates em longer.. (cat have been said to live for 15 years). I thanks my friends in Petfinders for pointing me at the right direction in cat nutrition. Imagine how much it costs to cure ur beloved cats, just because you skimp on their food. Prevention, is always better than cure...

Today, I went to shop for a water bottle for pets and was surprised when the salesperson said it is unsuitable for cats to use the water bottle. I decided not to buy it and caught my attention on a carrier. I need a sturdy carrier and something smaller than what I had with me at home. We found a nice, yellow carrier, sturdy for quite a bargain, in my opinion. Bought some wetfood for furkids at home and came home for awhile, to send the items I've bought and quickly went to the hypermarket to buy some groceries.

I saw a kitten, sitting on the old table near the elevator. Ah, I've remembered my bf talking about it, how beautiful the color of the kitten, how friendly. It followed my bf to my house one day but we can't let it in because my 2 kittens are quite fierce to newcomers and I'm afraid the stray might have some disease. I looked closely and saw that it is very beautiful, looked closely at it's behind and saw that it's female. How beautiful, I thought to myself. I comtemplate about her as I went to the hypermarket. How I would love another kitten, a female.. but alas, I can't afford one. Having another kitten would mean I have to buy another litterbox and another bag of cat littersand. I am already stretching my money as it is. I also have 2 male kittens not yet neutered, aged 6 and 3 months old. One is due for a neuter soon, and I'm stretched out financially. I could never bring in a female kitten. I feel sad, helpless, here is a beautiful, tame kitten but there's nothing I can do about it. Times like this I wish I have the money to help it.. get it cleaned, healthy and maybe put up for adoption or keep it all for myself. Somewhere along the way, I find that I love cats. They weren't merely companions, they are my family, my heart and soul. If I could have my way, I want to save them all.
I came back from shopping and watched the kitten with sad eye, I can't help her as I helped my 2 boys. I hope, with all my might that she will be healthy and still be around everyday. I asked bf to give her some catfood so she won't starve. I really hope, she won't get pregnant soon and have more stray kittens running around the place unmanaged. I can only wish, hope and look from afar.
At the moment I wrote this blog, I wondered if I should name her..
Seeing alot of "Salems" in the apartment area makes me sad.. I just heard a young kitten mews downstairs, a replica of my screaming banshee and I wondered, how fast can a cat get pregnant.. and wondered..

Am I doing enough just to give them food? I could only give a loud sigh and stare out the window at the stray running around in the children's playground. I could only wish I can do more...

Kitty Journal 6 - DIY Cat Tunnel & Kitty Bathtime

2009-04-04T23:21:00.015+08:00

I was restless and awake at 5am this morning, and decided to make my own DIY Cat Tunnel... I had some leftover from the DIY cage I made a few days ago and some cloth (which has been lying around since god knows when..). I got the idea, the rough sketch.. the hard part is the sewing, since I don't have any sewing machine

I cut the leftover metal mesh into 2 strips, same length and dull the sharp edge by folding them over and put a duct tape over it. Lay down the metal strip on the cloth, cut it and starts sewing.. An hour later, with a needle, a roll of thread, love, sweat and neck pain (damn, sewing manually sure is tough on ur neck). Voila!

Finish product..

Here I have my two lovely kittens modelling in the cat tunnel..

I slept late and woke up late today.. kitten were scrambling to get out of their room. I woke up groggily, opened their door and let them run around while I boil water. Saturday is a beautiful day for bathing session for my 2 lovely furkids.. For some unbeknown reasons, I love bathing my kittens, doing basic grooming on them. I pour the boiling water into a pail and pour in cold water, gauging the temperature. I grab a towel for Salem and he shall be the first swimmer! ... Since he's small, he's rather easy to manage, I just grab him and hold him firmly while scrubbing his fur.. I love the kitten's shampoo..it smells of apples and lasts for days. Salem is pretty quick to clean, wet his fur.. put on shampoo.. scrub everywhere.. and rinse. I slowly squeeze the water out of his fur and voila, he's done. I wrapped him in his towel.. all warm and cuddly.
Salem all warm and cuddly..

