Ms Akira and the Osteopath

Yes, if I had not been there to see it, I would not have believed it. Ms Akira did many things today and was very brave as well. She actually walked along the corridor with san! I was very proud of her and so was san 

 Ms Akira is looking quite kittenish in this picture :) The osteopath did her a lot of good.

It began some time ago when san called Laura. That was on the 16th of November and Ms Akira told Laura this: 

Akira:  I would love it if you could help me cause I feel pain inside of my body.  I feel a pain in side of my body that feels like my neck is collapsing onto it self.  and my mouth feels like it does not line up straight.  And sometimes my eyes throb.  My belly constantly feels like it is expanding and there is tight rope in there.  Cause my legs get numb and they seize up.

I do want to tell the doctor something the medicine he gave me helps me but at night time I have a hard time sleeping and also my paws tingle.  They tingle at the tips and when I eat my food I get really dizzy at first and then it goes away.  I have a hard time with anxiety and the other cats cause my body starts to feel worse. My head starts to hurt and I feel like a weight on my neck that hurts my lower neck and my shoulder blades and then that hurts my back end.  

My mouth also hurts.  When I lick it hurts my mouth and jaw.

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Laura then said that Ms Akira would benefit from going to the chiropractor. I then asked our vet Dr L if this would be good but he instead directed us to an osteopath as he said it would be so much gentler and since Ms Akira is a gentle and timid kitty, it would be a better option. So we got the address and this morning, we went to see Dr AL, an osteopath and naturopath,  at the Biopolis. I was very nervous as the receptionist said I could not bring Ms Akira into the clinic as one of the other doctors was allergic to animals and we had to meet Dr AL at the garden. But I decided to just wait outside the office and when he came we had short discussion of what ailed her.

Dr AL put her soft carrier on his lap and just started to massage her head softly. I gave him the transcript of our session and he read it quite calmly and after that we discussed her medication and what our vet recommended. He said that he could 'see' her cranium and he agreed that she is under some stress. He added that he would try to re-wire her reactions and persuade her to perform alternative actions when she is unhappy or fearful and not lick her hind legs.

Then he massaged or 'flicked' her spine gently to realign her spinal column. Ms Akira was not very fearful and started to purr. Then she turned around and allowed him to massage her left hind leg and that was when Dr AL felt little spasms along the muscle. Dr AL had me place my fingers on there and I felt the muscle move quite rapidly. Dr AL said that she was very brave and well-behaved as he was giving her a deep massage and it must be painful for her. Dr AL said that she must have been hurt more than once for her muscle to be in that state and she must be hurting quite a lot! She even purred when he was massaging her hurt leg! I was very impressed and also horrified that she truly had hurt herself and this could be why she was not walking well or over-grooming as she was trying to make her legs hurt less! Dr Al said that we need to see him some more times so that he could further adjust her body and if she needs some long-term care then he would teach me how to do rehab for her at home.

After some time, Dr AL announced that he managed to un-knot her muscle some and he asked me to see her face. It was a surprise for me as yesterday she was looking pinched and thin and after the massage, her face looked much smoother and less pinched. Then Dr AL said that I should watch out for some changes, however small as with a change in the body, there would be a change in behaviour as well. 

And indeed I must report that the change was quite immediate. In the taxi  she was curious and wanted to see everything that was going on outside. She lay on her tummy, quite relaxed and spent the entire journey looking curiously about. This was a great change as before Ms Akira would curl herself up into a ball and hide under the blanket and she would meow throughout the whole journey. 

The greatest miracle was at about 8.30 ish, I had opened the gate to get her some grass. Ms Akira uncharacteristically walked out calmly!! WOAH! I then scooped her up and we walked together near the plants. before she would have struggled and meowed and clawed me so that she can go back inside! Then i decided to put her in Tanaka's harness and walk her with the leash. She walked at first quite nervously but then later she became quite confident and walked TWICE along the corridor! This was unprecedented  Before Megat came to live with us, she did walk out but only infront of our house but now, along the length of the corridor. I was so pleased that she was so brave tonight and praised her. I think the Dr AL performed a miracle when he managed to massage her hurt muscle this morning. I look forward to more night walks with Ms Akira when it is more quiet. HURRAH!

Megat's Vet Visit

Megat went to see 2 doctors this morning. He had an ultra sound done as we had not done any for quite some time and then he had to see Dr Ly. He had to fast for 12 hours and was not pleased that he had no breakfast! He made a fuss but once he was inside the cab, he was very quiet and I think resigned! He knew where he was going an decided to take it easy.

