Closure

Yesterday evening, I had a chance to speak with the new domestic helper of the household that feeds Shiny, Jambala and Humm-Humm. In her limited English, she said that an aunty told her that she (the aunty) had taken Shiny away, and after about a week, Shiny passed away.

At least we now know what had happened to Shiny during her last days, and that she did not die alone, out in the streets.

Sigh...


Shiny, RIP Oct 2008

Where is Shiny?

Shiny, Shiny, where are you?


Not a day goes by without us (L and I) thinking and sms-ing about you.


Are you in someone's home, safe & sound, with plenty to eat and enjoying the comforts of home?


Or has someone taken you away, only to terminate your life, before we could say goodbye?

Wherever you are, I hope you're no longer in pain and that you'll always remember the sweetness and kindness that the nice aunties and uncles have bestowed on you.

About Shiny, the community cat

Quite a few things have happened since the last update on Hari Raya.

Shiny has stopped hanging out at the block where I usually feed her and where her wooden box is. Instead she's been hanging around the household that feeds her and the other community cats. I think the distance between those 2 blocks are too far for her ever weakening body.

Since then, I've began placing another water bowl nearer to her "feeding household", in addition to the earlier one at her other place where her wooden box is. A few days ago, someone left wet food on her box overnight, even though Shiny was no longer there. I didn't clear the stinking mess away for this person has to learn not to litter. I've also stopped putting out the water bowl next to the box, to discourage further littering by this person.

As Shiny has been getting food from her regular household, she no longer eats the food I gave her, or just a very tiny bit, so I've stopped giving her wet food. I still visit her twice a day and change her water twice a day.

Meanwhile, through Shiny, I've met other people who cares for Shiny. One is a lady who fed Shiny some essence of chicken! Another came to see and stroke Shiny and who told me that Shiny used to always greet people who passes by, and how she misses Shiny's clear voice. :)

I'd earlier made plans for someone to continue to feed Shiny when we go on holiday. Last night, I was thinking about reminding this someone to change her water, but I have not seen Shiny the whole day today. The last time I saw her was last night.

Shiny wasn't at her hangout this morning, and I noticed her water bowl had been moved away from its usual spot. At night, I sms-ed L, who said she'd met Shiny early this morning and Shiny had walked towards her! *Phew!* This means Shiny hasn't conked out and that someone must have taken her (I guess) between 7am and 8am this morning. Whether they've taken Shiny home to care for her, or to the vet, I really have no idea. Will have to snoop around tomorrow or during the weekends if I get a chance.

Shiny on Hari Raya Puasa PH

Finally got a slightly better shot of Shiny's eyes in the daylight, coz she keeps looking away whenever she sees the hp.

When we went to feed her last night, someone had left for her a plastic bag of wet food on the floor and a a bowl of dry food (which attracted ants). We cleared the leftover wet food but left the dry food there.

This morning, I saw a lady passing by who stopped by, sat down and stroke Shiny and let Shiny rub her leg. She must be thinking about why this cat is so skinny. After she left, I went to feed Shiny.


Specks of white among her dark fur - is this a sign of old age?

Shiny eats slowly and would rest in between bites of food. It would take at least 15-20 mins before it's confirmed that she's had enough (so that we can clear), but we would not have this privilege of time in the morning during working days. L is back from her business trip, so I've asked her to meet for tea (I don't know her...yet).

Eye Drops

Antibiotic eye drops for Shiny



Eye drops for the beans




They are the same!

Almost 2 weeks have passed since we'd stopped applying eye drops on Shiny, and miraculously, her eyes have healed almost totally on their own, save for a little bit of the 3rd eyelids showing. It's a vast improvement from almost a month ago.


(Shiny, 28 Sep 08)


(Shiny, 17 Sep 08)

However, despite our feeding her twice a day (unless she's full from other's feeding) to try to maintain her weight, she seems to be still losing weight. L, the lady I've met has tried to take Shiny to the vet with the help of Damy (professional pet taxi), but both times, they failed to catch Shiny, who somehow managed to scoot away. And I can still remember how she struggled, bashed herself and became the screaming banshee the last time I tried to take her to the vet. Either she's really fearful of confined space or she doesn't want to go to the vet.