Sherbet on the other hand is quite a struggle.. Once we stepped into the shower room, he knows what is happening.. He starts roaming around the bathroom and mewing, staring at me. I bathe him carefully since I had bad experience of him, clinging on to my chest last week.. I wet his fur slowly, calling his name, talking to him, reassuring it's all okay. Then same as Salem, I put the shampoo, scrub him up and down. Sherbet took some time since he's a Semi-Long Hair cat. He didn't struggle as last week, just very vocal. I'm guessing the water temperature is suitable. A good scrub, a nice rinse and wrapped up in a huge towel. Salem gets dry easily since he's shorthaired, but Sherbet took some time. Since Sherbet is frightened at the sound of vacuum cleaner and hair dryer.. I just left him in the cage that I made a few days back for him to get dry.

After a nice bath, I gave them anchovies and a nice, yummy Fancy Feast wetfood. Both gobble them up fast and after a nice bath, a good meal..both went for a nice nap...

Kitty Journal 5

2009-04-03T21:44:00.004+08:00

Something funny happened yesterday in my apartment. I turn on television and watch now and then while sitting in front of computer. On air was the show "999", a show about real life police raid, murder case, police stuff. To my surprise, Salem was watching the show quietly. Who would've thought? My kitten likes police show.. haha.. He watched the show till finished and fall asleep in front of the television..

I have kept my cute kittens in their room the past few weeks every time I eat or sleep. Yesterday, after seeing them sleeping on my mattress I decided to let them sleep with me. Nothing like having a warm body snuggle up to you :)

Lucky enough, both my kitten is sleeping happily. Salem is curled up next to my thigh, Sherbet prefer to sleep on his own, on a chair near the bed. It was restful, none of them did any mischief till morning.

Sherbet likes to spend his time hanging out by the window, watching whatever was outside. Daytime, it's usually the birds..night time, I could only wonder. He has been very affectionate lately, rubbing his face and fangs almost everywhere.. Maybe he's marking his territory?

I have also seen the hierarchy system working in my house. Once in a while I would see Salem grooming his brother, Sherbet, licking his ears, face, neck. I'm guessing Sherbet is the alpha male in the house.. a cuddly one. Sometime I call him little tiger, because of his coloring..

Today was fogging day at my apartment. At 5pm, I can hear the humming of the machine, and faintly smell the smoke coming in. I quickly let out both my kitten from their room, since I know how frighten Sherbet can be. He was running back and forth in the living room, hiding under the chair. But I guess the noise was still too loud for him to handle, he jumped on my lap but looked anxious. He was looking around, frightened. I had to hug him closely and mutter soothing word of comfort to calm him down. After the fogging sound pass by, Sherbet calmed down and went about his business as usual (laze around the house, curl n sleep wherever he wants, run around with Salem). Sherbet is easily frightened by loud noises, he would run to curl by my feet whenever that happens. I think he has improved a lot these days, the first month I had him, he was easily frightened by the sound of footstep outside my front door, children running about, practically any sound would make him run back to my feet, ears flat. These days, only the loud fogging machine scared him. Although he curls near my feet when it's raining. The psychology of cats, it is so mysterious to me. I want to learn and know more about it :)

Kitty Journal 4

2009-04-02T11:27:00.004+08:00

I woke up early today to send Salem to the vet for his 1st vaccine and deworm treatment. It's mind boggling how the small, puny kitten bf and I picked up at the dumpster grow up to be healthy, active and somewhat a screamer..

At 8.15am, I was set and ready to head to the vet. Grabbing Salem and put him inside the carrier was a breeze, he's still small and doesn't struggle much (unlike Sherbet). He looks kinda panicky at start, but I figured it would be so since he is a kitten that hates to be caged. I went downstairs to ride the bike with bf, I haven't even sit on the motorbike when Salem started singing soprano. It was somewhat a 10minute grueling ride. Salem was screaming his lung off, and I was feeling embarrassed. The way Salem was screaming, you'd think I was abusing him, pulling his nails out one by one. I dreaded the stop at red light, passerby and other motorcyclist was looking at us. Typical Salem, he just never shut up. As we got closer to the vet, I anticipated a few minutes of taking him out and calming him down before vet consultation.

