Pablo, Stray Cat From Hougang Found With Liver Failure

Pablo was found jaundiced by his caregiver - yellowed leather areas like ears and a yellowish tinge on gums - after a long bout of poor appetite. He also has a tangibly enlarged liver.

Unfortunately there were no immediately available funds for Pablo to see a vet and so his caregiver approached us for help. We accompanied Pablo to the vet where he was found to be severely dehydrated. He needed to be hospitalised and put on drip. Alongside saline; dextrose, vitamins. When he was more hydrated his blood was tested. He was found to have 5 times elevated level of liver enzymes. 

 

 
 

Pablo needed to be hospitalised overnight. To minimise hospitalisation costs, when he was stable enough to receive fluids subcutaneously instead of via IV, we brought him back to our foster home. he is now on 150ml of saline daily until his dehydration is alleviated.

Pablo needs a long list of nutraceuticals into order to improve his condition, including: Zentonil (vet-prescribed), taurine, arginine, carnitine, SAMe, NAC. He also needs herbal supplements such as milk thistle and dandelion root. He is currently also on antibiotics, and cyproheptadine which is an appetite stimulant he responds well to.

This treatment will help improve his liver condition, however, it will likely be a lifelong one, as liver failure rarely reverses. He will need another blood test in 4 weeks and regularly thereafter to manage his condition. He also has a small lump in his abdomen, which at this point we will not know if it is cancer or otherwise until we can send him for a biopsy. Cancer will require additional medication and care.

The good news is that Pablo came to us sooner than later: even more severe liver failure cases can put cats in a coma. Also, Pablo does not show signs of pancreatitis, which if a cat also has, presents a very poor prognosis for liver failure.

How you can help

Pablo's vet bills are/will be paid from our Stray Cat Fund. He is on a canned food diet, which alongside his supplements are paid for by our Boarding Fund. You can give to either fund by making aa deposit to either fund in our POSB savings account 188-52652-7 and thereafter email us to indicate which fund you are giving towards. You can also contact Elaine to give your gift in person via a visit by appointment.

You can also give canned food through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish who will deliver the food to us directly. The default canned food is Addiction Brushtail. If you would like to pamper Pablo, we accidentally discovered he really, really loves Nature's Variety Lamb formula, which is very pricey: $5.77 after discount at Pet Lovers' Centre. Enquire at maxine@thewaterdish.com.sg for either Addiction or Nature's Variety Lamb charity prices.

We will continue to update on Pablo's progress on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (/@luvkuching) so do follow us there. 

Forever homes update

Happy to have made two homes more complete of late.

Dobi and Bambi were adopted together by Braveheart's adopter and have eased in well into their new home. They were given a kitten pen for training, and Braveheart has been inviting them to play with him.





Lenny now lives in Bukit Merah with his new loving father and human brothers. Finally Lenny has dedicated attention-providers! None of Lenny's photos can be taken without him clinging on or near to his new family members.





Thank you cat lovers who show us that you have space in your heart for more cats who really needed you.

Home remedies for temporary respiratory difficulty #sghaze

Has your cat been wheezing, having usually wetter nose, coughing due to the haze?

If your cat is vaccinated against the cat flu strains and is usually healthy, here are some tips on how to ease kitty through some breathing difficulty when the PSI is unhealthy.

Humidity helps. This means that placing your cat in a carrier while you take a hot shower will help clear the respiratory tract. It should be about 10 minutes long. Aircon rooms means that the air is being filtered but it also means the air is dry. If there are non-aircon rooms in the house that have no haze seeping in, let kitty sleep in those rooms. You can also turn on a humidifier if you have one.

Aromatherapy works wonders for cats. To help ease breathing, place a few drops of eucalyptus, peppermint and clary sage essential oils in a small bowl of hot water, place kitty in a carrier, put the bowl outside the door. Cover bowl and carrier with a towel for no longer than 10 minutes. Manage breathing periodically through the day diffusing the same oils on a diffuser with breaks in between (make sure it is not a closed room, door should be open). The smoky odour can be eliminated by diffusing pine needle and tea tree essential oils. Do not apply the oils directly on the cat at anytime. We get our essential oils from iherb.com (use our discount code AVA985 if you are a first time customer, to get USD5-10 off your purchase).

To ease symptoms in the short term, you can also give a quarter tablet of chlorphenaramine (yellow flu tablet) otherwise also known as Piriton. This antihistamine will ease the itchiness and runny nose. Do not administer any other antihistamine or flu medication - this is important, some flu medication contains paracetemol which is toxic to cats.

Clean your cat's eyes. Drip some saline into the inner corner of her eyes and wipe with a cotton or gauze. If you have Pet Alive Eye-Heal even better! Follow the instructions and use it to clean your cat's eyes. This helps keep eyes clear and prevents any irritation. Otherwise you can also steep some chamomile tea in water and when cooled, wipe kitty's eyes with it using cotton or a gauze.  