The person who put the blue collar on Shiny calls her JJ. Last week, that person left some dry food out for Shiny, which ended up being a mess that attracted thousands of ants - and this was just outside some residents' home. Once, I found 2 ant-infested piles (on Shiny's box and on the floor), which I had to clear and in the process, inadvertently killed some ants. :(

That kind of started my exchange of "love notes" with this person for a while. I first scribbled a note, which I left for him/her, hoping that he/she would stop littering.



When I got home, I prepared a more water-proof note.



Then stuck the note at Shiny's box the next morning. Haha! :P


That person even left a pack of open dry food (dunno is it for cat or dog?) in between the 2 flower pots...as if Shiny will know how to take food from the packet and feed herself? >_<"

Luckily, the house-owners (a Buddhist family) did not destroy my note. That person got my message and left an note in return for me. He/she had stopped leaving out leftover food, and I'd left my email for this person to contact me, on yet another note. All notes were left intact for several days and over the weekend, until I removed them today. :)

Sweet old dame

The more we get to know each other, the more endearing I find Shiny to be. Although she's totally black, scrawny and ill-looking, the grand old dame more than makes up for it with her charming purrsonality. All the while, she is friendly and would call out to any passerby who cares to give her eye contact. The SO and I often joke that Shiny is machiam like calling out "uncle" and "aunty" to anyone who passes by her!

Last Sunday morning after eating, she was resting in her wooden box while I squatted about taking her photo. As I called out her name to catch her eyes, she suddenly jumped out of her comfy box to come and give me an affectionate rub. :)



After feeding her last night, she sat on the cement ledge, staring at me while I walked away. I walked back towards her, pointed towards her box and told her to "go back to your perch", which she promptly did, followed by happy scratching! This old gal is very perceptive. Heh!

She also likes to have us near her while she's eating and kept coming to me to rub my ankles every now and then while taking bites of her food.


This evening, instead of coming towards us, she calmly remained on her usual perch as we approached, obviously not hungry. Someone had left food on her seat, which wasn't a good idea as it might attract the ants afterwards. I wonder what brand of dry food these are? They look like S/D except that they seems bigger than the S/D kibbles.


Whoever it was has also put a collar with a tag on Shiny. The tag had 2 letter initials and a neighbouring block number (which isn't the block where L or C lives).

Seeing the new collar on Shiny, I kind of feel gratified that there are others who cared enough to look out for likeable Shiny, which makes her a lucky cat. :)

Update on Thurs, 25 Sept '08:
Shiny's eyes look sooo much better, finally! A tad of the 3rd eyelids still show, but her eyes are clear, while the swelling in her right eye has subsided more. She was hungry for breakfast, ate quite a bit - 1-1/2 tbsp of softened RC dry food, followed by 1/4 Fussiecat, which she didn't finish. There was a bit of vomit on her wooden bench, which was cleaned with wet tissue.

Shiny the Ah Mah

I was late in feeding Shiny this morning, and when I was almost near her usual hangout, I saw her trotting into the old man's flat. Outside the gate, I heard the old man telling her to "come, come" but I could see neither man nor cat.

After a while, the old man reappeared and I told him that I've come to feed the "black cat". He let me into his home, where I walked all the way inside, and saw Shiny slurping milk from a plastic cup in the bathroom, right down to the last drop! *jaw-dropped* Haha! This gal knows how to worm herself into people's hearts and homes, though I'm not surprised, coz Shiny is a likeable cat.

The old man said Shiny refused the food they once gave, so they don't feed her. He said Shiny is 14 years old. Waaa.... she's a grandma already!

Shiny update

Update on Sat, 20 Sept '08: Shiny's 3rd eyelid on her left eye has receded a little bit more, and the swelling on her right eye looks a little smaller (or was it my wishful imagination?). Anyway, the left eye definitely looks better, which is a little bit comforting for me.

I'm hoping to increase her weight a bit within this 3 to 4 weeks before we travel. L (who's concerned about Shiny) will also be travelling, and she's asked her neighbour C to feed Shiny during our absence, which is great (must remember to pass some RC dry food to them). I'm worried that Shiny may not be getting regular meals from her usual household as the domestic helper has gone on leave, or Shiny may get chased away by the ginger pair of Humm Humm & Jambala (that's what the domestic helper told me).

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Almost 2 weeks have passed since we started giving Shiny the eye drops treatment, twice a day (except for the first two days).

