Minah

There is something in my eye...

Cousin R was helping me with the WildBunch yesterday as I had a meeting and hungry cats wait for no one. She came up to tell me that Minah did not want to eat and that she was wiping her eye. Minah just wanted to roll about. So I went to look for her with Cousin R and we saw that someone had given her a small pile of kibble (no the aunty as it was a uniform brown colour).

I asked Cousin R to hold Minah so I can put some eye drops in her eye as Minah is always very frisky. To both our suprise, Minah actually allowed herself to be carried and I succeeded in squirting some eye drops in the vicinity of her eye as she was squirming about. She then decided enough was enough and ran off, but not too far. I think she wanted us to sit for a bit with her which we did. I tried once again to get some eye drops in her eye but she was too smart for the both of us.

Her eye was not too bad as it was not red nor did she have gunk on it. Cousin R's imagination is getting as wild as the old aunty's I'm afraid as she told me that Minah had an inflamed eye with some redness :))

My Foot Thursday...

My foot! Is the only answer to cat collar nappers!

My Foot ah! That I was told was the right answer to the woman (B) who wanted to cat nap Putih's blue collar. Yesterday we saw someone (A) trying to (or so we thought) remove Putih's collar from her neck. So we went to her to tell her to stop it. Then she told us that she was merely trying to see if her collar was too tight and she was not trying to remove the collar! YAH! Right!

Anyway the woman (A) told us that there was another woman (B) who told (A) that Putih's collar actually belonged to her. HEY! It seemed that B had a cat that she allowed out to roam freely and the cat has since disappeared. She had the audacity to tell A that Putih was not her cat but Putih's collar was hers. B told A that the collar that I had put on Putih's neck belonged to her. Anyway A told B that THAT could not possibly be the case as Putih's collar had a tag. So we told her that we were the ones who had put the collar on Putih and she should tell B not to steal the collar. We told A that the phone number is so people can inform us if anything happened to Putih and the block number was merely for us to identify which cat it was.

After a few more minutes of cit-chat, A told us that she herself has 2 cats and she sometimes feeds Putih in the morning. We reminded her to clean up after Putih and she said she always cleans up.

Anyway this evening, Cousin R told me that Putih's tag has disappeared. Grrr!

FatBoy's new collar - reflective even in the morning...

FatBoy asking for scritches....

FatBoy searching for chicken and tuna....

I saw FatBoy this morning and so decided to feed him biscuits. I had put the biscuits in a small bowl but he refused to have any when they were in the bowl. So I had to put them on the floor and so waited for him to finish. But FatBoy wanted some scritches instead which I gave him. Only then would he eat a small handful of kibble. he looks very handsome with his collar on :)

Cal and Minah

Cal eating dinner under the lamplight...

Her daughter Minah...

I called the hospital to speak to Dr K about Cal. Dr K told me that her condition has not improved and she is still not eating and not pooping. Dr K told me to expect the worst. I asked her what she meant and she said that I should be prepared to make some hard decisions. I am not prepared to make any decision on Cal at this point and told Dr K to give the antibiotics some time to work or not work. The only thing I can't take is how chirpy Dr K sounds "Hi Parking's owner....your cat is not any better...." in that upbeat way! You don't know what's wrong with my cat dammit! Stop being so chirpy about it.

I saw the old aunty walking Bobby her dog. She said she felt like something' is missing when she takes a walk around the neighbourhood. Usually Cal would walk out and greet her on her rounds or when she feeds Cal, cal would sit with her at the tables in the void deck. I told her that Cal's fate may not be sunny and asked her what she wanted to do. She told me her heart was heavy but she herself would think it not wise for Cal to be about when she cannot even walk straight or could not even protect herself from the neighbourhood cats. (Cal is really one of the most timid cats and would not come out to eat if there were strange cats or even FatBoy around...but only to other cats. She is very fierce with us.)

She told me that I should make the decisions (WHAT!!!) on her behalf. She told me that Cal is an old cat and has been around for ages. She kept giving birth until one of the residents, another caregiver, sent her for spaying. I do not know if I can make any hard decisions without bawling my eyes out :( Sighzz....

Minah Void Deck

Minah eating an early dinner...

She wastes no time polishing up the food...

Her patterns are very dramatic and rich...

Minah Top View...

