adopted: rescued kittens found at Pulau Ubin quarry

Helianthus & Amaryllis are around two-month old. They were found dumped in a box at a quarry in Pulau Ubin. The box was placed precariously next to the quarry, and it seems apparent to the person who discovered the kittens, that whoever dumped them there, were attempting to drown the kittens as well. The person (unknown) rescued the kittens and left them in the care of the NParks office staff.

2 of the girls who were intern-ing at the NParks office, were tasked to bring the kittens back to mainland(SG) as it was unsafe to leave the young kittens there where wild dogs are known to have bitten some young puppies to death as well.

They are currently in SG now, boarding at a fosterer’s house. They are found to be extremely healthy, proof that someone has unkindly taken the kittens away from the mother cat. However, because they have been taken away from their mother by force, both of them aren't doing well now. Amaryllis isn't responding to neither food nor drink, and the fosterer has to give her a special diet as well as nutritional gel to keep her strong for now.

Helianthus on the other hand looks like she's coming down with the flu. However the fosterer is feeding her with Vit C for now. 

The fosterers of these two rescued kittens are financially unable to provide the kittens with foster care for much longer. To visit, adopt or financially contribute,

Contact Cailing at:

Cell no : 92979134

Email : lamcailing@hotmail.com

Do also spread the word so that homes can be found for these deserving kittens.

Update: Helly and Amary are coming to our Love Kuching foster home this Thursday night. As they are currently ill, they will need to rehabilitate before they will be ready for adoption. We will update on their state of health after they arrive at our foster home and post on their adoption availability as soon as they get well.


Update: The kittens have recovered and are ready for adoption. Because they are now well, they will be staying at the current foster home and can be visited for adoption there. Contact Cailing (contact info above) to arrange visit for adoption.

Useful Video - How to Keep Your Cat from Running Out the Door

finding alternative sources of CRF-suitable wet food for Helga

Helga is so picky with her food, she won't eat her dry diet on its own and we are already running low on our supply of RC Renal pouch wet food.

I have been alternating the remaining supply of RC Renal pouch food with homemade CRF diets to add to her RC Renal dry food. My recipe list came from this website and so far I have tried 3 of the recipes: barley with beef and carrots, barley with clams and chicken, and eggs with clams and chicken fat. So far I realise she hates barley, and she prefers beef - I already knew this before she was diagnosed with CRF because she only liked Nutripe Beef and not Nutripe Chicken or Ocean Fish. Also, she drinks the soupy residue of the egg recipe and pretty much leaves all else behind. Plus I read that egg is not a healthy food for everyday consumption in cats and should only be given twice a week.

So I will have to cook more beef recipes and substitute barley with rice and because we don't have rice at home nor a blender. We bought organic baby rice for her -

This box of baby rice cereal costs $3.65. I opted for this brand because most other brands contain flavourings and such. This one only contains organic rice, organic vegetable oil, vitamin C, mineral iron and vitamin E (tocopherol).

I will be using this baby rice cereal to make Strombeck's Beef and Rice low-protein low-phosphorus CRF recipe which I think Helga will take to since she likes beef and hates barley. Am omitting the supplements they suggested for the recipe save for the Vitamin B tablets we just got for her since she will be eating wet food mixed with her RC Renal dry food.

Ingredients (converted to tablespoons for easy measuring):
8 tablespoons lean ground beef (raw weight), cooked
1 tablespoon clams, canned, chopped in juice
8 tablespoons rice, long-grain, cooked
1 tablespoon chicken fat 

Another alternative I found to wet food for CRF cats is baby food - the kind that comes in small jars. They are low in phosphorus, as researched on this website. Low-grade canned foods like Fancy Feast also are low in phosphorus but are very high in sodium, which is therefore not suitable for any cat no matter the health. Also, baby food is low in protein which is suitable for CRF cats.

So I went and shopped as well for baby food and bought us one jar to try out -

It costs $1.95 for a 110g jar. Do note that in buying baby food for cats avoid anything that has garlic or onions because these ingredients are harmful to cats.

Helga absolutely took to the baby food, mixed with warm water into her kibbles. With this food, I think I can feed her 4 times a day instead of the current 2-3 times a day. She seriously needs to gain weight as those of you who have visited her have noticed. Am going to shop for the cheapest place I can get suitable baby foods for her and buy more of it with our Love Kuching funds.

