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!

Jambala & Gingers, et al

Finally, I managed to get a front view shot of Jambala, and during the day time too!

She's has such a pretty face and a soft, gentle meow.



Whenever she sees us, she will greet us by rubbing against the corner of the wall, and stretching one of her hind legs, which is such a peculiar, unique characteristic of hers.



Pretty, pretty gal cat.



Here's another ginger cat - this time, it's a boy cat named "Eeyor" that belongs to a neighbour from a neighbouring block.



He is among the very first cats that we know to walk on a leash, and even without the leash, he can be walked and will stay close to the owners. He can also be wheeled about in the shopping trolley.


"Eeyor" doesn't come out much nowadays, and despite not having met us for a year, he seemed to remember us when we met him several weeks ago. He kept pulling away from his leash to follow us!

At another estate, we've known this ginger boy for a number of years. He's very cool and popular among the passer-bys, many of whom would stop in their tracks to look at him or stroke him.


That's the kind of commanding presence he has!

His face reminds us of Dino, a community from downstairs who passed away in 2006.

Community cats update

It was good to to meet these cats on my way home last Wednesday. I gave them a little snack of dry cat food.

Jambala, who had just woken up from her nap, under a parked car.



Tuxedo cat Timmy, looking nice and plumb and as sweet as ever



Sugar & Jon-Jon



Sugar had a bout of painful gum problem for the past weeks, and caregiver Ms A had taken him to the vet. At one point, Ms A needed our help to feed him his medication. On one night, while refusing to take his medicine, Sugar went berserk and even threw his frustration at Jon-Jon, which was shocking to us. I think he was in much pain that night to react that way.

Although he's now his usual sweet self, he's rather wary of Ms A or us, coz he thinks we may feed him with medication! We still find him very adorable. :)




I also met these cats the week before.

Kiddy who is very affectionate and gets along with most new cat that appears (now it's Mimi who loves to stick to him)



Mimi - apparently she had fever the other time (Ms A confirmed at the vet) but has now recovered.
Soon, she will be sent for spaying.




Shiny, whose eyes have recovered gradually.

We'd only managed to treat her eyes with eye drops for 5 or 6 times, coz we failed to to find her on some nights at her usual hangouts.


(Shiny, 3 March 2008)

After a few days of treatment, her eyes were no longer red or tear as much, but the 3rd eyelid on her right eye was still quite prominent. However, it went down on its own subsequently, and Shiny's bright eyes will soon be back again.

Who is Humm-Humm?

The cat's story:

I had finished eating and was minding my own business when I heard this bean calling "Humm-Humm, Humm-Humm!" in a calm sort of voice. I kept my distance and answered her, even though I didn't understand why she kept saying "Humm-Humm".



I don't know who this bean is, but I have seen her before, and she seems friendly. Even my very smart galfriend Jambala will go and rub against her ankle and allow herself to be stroked by her, so I guess this bean must be quite humm-less.

She took out small box, which she put near her face, called out "Humm-Humm" a few more times, and then she walked away to join another bean.



I still don't know who this bean is, but since she's always saying "Humm-Humm, Humm-Humm", so I guess she must be "Humm-Humm bean".

[ ps: In Hokkien, "Humm Humm" means ... "swollen" :P ]

Jambala update

Jambala is looking well, and looking very plump, so much so that the domestic helper of the family that feeds her and other cats thought that she's pregnant!



I explained to her the significance of the tipped ear and that Jambala will no longer get pregnant again.

It's difficult to get a front shot of her, but everytime I see Jambala, I still think she's a really pretty cat with a sweet face.



Jambala has a boyfriend - a vocal, unsterilised male ginger whom I call "Humm-Humm" because he has a (in Hokkien) "humm-humm" face. HH is quite untouchable, but luckily, he tends to stick close to Jambala (and sometimes eat from the same paper bowl) and there is no more unsterilised female cat in the area. Jambala was the last female to be "done".

Jambala update

We managed to catch a glimpse of Jambala on and off whenever we passed by her usual hangout. I took a few photos which turned out quite badly coz they were taken with the SO's low resolution hp.





Jambala is quite affectionate, and sometimes refused the dry food that I gave her. Instead, she would follow me about just to get an extra bout of sayang...so sweet!





I'm glad she's finally speyed, coz there a ginger male who hangs around her area and he's an untipped, broad-headed "hump-hump" (in Hokkien) type of male, so most likely is unneutered.

I shall try to take better pics of her once I get my new (and only the 2nd) hp. *grin*

Funny cat video

After missing Jambala for a week, we're glad to meet her this morning on the way to work. She was waiting near the feeder's home for food.