Minah is supposedly Cal's daughter according to the old aunty who feeds them. I have my reservations as I seem to remember that Minah appeared some time after Cal was sterilised and when I saw Minah, she was as big as Bujang when he was 6 months old. (I had brought Bujang downstairs for his walks when he was 6 months and we used to have to run away from FatBoy and Minah).

Minah saw me coming out of the cab from my visit to Balestier and started to tell me loudly that she was hungry so I fed her some fussiecat tuna and chicken on a piece of Ikea advertisement I got out of my post box :) She ate nearly all of it. After that, she decided to sit out in the open to catch the last rays of Sunday. She is a very pretty cat and most of the residents know her and like her so I was not worried much for her safety today.

Cal aka Parking

Cal after a clean-up session

Cal looked much cleaner today. I think the nurses cleaned him up again and I'm glad to see her fur getting more white and clean. She mewed a weak welcome when I saw her and I immediately decided to wipe her face and eyes with the per wipes that I brought with me. I also changed her cage lining as she had wet the one that the vet used, using the ones I had bought. I thought it was very good advice that 'anonymous' gave me and if I have to pay, I would rather pay for the meds or tests than the disposables.

I am sorry to say that Cal did not eat anything by herself today. They still had to force feed her with Hill's k/d. I brought her fvaourite food - Fussiecat tuna and chicken but she did not even sniff at it. She kept turning her face away. After I had given her some scritches and talked to her for a bit, Cal decided she wanted to stand up and I was pleased to see her able to stand by herself although a little unsteadily. Then she decided to gather herself and lay close to me and I waited for her to fall asleep before closing the door to the cage. Of course being a cat, no sound was inescapable so she opened her eyes again to watch me leave. I said goodbye and told her I would visit her tomorrow after work.

The hospital was pretty busy and the attending vet was not able to speak with me nor the nurse. I think she has not much improved in real terms. I felt very sorry for Cal, all alone in the hospital but at the back of my mind I know she was also all alone when she was here too, living in the carpark and sitting in the drains. It is a hard life for a community cat!

By the way we also call Cal 'Parking' as that is where she is most times. It is easier for Cousin R to call her Parking (for place) as we have now 5 cats. Another male cat had adopted us early this year and now he is just as big as any cat of the WildBunch. I had told the reception that her name was 'Parking' to their amusement although I call her Cal. :)

Update on Cal

Welcome to my humble abode...

Cal welcoming some more scritches and more and more until she dozed off...

The IV that gives her fluids ...

Cal nodding off...zzzz

The first thing the vet said to me as I made my way to the isolation room was "She ate just now, by herself." Wah.....we were both pleased and surprised that she did that. Then I saw Cal in her little box with her back facing me. The vet said she was in there by herself as she couldn't risk the other cats at the boarding place as we do not know if Cal has FIV/Felv/FIP. So she will be staying in that room all by herself. It is quiet and I'm sure she appreciates the silence.

When I opened the door to her compartment, she mewed a little and turned around to face me or my voice. We spent some time with each other and I'm glad to see they had cleaned her up. She appeared cleaner and her face was much more clean than when we brought her in yesterday. she has the third eyelid in both her eyes though so I know she is not well at all.

They have given her the ear mediaction and I saw her blood tests. She has no problems with her kidneys, thank goodness.

I stayed for an hour until she fell asleep and asked the vet if I can bring her favourite food - fussiecat tuna and chicken. The vet said I could and so on my next visit I hope she will eat it. I will also be bringing some wipes to clean up her eyes and face and body.

She must be really sick to not mind me touching her at all. In fact she quite welcomed all the scritches. I had thought of bringing her a soft toy but I wonder if it would be the best thing as when she gets better she will have to go back and there would be no soft toys there. :(

I will ask the old aunty if she wants to visit Cal next week. I know she would be glad to see her although the old aunty said she thinks Cal has not long to live in this world.

Cal in hospital

Cal in the good ole days eating contentedly...

Cousin R and I brought Cal to the hospital in Balestier yesterday as she was staggering along. She was in the rain last Monday and did not eat well. For the last 3 days, she has been eating a little bit but she had diffculty swallowing her food and walking straight. Yesterday I had a call from Cousin R, who helps me with the WildBunch, that the old aunty told her that Cal had collasped! I came down with the carrier and the old aunty put a very calm and doclie Cal into it. I immediately brought her home and sequestered her in the bathroom.