To my surprise, the vet was having a Veterinary month event and the clinic was closed for the day. They invited us to join, some even thought we were one of the demonstrator for the event. I just laughed at the idea. I would love to stay for the event if it was Sherbet that I brought with me. He's much more quiet than Salem. I had to decline their offer and got ready to go back home. They asked us to put our name on the guest book and we did just that, got 2 goodie bags for us. Cool, a sample of cat food, multivitamins and some snacks for us. Happily we went back home, as usual, Salem is screaming his lungs off. One could only wonder how a small kitten can scream for such a long time and not have sore throat. That's my banshee.. a mere 20-30minutes screaming is nothing to him.. he can go for hours when I lock him in the kitty room with Sherbet when I sleep. Time could only tell when will Salem stop screaming like a banshee and my guess is.. never.. lol...

Kitty Journal 3 - PVC DIY Cage

2009-03-31T14:05:00.010+08:00

Ahh...... the night before, Sherbet sprayed me. It was surprising (especially since this was my first experience).. Some people might find it kinda gross.. but it doesn't bother me. Luckily enough, his spraying didn't smell. It made me think about neutering him quickly and getting a cage.

After much browsing, it seems buying a metal cage is more costly. So, I decided to make my own cage. I got the ideas from some forumers in Petfinders (Pakcu and NamakuAriff) on making my own cat cage. I have always been good at imagining things, basic planning and simple structural drawing. I got this idea to make a simple 3' x 2' x 2' cat cage.

I sketch out the cage, gauging the length, how many pvc pipes needed and the connectors needed. We went to the hardware store and gauge the price. I estimated around RM 80-90. So, I made up my mind and bought the materials. It wasn't easy holding 5x3' pipes, 16 x 2' pipes, 6 x 1.5' pipes and 4x1' pipes with 5' of metal mesh. Phew.. my hand looks like waffle when I arrived home.

Bf and I put together the pipes and connector, then put them together using masking tape to see how it fits. We had alot of trial and error... I forgot to calculate in the connectors and how they increase the length of the cage frame by 1" per connector. So we had to measure the pipes and cut them again.

Testing out the how the frames fit together

The hard part for me was adjusting the metal mesh, it was a cheap one and some of the edges tend to break off. So I had to take some time and twist the extra end of the wire mesh so that it won't sort of "unravel". Next, we glue the pvc pipe together to create 6 rectangle frames (including the door). This was abit tricky since some of the 90° connector was really tight. After alot of banging, struggling, tweaking and assembling.. the cage is finished. Took around 4-5 hours but I am proud.. not too shabby for a first timer.

Just finished the cat cage.. messy messy workplace

Sherbet, modelling inside the cat cage in the kitty room.

Next on agenda is getting Sherbet to a vet for neutering.

Kitty Journal 2

2009-03-28T14:40:00.003+08:00

So far, everything looks okay. No vomit were spotted anywhere in the house, I'm guessing one of my kitten ate something that didn't agree with his stomach. I let my kittens free earlier today and continued to sleep. I woke up once in a while to see them chasing each other across the room, wrestling as usual. Seems they're both healthy.

Sherbet is due for a neuter soon and I prefer to have my kittens neuter as soon as possible. Unfortunately I am rather tight on money, seems the economy is going downward lately. Luckily, I saved some money for my kittens. I need a cage, but due to monetary problems, I decided to try and make a cage. Saw some interesting ideas on Petfinder Forum, now I just hv to design, calculate and convince my bf that I can build it.... Let see how it goes :)

Kitty Journal 1

2009-03-28T00:52:00.004+08:00

Today I woke up late and was horrified to see 2 pools of vomits in the kittens room.. It consists of digested and half digested kibble, pet milk and I'm guessing, stomach acid. It smelled sour. I wondered who the vomit belongs to while I clean em up.. from the amount of the vomit, can't be Salem.. he's too small... I'm guessing it was Sherbet, but I'm not sure because it happened while I was sleeping.

I decide to wait and see how the kids do.. can't bring them to vet if I don't know which of them have a health problem... Maybe he ate something that made him vomit.. I'll wait and see..

As usual, both kitten play happily, jumping around and wrestling each other. I love seeing their happy tail swishing. It's so adorable.