If all these methods do not help give immediate relief, you will need to go to the vet because there might be mucus buildup obstructing breathing and this needs prescription-only medication. This is especially important if you hear a 'wet' noise when your cat breathes, if eyes start producing mucoidal discharge, if cat starts breathing with difficulty, causing it to hunch or hyperventilate. A normal cat's respiratory rate should be 20 to 30 breaths per minute.

Keep the windows closed! Take care, kitties and kitty folk.

Play/clean volunteering on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday

Want to join us in cleaning the foster space, and spend time playing with the kitties?

Join us for play/clean volunteering available 3 times a week, maximum slots 3 per evening:

• Tuesdays 7-9pm with Riley, Iqah and Ima
• Thursdays 7-9pm with Rashid, Diana and Iris
• Saturday 7-9pm with Halima, Zen and Esther

You do not have to stay the full duration, nor start at the stated time sharp.

To join us:
SMS us with your name and date you wish to come (Esther at 83833813 for Saturday, Diana at 90116554 for Thursdays, Riley at 96569022 for Tuesdays,) and they will let you know if slots are still available for your preferred date, and give you our address if your slot is confirmed.

We are at Joo Chiat. Our Foster Care Volunteers in charge of the day you are coming will give you our specific address when your attendance is confirmed.

Dress for cleaning and washing. Bring a change of clothes if you wish. Disposable aprons and gloves are available.

New Temporary Student Volunteer!

Hello everyone!

This month of June, something (slightly) new will be happening at Love Kuching: They have gotten a new temporary student volunteer, me!

 

This is me. ^ At that moment, I was getting distracted by the adorable Sunkist who came straight up to me and requested a petting ;)

Okay, let me formally introduce myself: My name is Ashley, and I am currently a Secondary Two student, who came to Love Kuching, wanting to do something productive yet meaningful during the one-month June Holiday that most (if not all) students get. So, I decided to volunteer at a place that really would benefit me in many ways, and after much sleuthing, I found Love Kuching. (and was really thick-skinned to pester Elaine to let me volunteer >< Sorry Elaine!) I  thought that I could take away at least five things from this stint at Love Kuching:

#1: I could benefit a cause that I love.
 Love Kuching is really about helping cats, and benefiting the welfare of the cats, a cause which I really support as I, myself have two darling cats at home:

 Here's a diagrammatic representation that i made of my cats (on a science book no less)

 And, helping Love Kuching means helping more cats! whats not to love about that :D

#2: I could learn new skills.
At Love Kuching, I was exposed to some new things like how to do admin work, how to better take care of cats... the possibilities are abundant. All these new-found skills have helped me to be a wiser person, as well as a better 'mommy' to my kitties! I even got a service learning journal so that this experience could be more meaningful!

#3: I could meet like-minded (aka cat crazy) people:
I could meet, and interact with new people, and might even end up making lasting friendships as we bonded over our mutual cat-appreciation! And I did! On one of my volunteer slots, I met many people who were very nice, and we ended up sitting around, chatting, playing with the cats, and swapping funny cat stories after we had finished our work!

#4: I could get CIP points.
In case of any parents worrying that I could be using the time spent volunteering to study, I could just tell them that I was getting CIP points! In my secondary school, you have to spend at least 100 hours on volunteering, to be able to subtract two points from your O-level score. So by volunteering, you are benefiting your future score!

And #5: I get to interact with kitties!

 

 There are nine cats at Love Kuching's Foster Space, (and although I only saw some as they were shy), most of them are very sociable, welcoming and friendly!

I really enjoyed my volunteering time so far, and I hope that after my time is over, that I can find some more time to volunteer!

 Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more. Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met. Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.  Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Threshold | Our intake capacity

In any cattery setting, it is important to have thresholds to manage the intake numbers of cats in order to maximise capacity and minimse stress and overcrowding.

In the past our threshold was 12 cats of which 3 would be critical care cases.

With our new foster space, new cat suites and expansion into critical intensive care for sick and injured stray cats, our threshold for critical care cases is now raised to 5. We reserve one of the cat suites for rescue kittens needing rehoming, which when young can reach to 4 kittens in one kindle. The free roaming kindle of foster kitties remains at 4. Hence our total ideal threshold is at 13 inclusive of 5 ICU cases. In critical periods the threshold may need to be stretched to 17.

While the threshold total number remains largely the same, the proportion of ICU cases has increased, made possible by all you cat angels!

(as of 13 June 13 our current cat count is at 7, ICU capacity at 40%, 4 are free-roaming. Reserving only 1 cat suite for rehoming kittens, maintaining free-roaming cats at ideal number of 4, means that at present moment we abide strictly by our triage method of accepting rescue kittens for rehoming.)

If a kitten is not in dire need, or you have not exhausted other foster options, we will not stretch the current capacity. It might sound a tad cold in being this strict, but maintaining threshold numbers aids a lot in the quality of care for the current cats in our custody. Oftentimes in fact, when you rise up to foster on your own, even without prior experience, the cat receives better care because it is one human to one cat, whereas in a shelter scenario like ours, it is not the case. This differs when it is about a sick or injured stray cat that needs medication/injections throughout the day which a normal human's schedule may not allow, hence our priority of setting aside 5 cat suites for such cases.