We then brought her to the hospital and the vet checked all her vitals. She was not dehydrated, her heart was beating fine, her limbs were okay. She was very puzzled and put Cal down for the walk test. Indeed Cal began to walk unsteadily, swerving here and there. She tested Cal for glucose and she was fine. Btw, she is just as fat as before so there was no malnutrition.

So finally the vet decided that Cal should be hospitalised and given fluids and persuaded to eat, or if she doesn't eat, then forced to eat.

The vet said that she could just be faint with hunger, or she has an ear infection which would cause the erratic walk or even something in her brain may be damaged or she may have a tumour. She could not account for the erratic walk. The vet said tumours and cancers are often found on old cats. I do not know how old Cal is but the old aunty said that Cal was Minah's mother. I had seen Cal aorund as an adult cat even before I brought Bujang home. Since Bujang would be 4 on 25 sept, then Cal must be about 5 or 6 years old. I do not think that is old even for a cat although in himan terms she may be about 45 years old and that is not old.

So after seeing that Cal was put safely in her warm cage, we gave her some scritches (which she allowed to our surprise as Cal can be one fiesty kitty!) and went home.

An old picture of Cal having a big meal of tuna and chicken...she could finish every morsel then...

Update:

The vet said Cal's condition has not much improved from last night. She was calm and had to be force-fed and given fluids steadily. She would be given antibiotics and they would look at the ear infection (if any). Since she was still unsteadily, the vet did not want to release her and I also have reservations on that point. The vet asked if I could take her in (Imagine gramdma's horror at another cat and the amigo's distress!) The vet said she would like to release her from hospital but only if she could be taken care of. Yesterday Tanaka snarled and hissed at poor Cal and the other boys were not pleased. So I cannot possibly take her in with 5 cats in the house. I know the old auntie cannot take her in as she has a dog called Bobby who would bark the house down. I know the old auntie could not give her the sub qs if she needed them too.

The vet said it would be expensive to have Cal in hospital for 2 weeks that they would need to monitor her. Then if things do not improve they would take one more week. Anyway I do not see any other way for Cal as we have no one else who could take her in and certainly she could not go outside and be safe.

I will be going to Balestier to see her later as well as pick up Megat's Eprex 1000. We will see what happens then.

Wildbunch Saturday

Putih on coloured ground...


See me play...

FatBoy waiting to be served with...some MORE food...

At last, Cal's face!

Cal showing me that she has had enough...

Minah's 2nd dinner...

It doesn't seem to bother the wildbunch that the old aunty seems eager to leave them. I am the only one who worries..maybe for nothing at all. They are fat enough for sure and could weather one or two days of no dinners if neither my cousin or myself could make it. I hope those days will never come to be as they are a pretty nice mellow bunch and they seem to be a happy lot. My cousin tells me that the community cats in B, where she lives are thin and mangy-looking eventhough there is someone who feeds the cats there.

Meditation

Zzzzz....

Bujang decided that the amigo house was too noisy, what with the civil defence siren and all and showed the way to calmness and peace. Or maybe he is just showing off the fact that a cat can nap at any place and in any position :)

News about the old aunty:

The wildbunch's previous feeder the old aunty came knocking on my door on the 1st day of Ramadhan. (Neither the amigos and the wildbunch recognise Ramadhan, it being a strange custom of humans :P)

She told me that she gave the wildbunch some food but they were not interested. I told her that they had all eaten at 6.50 pm and so of course were still trying to digest their food. She then asked me what she was supposed to do. I didn't know what she expected me to say so I kept quiet.

Then she said that she had been feeding them about 9 o'clock and changed the water. [I have not seen any of this water for many days already by the way] I told her not to leave any water for the wildbunch as the containers may trap mosquitoes and then the cats may be blamed for this. She then said that the cats needed water to drink and so she would continue with this practice. I told her in that case, she needed to wash the containers everyday before she fills in the water. She said it would not be convenient. Aiyoh!

I then asked her what time she gets home from work. She said she sometimes gets home from work at 3 or 4 in the evening but she quickly said she would be very busy with her work at home and she sometimes needed to go grocery shopping. Since I really did not want to get into any quarrels I just told her that if I could not feed the wildbunch, then my cousin would do it for me. She did not offer to divide the duty at all and reiterated that her hands were swollen and she had many things to do.

