Not easy to medicate Macy.

btmao came home flustered from brekkie service. Macy’s one tough little kitty to foie-gras today, quite unlike yesterday, when we did it at the vet’s, with a pill-popper thingy we bought. She’s worried about getting Macy to finish her meds now. Change of plans – mix the pill into the food. New SOP starts tomorrow.

The truth about cats and blogs

Well, well, well! What do you know? Free-spirited as they are, cats are venturing into cyberspace by proxy, big-time too.

Poor cats. There’s an Internet full of the things, but little do they know the joke’s on them.

I got to mulling the strange popularity of cats in the ether when I discovered that a spate of bloggers had declared it “Blogacatmas,” the festival of posting cats on weblogs. There was a flash of fur, cats everywhere, and then it was over. Another week, you sigh, another outbreak of nerd humour on the Internet. But these people are onto something.

There’s a stereotype that goes like this: When somebody running a website has run out of useful things to say, they post a picture of their cat. When they don’t feel like writing one thousand words on their blog, there’s always the option of posting Fluffy and pretending that she’s somehow of interest to anybody. When the boiler of thought is out of steam, out wheezes a kitten.

Perhaps the stereotype was undeserved, but it stuck. In a gently self-mocking way, putting up pictures of cats has become the quintessential blogging gesture. And the cat, for its part, became the patron saint of tired websites…. (more)

Cats have become an excuse to go blog-mad, it seems. Good for spreading cat appreciation. But as with most things, the catblog proliferation can be double-edged, especially in the hands of the misguided, the vengeful or just plain clueless.

How unfair to become an excuse though – images of irresponsible individuals justifying why they can’t/won’t sterilise their pet cats keep popping up. I’m game for a human version of that game of bash-the-head-that-pop-up-in-any-of-the-predetermined-9-holes now. Where’s my sledge hammer?

CatBlogging explained.

From the wiki‘s glossary of blogging:

Catblogging (traditionally “Friday catblogging”) is the practice of posting pictures of cats, in typical cat postures and expressions, on a blog. Sometimes a comment on the cat or the situation shown is provided. Cats had been on web pages already, but “catblogging” as a distinct and defined practice originated on Calpundit by Kevin Drum. He also established Friday as the canonical catblogging day.

So those of us who does all this, and proxy-rant for the cats aren’t just catblogging then. Interesting.

Cat washing day

Today was another great day for cleaning up the slackers – no haze to pre-irritate our noses, and there’s sun!

After a back-breaking time for the minions, all six are washed, dried, self-fluffed and snoozing – Teddy Hubbub, Bamster Monster, Philly FatTum by me, the slacker-auntie, Joey small-voiced, Rheilly mini dynamo, Kheilly snowshoe by the slacker-mum.

Teddy

Bam Bam

Rheilly and Philly (It’s not an optical illusion or a strange seating pose on Rheilly’s part that make her look like a ultra wide-body mini, aerial comparison here)

Joey in the foreground, the sibbies in the back.

Wet ginger/ orange tabbies always remind me of pork floss.

Joey is very tall when posting, almost chair height. She is unusual in 2 aspects, being a ginger female, and a large local DSH female.

Kheilly

On the whole, latest additions Kheilly and Rheilly have adapted well to the concept of baths and bedragglement, despite having been homeless until we brought them home on 18 Mar this year.

Ivan the shaded

Yesterday, before we vidded Cassie, Ivan warmed up the camera. No more the Terrible, he’s now the Terribly Devoted Lover of btmao. He was quite shy and stayed away – probably because I was there, and also he’s had food before we arrived.

These pictures are a sequence taken yesterday

(Of all the butter-fingered things to do, I over-wrote this low res version over the original high-res one, to my eternal hissy-fit. GAH!!!! Moral of the story: do not EVER meddle with the original – save a copy and fool around with that, peace of mind for a tiny price. I shall go gnaw on my fingers after updates are done for the day.)

Another surprise today – Tortie girl

Yes, on the way to get Macy, we passed by Ian’s place, and saw his house-mate Baby and the tortie girl we spotted on Sep 24 for the only the second time ever. So this sighting makes it three. Baby was watching the tortie girl from a distance. The tortie was eating out of a food bowl.

btmao and I both suspect the tortie girl is the new household pet of K’s family, joining Ian and Baby, and may be a replacement for the late Charlotte.

I usually pass by Ian’s when I walk home after work, and i’ve not managed to spot the new girl before. Perhaps they let her out only during the weekends. Time to try to find out more… I hate this PR business, but we don’t need a fertile female around to upset the balance. Especially since I spotted that stranger big male in the area recently.

The unbearable lightness of responsibility

Surely it makes sense to sterilise cats. But talk to people and try to make them understand the importance of sterilisation, and the same old misguided arguments of finance and personal aka religious reasons keep rearing their ugly heads.

No better example than a fresh example, which is Dawn‘s blog entry about irresponsible cat owners who won’t sterilise and/or dump their pets.