Another option I can think of is to crush some of the kibbles into smaller sizes to mix with her wet food because she is not eating enough kibbles which is where the main nutrition is. She often eats most of the wet food and leaves some kibbles behind, licked clean of the wet food that coated the kibbles. So, will be getting my meat tenderiser and pounding some kibbles for her. Finding as many ways as possible to get more food into our skinny foster cat!

stocked up on VItamin B

Just bought generic human Vitamin B tablets because Love Kuching's bottle of vitamins is running low. It only cost $4.50 and there are 100 tablets. A good substitute from children vitamin syrups because they often contain Vitamin A (too much Vit A is not good for cats), orange flavour which some cats absolutely detest, and artificial sweetener.

I just gave half a tablet to Helga because CRF cats need more Vit B.

daytime TNRM reconnaisance at Malay Village

On Thursday Andy and I took our TKGS volunteers to Malay Village to check out the stray cat population there. Rumour had it that many cats there were reproducing and kittens were falling ill from cat flu'. It was also a perceived hard ground to educate well-meaning shop owners who feed the cats but do not sterilise due to misconceptions about the moral implications behind it. (Read more on our Sterilising Your Cat FAQs post).

So we took what we thought had to be a covert reconnaissance inside Kampung Melayu, just across the street from Joo Chiat Complex where we held a TNRM operation at early this month.

Eventually, we got to talking to one of the Malay V security staff and he enquired about our work. As a representative of the Malay Village management he mentioned that there has been TNRM done before at Malay V and that we could do the same, we just needed to book an appointment with the Malay V management so that they knew why we were in the kampung. He gave us the contact details of the Malay V management office and also his own contact information.

Upon asking more, we found out that many of the kittens that were born in Malay V not long ago have been taken away by folks, probably adopted by the shop owners' families. There is no kitten population inside Malay V at the time of our recce.

We plan to do another recce in the evening time. The Malay Village is open till 11pm and the same security staff we spoke to can be around to show us where the cats come out at night time if we plan our visit during his or his colleagues' night shifts.

As of Thursday, we spotted 8 cats, 3 of which are tipped-eared neutered as shown below.

Well the third cat pictured as above was caught in the moment while he was about to do his business so we couldn't get a shot of his tipped ear.

There are 5 cats not tipped-eared, 2 of which eluded the camera and went hiding under a canvas sheet -

And the other 3 entire cats -

We will get a more accurate photographic account after we go for our second reconnaissance in the night.

Malay V will be a bit of a maze to conduct the trapping part of TNRM - rebuilding debris, hiding spaces under the huts, bushes. There will have to be a lot of pre-TNRM feeding sessions to know the cats' territories and to befriend them beforehand. Exciting work ahead!

adopted - mack!

Mack, the cute little boy kitten that we rescued on Monday at Ubi Techpark, has been adopted! Carrying Mack in a carrier is James, who lives in Toa Payoh with his parents and brother. They currently have one cat named Feisty that they adopted from SPCA.

Actually Mack started taking ill just before his new family arrived to see him. He started having diarrhoea right around 5pm today. So James will be taking Mack to the vet for his diarrhoea, and also to schedule his vaccinations.

We are happy for Mack and his new family!

visit to Joo Chiat Complex's stray cats post-neutering

We brought our TKGS volunteers to visit the site at Joo Chiat Complex where we conducted two rounds of neutering for the strays there earlier this month. The cats look well!

The females seem to be healing nicely. We also passed some cat food along to the cat-feeder.

This was the sick kitty that Melissa had been medicating, we could not neuter him then because he had the flu'. He is now a-okay! Very friendly too, our volunteers could stroke him -

This little kitten eluded us because he was hiding on the top of roofs above the coffeeshops when we last visited, else we would have brought him back to re-home -

His mother was still nursing then too, hence we were unable to neuter his mom, because if we release her post-surgery and with antibiotics in her system it wouldn't do good to have a kitten rushing to suckle his mother.

We will be doing the remaining cats on a smaller scale as most of the remaining ones are friendly, we can take them to the vets ourselves. It's so great to see so many tipped-eared community cats! Thank you all once again for contributing to our TNRM efforts at Joo Chiat Complex. More TNRM efforts incoming soon!

more pictures of Mack!