She seems weak at times, and unable to eat much dry food, which kind of tickles her throat and makes her cough. I've started to give her dry food softened with water and less canned food, hoping that she can gain weight with the intake of more dry food, but sometimes, she seems so hungry that I give in and feed her one whole small can, which she eats enthusiastically.


While her left eye looks clear (although still has 3rd eyelid), the swell in her right eye seems to have stopped improving, so we've decided to stop the eye drops today and will keep observing her.

The Indian cleaner in the area, who'd once lectured me about clearing up many months ago (when I didn't even litter) has gotten used to our feeding Shiny and has never bothered us with her lecture again.


Whether she likes it or not, I have started to tell the other lady feeder (who's concerned about Shiny) that if she does feed, she has to please ensure that she clears up afterwards. On a couple of occasions, we've had to clear her leftovers the next day, which by then had attracted hordes of ants and several roaches. I worry that Shiny may get bitten by the ants and I sure don't want the cat-tolerant residents there to start complaining of the litter left at their doorstep. Even I would not like that, no matter how tolerant I may be of community cats.


I would say the residents and even the two Indian cleaners are cat-tolerant, because so far, no one has removed the small plastic bowl of water which I have left there for Shiny for about a week. I change the water twice a day, and change the bowl to a different one everyday, so that they know the water is fresh and won't have to worry about mosquitoes breeding.

Community cats update

Shooting the breeze with Sugar last Sunday (7 Sep).


I thought he looked very good and guessed the caregiver Ms A must have done something.

It turned out that Sugar had spent several days recuperating at the animal hospital and being administered with antibiotics, after having had a few teeth pulled out! Ah well, he hasn't looked this good for a long while, and I hope he can maintain his current healthy state.


His vet & hospitalisation fees came up to about $400. My contribution to the expenses, plus my personal expenses means more output than input this poor month. :-(


Shiny as we saw her this evening:


Fed and watered

Shiny ate half a can of wet food and some kibbles, which means she must have been fed earlier on; am gradually giving her more dry food than wet, so that she will get the necessary nutrients.


Post-dinner grooming


Her happy scratch board - the SO says she looks so cute when she does that, and that she walks/trots like Scooby-Doo...!?!

My wish is for Shiny's eyes to heal completely, and for her to gain weight to her normal (slim) size. :)

Shiny keeps us busy

We've been seeing Shiny twice a day for the past week - once in the morning and once in the evening. The current S.O.P. are now like this everyday, with slight modification for the weekends:

a) Upon waking up in the morning, take out bottle of antibiotic eye drops from fridge to warm up (Shiny hates cold eye drops)

b) Carry 2 cans of FussieCat, plus feeding apparatus and dry Sanabelle in work bag; Shiny's current preferred dry food is the adult Sanabelle, which comes in small kibbles, so easier to crunch down

c) If we find Shiny, wipe her eyes/face of discharge, administer eye drops, then feed wet food, followed by dry food

d) Upon reaching office, put eye drops and leftover clean canned food (if any) in office fridge

e) Before leaving office, remove eye drops and leftover canned food from office fridge and keep in my work bag; to ensure I don't forget (d) and (e), I have set reminder alarms on my hp to cue me twice a day

f) Meet up with the SO in the evening and repeat (c); if he has to work late or if I go out after work, we will just do it later; Shiny will not be starving as she (confirmed it's a 'she' now) will still go to her usual cat-friendly household to wait for food, but will still eat at least half a can of FussieCat from us.

Shiny in late-Feb 2008, with less than shining eyes


Her eyes have improved somewhat, although very slowly. Her left eye now looks brighter (like her right eye in the Feb photo), and her right eye still has a slight swelling on the upper lid, and less on the lower lid. Overall, she is less weak, can meow (in her slight coarse voice) and can even chase after us at times.

The nice thing that's happened is that we've met another lady (a self-declared "dog person" and not Shiny's feeder) who's been concerned about Shiny and trying to feed her, medicate her with flu medicine and take her to the vet too (but without success too). When she has to travel for work, she asks her friend to help out, so we've met her friend too. And being the small world that this is, all three of us happen to have a common friend~!

