hiatus for our kitty-dreams at Love Kuching

We took a short one-week break off major cat rescue projects to re-group and re-think Love Kuching's future. If you have been loyally visiting our blog for the past week you would have noticed a lack of updates. Not only did we need the time out to think through and re-strategise, I also fell majorly ill and needed a bit of time out to convalesce. In any case, the week of rest is over and here are some of our thoughts that we would like to share with you, our loyal supporters.

It is when the going is well that we need to strategise, not when times are tough. Times are indeed tough for there is news wafting about regarding private catteries having financial difficulties. But for Love Kuching Project, we are doing fine. However, we believe that passion for animal rescue needs to be coupled with economics. We do not intend to be a short-term animal rescue group that runs out of funds or people or dies for a lack of vision. We are in this mission for the long haul. Hence we need to plan for the long-term and after a pow-wow, here are some of our plans and thoughts.

A bigger foster home: a private cattery
We are reaching levels of a consistent rescued cat population that requires a bigger space. This means we have to expand beyond the walls of the foster lounge of our current space. This means we need to rent a facility that can shelter more than our current shelter-intake rate. In this way, we will be able to care for more cats-at-risk than presently. It will also be more convenient for adopters and visitors to come by and interact with the cats. At the same time, the risk of us using our home as a foster home for rescue will be removed, as Andy and I are living in a H-db flat.


Financial sustainability: a social enterprise
In order for a us to lease a space that can be used as a cattery for rescues, we will need to expand beyond a total non-profit group into a social enterprise in order to cover our increased overheads in rental, fixtures and fittings, electricity, even salaries / volunteer compensations. This means that in order to sustain a cattery, we will need to foray into private cat boarding as a revenue generation source. Based on rough estimations we need to provide luxury private cat boarding at a rate of 14 cats a day to cover the expenses necessary to keep the cattery for rescued cats afloat.

Resource sustainability: a full-time worker
It has come to a point where I find myself working almost to the brim at Love Kuching, and even then there is always more to do. This means that eventually, in order for us to raise the bar of service in our cat rescue group, something has got to give. At present, it is my own job. In order for me to be able to continue doing what I have been doing - caring for the cats, feeding and medicating them, bringing them to the vet, fund-raising, planning TNRM projects, administration and accounting, publicity, liaison with adopters, liaison with donors and sponsors, writing the blog, handling appeals for cat rescue help, volunteer management - the list is endless - the answer can only be that I will eventually need to do this full-time. Hence I will need to be an entrepreneur (one of my many hats in my illustrious career) that will enable me to run Love Kuching without it interfering my honest living. Hence social entrepreneurship with a nominal compensation for whoever it is that will run Love Kuching full-time is the only way we can go about our mission for the long-term, be it myself or someone else that can fill the shoes.


Given all that we have mentioned above, we are setting in motion plans to put our vision in place. In the meantime, we will keep doing what we have been doing. If what we have shared has piqued your interest, do feel free to contact us. We would love to have someone to share our ideas with, if not to gain support, to gain some critique and insight so we can keep going.

Now that the short hiatus is over - look forward to more blog posts!

5 orphans - named!

The 5 orphaned newborn kitties that arrived yesterday have been named! Inspired by characters from literature and anime.

Whitey

Chi

Snowball

Goma

Gin

All 5 are doing well and drinking their milk, no signs of illness, cooperative in suckling the bottle.

new arrivals: 5 orphans

Last night Shu and Eddie brought us 5 kittens they found in a multi-storey carpark at Choa Chu Kang. They were found in a cardboard box with blankets. Nearby, a foreign worker hovered. Shu asked the worker if he knew where the mother cat was. Apparently the kittens were removed from the mother because people have been complaining about the litter of kittens. So they were placed in a stairwell of the multi-storey carpark.

If Shu and Eddie didn't pick them up, they would have died of starvation eventually. Unfortunately they are inexperienced with hand-rearing newborn kittens and so they brought the kittens to us.

The 5 orphans are now with us.

They are about a week old, healthy, needing milk about every 4 hours. Their eyes have yet to open but will soon. Sex indeterminate for now, so we will have to name them unisex names - the lavender one is called Whitey. There is also a black one, 2 ticked tabbies, and 1 spotted/mackeral tabby. Sleepless nights ahead!