Mack is a rescued kitten from Ubi Techpark, currently waiting to be adopted. If you are keen on visiting and adopting him, do contact Andy at 81277072 or Elaine at 90880675 to arrange a visit. See right side bar for more information on adoption and contact details. 

we love our cats so we take pictures of them!

Scooter on the highest level of the cat condo, grooming his paws

Slinky in the igloo section of the cat condo's second level, snuggling in there for peace and quiet

A very contented Sayang in Andy's lap while he is at the computer

mack!

Here are more pictures of Macky-boy!

Mack is a really affectionate boy who enjoys cuddles - his favourite cuddle-stance is being carried in the front of my shirt folded up, like a joey in a kangaroo's pocket. He enjoys snuggling into pillows and blankets, and gets along well with other cats. His fur is quite thick, double-coated, possibly cross-British-Shorthair like our Slinky, and Ah Orh. He has white eyeliner, white toe-socks, a long tail and has beautiful mackeral tabby markings.

He has improved in his appetite and learning to eat - he is now lapping a mix of Nutripe Ocean Fish, KMR milk formula and Solid Gold Indigo Moon kibbles moistened within. He is not a greedy cat, and unlike other kittens his age (6 weeks old) he eats in a very dignified and posh manner, not getting food everywhere.

Mack is ready for adoption! If you would like to visit and adopt Mack, do contact us (see right side bar for more information).

brown mackeral tabby male kitten rescued from Ubi Techpark

About two hours ago I received a call from Edmond who works at Ubi Techpark, saying that he found a lone kitten near the canteen of the Excalibur office building, same area where we rescued Macy and family earlier this year.

When I arrived on the scene to investigate, the kitten was found to be inside the building's sprinkler control valve room which was locked and inaccessible to humans.The kitten likely was either born there and then abandoned by his mother when she moved, or that he strayed inside on his own and didn't know where to find his mother after.

Edmond went and got the security guard to open the room and I climbed in to try and get the kitten, who was meowing away. He escaped out the room and Edmond and the guard managed to help trap the kitten and then I placed him inside the carrier I brought.

The kitten, who is now named Mack, is a brown mackeral tabby boy, about 6 weeks of age. Initially, he was very feral, had a number of fleas, kept biting me when I was showering him and drying him. After burning some lavender essential oil he calmed down. Now he has been defleaed with Revolution Pink donated by The Water Dish, claws trimmed, and is cuddling with me as I type this update.

I named him Mack because his mackeral or striped tabby markings are very distinct especially on his forelegs -

His fur is nice and plush and he is healthy aside from the fleas. He doesn't really know yet how to eat on his own, fed him some milk instead because he didn't want canned food - Nutripe Ocean Fish. Will try mixing the canned food with the KMR milk instead for him.

Unfortunately we don't have a free boarding pen now for him to litter train him and teach him to eat solid kitten food, but we will find a way to house-train him! Once he is house-trained Mack will be available for adoption!

urinary tract infection in cats

Scooter started showing symptoms of UTI last evening. Urinary tract infection has a few symptoms. The obvious ones which happened to Scooter last night:

• Frequent urination
• Straining to pee in the litter box but not successful

Further symptoms include:

• Accidental urination outside the litter box
• Lethargy, loss of appetite
• Fever

Scooter started showing these symptoms today. 

UTI may be a symptom of something more major such as a kidney or bladder infection, especially if left untreated. If the cat starts to show blood in its urine, it could mean crystals or stones that need to be removed, and may even require surgery.

UTI treatment usually involves a broad-spectrum antibiotic, one of the common ones is amoxycilin which is usually given as a compound with clavulanic acid. I know this because the vet is closed on Sunday and we had to find a way to treat Scooter's illness over the weekend; we happen to have amoxycilin on hand - also an antibiotic given for fever. So far Scooter seems to have improved in his frequent peeing and the accidental urinations are decreasing. I also gave him anti-inflammatory painkiller both yesterday and today, vitamins for appetite, and rehydration fluid which contains salt that will entice him to drink more fresh water to flush out the infection. We tried feeding him canned food mixed with cranberry juice which helps in treating UTI, but he has no appetite. Amoxycilin, the antibiotic, can be administered as an injection (only in veterinary practice, the same drug for humans is usually orally administered) and so we will be bringing him to the vet for a jab if his condition doesn't improve further. Meanwhile, we monitor his condition and see if he gets better or worse. We have been checking his urine - no blood - and keeping him cool as he has a mild fever.