Adoption Update

We are still waiting for the right families to adopt Echo, Sunkist, Ebi, Cooky and Cubby.

Cubby will soon need to freeroam if she gets bigger before finding a loving family. This will make the freeroaming kindle of kitties a size of 5 cats. When this number goes down to 4, we can allocate one slot to a rescue kitten that might need it - the healthiest and most ideal kindle size is 4. Of late we have been turning away - all - kittens for rescue and rehoming because current adoption rates cannot support the intake numbers. We secretly hope that you can help change this. Adopt one of our rescue kitties today, and in doing so make us able again to take in rescue kittens for rehabilitation and rehoming. Until then, please foster and rehome any rescue kittens in dire need on your own; anyone can rise up and foster and you won't know till you try! You can always ask us for advice on what to do if ever you have questions on the fostering process. As for cats that don't need rehoming because they can return to the streets when rehabilitated or because our foster home will be their last stop on earth, yes we currently have the capacity for them. If you need help with a sick or injured stray cat, contact us.

Cat Party on a Caturday!

Hello everyone. Last Caturday there was a Cat Party held for launch of Love Kuching's new foster space! There were lots of visitors there but let's have the pictures show you for yourselves how the launch was.

Visitors got a mini tour of the new foster space! The items, the suites and decoration are donated or contributed by the various Cat Angels who have supported Love Kuching.

The giant photo on the wall and the photo of Slinky on the door were done by Furry Photos. If you want pictures of your own pets, (it doesn't have to be cats) check his website and contact him.

Two of the suites are being used at the moment by Harry and Cubby.

And then time to play or interact with the cats roaming about!

The cats milling about for pettings or treats! Or even to play. They got to play a lot with the visitors there using the swishy wand for them to jump at.

Sunkist sat about in his weird but effectively cooling way for you to pet or touch him.

Lenny (now recently adopted!) had attention lavished on him.

Kitten IC, Sealy, hung outside for a bit. He's more interested in sleeping somewhere else. He's a pretty big cat! Blur but big and really cute.

Remember Chanel? Her parents brought her for a visit and it's been 7 months since she'd been to Love Kuching. She's now flourishing very well and is a bit chubby now.

As the party came to an end, the cats were tired out along with the humans who had played and cuddled them.

If you want to meet the cats, sign up for the play/clean volunteering sessions or hey... heh heh adopt one (or two).

Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more. Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met. Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.  Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Play/clean volunteering + announcement RE: next week's volunteering

Every Saturday from 5pm to 9pm we are open for you to visit us to help clean the foster space and spend time with the cats - we call this play/clean volunteering! We hope to open up for a play/clean on a weekday evening when we have found our second Foster Care Volunteer.
To join us for play/clean on Saturdays (otherwise known as Caturdays!), email us during the week of the Saturday you wish to come. You can come anytime between 5pm to 9pm, before or after dinner. We do not need a huge group of helpers every week as it will become a squeezy affair for everyone if there are lots of volunteers (small home!) So we shall limit each play/clean volunteering session to about 3 persons. After you have SMSed Elaine to confirm attendance and time you will be given our address. No experience needed just a great attitude and be willing to get dirty with the cleaning and wiping and mopping! Riley and/or Elaine will be around to show you what and how.
Please take note that next Saturday 27 May there will be NO PLAY/CLEAN VOLUNTEERING SESSION. Andy and Elaine will be taking a cycling trip to Malaysia. So, from the week next!

Foster Care Volunteer no.2 needed!

At Love Kuching we give our long-term volunteers a portfolio that suits humans' individual interests, strengths, career paths, and schedule requirements, and we are now hoping to fill a second portfolio of foster care. Currently our one Foster Care Volunteer is Riley who comes by on Saturday evenings. We know some of you applied for the post after Riley did but we were only recruiting one at the time. The time has finally come when we need a second one! If you contacted us about volunteering in foster care previously, we more than welcome you to see if this second position will suit you.

What is to be expected of Foster Care Volunteer no. 2: a long term commitment of one weekday evening per week at our foster home. This day can either be fixed on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, this is up to your convenience (but should be the same day every week).

You should enjoy interacting with the cats, even the grumpy ones. You should be willing to get self messy with cleaning and washing. There may be others who will occasionally want to come and help, so you should eventually be able to work with our ad hoc play/clean volunteers.

You do not need to know how to groom or medicate cats, we will teach you! This also means you will get to learn some basic veterinary type of care as well as supplements and effective alternative remedies.

There will be a fair amount of cleaning work: washing litterboxes, cleaning cages, vacuuming and mopping and wiping down furniture in the foster space, washing blankets and toys and cat bowls. We can provide you with gloves, apron and face mask if you need them.

How important this volunteer portfolio is to us:

Now that the foster space can accomodate many more cats than before, cleanliness is paramount to prevent contagion and to eliminate odour. Apart from Riley and the play/clean volunteers on Saturdays, Andy does all the litterboxes and cleaning, and Elaine does all the medications and remedies. Having 2 out of 7 days a week to ease the burden means the world in elevating care standards and reducing volunteer burnout.

We need you. Are you the one? Reach out to Elaine to find out, at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org