Community cats update

On my way back from marketing, I was happy to bump into Sugar, whom I hadn't seen for a week. He looks well, with a cheerful expression, which he hasn't had for quite some time. I wonder what Ms A (caregiver) had done to make him look less ill. He followed me to the bench, and I sat with him, stroked him and talked to him. He always seem to enjoy having our company, or keeping us company, so it's the least I can do for him, since there was nothing I can do to ease his pain on days when he's ill. After 20 mins, I left him to look for other cats to give the opened canned food, which Sugar had declined.

We've been seeing Jon Jon and he too, is losing weight and doesn't eat much of our food. Well, he's always been a fussy cat! I suspect he waits for someone at our block to feed him the kind of food that he likes.

All the other community cats - Blackie, Timmy, Tortie Gal Mimi, Tabby2 & Kiddy are well and are still chubby.


Community cats from the other area:

Last Thursday, Shiny's eyes suddenly turned for the worst. The 3rd eyelids were showing in both eyes, leaving a small "black hole" on his right eye, while the left eye was half covered. I was alarmed and went to get antibiotic eyedrops from the vet for him. We managed to apply it on his eyes on Fri and Sat morning, as we had no success of finding him on both evenings, even though we went to hunt from him at different timings.

Found him this morning and fed him; the swelling on his eyes have receded somewhat, and we can see more of his eyeballs. *Phew!* Shiny's upper right eyelid still has a swelling, while the 3rd eyelid is partially showing in his left eye (about one-third). Hope we can find him in the evenings so intensify the eye-drop treatment, and feed him some yummy FussieCat and better quality dry food (so he won't have to eat the F brand from the feeder's domestic helper).

Saw Humm Humm last Friday night while hunting for Shiny. While at the vet, I also bought a bottle of antibiotic powder, if only HH would agree to be my friend and let me apply it on him. Thankfully, his open wound seems to have dried up and all I could catch sight of was a bit of "crumpled" skin, but no sight of his wound. So HH will be ok. He's a big-head tom, but I think once he's sterilised and got used to the human touch, he will also become a friendly, affectionate cat.

Jambala is well, and so is BT, both of whom we meet every now and then. We suspect BT's presence is creating a sort of in-equilibrium among the community cats in this area. HH and Jambala will both stay away from BT; Shiny stays away from HH, but could not care less about BT. And BT just kind of bulldozes his way into us, demanding to be fed! Very 霸道, behaving like a ruffian. :P

Will update with their photos later.

Other area's community cats - update

Since the deworming mission, I went back the next day to check on Shiny. I was afraid I might have inadvertently overdosed him a little on the deworming tablet.


During the deworming, I had to carry him to the mosaic bench so that I could cut the tablet into smaller pieces, and I'd only realised how light he is after I'd came back and carried Coco. Shiny was lighter than Coco!

I was glad that that he seemed well. Shiny was waiting at the doorstep of the feeder, who hadn't yet fed him, as evidenced by the presence of the Sunday papers sitting on their gate in the typical Singaporean HDB style. Shiny ate a small can of wet food, plus some dry food.

Jambala came by to wait for her breakfast - that's my chance to deworm her!


I had one more deworming tablet, but I didn't have my knife with me... squatted in one corner and tried to break the tablet into quarters with my fingers (with partial success), then hid the tablet into the wet food and gave it to Jambala. The gal is smart - she must have bitten on the half-tablet, found it distasteful, and refused to eat any more of the wet food. Can't fool her. ;)

Attracted by the smell, the noisy Humm Humm came by in the midst and very loudly demanded for a piece of the action!


I gave him the leftover half can of wet food, with a quarter of the leftover deworming tablet. So at least Jambala had three-quarters, which was probably insufficient for her weight.

I walked over to the blocks across to try to find a dustbin, met this guy who came over to sniff the empty can, and started clamouring for some too. Aiya, no more already!


I'd seen him before years' ago, and thought he belonged to the Malay residents of that home (can see the dish of dry cat food beside the dustbin). I gave him some dry food, which he ate in an extremely noisy "nom, nom, nom, ngow, ngow, chomp, chomp" fashion...very amusing! I turned around and understood why...

BT was standing stealthily right behind me. The empty wet food can was a cat magnet!


BT is really quite chubby now. I brought him further away, gave him some dry food, and went on my way.

Mission de-worming

Mission: To de-worm Shiny who lives almost a 15-mins walk away.