Store Room conversion

2009-03-24T20:59:00.005+08:00

I live in a small apartment, well..more like a small flat all by myself most of the time. Sometimes bf comes over for lunch or dinner.. and once in a while my sister or my parent came to visit or go shopping and stayed at my home. It's a small home with 2 rooms and a storeroom. I was worried about parents getting disturbed by my kittens, I decided to clean up the store room and convert it into kitty room. They can have their own space, mess the room, the odor of litter box is limited and my family can be happy, so can the kittens.

I called over my bf and my sister to come and help clean the storeroom, which has junks of almost 4 years. I am the type of person who like to hoard things so.. there's a lot of useless stuff that I just put in the storeroom. Took almost 8 medium trash bags to clear the storeroom! I wondered to myself, how a small room like that can handle so much junk.. knowing myself, I would probably think whatever I kept in there can be used in the future.. right...(I told myself).. Cleaner up the room, put floor lining and arranged the litter box, the small scratch post I made and some furniture that I re-do for my kittens plaything. I hope they can hang out, have fun and get some privacy in the room. It has a small window, which I always kept almost shut. I want the room to have some ventilation, and not provide a dangerous space for kitten to fall through. I also kept a huge card box in the room for my kitten to paw on. At the moment the room is scattered with some newspapers and rags for the to play or lie down on. I would buy a cage in future so I can use it to quarantine my kittens in case of injury, sickness or to keep them out of mischief when I clean the house. My kitten has some kind of fascination with brooms, terrified of vacuum cleaner and the hairdryer. Brooms are the easiest way to clean their room at the moment although I don't do it too often. I could never get their room in a organized way, everything just goes anywhere in that room. As long as they are happy in their little room, I am happy. I could put them in the room so they don't disturb me when I sleep or eat my meals.
I made a taller scratch post for my kittens, but since I'm on a tight budget, it's very bare and simple. I think I will let is stay at it is for now, and attached me elaborate platform as time goes by.. I like working with my hands, but I'm not perfect.

At the end of a long day, I managed to get my kittens their own room. Might not be furnished much.. but it's a start..

Nail Scraping Moments

2009-03-24T20:28:00.003+08:00

I woke up today to a painful wake up call. My two kittens.. sometimes I call them 1/2 monkey kittens, decided to play tag and lo and behold, Sherbet decided to make my arm as his leverage. The pain of nail digging into you scream makes you pop your eyes wide open and scream.

From the looks of thing, he didn't even care or know what happened. Sighs, darn cat. I just babble and clean off the wound, put some salve on it. It wasn't the first time but definitely not the last I'll tell you that. Especially with Sherbet weighing around 3kg, he fails at trying to jump on people's lap now and then. In this hot, humid weather wearing cotton shorts or pants is normal and it isn't an anti-claw material, I'll tell you that. Oh well, we'll just take it as the mark of love .. *giggles*

Thing looks pretty good in terms of the kittens' health. They always jump and wrestle around, sometime chasing me back and forth kitchen to the living room. Sherbet, I suspected has weak stomach and have been having soft poop once in a while. Kinda wondered what he does when I wasn't watching.. licking bathroom floor? Pawing through trash? Cats are mysterious and in Sherbet case, he can be quite stealth. Last time I caught him eating bones from trash, he got diarrhea for a week.. schmuck cat! Salem, has cast iron stomach! He ate papaya a few days back, that surprised me (although I read up a forumer in Petfinders Malaysia, that his cat..named Salem too, loves to eat papaya).. Never did it cross my mind my black screaming banshee is the same. The lil guy wouldn't stop mewing at my feet as I was eating the papaya (it wasn't sweet enough anyway..) so I put the leftover down on the floor and he was chewing as if it's the yummiest thing. Who would've thought, my lil screaming monkey loves papaya.. the week before he begged for corn kernels from my parents.. I had fallen asleep in the living room when my mom was steaming sweet corn kernels. When I woke up, family was telling me how Salem was munching on corn kernels.. sighs.. you'd thing I didn't give them good, healthy, yummy cat food.. Told my parent to not give him anymore because I read up grains are not good for cats, especially corns. But knowing Salem.. he likes to begs for anything.. I had to lock him in the cat room during my meals. He would mew loudly near my feet, sometimes jumping on my lap to try his luck at sneaking a bite. Not on my watch, sorry, I like to eat my meal by myself and not share it with furry kids.. He also came by and stole chickpea while I wasn't looking.. geee.. this little kitten doesn't care what he eats! From my scoop the poop session, I dun see any trouble with his digestive system. Always looks firm and solid, except when I give my kittens milk or wetfood.

