Vincent, Zurik, Buddy, Ginger, Heidi and Tabs’ morning

Our morning started at 4.30am. Vincent was sleeping on my pillow all night. Tabs was on the sofa in the bedroom.

Vincent came downstairs and stayed in the kitchen as I prepared breakfast. Ginger, Tabs and Heidi had homecooked plus Primal (surprisingly, Heidi wanted Primal today).

I offered Vincent his Cubgrub Duck – No.

Monge Tuna Salmon – No.

Coco&Joe’s – No.

Primal – No.

Oh dear….

How about raw liver (taking a chance here)? Also no.

Not even raw liver??

This doesn’t look good. But I respect that he doesn’t want to eat, so I let him be. Of course thoughts of wondering if yesterday’s force-feeding of the Kaminox or even the Complivit or Fortekor made his appetite go off.  Did it?

Vincent only wanted to drink water. Lots and lots of it.

Whenever this happens I cannot help recalling that Rosie did this too, on her last day. She refused food and only wanted to drink lots of water. Daffodil and Tiger also refused food on their last but one day. I cannot help recalling this but I am instantly reminded of what Dr Dennis Thomas’ advice to owners with CKD cats: Do not believe your cat is going to die. Your belief system affects your cat. Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2016/02/21/kidney-disease-in-cats-holistic-prevention-and-management/

So, perish that thought even though I have to be prepared. Just perish that thought and live in the moment.

After drinking A LOT of water, Vincent went out to the patio. I didn’t check to see what he was doing as I had to feed the rest.

At 5am, Vincent came back to the kitchen and started asking for food again.

Now, what should I offer?  What would you like to eat, Vincent? We have all kinds of food here.

Believe it or not, he wanted kibble. Yes, kibble!

Now, why didn’t I think of this???  He ate kibble with Mr Zurik last night.

So, kibble it is!

I offered both the RC renal kibble and the “normal” Cindy Naturelle kibble. He didn’t want the renal kibble, only the Cindy kibble.

Then, he flitted back to Monge Tuna Salmon.

And to the kibble again.

And back to the Monge.

And back and forth, until…

…I put both together in a bowl!

Then, it was time for feed Mr Zurik.

Vincent wanted to go out.

Buddy was waiting at the gate too. Mr Zurik wasn’t around…yet.

For those who are new, Buddy is the blue-collared cat who lives down the road. He has a home. Buddy is somehow the only cat who Mr Zurik allows on our road.

Mr Zurik is our true-blue CNRM cat. He guards the whole road and prevents other cats from coming in….except Buddy.

Well, everyone is entitled to have at least one friend, right?

Previously, Ginger, Vincent and Heidi helped Mr Zurik guard the road. That’s our CNRM Unit (feline). But there was internal bickering amongst them too (as with human groupings). Mr Zurik and Ginger would fight and Ginger would need antibiotics for his wounds. Sometimes, Heidi was involved too. Vincent and Zurik were nemeses for years until Vincent called a truce and the two became comrades.

The other problem was that one distant neighbour circulated the council hotline for catching animals to the entire neighbourhood and told everyone to call the council. I made a plea to the whole neighbourhood, but as expected, not many sympathised. That neighbour called the council and I was told about 10-20 cats were rounded up.

Hence, the need for us to keep everyone inside. Mr Zurik was also confined during that time and after the whole thing simmered down, we let him out because (1) he travels on the roofs, (2) he spends most of the time in our porch, (3) he is street-smart and (4) he is, after all, KGB-trained. And also (5) I think he has a second home somewhere because for a cat HIS size, he sure eats very little at our house.

Again, for those who are new, Mr Zurik came about 5 years ago (or was it six?), I trapped him for neutering and much later, he contracted sporotrichosis. I nursed him until full recovery (it only took our Russian 28 days to recover). He is quite a character and used to have two minions in the form of tree shrews (the tupai), Otto and Igor. Just wordsearch Zurik and you’ll have a wealth of stories from years ago.

Anyway, I called out for Mr Zurik and there he was – from neighbour’s roof! Yes, he travels on roofs.

He comes Mr Zurik.

Old friends.

Hey Buddy….you want to come?

Buddy is still a bit shy with us humans.

Even though he had eaten quite a far amount in the kitchen, Vincent wanted to eat with Zurik here, so I let him.

And drink the outside water.

I had to keep Ginger in the cage or he would complicate things. You see, Ginger is extremely jealous of Vincent. But if you notice, the door of the cage isn’t even closed, right? But Ginger doesn’t know.  You’ll see why all his life, Daffodil protected him and kept him close. For a street cat who spent the first year of his life living in the playground (before we moved here), Ginger isn’t very street smart…at all. That’s what you get when your mum pampers you too much (take note, mothers). Or, to be fair to Daffodil, perhaps Ginger is that one-of-a-kind cat who is just not so street-smart, hence, Daffodil had to look after him.

You might remember the time when Daffodil ran off because a big lorry came, but she turned back to get Ginger, then the two ran off to safety using the ledge, with Daffodil leading the way.

Here’s something old: https://myanimalcare.org/2017/07/03/ginger-and-daffodil-portraits/

I opened the cage door and out came Ginger.

I’m free! I’m free!

Ginger doesn’t like Buddy.

Zurik watches as Buddy eats. Zurik always leaves some food for Buddy.

That’s what friends are for.

I’m not involved in all this. I’m happy with my new light blue minky cloth.

Tabs has dual citizenship. She is welcomed in Bunny’s Place (where she originates) and she is equally welcomed in the house. That’s the privilege you get when you are a peace-loving, non-violent, non-partisan cat-person.

Vincent came back to the house. I saw a bit of vomit on his big box, though. Not much. It must have been from last night. There was also some vomited liquid (mostly water) at the patio. I figured I’ll have to somehow give Vincent the antacid.

 

By then, it was already 6am.

This is the antacid. The capsule contains granules.

I have to divide the granules into 6 parts.

This is what Vincent has to take once a day, if he vomits.

Now, how hard is it to feed that to him, you ask? The vet said to crush the granules, mix it with water syringe it in.

Syringe?  No way.  No syringe.

I pressed the granules with a spoon and decided to use a bit of Complivit since he doesn’t quite mind the Complivit (“doesn’t quite mind” here means the absence of a violent struggle, but there is still a struggle, nonetheless).

I carried him onto the table and a struggle ensued, but I was fast enough.

And yes…I succeeded!!  Yay!

And Vincent asked for more food as a reward, but really, he had eaten so much today, so I told him no.  I don’t want him vomiting again due to eating too much. Anyway, I relented and offered some Duck, but that’s not what he wanted. Monge? No. So, never mind.  We’ll eat later, okay?

Good boy, Vincent.