Jalan Ismail TNRM - complete

With round 2 conducted on Sunday 26 September, we have sterilised a total of 15 stray cats at the Jalan Ismail private estate.

(Unfortunately we have no mug shots of the 5 cats trapped on 26 Sept as I was ill and unable to be present. We have the receipts though, of both rounds of sterilisation.)

Round 1 - 10 cats - 19 Sept

Round 2 - 5 cats - 26 Sept

Both bills are for sterilisation only; expenses also need to be included for trapping/transport of $70 per round, and $5 boarding expenses for the 15 cats pre- and post-surgery.

For Round 2, the cat-feeder of Jalan Ismail managed to raise the total of $300 through her neighbours and friends. So Round 2, which cost $295 inclusive of transport and boarding, cost $295, and was paid for by the cat-feeder! Which means we have residual funds in our Sterilisation Fund to conduct our next TNRM!

Thank you to those who have previously contributed to our Sterilisation Fund and onward we will go towards more TNRM projects in our vicinity!

Cassie has been adopted by @kstride27 & @mjreynolds82

Karla and Mark, who moved here from the UK, now living in Tampines, adopted Cassie last night!

Before they arrived to visit, we had a long chat with Karla on their answers to our adopters' questionnaire. We love how much they were invested in the care of their soon to be pet cat, they even bought an aircraft approved pet carrier because they might be moving back to the UK in a few years. Cassie's story (and her pretty looks!) really touched their hearts.

Cassie, being the shy girl, took a while to rear her head and come out to see them, but eventually she regained her newfound confidence and came out to eat and play in the foster lounge where we took out the toys and laid a bowl of Addiction King Salmon canned food.

We laid her new carrier which Mark and Karla bought (IATA approved for flight carrier! Cassie might be in London some day!) with a pee pad sprayed with catnip, and sprinkled some dried catnip inside too. Cassie is one of those cats that calms down with catnip it seems! She readily went inside her carrier and calmed down, poising herself to go to her new home. 

Mark and Karla really enjoyed their visit to our foster home and we and the cats enjoyed their company a lot. We are glad that Cassie is now with them and has become part of a family!

Helga's herbal remedy for CRF

After tons of research we created a CRF list of herbal supplements that will help Helga with her kidney function and overall health. The next thing to do was to track down where we could find the herbal supplements, some of which are quite obscure.

Helga was already on nettle extract and alfalfa (for reducing creatinine levels) and slippery elm bark for healthy digestion. We recently added more:

So now her herbal remedy is a mix of:

• Nettle extract
• Alfalfa
• Spirulina powder
• Chlorella
• Kelp
• Burdock root
• Dandelion root
• Slippery elm bark

These herbal supplements are bought from a variety of health stores: My Blood Type (at Parkway), GNC, and Holland & Barrett. I bought a membership to Holland & Barrett so Love Kuching could get discounted prices on the herbs bought there (makes a big difference) and I already have a GNC membership which also helps in saving funds on her supplements.

To administer the herbal remedy, which has to be at least 3 hours before or after her regular pharmaceuticals (we do herbs in day, meds at night), I make a brew with hot water, dissolving those that come in tablet form, and mixing in the powdered extracts that come in capsules or powder form.

I then syringe Helga with the brew, which makes up about 12ml in volume. The remnants of the brew are left in her bowl and mixed into her food. Helga likes the taste of the brew, compared to pharmaceuticals which she often spits out. Unfortunately she hates to have anything touching her mouth area so I hold her by her fore-legs to syringe her as she has the habit of pushing syringes and pill-poppers away from her face. But she is otherwise very cooperative, and when inclined to eat, likes to eat the food even with herbs within. She used to have a habit of spitting out pharmaceutical tablets in her food when we mixed those in for her. Now we pill-pop them into her since her appetite is erratic. Much less spitting and drooling from her these days.

For pharmaceuticals, Helga is on Fortekor (for renal circulation), Azodyl (kidney-specific probiotics) and Periactin (antihistamine that stimulates appetite), with Vitamin B tablets if her appetite is poor.

Helga's sub-cutaneous injections

After her hospitalisation at the vet on Monday for fasting for 4 days, Helga returned with advice from The Animal Clinic's Dr Dawn Chong that we start her on sub-cutaneous (under the skin) fluid injections to be done 2-3 times weekly at 150ml 0.9% saline each dose. This is especially important when she refuses to eat, and is also good maintenance for her kidney function which is already on the decline from her last visit.