Sherbet lately is in his "big boy" mode. He would prefer to be a loner, sitting in faraway corner to himself, sleeping or just lazing around. Ignores me or bf when we call him (except when I have food or their multivitamin in my hands..) and sometimes mews at the door.. I'm guessing some cats pass by the front door and said hi.. Most of the time he wouldn't even want to play, just staring intently. I would say he would only participate 30% of the time. Most of the time, he just look and did nothing. Fine by me, he's a big boy now... but he's still my boy :) Just a few more weeks for another visit to the vet. I like him to stay indoor and not go out getting girlfriends, I'm a greedy mom. My boys are mine :P

Another day pass with me and the kids.. the trouble I have now is Salem. He's still too vocal, and still sucking on t-shirts. It minds boggle me sometimes.. granted he's an orphaned kitten but he's almost 3 months now.. shouldn't it stop.. sometime now? He's too vocal personality is also making me embarass.. living in a flat cum apartment is not easy, the walls are not as thick and having a kitten mewing loudly is not a good greeting to my neighbours. It's mind-boggling how Salem mews a lot when he's locked up in the cat room with his brother.. sometimes he would mew loudly outside the bathroom door (when i bathe).. and even in front of the bedroom door when i change clothes. Does it bother him when I left him outside the door? Perhaps.. If only I could talk cats.. life would be easier... Sad to say I'm giving Salem a few more weeks.... if he doesn't behave, I guess I have to put him up for adoption. His loud mewing keeps me awake at night and having him roam the house when I sleep is not a good option either, he likes to climb up the bed, climb on my body, suck my t-shirt or even sit on my head. The pawing while he sucks doesn't help either.. claws scraping on ur skin makes you awake. I will be sad if I have to let him go but I hope I don't have to.. I really really hope I don't have to...

Cuddly Moments

2009-03-23T22:54:00.014+08:00

What I like most about having 2 kittens is watching they snuggle up together. The picture is so serene and loving that I just had to take a snapshot. Times like this makes me wish I have a digital camera. Only time will tell..

Anyway, it seems that it's routine for my 2 kittens to snuggle up for a few hours every day. These are the few snapshots I took of them... how cute...

Furkid number two, the black screaming banshee

2009-03-23T21:15:00.008+08:00

It was a nice Friday night in February, as usual, I went out to buy groceries with bf and on the my way back, saw a small black kitten mewing loudly near the elevator. Poor kitten must be starving, I thought. I told my bf, I liked that black cats, they're interesting. My bf just smile, looked at the kitten. We talked about the kitten, and thought, it looks clean, must be someone's kitten. So I went back to my apartment and bf left to his own place. But I can't keep my mind off the kitten, if it belongs to someone, why would anyone let a small kitten, barely able to run, roaming around without supervision? I looked out the window but couldn't see or hear the kitten. I guess his owner must hv picked him up.

As usual, I spend my days sitting in front of the computer or playing around with Sherbet. Deep in my heart, I wish I could hv a black kitten, it would look awesome. Black, shiny fur.. another friend for Sherbet.. but having another kitten means more responsibility and more mouth to feed. But a black cat! I said to myself, drooling over the idea of having another beautiful cat to cuddle. Time pass by and at midnight, I heard the kitten again. I called my bf and asked him if he could pick up the kitten for me, I'm too scared to scour the block alone to look for the kitten. He told me to look out for the kitten and confirm with him. As we talked on the phone, I saw some girl pass by and took the kitten with them. Damn, I said. Someone took the kitten, oh well, at least it will not starve on the streets. I closed the window and slept.

