April update – she’s most definitely an ex-Malay cat

On 3 Mar, the second day that April went home, her new mum, YJ sent these pictures she took soon after April got home. Even though we know she’s been studiously padding up since her sterilisation, it’s still quite a kicker to see her rotundness in a home setting. She looks rotunder somehow.

April was already exploring the whole house when YJ emailed me these pics.

Over the next weeks, until today in fact, YJ conscientiously watched and observe April.

On Mar 5, she sent this update and question:

i put her litter box in my room last nite… coz afraid that she has not get use to it…. so last nite.. she peed in the litter box…. and this morning i move the litter box outside my room… a little bit of distance…. a little far from my room…. and told her thats where she shit…. but just now… she shitted in my toilet… right on top of the hole… where normally the water goes in….. hmm….. do u think izzit coz the litter box too far? or anything? coz 2 rooms door were opened… and she chose the toilet to shit…..

So I replied her:

I think it may be due to her habits from her ex-owners. Her choice of shithole is very typical of pet cats in Malay families – who don’t provide a litterbox but train their pets to do it at the hole.

April probably saw the hole and reverted to her old habit. What you can do is put the litterbox over the hole for now so she uses it instead of the hole. I will try to look up info on retraining cats to use the litterbox for your reference.

YJ decided to keep her bathroom door closed, and thankfully, April has been using the litterbox dutifully. As there was, understandably, no direct reference online about this very local phenomenon, I emailed her the next best thing I could find:

There’s quite a few sites about litter-box training but I didn’t find anything that talks specifically about a situation like hers. But here’s something that may be useful info: http://www.perfectpaws.com/train.html

Over the next few days, YJ would email updates and questions, which I tried to answer as best as I could. In the end I gave her this reply

=) honestly, we can only tell you how she was at the cattery, which is usually good enough for a new cat mum to get started on knowing the kitty. But well, for April, it doesn’t seem to be too helpful, eh? we certainly didn’t expect her to get comfortable so fast… nor that she will go to the drainage hole to poo, though we suspected she was a Malay cat as we thought any bad habits would have been overcome after all that time in the cattery =P Sorry about that.

YJ has been really gracious about the process of learning about April and has even sent her for a checkup, and I think grooming. Here are the lastest photos we got over the weekend.

We always thought April would do better as a single cat, and given her rapid assimilation, she is really more than happy to be kitty numero uno. The important thing is that despite her history, YJ is prepared and ready to give April all the medical attention she might need. This kitty lucked out as most potential adopters already have 1 cat or more, and would baulk at taking on a cat who comes attached with such potential for vet bill bombs.

April adopted

Her new mum fetched her at noon today.

Here are her goodbye pics.

April wanted

April’s adoption notice would have read:

Long-haired female adult cat, 5-8 years old, seeking home. Has curly fur that matts and requires attentive grooming. Does not like other cats and does not like to be groomed. Also has the tendency to fall sick and may require regular medical attention. Serious adopters willing and able to provide quality care only please.

But we’ve yet to put it up as April has been taking her time to be ready. She is primed now, and we were in the process of getting together a portfolio of her pictures and vids to go with her adoption blurb.

But while visiting Cassie, I got a call from Foster Mum. She handed her phone to a young lady, Y, who was interested in adopting April.

So verbally I summarised for Y what we know of April, and how she’s been. The most important thing was that April is not a young, she doesn’t like other cats, her behaviour and history at the cattery tells us that she may be prone to falling sick, or simply that she’s stressed, and once in a home environment may not have the problems that’s been plaguing her. But then, these are just probable, we really don’t know whether she’ll do better in a home environment. It may well be that April will continue to need medical attention from time to time – which means more financial commitment.

I then asked Y to take her time and give a good think to it, and if she’s still interested in April to call us after she makes her decision.

Later, as we were making our way to our next destination, Y called and said she has decided on April. She also said Foster Mum has given her some food and litter brands to get in preparation, and asked if they are ok for me. So we spoke in detail and I gave her some info in picking out a scratchpost as well.