The S-C injections need to be done at home, so I learned how to do it from the vet-techs at the clinic. Cat-angel Catherine bought infusion kits, 18g by 1inch needles, and 500ml bags of saline over to our foster home for Helga (and taught us how to use them), as well as made a cash donation to cover Helga's hospitalisation fees.

Our first two attempts at S-C injections were a learning curve. The first time round we weren't sure if we had injected correctly, and after trying on her sides and then her back, I realised that it was easiest to do the injection on her back because I could monitor if there was any back flow or leakage. The second time around Helga ran away after 100ml of saline infusion because I didn't restrain her enough. I checked in with Dr Chong if 100ml was okay and she replied saying that since Helga is small in size, 100-150ml is ideal, not any more than that.

So onwards to today, our third attempt, and I successfully managed to infuse her with 150ml of saline. Here is a video of my amateur attempt at S-C injections (if you are experienced with this and can tell me if I am doing something majorly wrong please leave a comment to let me know so we can improve).



It is quite heartbreaking to see that she is in pain because of the injections and it takes some bravado to administer this - our heartfelt admiration for those who have sick cats to care for requiring injections (renal failure, diabetes) that you need to carry out on a regular basis. 

I laid a peepad on the floor beneath Helga because during our first S-C injection attempt at home, Helga peed on the floor and we couldn't tell if it was the saline leaking out from her skin or otherwise, which also prompted me to change to injecting her on her back even though there is lesser loose skin there, so that if any fluids leak I know if it's Helga peeing or otherwise.

The needles are used once and then covered and discarded in a resealable jar (as per Catherine's advice) to seal, wrap and dispose of safely.

The video doesn't show this - but when starting on a new bag of saline, once the apparatus is fit together, it needs to be opened (the green seal at the end of the tube) to let it flow so that there are no air bubbles trapped in the saline when injected under the skin. The bag also needs to be hung high so that gravity can speed up the flow of the S-C injection. All this knowledge also imparted by cat-angel Catherine who is a nurse. (The workings of the S-C injection is the same as for humans, only that for humans we do not reuse infusion sets, and we alcohol-swab the needles, tube and injection site.)

And so, this is the reality of kidney failure. Persian cats have a heredity towards it, and Helga probably had a lifetime pre-abandonment of eating table-scraps (obvious sign being her bad teeth) - nutritional food really makes a difference. And water. Please make sure your cats are taking in enough of it, and if not, buy a water fountain, or feed them wet food everyday alongside their dry food to ensure they are getting enough hydration.

TNRM round 1 at Jln Ismail

Tonight we trapped 10 stray cats at Jalan Ismail, at a corner of one of the landed houses. This corner is one of the the two corners we identified two major colonies of strays. We will be doing the second corner next Sunday, 26 Sept at 7:30pm.

Out of this particular corner-colony, we were eluded by 2 cats, a male, and a female who gave birth not long ago whose kittens died. Both of them did not want to enter the traps and also eluded Damy's net.

There was one young female on heat and Damy managed to catch her while mating with one of the males nearby. The other male who was waiting in line watching was the black male cat that eluded us the whole night.

Damy had to use the net to trap this mating couple so we could trap two at the same time.

Not easy thereafter to transfer the cats from the net to the carriers, but Andy helped Damy restrain one cat with a towel while the other was being transferred to the carrier. No scratches or bites happened to any of us tonight!

Here are the mug-shots of the 10 cats caught tonight. They will be released on Tuesday in the afternoon so the cat-feeder can feed and manage them thereafter.

The cat-feeder auntie was very cooperative and we arranged to do the second corner of Jln Ismail next Sunday, with Damy advising her to feed less on Saturday and of course not to feed at all till we arrive on Sunday and only feeding the remaining cats after our second round of TNRM. It makes the trapping process much easier.

A big thank you once again to Joanne who identified this need, and is also donating towards our sterilisation fund for the TNRM. Fingers crossed we should have just enough now to do two rounds of sterilisation - we currently have $910 in our sterilisation fund before Joanne's donation.

Will post the bills and receipts of tonight's trapping and sterilisation on our blog when we get them from Damy next Sunday. We will also be claiming CWS sterilisation reimbursement for this TNRM project, filling them in on the cat-feeder auntie details so they can track the progress of the Jalan Ismail cat colony, and the funds reimbursed will return to our sterilisation fund for future once-a-month TNRM projects in our vicinity.