Saturday morning I woke up early for no reason and again, I heard the loud mewing of the kitten. How can this be? I saw the girls pick him up and walked across the playground into the next block. I scramble for my binoculars ( was a cheap russion made ) and scour the playground. There, on the steps of the next block, I saw the black kitten walking and mewing loudly. I called my bf over and we watched for awhile. Maybe the kitten is calling his mother? Maybe his owner? We waited for 30minutes and nothing. I saw the kitten following a jogger and told bf to go pick the kitten up. I was worried it followed someone onto the road and get ran over. A few minutes later bf came back with a smelly, black kitten with faeces still attached to his bottom. I picked up the kitten, wiped it's bottom clean and wiped his body. Bf said he found the kitten in the garbage room. I looked carefully at the kitten, he was skinny, full of lice and smells nasty. It was definitely a stray, so I told bf I'm going to take this kitten and hope he can be Sherbet's playmate. I didn't have any cage, so I just put him under a huge laundry basket and made a small litterbox for him. Gave him some tuna and water to drink. He was mewing loudly, the poor thing. I guess he was afraid or maybe crying for his mother. I went to petshop with bf and bought pet milk and pet bottle. He didn't like the bottle, so I put it on a bowl and he lick it. But he would still scream like a banshee.
I google and found out he's probably missing his mother. But it can't be helped, we never saw any mother cats or any kitten his age nearby. So I just bear with the loud mewing and kept him under the laundry basket the whole day. Sherbet didn't like the new kitten, kept hissing and had his hair stand up whenever he comes near the laundry basket.
I was somewhat regretting I picked up this kitten, he screamed like a banshee and Sherbet hates him. But suprisingly, he adapt well to his surroundings. He used the litter box I made for him easily. This is a test for me, and I endured. I let him roam the house the next day and he wasn't as curious as Sherbet. But what I saw was, he liked to follow Sherbet around. Sherbet still hissed and slaps him now and then but I had to make them live together harmoniously. I let them eat together as advised by a forumer in Petfinders and observed. Everytime Sherbet got too rowdy, I would scold him and break them apart. The difference in size is too much. But I was happy, by the third day, Sherbet accepted the black cat into the household. I named the black cat Salem, like the black cat in Sabrina, the teenage witch and also from the movie Salem's Lot. They would play together, chasing and wrestling but I worried, Salem is 1/3 Sherbet's size and Sherbet is known to play rough. The moment I was afraid of came on the weekend when I went into a room to change and let the kitten play on their own. Salem mewed loud suddenly and I rushed out to see. I saw one of his leg went limp and my heart stopped. I picked him up and cried. He was so small and skinny, what if the limp is permanent? What if he can't use his hindleg anymore?? I called my bf over and cried on the phone. He came and looked at the kitten, prodding and touching the hindleg. Everytime we touch the thigh, Salem would cry. We were desperate, it was the weekend and the vet we went to is closed. I took a chance and used traditional remedy on Salem. We massaged his leg with gamat oil slowly. Salem mewed and even the quiet Sherbet was mewing by our feet. I guess Sherbet was worried and probably saying sorry for the incident. The whole night we massage his hindleg with the oil slowly, worried he couldn't move or use it. When bf left, I took extra measures and watch both kitten carefully. I walk around the house with a water spray bottle in my hand. Everytime Sherbet tries to come near Salem I would squirt him. I felt sorry for both kitten. Sorry for Sherbet because I had to make him stay away from Salem and sorry for Salem because I didn't pay enough attention. The next day I was lucky, Salem can use his hindleg. He could run but the thigh was still tender to touch. Just one more day to hold on before going to the vet. Monday came and we went to the vet, his hindleg was swollen but it wasn't too bad. Vet gave some anti-flammation pills and I was thankful that Salem's hindleg weren't badly injured. I still watch the kittens playing but I saw that Sherbet has managed to control his power when playing with his little brother. I was also happy to see Sherbet helped to groom the little guy. I read up orphaned kittens usually have trouble grooming and I'm glad Sherbet is helping. What I can't help much is the nipple sucking. I laughed when I saw Salem searching for Sherbet's nipple and get slapped aside. It probably hurt Sherbet's pride and dignity to have a male kitten pawing at his manboobs. So, the next best thing is my T-shirt or my bf's T-shirt. Salem would crawl or jump on out lap and suck our T-shirt till it's wet. I asked the vet about it and she said it would stop at 2 1/2 months or 3 month old. I hope so because Salem has this annoying of climbing onto my bf or my lap with his claw out, scrathing our legs. If we deny him of his T-shirt sucking, he would sit and stare at any of us and mew really loud. Salem the black banshee I call him sometimes. He cries when he's he wants to eat or use his toilet (when he was younger) even though he knows where it it. Now he cries when he's bored or wants to suck on T-shirt. Such a drama queen.. I mean King..
Gee, Salem.. I should have named you Screaming Banshee I guess... *laugh*

