Love Kuching Project @luvkuching - kitten adoption, rescue, TNR

Manja left us quietly at 3:40a.m. this morning.

She did not want us to see her go. She held on while we were stroking her, massaging her paws, talking to her. She finally let go when we placed her back in her pen on a fresh sheet scented with catnip, and turned off the lights leaving only a vanilla candle burning. When she took her last breath, one of our foster kittens Kirin immediately went to Manja's side. I checked for pulse and breathing. She was gone.

Before she left, her body communicated to us that it was going to break down, so we knew and stayed up with her. I had syringe-fed her some Natural Balance chicken canned food mixed with pet milk and her usual supplements earlier - she had difficulty swallowing even when I slowly dispensed her what turned out to be her last meal. I took her out of her pen to give her a massage using baby oil infused with bergamot and eucalyptus essential oil and placed her in the recovery position. She later started to breathe heavily in a laboured fashion, so we knew it was time. Her paws started to grow cold and her central nervous system was also in distress, causing her to spasm a bit here and there but not violently, she was very graceful in that way.

We will be sending her remains for cremation and Iva her rescuer will be asking Manja's caregiver when she was a street cat if she would like to have Manja's ashes.