Megat peeked from his carrier to see what the fuss was about!

Megat's ultra sound results were quite good. Most of his organs were clear of terrifying things. But I knew that since he is already 16 yrs, there might be some hiccups like kidney issues and such. Sure enough he has a little swelling of the kidneys but Dr Ly said this was usually the case for such an old kitty. His small intestine was a little hardened and he had one lymph node that had swelled! However Dr Ly told us that we should just monitor these issues for now and that there was no need for any great alarm. He however had given Megat the Kidney Activator and he has to take 2 pills daily, he had increased the sang hwang liquid extract to 1.5 ml instead of 0.8 and the colloidal silver to 3 ml instead of 2 daily. Dr Ly said sang hwang also helps with kidney issues. He was also given a Laurabolin and Vitamin B shot as well. 

When he came home, he checked out the house to see that I had actually brought him home :) and he got to eat his chicken and tuna and a nap.

I was gald that the news was not any worse than this! 

Shenanigans!

san shud have thot much harder when she decided to keep my toy in this box! When she was on the phone, I went into the box to look fur it! Maybe I should be an Explorer or a PI! I have skills!

 I dug deep into the box. I can smell it! But it was underneath some of san's smelly books. I needed a plan.

So I asked san nicely if she could take the toy out fur me. san always says yes when I ask nicely. I chirp at her, not meow! THAT is the surprise attack - CHIRPING!

Since she already helped me to recover my toy, she decided to play! THAT, ladies and gentlemen is the power of the CHIRP.

 We played for bit. It was sneak and peek and pounce. Marvellous!

After that I rewarded san with a nice picture of me just hagning out on da couch! san did not think it was a shenanigan of mine. She thot I was furry cute. Ha!

Just Because

 Hmm...its already Saturday. What kind of shenanigans can I get up to? Hmmm....

Thankful Thursday

I try to re-arrange the boxes once or twice a month so the amigos have different ways to get up to the top of the cage:) I then decided to put a nice blanket in one of the cubby holes in case a kitty wishes to take a nap.

 And indeed this little one has been napping here quite a bit :) It's a quiet private space and allows him (when he is awake) to see everyone in the living room and kitchen.

 Bujang napping amongst the stars. It's a cold afternoon - just right for a quiet nap by himself.

 Megat prefers a lot more colour at nap time.

Ms Akira, as usual, prefers a nice blanket to sleep under.

On this day of Thanksgiving, we give thanks for everyone here who are safe and of course for all other kitties and their beans.

Wednesday Wonder

This morning I thought it would be a good time to blog more about our communications with Laura that we had done last Saturday 16 November. It was quite a good day as it was also the date that my cat Totoro went to the Bridge. Lately quite a number of little kitties had gone to the bridge and there is a lot of sadness all around. It makes me smile when I think of him in the bridge with his new job and it comforts us here a great deal as well.

This was the picture that I had sent Laura for her blog and today it appears there as well. But I thought I would write it down here as I also want to blog about my irrepressible  Tanaka and what he had to say about Toro and all this :)

Laura had asked him if he came to visit us. He had this to say:

“Yes, I come to be in the house with them. I sleep with mom and grandma.  I also hang out with Akira when she needs company.
Mom I want you to know here in heaven it is like a comfortable room filled with pillows and tunnels to hide and take me to other places.
The tunnels take me to places where I can see cats that need homes.  I match the cats up with people.  I try to make sure I give strong people difficult cats and frail people easy cats.
Mom I want to thank you for all that you have done for me. I know that watching me get more sick was hard on you. I always felt loved in your compassionate eyes. Mom, thank you.”

Toro also told us this when we were discussing Ms Akira: Can you tell my mom that I will help and there is a woman here that makes special tea and she says she will make tea to help Akira. She says she can heal with her tea recipes. (Hmmm I wonder who this is!)

I guess Toro does in heaven what I try do on earth :) except I do not send them to homes. I just make sure they have good food regularly and get them help from the vet in case of emergencies and the like :) I would like to thank my cat Toro for doing the difficult job of finding them homes.

 I know Toro is not in his body because he flies too fast for me to catch him but if he is helping animals find homes will you tell him not to bring any cats here cause my mom is a strong person but we are trying to figure this out and I don't want to get confused.

Tell Toro that when I am trying to be nice to help me and if I stray tell him to touch my tail and then I will remember. Sometime he touches my mom's hair. Mom we all love you. Mom you're the best and we understand you. This just got us to all understand each other.