Her account of the event that led to her blogging isn’t the only thing that amazes, there’s a comment on it which makes me roll my eyes and then sigh in exasperation. It’s nothing momentous, just bloody typical:

Anonymous said…
Although the husband has a job, but what if he doesn’t want to pay for the sterilisations? He might be a low-income earner and already feeding a big family!

There are people who cannot sterilise their cats for personal reasons such as religions.

How lightly taken is the responsibility for the animal lives that are totally dependent on the pet owner! It’s just unbelieavable, the ease with which irresponsibility is justified.

Sadly, and embarassingly, this is still a very common attitude in Singapore.

I couldn’t refrain from posting a response, and another one. I would be interested to see a reply, though I doubt there’ll be one. Anonymouses are like hit-and-runs, they don’t stick around.

calsifer said…
Anonymous

Having pets entails responsilibity – sterilisation is part of that responsibility.

If the excuse these people have for not sterilising is they already got big family, the question is then why in the first place take on pets, which adds to the financial burden? It is no kindness to have pets and then not provide basics like adequeate food and water, and healthcare. Jsut like having children, if they are not prepared to provide, they sohuld not have pets because the pets will be dependent on them.

Religion should be a prime reason for sterilisation, not against. Which religion doesn’t encourage kindness? CWS website has a list of quotes from religious bodies IN SUPPORT of sterilisation.

Dawn said…
Yes Anonymous – which religions?

And I agree with Calsifer. You pick up a cat and choose to keep it, you’re responsible for it. The caregiver told me the house is very nicely renovated so she doesn’t think money is an issue.

calsifer said…
To add on, if financial issues is the excuse for not sterilising, it makes evne less sense: sterilise cats, stop endless rounds of kitten births, stop the population growth, less cats to feed, less money needed to feed them!

Dawn said…
Yes exactly.

What will enlighten such people? I would DEARLY love to know. Anyone?

(Related: Maybe the rejection of responsibility is misguided)

NOTES
As mentioned: CWS’s FAQ on sterilisation: What some religions say about sterilisation.

Is it her? We think so!

On the way home with Macy, we passed through Area 2.  Lo and behold, a pair of bright eyes, all the brighter for shining out of a black coat, tracked us.

Who was she? btmao saw her, and after a pause went: “Omi!”

I asked if she was sure, and she said she was almost sure. I went nearer, taking pictures, and finally I touched her. Suddenly, she spooked for some reason and scooted into the drain.

I caught a shot of her tail

Long, as btmao remembered, but bushy, which btmao did not remember it being. We followed her through the grills and she replied to btmao for a bit. That was the clincher for btmao – the voice was Omi’s.

She looks ok, except for being scrawny, like all kittens making their way in the world. She also look bigger now than what we expect – chalk it up to poo light since she’s been seen only at night before, and we all know about the famed effects of the colour black.

There was another thing that worries me a bit. She seems to have a plague of mites.

btmao will renew their acquaintance, and hopefully get her mojo off her before she disappears again.

The last we saw Omi was more than a month ago. We had thought her gone for good. But what do you know. Sometimes you just have to wonder at the resilience and strength of these little tykes.

Cassie girl

(Must read: Cat care refs.)

Phots and vids updates (Click on pic or caption to see more)

New Cassie photos (10 Mar)	Cassie contentedly lap-sitting (3 Feb)	Cassie love and affection (12 Aug)
Cassie lapping it up (22 Sep)

ADOPTED! Cassie has a home as of 3 Nov 07.

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About Cassie

Cassie’s a very affectionate young girl who deserves a home. She loves to sit on laps, and is always wagging her tail as she purrs – she’s a cat with a dog’s tail!

Vid! Happy tail-wagging cat
Cassie in the sun

Squinting in the sun

A bit of self-groom

Coming for the lap

UPDATE: more Cassie pictures, taken on 2 Jan, 2007

(If you’ve come to this page via the Cat Welfare Society’s Public Adoption Bulletin Board, click here to return.)

(Must read: Cat care refs.)

Marty and Henna – foodrun!

Before serving Martin’s gang, btmao laid breakfast for Marty and Henna.

This is them rushing toward her. That’s Henna you hear talking.

“Good karma” feeding example

At Martin’s gangland this morning, were not 1, not 2, but 3, THREE plastic bags of schtinky wetfood.

The remains were very very visible, and it’s along a busy peakhour pedestrian thoroughfare.

I took a vid before btmao cleaned the mess up. If you look carefully, you’ll even spot the special guest-stars – big-headed red ants. That’s btmao’s hand in the vid, carefully clearing up around the angsty ones. This is what btmao does frequently, clean up after irresponsible “good karma” feeders.

Can you imagine what such people say when you tell them they don’t have to feed these because you come by everyday? Their attitude tell you: “Who cares about you? I want to feed too!”, nevermind that their food is obviously too much for the cats to finish anyway – they never notice anyway since they just dump and go.