Of pet farms, pet shops, home breeders and pet adoption

Our stand against breeding farms and pet shops that sell puppies and kittens remains that it is a detestable practice, and that these farms should be closed down and illegalised, and pet shops selling live animals should be boycotted.

A gray area however is that of home breeding. It is not legalised in Singapore, whereas pet farms and shops that breed pets in inhumane conditions are legal. But there are so many gray areas in the legislation governing animal welfare and animal control, that we as pet lovers have to make our own moral stand and act accordingly, policing ourselves and those in the spheres of our influence, since the government cannot police unethical breeding and treatment of animals adequately.

If you are a breed fancier - the term differs from animal-lover, because it means you support a certain pedigree breed of dog or cat and admire its royalty and lineage, but you don't love all animals - then it is actually far better for you to go to a home breeder of repute, best one that is certified by Singapore Kennel Club or the cat version Feline Fanciers' Association. This is because pedigree breeding is not a simple act of putting one on top of the other, so to speak, but  veterinary resources and scientific know-how are crucially necessary to ensure optimum conditions for the animals through the stages of maternity, birthing and nursing. Reproductive health will be compromised through breeding activity, so special care is needed to ensure a breeding animal is always sickness-free, and removed from breeding when it is ill or harbours a hereditary defect. These practices are carried out by ethical pedigree breeders, but not by pet farms and pet shops, simply because it is far too costly to care for the reproductive healths of breeding animals. Breed fanciers who breed pedigrees do it more for the sake of admiring the breed of cat or dog, rather than for profit, and these fanciers truly love their selected pedigree pets.

You may disagree and feel that even ethical, reputable pedigree breeders should be shunned and remain illegal. This is probably because you also do not support eugenics in the human race, where humans choose genes they would like to be in their offspring. Pedigree breeding is similar to human eugenics. If you believe that it is the right of a human being to select a sperm donor based on 'hair colour, education level and creativity' or even baser, to select a mate based on 'how good our children would look', then home pedigree breeders are essentially entitled to the same. If you think that there are already more than enough homeless children in the world, on the streets of Asia prostituting themselves for a dollar a day, then you probably will be against the notion of eugenics, and therefore pedigree breeding. Both concepts are in the similar strain of sociological discussion.

Personally, I do not support home breeders, and I also believe that the world is overpopulated with humans and I should not create any more. I believe in adoption through and through, both of animal companions and of children, should I ever have the means to.

But my opinion aside, there will be people who enjoy certain breeds and showing their pedigree dogs or cats. There will be people who choose to procreate human beings despite the world already being overpopulated and there being already so many homeless children. We cannot put a stop on preference, but we can as vigilantes stop unethical breeding. So, when in our line of voluntary work we do meet breed-fanciers, who are enthusiasts about a certain breed of dog or cat, we do not harshly rebuke them for this interest, as we are all different. This is because we have made the moral stand and know for ourselves whether we love cats, plural, or only the (insert pedigree name) cat. What we can do is make sure that these breed-enthusiasts consider adopting the many pedigrees that are often abandoned or neglected and needing new homes, or only supporting ethical breeders and not unethical ones, which is what most pet shops and all pet farms are.

Unethical breeding is when there is no regard for reproductive health. Unethical breeding is when even base living conditions of food, water, toilet and activity space are compromised. Unethical breeding is when one does it for profit, not for the love of the pedigree of the animal. Unethical breeding is when a life of an animal is completely disregarded, and the animal becomes merely a cash-cow. An unethical breeder does not make plans for animals that are produced not true to the breed's lineage or those that have past their healthy reproductive age, spurning them to already overcrowded shelters or to a cruel life of abandonment on the streets. A true ethical breeder of repute will have veterinary reports to share, pregnancy ultrasound scans to show, a spa-like resort home for the animals to live in whether or not it is breeding season, and a forever home for any animal that falls ill, gets born with a defect, or has reached its senior years. Breeding in itself is not abuse per se, but unethical breeding is, through and through.

Our boycott against pet shops that sell cats and dogs continues the message that we do not support unethical breeding. Our united public front with other animal welfare groups is that breeding farms in Singapore are not regulated to standards of ethics and thus should be closed down, else the legislation should change to eradicate animal abuse in these farms. You need to make your stand, and if you were once unsure, I sincerely hope this article helps you in finding it out.

