The last 2 weeks have been bad. Real bad.

Billy was urinating on the cushions and we tried to find the reason unsuccessfully. He was eating alright and doing his businesses alright too. The Friday before last, 11 July 08, when I got home from work late, Billy ate much less than usual and seemed exhausted. I felt his stomach to check if poop was bothering him and found his bladder really large and large piece of poo still left in his tummy from my last check the night before. Then Billy moaned and went into the toilet and had bloody urine. I freaked.

Saturday, we rushed down for the earliest appointment at MPN as Dr P was fully booked at ARVC. The vet attending was Zill’s favourite Dr PF. She found that Billy had a Urinary Blockage and he had to have an operation to clear it and then he had to be hospitalised for 3 days. I agreed of course although the cost was totalled at around $700. I was really scared out of my wits and sms sis. When she called me, I was almost crying on the bus and couldn’t answer her properly so she resorted to sms. I went to the Ang Mo Kio Library and wandered around Ang Mo Kio Central so that I could calm down, think and plan.

Thankfully, when i went back to the clinic in the afternoon, Billy’s operation was a success. But he didn’t like it when I left without him when visiting hours were passed. Poor Boy. I visited him on Sunday and Monday as well. The naughty boy-cat pulled his E-collar and all the tubes out on the first night and cos the urine tube was sutured on, he had a really swollen penis, and couldn’t sit properly. He refused to eat, and only ate a little of his favourite steamed chicken drumstick which i brought to coax him to eat on Monday evening.

Luckily, Billy is well now and being fed water everyday. He needs to take a lot of water through syringe-feeding as he does not have the good habit of drinking water that the other cats have. Hence, the constipation and urine blockage. 

Hopefully, with the water feeding, lactulose and the change of diet to W/D, he will not have constipation and urine problems again.

I really don’t understand why the #06-*** neighbours are letting miu-miu run around when he so obviously cannot find his way home.

I spotted Miu-miu the Monday before last at the void deck. I was rushing to work so I told Miu-miu to stay around until I got home in the evening. I would bring him home. I saw him again early last week. I coaxed him into the lift and pressed level 6. Then stepped out immediately when the lift doors were closing. Miu-miu knows his way home once he reaches the level 6 lift landing so I wasn’t worried he would be stranded elsewhere in the block.

But he was around again yesterday. Meowed at our door. Heard his bell jingling as he ran away when I opened the wooden door.

This morning same thing happened. Only Miu-miu continued to meowed really loudly as he wandered down the corridor to the far end. I immediately went out and asked my neighbour and her daughter who were preparing to go to school if they saw which way miu-miu ran. My neighbour has evidently mistaken Miu-miu as my cat as I heard her tell her daughter that its my cat as I ran down the corridor to calling for Miu-miu.

I found miu-miu and he recognised me so I managed to get him to follow me all the way to the ground floor landing and took the lift up to level 6. Miu-miu is too fat and has to take intermittent rest breaks even when running along the corridor so I hadn’t the heart to get him to follow me up the stairs 4 levels.

I am considering whether I should write to the #06-*** neighbour.

Miu-miu always comes to my level and meows really loudly. He sleeps and hides in my neighbours’ plant pots and shoe racks. He roams the corridor and even runs into my neighbours’ home. So far they have tolerated him and always come to inform me as they think (they still do) that miu-miu is my cat as we have so many cats at home. I fear that should the neighbours lose their patience one day, it will cause us to be complain-target as the neighbours think the trouble-maker cat is mine. Of course to protect my own home and my cats, I have to deny ownership,  Miu-miu will then be ordered to be caught by the TC then!

Billy has been taking pumpkin mash with his avoderm or just plain pumpkin smeared on his feet and not rejecting it. He is now poo-ing normally. Good news indeed!

The rest of the cats seem to like the taste or steamed pumpkin mash too, especially xiaozhu who can gobble 3 heaping spoonfuls of the stuff by itself. No other yummy added.

Now we just steam a quarter which will give us 1 whole bowl of pumpkin. Billy and Zill take 2 spoonful each, the kittens a little on top of their kibble and the rest mum and i eat plain with dinner. Yummy!

It’s a really good source of fiber and lots of other vitamins so it can become a daily staple!

Yesterday 2 reports on mice. We got pest control down and 2 burrows discovered. The burrows are now medicine treated and the mice should be gone.

I already knew that there were mice around as Alison caught and killed 2 just a week ago and Sissy has been catching mice around his area and rats from the new condo outside at night too. Complacency indeed. I didn’t think of calling pest control to check for burrows. I suppose I thought the 3 cats would be sufficient.

Next time I see the mice/rats the cats caught, killed, and dumped near the office, I’ll inform pest control immediately to check for burrows.

One really good thing about the cats. They have been catching mice, rats, cockroaches, lizards and some birds. So it does show that well-fed cats are better hunters. The cats just hunt and kill, then the carcass is dumped. No eating involved.

Billy was rushed to the vet on Tuesday when the lump of shit refused to come out even after a huge dose of prune juice. Had soapy enema. He has only just stopped dripping diarrhea. Poor mum had diarrhea all over her bed yesterday. She asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to.. What is it about her bed that every time the cats are going to do something bad, they do it on her bed??

She has concluded, its not the position as she has moved it several times and they still do it. I told her, must be her ah ma smell… They feel safe near her and need to feel safe especially when they are feeling unwell.

 

The same Tuesday, the adopter who played up twice insisted on seeing the fosters when we were out at the vet’s. I smsed that it was inconvenient but he was insistent that he would not be available another day so we agreed on the evening.

Didn’t break date this time. And XiaoXiao is now adopted. We kinda miss her around here especially as she has been cosying up to us rather a lot.

She’ll be in a one-cat household. The new dad is a previous cat-owner so she’s in GOOD hands.

 

P.S. Another carrier loaned out. Xiaolu’s dad hasn’t returned the other carrier yet. Hope XiaoXiao’s dad returns the carrier promptly!

I’m glad our next door neighbours are nice. My cat has run into their home a few times but they never got angry.

My cats like to roam the corridor, under supervision of course! And often play with the other neighbour’s plants but he always smiles when he opens his door to see who is at his door when he sees that its just my cat romping around. The neighbours few doors down are nice too as they know I often let my cats out for walk-walks on the corridor and my cats play with their corridor furniture, plants, shoes and floor-mat, but they don’t complain and even smile at us, unlike this man. See here and here too about this idiot.

I’m glad we have nice neighbours.

Billy is having poop problem again. I already applied the enema. And given him prune juice which he later threw up due to exertion. Poor boy… I hope he poop soon. Can’t let him go through another soapy enema again…

SPCA has raised the rewards in their appeal to $6,000 for the Pasir Ris St 21 case and $2,000 for the Pasir Ris Town Park case.

XiaoXiao - 1820g (growth = 300g)

XiaoZhu - 1520g (growth = 320g)

XiaoFang - 1400g (growth = 220g)

 

Xiaofang is lagging behind the other 2. She doesn’t eat much. But then compared to XiaoZhu, any cat doesn’t eat that much! He eats like a glutton gobbling non-stop until the bowl is empty even if the bowlful is supposed to contain enough for 3 cats. He always ends up with a swollen belly that looks like its going to burst. After every meal.