Since I had nothing else to say to that, I did not continue. She then asked me if I had eaten and when I replied that I was just about to eat, she told me quickly to go break my fast.

Sighzzz. I think the auntie has decided to abandon her kitties to me already. Poor wildbunch.

WildBunch at dinner on Saturday night

Minah and Putih with identical tipped ears...

As I was looking at the pics of the wildbunch that I took when I gave them their Saturday dinner, it struck me that these two kitties ears were tipped both on the left. It could be coincidence of course but tomorow I will try to see if FatBoy's and Cal's ears are tipped on the left too. :)

Cal did not eat much dinner. She hid under a van and refused to come out. So I had to put her dinner under the van. Then she got spooked by a very noisy family. She decided to leave and I decided to follow her so I could persuade her to eat some more. She stopped but ate just a little bit more and she walked off. I decided to let her go as my cat food bag was on the table top at the void deck and Fatboy and Big C were eating dinner there. When I came back, FatBoy was lounging and Big C was nowhere to be seen. I rang for him and he came back to finish the rest of his fussiecat tuna dinner. :)

Wednesday in PR

Hmmm...I wonder...

The amigos are all asleep right now much to my surprise. Toro is on the low table next to this laptop, Megat on the sofa behind me, Bujang on the Marukan and Ms Akira on top of the tall cupboard in the computer room. So nobody is trying to muscle in to sit on my laptop as I am typing :) I think they were all tired out from watching me wash all the bins and cleaning the bathroom.

It was a little smoky when I went to feed the wildbunch. I fed only 3 today - Minah, FatBoy aka Johnny and Cal. The woman with the pet tortoise came home early from work and she swent to feed Putih - her favourite kitty. She told me that FatBoy's other nick was Johnny. We both tried to call him by that name and he ignored the both of us! I told her about the complaints to the TC. She was horrified and told me that her father had seen the two kids. She told me she would get her father to speak to them about feeding responsibly too. I hope all this would work on the two little kids!

I saw Cal quite early. She was hiding under a blue car. That made me very nervous as the man who hates cats has a car just like that. I kept trying to entice her to get out from under the car but to no avail. I was afraid the man might come back and hurt her or something. Finally the owners of the car came by. They were an Indian couple but they didn't see Cal. So I had to tell them about her being under their car. The man told me not to worry as he would make sure she was out from under his car before he drives off. He said "the sound of the engine would drive her away." Then I saw him making sure that she was indeed out from under his car before he drove off :)

Another man came by the void deck and he spoke to FatBoy. FatBoy answered him so I knew the man was a friend and indeed he gave FatBoy several scritches before he showed me the pic of his very clever one-year old cat. His cat actually does his business in the toilet bowl! WOAH! He said he didn't even have to train his cat. He just climbed onto the bowl and did his business! That is one very clever Tux!

As I was on my way home, I saw the man who hates cats! He was burning incense and hell money and making quite a mess himself. I don't think he saw the irony of him accusing the kitties of creating a mess and he himself doing just the thing that he hated. I don't think he would think he deserved the death penalty but he was more than willing to send the kitties to their deaths!

The cats who came to dinner...

Taoist prayers followed our journey to dinner this Tuesday...

FatBoy has to eat on a piece of newspaper as he is wont to drag his food out of the bowl onto the floor...

After her dinner, Putih looked on curiously at an infrequent visitor...


who ate hungrily...


Putih was curious yet wary...



MC actually growled at her after dinner. I had to 'shhh' MC so Putih would not be frightened. MC scooted off but Putih remained looking after her as she disappeared.

FatBoy and Big Casanova had a bit of a staring match. FatBoy was ready for anything to happen as evidenced by his flattened ears. But Big Casanova merely wanted to show who was BOSS. He sprayed onto the pillars at the void deck and then lay lazily looking at FatBoy!

Big Casanova's looking quite relaxed and staring at FatBoy.

Cal hiding between cars for security as both Big Casanova and FatBoy were around. She came to dinner early this time. :)

Minah ate very late today as she was not around when I came down to feed the wildbunch. She waited patiently and then yelled when she saw me coming home :) She ate some salmon dinner and some fussiecat before she stretched luxuriously and went off.