UTI can be brought on by stress, poor diet, dehydration. Scooter is not likely stressed, but he might have been drinking less water before today because I just realised the water fountain motor pump needed to be fixed and Scooter, like many cats, likes drinking running water more than still water. In the past, many used to blame a dry food diet for urinary problems like UTI, but most pet food manufacturers have modified their formulas to prevent urinary problems.

That and our cats get canned i.e. wet food once in two days, and our cat fountain is now working properly after I detected and fixed it - a sliver of fur had gotten stuck in the rotary fan part of the motor and just needed to be cleaned. A water fountain, having canned food in your cat's diet, premium quality dry food, will help ensure good urinary tract health for your cat.

I certainly hope Scooter can recover without going to the vet - he hates going outside of the house and to the vet!

serval's socialisation progress

Serval needs more visitors! He is still wary of human touch, but today some of our visitors to our Love Kuching foster home managed to stroke him without being scratched -

He is growing in confidence too - he started to respond to play with a teaser toy, a first for him, and stepped outside of his pen to explore beyond what he perceives as his comfort zone.

Serval is still not fully domesticated yet and thus not completely ready for adoption now, but he would do well with visitors to expose him to more humans, to have extended playtimes and learn to enjoy human affection. Do call us if you want to come visit Serval!

charcoal, now blackie alias ah-orh

Remember the rescued kittens Charcoal, Button, Mushroom and Caramel, rehomed earlier this year?

Well here is Charcoal, now affectionately known as 'Ah Orh' or Blackie -

Ah Orh will be due for his sterilisation pretty soon. His fur is nice and plush and he is very well-behaved, and good with his human sister -

He came for a visit to our foster home today with his kitty sibling Shiro. Shiro was a case of fosterer-falling-in-love and became the family's first cat; Ah Orh is the second.

We had a mini cat party today at our Love Kuching foster home, hence the visit. It's not just dogs that get to go for pet gatherings!

gave Helga a bath!

Helga is an abandoned Persian that was diagnosed with chronic renal failure. She will remain a Love Kuching foster cat while she receives her treatments for her illness funded by donations from the public.

Helga will be having visitors tonight! So we gave her a bath, complete with conditioner. She had been smelling funky, almost like a dog, so a bath was definitely timely. Her ear infection has cleared up so it is safe to bathe her and she will be also getting her Revolution spot-on treatment later.

After her shower, we blow-dried her, and cleaned her ears to remove any water that might get in, to prevent another re-occurrence of an ear infection. Blow-drying is quite important for a longhaired cat, because moisture gets trapped within the hard to reach areas like the belly and behind each leg, which will make the cat sick and the fur matted. When she was dry, we combed out her fur - with metal combs, two sizes to use depending on how matted the fur- teasing out any matted areas or clipping them away since we do not have a de-matting tool. We also cleaned her facial area - eyes and nose - with a moistened cotton pad.

Regular grooming for her will be daily brushing and combing to keep her fur nice and show-quality like. It would help if we had grooming powder - which helps absorb oils and makes it easier to comb through matted fur - but we don't. In a pinch I use a flea and tick powder instead. Baby powder would suffice since grooming powder is hard to find, but we don't have any in the house.

For longhaired cats, apart from metal combs and the occasional de-matting tool, it is recommended that a soft bristle brush be used for general grooming instead of a slicker brush. We don't have one yet, but we will get one for her soon. Her fur is not totally full grown yet as she had her fur clipped not too long ago, so she doesn't need the bristle brush now.

homecooked renal diet for Helga

Having found out when called the vet that the Royal Canin supplier was out of stock of Renal pouches – which Helga loves, she won’t eat her Renal dry diet without it – I had to find a way to make up for the lack of wet food we will soon face for her.

Researching on the web, there are a lot of homemade diets for cats with kidney failure available. I found the easiest one to make to be this one below, and promptly went and cooked it for Helga.