The two kitties hanging out together before Toro went to the Bridge.

Of course our issues are not over yet. we are just trying to figure it all out (just like Tanaka said). But I see this as something that is worthwhile doing. I guess I did get difficult cats :) but I would not trade them for anything.

Monday Meowings

Last Saturday, I spoke to Laura Stinchfield, of the PetPsychic fame . She has worked with many vets and people who need help with their animals as well. I wanted to get Ms Akira some more help as we had not made much progress with the vets and I do not want her to be on steroids any more than we can help it. I also wanted her to talk with everyone and figure out what went wrong with how everyone sees each other. Of course since I had a lot of positive effects with Fern, I thought maybe Laura can add on to my knowledge of the amigos. We were on Skype and I spoke to her at 3.15 am! So I will be putting what we found out and what the amigos said here, just like what I had done with Fern. It was an eye-opener to say the least and I will be getting Ms Akira some more tangible help with a chiropractor this Friday(Update- Dr Ly is not for a chiropractor as Akira is an extremely shy cat. He recommended an osteopath. We will be looking this one up asap). She gave us some practical ideas of how to work together and of course the amigos had a field day talking to her. She types what the amigos say to her as they say it and then we speak about what it means and what I want to find out. Then she tells me what they say and types as well and we both come up with a  plan to help Ms Akira but along the way, I find out about the boys as well.

Bujang was very mature and sweet. He is actually just a big cat with a soft heart for everyone, with strong teeth (Do you know my mouth is strong? I don't have a hurt jaw and I can really be strong with it). When Laura spoke to him  he said:

You can tell my mom I will help her in any way I can and I love the idea of love and power in our house. I love that idea.

And when we were talking about the three cats, he has this to say:

Yes. I want to add that I am really proud of the other boys. Yeah cos they do sort of live in their own world. Like Tanaka asks me the other day if Akira could escape to the outside with him. He said he wants to wander around at night. And I asked him why Akira and he says Akira is always awake at night and she would have th best sense of danger. You know what. I feel I can help with this. Cause I feel comfortable around everyone. I can help everyone feel safe. I thought maybe I should tell Megat that he can be my friend and I will make sure that no one beats him. Yeah. If someone goes to beat him I will swat their face and tell them to back off. Tell also Megat that I think he is still strong (Megat had told Akira that he had little fight left in him just before this) and powerful and it is ok to get old around me. I will never hurt you. I think he worries about that. I will never hurt you. I will always love you and if you want me to love you from a distance I will do that.

Can you tell my mom that I want balls to play with?

and as to why he chases Ms Akira:

I chase her because she is like prey play. I have fun. If I change my attitude around her will her pain go away? If I become friends with her will she want me to lick her hurt areas? (Ms Akira had spoken about her pain in her lower legs). I wonder if she knows that me knowing that she is in pain is like me understanding why she is such a strange cat. I always thought that maybe she had a spirit in her that makes her look evil.

(Laura then told him that she was in fear and pain and sometimes the feeling can change the face. She is not evil (aggressive). She is just not feeling safe) Fear can look evil? I am willing to learn. Will she play with my toys?

If she plays with my toys I would maybe be happy cause I haven't seen her play. I just seen her flop around but if I knew she was playing maybe I could teach her how to be graceful.

Akira: I think it would be nice if he understood that when I look at him I don't always see him straight on. I see him blurry. I just want him to know that my face is not always me. Me is shy and loving and kind to others.

Tanaka: I kind of believe her and I am not mean. I am just pretending to be mean. Ok I will stop pretending.

This is just a short excerpt of what they said. I thought it would be interesting to put up what Tanaka and Akira said to each other. This Tanaka is funny but now possibly Ms Akira knows why the boys run after her. It also helps the boys to understand why she behaves the way she does so they are not afraid of her.

Friday in our haus

Tanaka: san broughted this home yesterday fur us. She gotted it for free - for nuffing. What san? You had to buy fud for it? Ok. It was furry good offur you to buy us the toy and we even got free fud for it.

This is me in close-up. I am a good boy when san is around but I know she knows that in my mind, I am doing this. But we always play this game. It is I fink a good one.

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 I am a constant guardian to my sisfur Akira. I do not call her Ms. In my mind she is called 'the little girl.'