And if you tell them please don’t dump food and go, and the possible consequence? Their attitude tell you: “Who cares if the cats are taken away and killed because of the mess I make? As long as I’m doing right by my karma/beliefs.”

If such logic were applied to a computer program, circuits would fry.

(Do you have stories of Singapore’s human nuisance problems to share? Get them online!)

Martin’s gangland this morning

Bright and early, we went to get Macy, and as a matter of course served brekkie to Marty, Henna, Martin, Mary, Macy and Marcus.

Macy on the steps, Martin comes for us

What happened then surprised us – Martin, who’s the gentleman boss of his gangland, scuffed Macy!

No one got hurt though, which was a relief. We thought, given that Macy wasn’t feelnig well, he’d be extra nice to her. Maybe it’s the wait for brekkie that got to him.

The gang of Martin’s gangland then gathered

Mary ever beautiful

Marcus ever omega

Martin ever cool

Macy ever meek

She trots for the promise of succour

Needless to say, btmao made sure the brekkie wait was worth their while.

Strabismus means Cross-Eyed

We got one, crossed-eyed slacker that is. Sometimes we wonder where Kheilly’s eyes are focused on.

Crossed-eyed Kheilly.

Macy has a bit of it too.

Fancy name for a simple thing, huh? Got this from peteducation.com (emphasis mine):

Strabismus (Cross-Eyed)

“Strabismus is a term used to describe the abnormal positioning or direction of the eyeball. Normally, the eyeball is held in place and moves from side to side and top to bottom under the influence of small muscles which attach directly to the eyeball. Occasionally one muscle may be longer or stronger than the muscle located on the opposite side. This causes the eyeball to veer off in an abnormal direction…”

“Strabismus can also occur as a result of injury to some of the nerves going to the eye muscles. In addition, it may be seen if the cat or dog has a disease of the vestibular system.”

“The vestibular system is part of the ear and is what helps the cat (and us) keep our balance. If the vestibular system is not functioning normally, the cat may feel as though he is spinning, and his eyes will move abnormally to try to adjust to that.”

“If it is an inherited condition, no treatment is recommended as the abnormality is generally a cosmetic problem which does not affect the quality of life. If it is inherited, the breeding of affected individuals is not recommended.“

“For animals with injury to or disease of the nerves or the vestibular system, the underlying cause needs to be found and treated. Sometimes anti-inflammatory medications are helpful.”

(source)
This is why we’re so eager to get Buddy snipped. And this also why we don’t support breeding for specific traits.

Macy’s home

Back from the vet. btmao and I were drenched, despite the brolly. Macy fared better since the brolly was for her exclusive use.

Macy must be one of the sweetest homeless patient the vet’s seen. She was calm and cooperative once we got her out of the carrier. Not once did she struggle or protest, through the poking, prodding etc. She even let the vet have his way when he started wrapping her up in the blankets on the examination table while waiting for his assistant to fetch some stuff.

Her heart and lungs sound fine, her dehydration is very mild (she was given a short stint on IV drip). So she doesn’t look like she’s suffering from lung infection, which is good news. The verdict? She may suffer from chronic sensitive nose, which would explain why she didn’t eat yesterday when her nose was runny but was tucking in with gusto today. Quite inconsistent behaviour for a cat sick cat. But if it’s runny nose, then it would explain why her appetite’s normal one and gone the next. This is because cats don’t eat what they can’t smell.

Sensitive noses in humans we know – btmao and I have it in spade loads. It’s called rhinitis, for cats, we suspect – the homeslacker tabby threesome (Philly, Rheilly, Kheilly) seem to have especially juicy sneezes and very loud snores. But wait, the vet said something else, what Macy probably has is sinusitis.

What’s the difference?

Read Chronic Nasal Discharge from Pawprints and Purrs, Inc for info.

The prognosis is, barring any bloodwork or tests to establish a baseline on her health, if it is sinusitis, there’s no permanent cure for it – just like the rhinitis that’s plaguing btmao and me. What can done is to prescibe meds to help her get better.

So Macy’s back home with Martin and the gang now. Adn for the next 20 days she’ll be getting a pill a day to help with her nose runs. However, if there’s no improvements by Wednesday, back to the vet she goes. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

(Addtional reference: Chronic rhinitis/sinusitis in cats from the
Respiratory Problems in Cats page on the vetinfo: A Veterinary Information Service site)

Macy’s ready for her date

… with the vet, that is.

All packed

Before the packing. Notice how her tail sort of spiral in on itself?
Here’s a closeup of her curling tail, which curls under her butt when she sits or squats.

She’s quiet in the carrier, isolated in a room right now. But compared to her usual, she’s definitely a lot more gaunt – her sides are sunken in and she’s dehydrated, and her fur took forever to return to normal after btmao pulled a flap on her back up. Her breathing is definitely laboured too.

Poor Macy! We’ll be making our way to the vet’s very soon. The only good thing is, she’s interested in food, unlike yesterday. We hope for the best.

PS This morning was very interesting in itself. Will post updates after we get back.