Adopt: Kirin, Orion and Sapporo

The 3 boys we rescued from a pest control company in Ubi are ready for new homes! They are a bunch of purring machines who love to play, totally outgoing with humans and unafraid of strangers, eat gratefully - and greedily! - and enjoy other cats' companionship, both young and old. All three are litter trained, able to eat dry food and drink water on their own, recovered fully from their flu' and completed their course of antibiotics, and have been dewormed.

"Hmm? What's down there, bros?"

Kirin is about 10 weeks old, a silver and black mackeral and classic tabby boy with a mid-length tail-

He loves nose-kisses! -

Sapporo is a gentle boy, about 12 weeks old, white and tabby in colour with a long tail. He loves to play catching with the others and is more a runner than a climber. We love his chubby-tubby look and he is a natural peace-loving kitty. He will look for you for pats and stroking and cuddles, and won't blame you if you don't have the time for it either. As we said - peace-loving!

His conjunctivitis took the longest to heal, but he is now totally a-ok! Here is another picture from when he was just rescued (with Kirin behind him) eyes still red from flu' -

Orion is the most playful of the lot, about 10 weeks of age, white with black. He loves to climb, can hardly ever sit still for long and when he plays, he pants as if to say, "Awesome, dude!" Yet he understands what "No" means and will stop pawing on things he shouldn't once he is told. He is also a purring machine as all three of them are.

He has the natural pai-kia look (photo taken when he still had the flu') -

Yet he is very affectionate at the same time, the same as Kirin and Sapporo, always wanting to be pet, stroked and to have play-time together.

The boys can be adopted singly or together. To adopt, see right side bar on adoption information. Contact us with answers to our questionnaire and we can set about making an appointment for you to visit the kittens at our foster home. The boys love visitors!

See videos of the boys here.

TNRM at Jalan Ismail off Still Road: Sunday 19 Sept, 7.30pm

We received an email from Joanne, a caregiver of cats in the Lengkong Tiga private estate near Kembangan. Recently she noticed a mass transitory migration of stray cats into her estate, and she traced their migratory pattern back to where they originated from, which turns out to be Jalan Ismail, off Still Road (opposite Eunos Crescent).

She noticed an elderly auntie feeding the cats at around half past seven to eight in the evenings at Jalan Ismail. When we responded to Joanne's email appeal to us, we met the same auntie there tonight, clearing up after feeding the cats.

We spoke to the auntie, and she said that she spent all her savings sterilising the cats in her own estate across the road, and she was grateful that we proposed doing the neutering of the cats in the Jalan Ismail estate, as the population is growing. Many of the kittens died along the way, else there would be even more.

Together with her we did a count of about 12-15 entire, ready to neuter cats in total along Jalan Ismail. A quick phone call to Damy, and we arranged for a trapping to be done at 7:30pm tomorrow night, Sunday 19 Sept, and alternatively a contingent date on Thursday 23 Sept if plans fall through (rain, schedule) or if an additional trapping session is required.

We can do the TNRM of Jalan Ismail so quickly owing to the generosity that overflowed from last month's appeal for sterilisation fund donations at Bendemeer, and Cat Welfare Society sterilisation reimbursement cheques which go straight back to our sterilisation fund. All funds earmarked for sterilisation through your donations will be carried forward into the next TNRM project (at a current rate of one project per month) unless you specify otherwise. So do keep the generosity going, it really makes a difference for the cats on streets! We have recced two sites hence, in Ubi itself, and at a factory at Kallang Way, but neither locales have a viable population of stray cats that require TNRM intervention after investigating.

Here are some of the pictures of the colony of cats at Jalan Ismail, taken by Andy.

Kudos to Joanne for identifying this TNRM need so we could step in and fill it. Do keep us posted of TNRM needs that we can help in that are in our vicinity. Reports on the trapping when it's done!

Adopt - Lassie

Lassie is ready for adoption!

When she first arrived she was still 3 weeks old and didn't know how to eat solid food. We fed her milk using a bottle, and slowly weaned her on to solid food, Natural Balance canned food at first, then mixed with some moistened kibbles of Solid Gold Indigo Moon.

Now, when fed only moistened kibbles, she eats it too! We had reduced her bottle-feeding to once a day, and finally for the past 3 days she hasn't needed the bottle at all. We now put her supplements inside her food, and she is eating well - and growing! We just gave her her 4-week-old deworming dose today. She already knows how to use the litter tray too!