Jambala looks well (with bright, clear eyes) and seemed to remember us, including the SO! It was the SO who approached her first, and she allowed him to stroke her. We fed her a big bunch of dry food and left for work. If only I can meet Jambala more often, then I can feed her better quality food (to make her tummy patch of hair grow back faster), as her usual feeder is using the supermarket variety of dry food.


I found this video of funny cats which someone compiled from different sources. The resolution is not very clear, but it's a cute video nonetheless.

:)

Jambala found

After having dinner last night, we've decided to try to look for Jambala at her regular hangout. It was about 8pm, and too dark around that corner of the car park to be able to see if there was any cat underneath the cars. I went to the parked cars, and began calling Jambala's name...hoping that nobody would hear me. :p

After several minutes of calling, Jambala finally emerged from under one of the cars and meowed at us in her usual soft, sweet voice (the voice she uses only when outside). Not only does she recognise her name and me, but she recognised the SO as well, although she still shy-ed away when we patted her.


Jambala looks well and cheery, and I thought her tummy looked rather round! I guess she still gets fed by the regular feeder. We gave her some dry food, a last sayang and said goodbye to her after clearing up. Then we were off to look for Timmy, the tuxedo community cat.

(Timmy, June 2006)

Timmy is looking plumper nowadays - it must be the extra snack of cooked fish that Ms J has been cooking and feeding them. Anyway, I always like the community cats to be slightly plump especially now that the rainy season will here soon. On those long rainy days and nights when it can rain non-stop for 24 hours, the cats can hide away and not come out to feed. The extra store of fat should come in handy to cushion them from the cold and hunger on those cold, rainy days.

Jambala remains free

I couldn't upload pictures at home due to the crappy broadband connection (from the "red" company). I know upload speeds are up to 256kps lah, but don't tell me I can't even upload one single tiny jpeg image of 65 miserable kilobyte??

Anyway, Jambala seems to have garnered her share of fans on the blog. She's recovered well, and was eating a lot and pooing a lot too...up to 3 batches of poo a day! She can break Snowy's record already!

She was becoming very comfortable with me, and was not bothered by the camera.




Jambala : Beauty sleep is more important right now...




On Saturday, I went into the cat room and could not find her. I called out her name repeatedly, but there was no response. I found her pretending to be part of the clutter on the shelves.

On Saturday night, we released her back to her usual haunt.

On Sunday evening, we went to check on her and managed to find her, so we fed her some dry food and left a bag of water.

I went to look for her again on Mon and Tue, but did not find her.



Jamabala remains elusive, and I hope she'll be fine. We'll continue to keep a look out for her.

Jambala shows her affectionate nature

Jambala gets better and comfy

She's come out of the cage to explore the room, but will still go back into the cage to rest.




"Choping" Coco's usual throne by the window; Jambala's quite comfy now and will continuing sleeping even when I go in and out of the cat room, but will run into the cage when she sees uncle S (without me).




Jambala at the cats' favourite sunny spot for afternoon napping


Sweet dreams, Jambala.

Update on Jambala, community cat

Coco checking out the pet carrier on the first night of Jambala's arrival




Hissing and growling were part of the cats' normal repertoire, and check out Coco's tail. ;)




Jambala was kept in the cage in the "cat room". She was quiet, and didn't disturb our sleep at all. The rather edgy Coco also became somewhat quiet that night.

Jambala on the morning before her spaying. She instinctively used the litter bin during the night.




Back from the vet clinic, post-spaying. The first thing Jambala did was to step into the litter box to pee.

Afterwards, she started eating the wet food, followed by the dry food, but later, threw up everything on the newspapers, but she was fastidious enough to rest inside the litter box!



So very tired and groggy...




Spotting the latest fashion among community cats - a tipped left ear!



As Jambala fell asleep in her groggy state, Coco went to check her out. I sayang-ed Coco which helped to calm her down, so her puffed up tail dissipated.

At one point, Jambala hissed at Coco, and Coco hissed back at Jambala!
I believe both cats weren't being aggressively antagonistic, but were hissing at each other as a warning.




Jamabala looking less groggy this morning, and even walked out of the cage, after which it was difficult to get her back into the cage. Just before I left for work, I went to check on her, and found that she had poo-ed in the bin...good gal !



I couldn't take leave today, so had to leave her in the cage while I was at work. When I rushed back home in the evening, I was very relieved to find everything in the cage intact and orderly. Phew!

This evening, she ate more food without throwing up. I left the cage opened, but she didn't want to come out, but slept through most of the time, and she purrs when I talk to her.

:)

Dilemma