Day 2 and freedom to roam..

2009-03-23T20:38:00.006+08:00

The second day, I let him roam free in the house. I made sure every window is open no bigger than 2 inch and put a huge card box blocking the way to the kitchen. My kitchen is half opened with metal grilling extension. I live on the second floor and I worry if my kitten falls down. We named him Sherbet, my bf thought of it since he's an avid fan of Harry Potter books. He thought of Orange Sherbet fits the kitten name. It's a nice name and I like it immediately. As soon as I let Sherbet free, he roamed the apartment, going into the rooms, under every nook and cranny. The one thing that I dreaded the most is that Sherbet loves dusty and dark places. I cleaned my home but he sure knows the dustiest place and there, he sat happily. When I cleaned that area, he moves on to the next dusty place. I gave up and just clean the place whenever I want. Sherbet is a dust detector, I can't be bothered to clean every nook and cranny since I hate house chores. I spend most of my time on my computer, spending some time to play with Sherbet and fed him. I gave him Whiskas at start, seems like a good cat food and he ate it. Guess he's not picky on food. As I played on the computer, Sherbet jumped on my lap and sat on the keyboard. I laughed, he's so adorable and cute. He stared at the computer screen, watching the movement of the mouse pointers, pawing once in a while. After a while, he got sleepy and slept on the keyboard, I pushed him aside so that he slept between the keyboard and my monitor (pic above). It was the most beautiful and serene picture in my opinion. I took a snapshot and kept it, smiling to myself. I have found the other love of my live, he's furry but cuddly.

The next few days, I trained him to get used to his name by using food. It worked nicely but, Sherbet is still the same old Sherbet.. he will come if he wants to, ignore if he feels like it. Can't help but remembers his "grooming" session at SPCA. What a kingly cat... I spend most of my days reading up on how to take care of kittens, what food is best for them, how to groom and such. My family and bf said I'm obsessed with cats and I agreed. True, I am obsessed, but it's all for the best. I am serious about having a cat in my life and I don't want to be half-assed about it. Granted I won't be buying the most expensive top of the line cat food or cat litter, but getting the best within my budget is not bad. I want to get the best that I can for my new kid. I changed his food from Whiskas to Friskies, then tried Royal Canin but it was too expensive for me. I tried EVO but seems Sherbet can't handle EVO, he got diarrhea soon after. After a few enquiry, reading, I tried Blackwood and it seems to work well with my furkid. He loves eating the kibble and is growing bigger by the days. I love how fluffy he looks as the days go by. Although Sherbet is quiet and active, he also hv his mischievious side. I let him roam the whole house and he went to the kitchen, dipped his foot in cooking oil and walked proudly to my bed... I was angry but a cat is a cat. I have no one to blame but myself for not keeping the oil properly, or didn't watch him carefully. I learned my lesson and always watched him, especially when he goes into the kitchen.

Time goes by so fast I can't believe I have him for 3 months now. A few more weeks and he's due for a neuter. As he grows older, he doesn't like to be held. I guess it's typical guy thing, doesn't like to be manhandled. He's still scared of loud noises, he would run under the chair when he hears the kettle whistling, or the fogging people pass by. On rainy days, he would sleep near my feet. Sometimes he climb over on my bed and slept near my feet. I love him a lot and I never regretted the day I adopt him. My family came last week and was surprised to see Sherbet bigger and fluffier. He is very well behaved, and loved a typical foot cuddling. I just kept wondering how I had lived my life without a cat before.. unbelievable....