She did have a short bout of the flu' when she first arrived, but it lasted only for a day or so, with some eye medication and cleaning away of eye discharge, Lysine and vitamins and colostrum in her milk, she recovered quickly.

She is now super active, and loves to make friends and scurry around exploring. Here is a video of her around our kitchen, together with Cassie, Dusky and our Sayang.



She is a really active and vocal girl, loves to run around, loves attention and can play either alone or with friends. If you would like to adopt Lassie, do see right side bar on adoption information and contact details.

Helga has been hospitalised

Since Helga hasn't been eating the past 4 days, we brought her to the vet this morning as soon as it was opened. Had a feeling she might need to get put on drip, and it was confirmed when that was exactly what Dr Dawn Chong suggested. A more conservative way would have been to administer sub-cutaneous injections for her at home but with Helga having not eaten for so many days, we opted for the hospitalisation.

She should be discharged tomorrow if she starts eating, else another day extra.

Here is today's vet bill for one day of hospitalisation and IV, more payable if she has to stay an extra day -

$61.70

Also, Dr Chong advises that we start Helga on sub-cutaneous injections at home about 2 to 3 times weekly from now on, just as maintenance, and especially when she is not eating. Catherine will be donating us the necessary equipment (saline, needles etc.) for Helga's SC injections.

Latest update: Helga has started eating at the clinic. They fed her the Science Diet Renal canned food K/D and she responded by eating it. Will be ordering that for her to stock up on too. She is definitely ready to be discharged tomorrow.

Adopt - cats that need a new home because their owner diagnosed with cancer

Tim and Tam, both sterilised 1 year old male cats were owned by deaf and dumb owners at Tampines St 22 since they were kittens. Most of the time they lived in a cage and released for an hour a day within the house. Recently the wife was diagnosed with cancer and the family has decided to put up the cats, Tim and Tam, for adoption.

Tim and Tam are temporarily being housed in a cage by one of my neighbours until they find a suitable home.

These cats are domesticated, litter trained and like to play when they are released from the cage. We hope that Tim and Tam will find a good home where they no longer will have to live their entire lives in a cage.

To arrange a visit to adopt both Tim and Tam, please contact me, Philemon at Tel No: 9022 3363.

Regards
Philemon

Philemon is the caregiver in Tampines who recently appealed to find a good home for previously-abused street cat Good Boy. Good Boy is also still available for adoption.

latest update on our foster cats

Kirin, Sapporo and Orion are gonna complete their Vibravet antibiotics soon! - last dose tomorrow.

Here are some pics of them, the boisterous lot -

Orion, the super active boy who is now beginning to purr more when we approach him

Sapporo, the gentle boy whose conjunctivitis is improving much

Kirin, the manja-pot who seems to love the camera this much!

Lassie, is now plump and has learned to eat more and more canned food, and now even moistened kibbles! We are now limiting her milk intake to once a day, fortified with vitamins, lysine, probiotics and colostrum to make sure her mild bout of flu' stays at bay. So far so good! She is getting more active and when the Kirin and brothers get well she can start to hang out with them, she is so bored being quarantined away from the other cats because they have the flu'. We try to let her out sometimes but are wary that she may catch the flu' from Orion et al, and sanitise our hands and the foster lounge like crazy, since she is still young and may fall ill easily.

Lassie in her pen complete with litter tray which she knows how to use, pillow and toys, and her dish of food

Cassie was just given her 12-weeks-old deworming dose yesterday and she seems to be doing fine - no post-deworming diarrhoea like the last time. She has now safely passed into the safe age - kittens below 12 weeks of age have a mortality rate of 20-40%. She is always in cahoots with Dusky and of on adventures with her. Dusky has finally stopped her pooing-in-weird-corners of the house since we set up a new litter box for her, and she even deigned to try out our cats' litter box too, which means she is getting over the need to have to do her business in private. We have lots of adopters asking about her, and one is coming on Tuesday to see her. Many have enquired about Dusky, but either failed at the initial screening or did not bond with her when they met. Either way, for now they have each other's companionship and lately have even begun roughhousing with Scooter.

Helga is still not eating - 4th day in a row she has been fasting. Bringing her to the vet tomorrow first thing in the morning.