Everyone came to dinner.

Everyone was safe and sound.

It was a good day for the wildbunch.

Cal! Welcome back girl...

Cal's permanent residence - the carpark...

Below are some old pictures of Cal (short for Calico)

I was very worried for Cal. I didn't know where she had disappeared to and I didn't know if she was safe. She is quite scared of many things and do not like people all that much, and male cats not at all. Although I told myself that the TC did not come a-calling, at the back of my mind I was afraid that this might have happened to her or that she had been hurt by one of the residents or kids.

It was quite fortunate that this morning I met one of the residents who parks his car in the carpark and he told me that indeed he had seen Cal about in the mornings and afternoons. I then decided that I would look for Cal at dinner and indeed this was what I had done. After my last call, I went to all the 5 levels of the carpark looking for her but she was nowhere to be found. Then I thought I would look for her at her usual dinner spot and there she was- waiting patiently for me at about 8. This was rather late for me and her. I suspect she decided to change her routine as by this time, there was not much activity in the carpark and there was no Big Casanova, except FatBoy, who came a-calling for yet more food.

Cal was very fierce with him and growled when he came near. I think she was much too hungry to run and indeed she has grown much thinner but not too thin. She was just a little slimmer but still FAT! :) I am glad nothing had happened to Cal at all. I would just have to change my feeding times to suit her as she would certainly not change to suit mine....sighzz...

Where is Cal?

This clump of trees was where Cal used to hide in the afternoons...

But who is here instead?

Its Minah!

I guess MInah found out that the carpark may not be the best place to hide all day. I saw her hiding here when I was looking for Cal yesterday. However she had to streak towards the carpark for shelter against the rain. Cal has not been seen for 5 days. I can't find her in the carpark either.

I know she was not caught by the TC as there would have been some warning for me before any of these things happen and there has not been a complaint about the wildbunch after I had adopted Megat. I hope she is just visiting other places since Big Casanova is hanging out near the carpark and would come back eventually.

Cats in the shadows

Big Casanova's 2nd round at dinner...

FatBoy still eating...

Cal eating in the safety of the drain...

Minah telling me she has had enough thank you..

In the night drizzle, all the cats were hungry. Big Casanova came to dinner and stayed for seconds. Someone came by with a chuhuahua terrier, unleashed, Big Casanova got afraid and he ran off without finishing his dinner. This meant that I had to stay around longer to see if he was still hungry or he has had enough. At this point, I saw Cal who saw Big C and so she ran off! Aiyah! I had been ringing my keys for her for 15 minutes.

So I decided to ring again and then I saw her streaking towards the drain where she stayed for the remainder of the time. I decided to give her her dinner under the drain covers. This was a good move as she stayed to eat all of her salmon dinner. She has not come to dinner for 2 whole days. I was getting very worried about her and was contemplating calling ST, our PR contact with the TC. She looked very well nevertheless and I know even if she doe not turn up tomorrow, she has had a very good dinner tonight.

FatBoy of course stayed with me and was also on the lookout for Cal :) He missed her streaking past him as he was busy burying his nose in sardines :)

I want to adopt her but...

Putih getting out of the rain

... I have a tortoise in the house. Huh? I guess a cat can endanger a tortoise especially it overturns the poor thing on its back. A woman I met yesterday walked up to me when I was feeding Putih. She said that Putih is much-loved by everyone around the area. I was very glad to hear this. She said she feeds Putih at night about 11 pm when she has the late shift. I am even more glad to hear this as I think the aunty is not feeding the wildbunch anymore. They are forever so hungry these days and they eat a lot more. She also told me she likes Putih a lot and had been thinking of adopting her except she has a tortoise and her mother does not like cats. I tried to tell her that Putih would make a perfect house cat as she is obedient and well-behaved and as immaculate toilet habits :) I hope the lady adopts her so she would be so much safer at home.

FatBoy waiting for the no-show Cal...

Cal is still a no-show today. I can understand if she didn't appear yesterday as Big Casanova was about but he was not about today. FatBoy and I waited for her for 30 minutes but she still did not appear. I hope she is okay.

Minah and FatBoy

The Pear...

"Cats sit fat and walk thin..."
or so the poem says but FatBoy just walks fat and sits even fatter :)