April, Sat, 22 Dec 07

What a difference a week makes! April’s doing even better today than last Saturday. She was sauntering around the cattery, and no longer drooled (last week, she was still a bit drooly). She also looked good, and has put back the weight she lost during her illness.

We’ll monitor her situation, and if she continues to maintain her health, we’ll put her up for adoption.

I didn’t manage to take any pictures of her today, as after sending Shelly and Socks‘ new dad off, we also had to rush off to catch our ride, as the skies turned suddenly dark. But here’s a nice one from a month ago.

Tally for April and Joe’s Appeal

Here’s the tally for April and Joe’s vet bills.

Bill total: 968.55

• Joe’s bill: $519.50
• April’s bill: $449.05 (including $20 transport fee from clinic to cattery)

Received total: $1083.66 from these kind donors specifically in response to our appeal

• The Spots of Washington DC (who made an additional donation just for April and brought)
• Mr Edwin Tan
• Kootoo, Muffin, and Milo
• Suzanna
• Dr Tan
• Jee Meng
• Julie N
• Elaine J

Balance: $115.11

Thanks to the Spots of Washington DC who made an additional donation just for April and boosted the received amount up beyond what we needed to cover both bills. We will use this balance for Corrie’s anticipated bill, as April is recovering well.

There are no words that can adequately express how we feel to receive, on behalf of the kitties, kindness and encouragement. So we shall just say once again:

Thank you one and all!

(Apologies for the delay in updating, it was quite a juggling act to disburse the amounts between the two bills, as some were overseas donations and some sent money direct to Foster Mum. Due to the chronology, I kept wondering if I miscalculated or missed anyone out. Evidently, this minion needs a refresher in Principles of Accounts!)

April, Sat, 15 Dec 07: doing well and thanks

April was out and about on Saturday when we visited.

Two days earlier, Foster Mum had already updated that she’s getting better from her bout of anemia. But it was still a relief to see her doing better ourselves.

She had taken over a shelf in a corner, and was enjoying herself and getting toasty.

I checked with MM, Foster Mum’s wonderful helper, who said that April is eating now, and is not so difficult to feed since she got better. I thanked MM profusely for taking such good care of April and every other cat in the cattery, which she brushed off with her usual modest shyness.

To the kind folks (in donation/pledge chronological order) who responded so quickly with donations/pledged amounts to our appeal for help with the vet bills for her and Joe, we say THANK YOU!

• The Spots of Washington DC (they had actually made a general donation prior to the appeal)
• Mr Edwin Tan (who offered to help even before we put up an appeal)
• Kootoo, Muffin, and Milo
• Suzanna
• Dr Tan
• Jee Meng
• Julie N
• Elaine J

We should have enough to cover the amount now. Should there be any balance amount left, it will be channelled to Corrie‘s anticipated vet bill, which will come mainly from the amount given by The Spots of Washington DC (their mum had said that she was fine with us disbursing it accordingly).

Appeal for help: Joe and April’s vet bills

Joe’s final journey left behind a vet bill of $519.50.

while April’s vet visit on 7 Dec costed $429.05 and a pet-transport cost of $20.

The Spots of Washington DC and Mr Edwin Tan has kindly helped to meet part of the bills. Are you able to help too? No amount is too small. If you are able to help, please write to us at sephycat@gmail.com or see this page for info on how to do so. Thank you.

April – difficult patient

We visited the cattery on Saturday.

The first thing Foster Mum said was that April was a very difficult cat to feed meds to.

The naughty one had even given her helper, MM, bad scratches, and had succeeded in not taking her meds thus far – syringing, pill-popping, pounded-pill-in-food, nothing seemed to work as she would foam and spit out everything. She was even refusing food.

btmao and i decided to go with MM to try to get April to take her meds. After several tries, and witnessing her violent resistence, we managed to get her to take a bit of the meds. MM was worried about April as in refusing even food, she was starting to get dehydrated again.