Christmas and day 1

2009-03-23T20:05:00.007+08:00

It was Christmas and my family came over to visit as usual. My parent came over to my apartment a few times a year to visit my sister and I. We would go shopping, have dining experience (which is mostly consists of eating at food courts ^_^ ).

I have always loved looking at cats, wanting to hug and cuddle them but I don't have the courage. I loved cats since I was small, used to pick any strays I found and drag em home.. have em make a mess at home and get scolded by mom, or sometimes my mom throws them out (she doesn't like cats) or they run away by themselves. I guess, in a way, I was probably scared to hold them because I was too scared I won't be able to let them go.. but had to because my mom hates them.

Once in a while, I would open SPCA websites and stare at picture of cats, ogling over their beautiful eye and fur. Hoping some day I could hold them and have them follow me around, and have fun with them. This Christmas for some reason, I was thinking a lot about adopting a cat and my sister encourage me to adopt a cat too. I decided to be serious and asked my mom for permission. She gave her blessing but I know she has her doubt. I've been known to change hobbies now and then and to my family, this is probably another phase in my life. I want to prove them wrong, I want a companion and I will try my best!

On the 28th December, I went to SPCA with my bf and sister. It was 3pm and the shelter will close at 4pm, I walked anxiously and wondered if they will let me adopt a kitten. I have no prior cat experience, the pet I had were fishes (that I seriously took care of). Although my sister used to have hamster, I don't really like them. They smell and they bit me once. The SPCA was noisy, I hear dogs barking and a few people was moving things around into a lorry. Seems they had some kind of garage sale earlier. We went through the small gate and saw a 3 tier cat cage with lots of cats and kittens. I looked around and at first glance we liked this female cat, she looks like a normal Domestic Short Hair, nothing impressive but she was very affectionate, purring as we stuck our fingers into the cage and pet her. I would love to take her home but she has not been spayed and SPCA rep said that she has to be spayed before they will let me adopt her. Maybe I could come the next day after a spaying, they say. I was crestfallen, I have no other way of bringing that cat the next day, because my parent is going back the next day and I have no other vehicle except a small motorbike. I can't imagine bringing back a spayed, new cat on a motorbike, for a journey of over 20minutes. She would cry all the way and be in pain. Another fact was my mom had said that if I want to adopt, get a nice cat, a medium or long haired. Getting a short hair would make her angry. So I talked over to bf and sister and we looked for other kittens. Seems getting a male kitten would be easier.

I saw this male kitten, sitting leisurely on a platform, with another kitten licking his furs. Looks like he's enjoying his free grooming service, I thought to myself. He was slim, but he is a Domestic Medium Hair and he looks cute. He totally ignored us when we stuck our fingers to pet him and I thought, hmm, he's probably a very well behaved kitten. His tails were a bit crooked but that doesn't bother me. The clock was ticking and SPCA rep was in a hurry, I take another look at this golden ginger kitten and decided, yeah, he's the one. We went to the office, paid the adoption fee, bought a carrier and got myself a kitten. He was very quiet in the car, I was worried he's mute, sick or scared. We stopped to buy cat food and went back to my place.
He didn't make alot of noises, and from what i read, new cats or kittens would need 1 day of confinement to adjust with the new environment. He slept most of the day, and I leave him in his carrier. Cleaned the paper lining when he pooped and fed him. Since my family is still around, I don't think I could let him roam the house, my mom especially, would jump in surprise. So far, nothing different, I think to myself. I have a cat, and he's harmless and so well behaved. I slept happily, knowing I had my first furry companion.

My first attempt at blogging..

2009-03-23T19:55:00.004+08:00

It is a very hot day, I was restless and bored. As usual, I spend hours and hours over the internet, reading online manga, cat forums and google almost everything. I guess, when you have alot of "free time" as I do, you will get bored easily. Blogging is a trend these days but I have resisted, I don't think I'm good enough to blog, pour my heart out or even voice out whatever I have in my head. But, there's always a first for everything.

So, here I am, blogging for the first time.. and so forth, I will tell a story of the love that I found, in the form of Felis Domestica aka Cats.

This is the guy that caught my heart, a ginger cat I named Sherbet.

Here, I shall tell the story of how I met this cat and how life has been everyday for us....