The domestic helper of the family that feeds him told me Shiny still get fed with his regular bowl of wet and dry food twice a day. Despite that, he always seem to be hungry and would come to us for snacks of dry food whenever we happen to meet him. Though he seems to be eating a lot, he was losing weight and has become rather skinny.

I thought we should try to de-worm him.


Friday night: Getting ready the feeding apparatus, with a couple of extras, just in case we didn't succeed on the first attempt or if he refuses to take the de-worming tablet. If we succeed, we shall try the 2nd tablet on Jambala, if we happen to meet her and if she's not yet been fed by then.

The idea is to get to their location by 7.30am, before the cats get their regular breakfast, so they would be hungry enough to eat our food.

All packed in the cat-feeding bag and ready for the mission.



Saturday morning: Unfortunately, it poured cats and dogs. When the rain abated, we went out but could not find the regular community cats downstairs. Hopefully, they were hiding somewhere dry away from the heavy rain.



At Shiny's location, we first saw Jambala, then Humm-Humm who was scooting away. We realised BT's presence nearby and he was starting to growl at Humm-Humm. We gave BT some dry food, which he agreed to eat only after he's gotten a few strokes on his head from me. *roll eyes*

We turned around and Jambala was gone. There was no sign of Shiny. Anyhow, we went to eat breakfast, after which the SO went back to office to clear work.

I walked back and tried to find Shiny again - he was sitting right at the door step of the feeders' home all alone, probably having missed his morning breakfast call, which was just right for my mission!


I fed Shiny half a small can of wet food, followed by another quarter can, just to hide the little bit of leftover de-worming tablet. He ate them all, but was becoming less enthusiastic with each mouthful of food as he got fuller. Anyway, it was mission accomplished!


On the way home, I saw a resting Jambala, and gave her a few kibbles.


Also met this golden retriever, which of course I could not resist making friends with. :) Like most GRs, she was very sweet, and made me happy with her attention.

Her domestic helper minder was very kind to take off her leash and asked her to sit for this photo. What a charming sweetie!

Community cats update, etc.

I thought we had sensational weather 2 days' ago, on Tuesday. The whole day was cloudy and I didn't realise there had been a slight drizzle in the late-afternoon, until I stepped outside on my way home.


There was a nice ,cool breeze and the temperature felt like 23 to 34 degrees - it felt like a temperate country! The SO was somewhere else and he too, thought the same.


Shiny from another area, in a photo taken in mid-June. He had lost weight, and lately, is sick and has eye discharge. He is still eating lots though.

I have been missing this boy and last week, was just wondering what had happened to him, when lo and behold, he appeared before us yesterday!


BT has returned! He wasn't in a sociable mood, although he did come to headbutt my legs initially.


He has put on some weight and has a slight bulge at the tummy. Hmm...perhaps someone took him in? His coat doesn't look as smooth as before though... poor food is suspected. I hope he hasn't been thrown out now.

I went to the pet shop to get some canned food for Coco. As usual, Milky the chihuahua now knows how to seek me out, whether by the sound of my voice, my scent, or by whatever means!?!


Pet shop aunty said Milky only does this to 2 of her customers, and one of them is me.

Wow, I'm so honoured! She will make some odd noise until I stroke and carry her, and she will give me her specialty - doggie licks! I love to see her, as she 's so small, round and cute, just like a small roll of honey-baked ham. Best of all, she makes me feel so well-loved. :D



Here's Mimi Tortie Gal, happily being cuddled in the arms of her Singapore Idol... purring away like an engine.


Here's Tabby2 aka Azmi, being held against his/her wishes. All along, we'd thought he's a boy, but recently, we realised he/she really has got totally "no balls", so the SO suspect maybe he's a she!

Haha! Just like we've always thought Shiny was a she (due to the small size), until one day, we realised maybe Shiny is a he! Anyhow, it doesn't matter. We still treat them the same.

Community Cats Special *

What is so special about these photos of community cats?


Tortie Mimi


Tiger


Tabby2


* Spud - the only non-community cat in this post


Shiny - taken when he had eye infection


Sugar, our super cuddly community cat


Miu Miu - the very smart cat from my old estate; she still comes when I call her


Tortie Mimi, repeat "victim"


Tortie Mimi, again...


Affectionate Kiddy


Ginger from another estate


Pedigree from another estate, good-looking and very tame, quite likely abandoned

:)