Yesterday my bruffer went down wif san at about 2.00 o'clock. But san told grandma he was not used to the noise downstairs. The Council is doing some improvements to the estate and there is a lot offur noise. He stayed in his carrier and looked about. I heard san tell grandma that he has put on weight...hehehe. I am very slim at 4.5 kg but my bruffer is 7.5 kg at the last count! WOAH!

 But here he looked slim. Hmmm... I wonder if I would look fat if I stand up like this.

 Bujang: Stop insulting me you little ginger biscuit! I am big-boned! Anyway didn't san give you a jbo to do?

Oh yesss...Our friends  from The Poupounette gave us this wonderful award for just being us. I fank them for it. We are many cats in one small household. I asked san if she would get us a little beetle or a bird but she said "Not ever, little kittehs!". But san gave us a little garden and we now see birds and butterflies. We guess that is better than nuffing.

Visitors

 Bujang: I like quiet times in the early evenings with everything and everyone in its place. THEN ...

 Bujang: What is that ?

Tanaka: Relax bruffer. I will see what it is.

 Hmmm.... what is this? Will it taste good san? But I fink it will be a good chase..hee hee...

 Oh..where is it?

Hmmm...if I look furry hard, it will appear right? RIGHT?

Of course the grasshopper was too smart (I hope) It did not make an appearance even though Tanaka waited patiently for as long a he could - about 1 minute:) Since the evenings are cooler these days, we get quite a variety of creatures instead of the inevitable beetle in the house. Thank goodness the beetles are small, not bigger than 5mm in diameter. But the amigos always welcome the distraction.

You can't stop me but you can try

 I case the joint to see who is at home. If it is grandma then I know I can do what I want. If it is san, then...

I will behave like the good boy that she finks I am. I fink I am furry smart. I look at my haus and then decide. Nuffing passes by my keen eyesight and nose and offur course my brain...hahaha. san knows I will do many fings to get what I want.

san thot she was furry clever and did this BUT I, Tanaka climbed the mesh.. 

and actually managed to put my head through the curtain gap!Then she took away the mesh but she didn't think I would throw myself onto the curtain. Once the flimsy tape fell, I was inside in a flash!

I must say san was better the next time. She put stronger velcro and removed the gaps! I was quite confused and tried to jump the gate but I have to say, it was not furry successful. But I threw myself on the curtain anyway - just to see :)

 Then on Tue we had a delivery. Actually san broughted it home. Bujang and I examined it carefully but we didn't know what it was. I cannot read the writing well and san did not tell us what it was.

 WHAT!?? I DON't BELIEVE SAN WOULD DO THIS!

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A better version of the gate. I had inverted a second gate so Tanaka would not be able to come up with any more shenanigans! Thanks dell for the suggestion.

(I had posted this pic before but I think it serves a better purpose here)

I can't believe that san could be so devious. But I will think offur somefing. You can depend on me fur this.

san: Yup. I think you will try. That is why I love you so much as you keep me on my toes :)

Happy Deepavalli

san: Well, that is right Tanaka but your Gotcha day is on the 17th. So this Saturday you will be 5 years 2 months old :). But everyone can give the Deepavalli wish, even me. 

Walking in the park and an update

After a series of rainy evenings, Bujang went for a walk yesterday. He has not been out for some time and he is a little pudgy. The grass was a little wet in patches but I decided we should take the chance. There was no other kitty about so Bujang had the small field all to himself. But of course the mosquitoes were quite relentless but they did not disturb him, only me :)

 Bujang walked slowly choosing the right grass to eat.

 Then he chanced upon a broken branch and there were investigations, sniffing, turning around of evidence. All in all, he walked for 45 minutes until I told him we had to go as the day was getting darker and the mosquitoes busier. I was grateful that he didn't kick up a fuss or showed me his daggers!

This morning...

 Tanaka decided he wanted to eat breakfast closer to Ms Akira. Ms Akira was not very bothered by this and the two of them ate breakfast quite amicably, in full sight of each other. I had removed  the wire mesh as grandma told me Tanaka had used it to try to climb over the fence! In its place I had tied a plastic gardening rod used to train plants.This would discourage both Tanaka and Megat from trying to squeeze themselves into the room.

The wire mesh from Tuesday...now history!

 Tra-la-la-lala

Tanaka resting infront of the room after breakfast this morning. He was much more relaxed about it but I know his brains are whirring for the next best thing he could do to get inside the room. Ms Akira did not hang around long near the door but settled for treats and her window cat seat.  

 I an furry smart!Everyone says so and so do I. I will figure out my next best move later.

Will that kid never give up?

Bujang sitting with grandma after breakfast.