Anitra Frazier's Diet for the Cat with Kidney Problems

Ingredients:

• 4 parts carbohydrate: Pureed barley flakes and /or baby food creamed corn
• 2 parts protein: Lightly broiled chicken or beef or raw organic egg yolk and cooked white (used with meat, not alone) you can also use baby food chicken
• 1 part vegetable: Chopped of finely grated raw vegetable or vegetable juice-carrots, zucchini, and alfalfa sprouts are best
• 2 Tablespoons Vita-Mineral Mix
• 2 teaspoons soft butter

Blend above ingredients together

What in the world are barley flakes? I know only of normal barley grains, so I chopped the barley into smaller bits before boiling it in equal parts of water. I used ground beef – Helga likes beef – and baby carrots. I skipped the supplements because she will only be eating the wet food with the dry renal diet and thus be getting the vitamins and minerals from there. I also do not have a blender so there was no blending involved. I added only one spoonful of slightly salted butter but before I added the butter Helga was already meowing in hunger so I served it to her sans butter.

She loved the food. Mixed in with some of the soupy residue of the food, her dry food gets coated with soup and so she eats more of it. She is happily tucking her face into her bowl now, and all I did was add one tablespoonful of the food I cooked onto her kibbles. Hooray for wet renal food crisis solved!

topping up veterinary supplies for love kuching

When I next go to the vet for Helga's follow-up appointment, will also be using the veterinary funds to purchase some veterinary supplies to restock our current first-aid supplies that are running dangerously low, namely:

• Vibravet antibiotics
• Baneocin antiseptic powder
• Peroxide antiseptic solution
• Lysinium-max vitamin solution

Will report on how much of each we get when we buy them.

cache of kitty-meds - organised!

We bought a fabulous first-aid box from Daiso today. Our Love Kuching first aid area (not including the medications inside the fridge) looked unkempt, like so -

And here is our quaint new kitty first-aid box -

And so I proceed to pack. But let me take this opportunity to show you some of the essential kitty meds and ointments that are most often used -

Loperamide, an anti-diarrhoeal that settles the digestive systems. More effective than kaolin solution and Mylantal (antacid) syrup. Quarter tab once a day for both kittens and cats. Available by prescription only from vets and human doctors.

Chlorphenaramine, available over the counter from pharmacies. Use for runny nose, allergies, as an antihistamine. Quarter tab for kittens and cats, half tab for dogs. For humans, you take this for runny nose too. Do not use regular Lemsip or Panadol Cold for runny nose on cats because it contains paracetamol which cats cannot metabolise.

Danzen, available over the counter from pharmacies, used by humans for sore throats as an anti-inflammatory. Useful for cats in pain, one tablet once a day.

Antiseptic powder, used after washing external abrasions, scraps and the like with peroxide solution which is available from vets. The antiseptic powder promotes healing and stops bleeding. Also useful as styptic powder for bleeding when trimming claws. Available only by prescription from vets.

Nova antiseptic balm, made of natural ingredients, useful for promoting healing when wound is past the bleeding stage, for contact allergies as well.

Povidone iodine, also useful for cleaning surface wounds, available over the counter from pharmacies. Useful for helping bald scaly patches on fur heal especially when it comes to scabies.

Gauze and bandages, which we hardly use but was given to us via Xiao Jie the NUS cat early this year.

Eye ointments, two brands available - Ilium Opticin and Terramycin, depending on which vet you go to. Useful for conjunctivitis in cats to reduce eye inflammation due to cat flu viruses, which kittens are extremely susceptible to.

Ear cleaner containing pyrethins which kills ear-mites, donated to us by the folks of NUS Cat Cafe.

Ear swabs for pets, available from your vet or from Daiso which is the one shown here. If in doubt as to how to clean your cat's ears, ask your vet for a demonstration or we can show you how when you come visit us. Alternatively use a regular cotton pad. Clean with proprietary ear-cleaner or baby-oil, don't use water.

Our collection of refrigerated medications. The important ones we need from here are the deworming syrups, Vibravet antibiotics for cat flu', vitamins, antacid solution for diarrhoea or constipation or vomitting. We also have kaolin solution for mild diarrhoea among others.

And so, organising the non-refrigerated medications in our new first aid box, and here it is!

As with human first aid kits, put the edible medications in a different section from the inedible ointments.

And our messy kitty first aid section in our lounge area now looks a tad better.

From left - the ear-grooming section, then the first aid box, then our mobile first aid kit which we bring when we go out for rescue work (containing basic first aid supplies) and then the gauze and such. Organised kitty first-aid area, yay!