April also seemed to be salivating prodigiously.

MM had been trying to coax her to eat. But at the time we left, the dish containing April’s favourite food was still untouched.

April has anemia

Last night, Foster Mum called.

She was anxious as April suddenly developed diarrhea and was dehydrated.

This morning, Foster Mum brought her to the vet where the vet was concerned about her seemingly prodiguous drooling (not a usual thing for her), her fat tumtum accompanied by a frame with little muscle mass. She was tested for FiV/FeLV, had her heart, lungs, kidneys, liver function checked, an x-ray of her tummy taken and also a white blood cell count done.

All turned out well except signs of swelling in her intestines, which indicated gastritis. She was also diagnosed with feline infectious anemia.

She’s been discharged after being given steroid and anti-biotics jabs, and also 2 courses of oral anti-biotics. She’s to have only very light meals for the rest of the evening and to be put on a gradually increasing meal portion schedule starting tomorrow.

Her bill… close to $450.

April padding up

Psst, April!

mmmeorw?

Did you notice… since you lost your mojo, you’ve been growing a tum…

*shock*

Yeah, see these FRESH photographic evidence (taken on 20 Oct):

FULLER silhouette

Belly nearer ground… nevermind that, you GOT a belly!

Filled-out sides

Sooo, what do you think?

Well… FINALLY! And you thought I might be Skinny Lizzy No 2. HOORAY for sterilisation! So this means I’m ready for a new home, doesn’t it?

(Interested parties please read these refs and contact sephycat at gmail dot com)

Post-Op Kitties

Saturday’s cattery visit was the first time we saw Chrissy and Apirl after their mojo removal.

Both were looking well, though a bit tired. Theire eyes were bright, but they were contented to just lounge in their recuperation cages, and their surgical sites look great. The $130 sterilisation cost per cat is well worth the cost.

April

Shorn tumtum

Chrissy

Shorn tumtum

Chrissy and April are mojo-free!

Foster Mum called earlier this evening with the good news. Both Chrissy and April were just back from their day at the vet’s for their respective sterilisation operations and they were recovering well.

What a load off our minds! The op for these two girls have been particularly difficult to coordinate.

If you recall, Chrissy’s op was first planned in late April/May, and she promptly fell ill, delaying the procedure.

April’s been at the cattery since April 2 this year, and only just fattened up enough recently for Foster Mum’s comfort to consider anything more serious than medication, and she has required quite a bit of it, having fallen ill soon after arrival.

We haven’t said much about her for the same reasons that we’ve avoided speaking much about Chrissy’s health status. Both girls seemed prone to falling ill as soon as we mention they’re getting well enough for the big snip.

Given what we know about both girls, and because of Foster Mum’s concern about their constitution, we also agreed with her suggestion to go for the more expensive, but less risky, anesthetic option of inhalants rather than injections.

The actual damage to the bank will be clear when we visit this weekend and tote up the numbers. But at least now they’re sterilised! April will be put up for adoption soon!

Cattery visit

Yup, after being absent for most of May, we made it today.

Frankie’s looking good – looks like his condition has stabilised. Lizzy is filling out if slowly, as is April. Cassie is as tail-wag happy as ever. Chrissy looks fine now – we’re hoping she will be well enough to be de-mojo’d soon. Corrie’s still strutting despite her neew fluff-less look. Angel’s not doing so good, and is on a 8-meal-a-day chicken broth and mashed up wet food diet.

A few other kitties were photo’d and we got some updates too, like Foster Mum’s new kitty whom I’ve named Kobe. Photos and details on all to come.

April unwell

Foster Mum reported that she’s been under the weather for the past 2 days.

April will be sent to the vet for a consult and meds today.

And we just reported her speedy acclimatisation to the cattery. Figures!

April in the cattery

April girl is settling in at the cattery remarkably fast, she’s already out and about mingling with her fellow cattery mates. I mean we sent her in only on monday!