a new problem has arise =(

Initially, I found YUMIEKO to have bald spot on her ear (*suspected ear mites that had never been completely resolved).  Then I found MJ to hava a bald spot on his ear (*which appeared overnight).  Then the peak was when I found MJ had bumps on him, about 4 if I recall correctly, 2 on the right side and 2 on the left side.  There were red ones, and there were pale ones that were just about to pop out.  OF COURSE, I freaked out, did research on the net and headed for the vet.  I took both MJ and YUMIEKO.

Through the microscope, mites were found in the sample taken from MJ's ear and fur.  So the answers are ear mites and fur mites.  Ear mites? yeah I believe it had been there all the while (since SUNSHINE introduced it to the others) and was probably never resolved completely.  Fur mites? I can't be too sure of where this might came from, as the cats are completely indoor, so I suppose I am to be blamed :-| I could have been the medium carrying it with me into the house after I'd been in contact with other cats ( including strays).  And I'd have to admit that I do let people touch and carry my cats when we visit the vet, which (duh!) would be a good source for many kinds of illness.

MJ was given shots of Ivermectin & Methylpred.  While YUMIEKO was given a shot of Ivermectin.  And since all 9 of them live together at all times, it was assumed that the rest of them would have the same things on them, so off we went and took the other 7 in for their shot of Ivermectin (luckily my Mr Fiance was around to help me out, so we were done after only 2 round of trips).

Ivermectin:  it is a broad spectrum anti-parasitic medication

Methylpred: it is used for its anti-inflammatory effect, in the treatment of allergic reactions and inflammatory diseases *in this case, it's allergy to the bites

We were told to come back for the 2nd and 3rd dose of Ivermectin, in a gap of 2 weeks  BUT by then, I'd be on my own with 9 cats (that means at least 4 round of trips).  And as for the 3rd dose, it'll be so near to our travelling date, so the vet said I can use the Frontline spray to replace.. Ermm.. 

 Review on the vet:

*The vet and assistants handled the cats so gently, that it helped with the cats' anxiety :)

*The injection was a breeze for each one of the cats.  We didn't need to spend so long a time at the vet to get 7 cats injected (on the 2nd trip)

*it's a yay! on how the cats were handled =). no additional stress for the cats on top of the already stressful car rides, the new environment with probable scents of other cats and dogs and also dogs barking..

BUT:

*vet said the 3rd dose, can be replaced with Frontline, heeee how about the 2nd?

*vet mentioned 'owh, the others look ok huh' to the other 7 cats.

this calls for some research on the net!

**It was on Friday noon, and I was rushing to catch with my due date by 4 pm.  But when I found MJ with the bumps on him, immediately dropped everything, texted my supervisor about not being able to meet the due date and off we went to the vet.  After we were done at the vet, went to see my supervisor and handed in half of my stuff and the rest will come in on Monday. Phew! Thank god, for such a considerate supervisor =)

and finally, the last our trips to the vet

YUMIEKO, got her rabies vacc and deworm (as I failed to do that on my own at home).  Again, I like this kakak, she handle the cats so gently.  As for the other guy that handle YUMIEKO yesterday, he was the same one that handled BULAN last week.  I wouldn't know, but maybe he has some aura of anxiety that the cats can sense.  or perhaps BULAN has passed the info to the others heheheeeeeee....He is a nice guy tho, he shall improve with time =).

SO, on the whole, my pre-preparation is done. microchip: done. rabies: done. next is to get my flight ticket and the import permit.

As usual.. off the to vet

Today, I made two trips to the vet and I thought this would be the last of it.  2 cats in the morning, 2 cats in the afternoon.  BUT one of them was not cooperative, so another visit tomorrow.

In the morning, I took BINTANG and YUMIEKO.  Both of them were suppose to get their rabies vaccination, deworm and pet passport done.

BINTANG @ 4.22 kg

-deworm: done

-rabies vacc: done

-pet passport: done.

**she roared a bit, but she did fine =)

YUMIEKO @ 3.52 kg ( seems like she never grows)

-derworm: so far not possible at the hosp or at home

-rabies vacc: not done, couldn't even get her temperature taken properly

-pet passport: done

**yesss.. it was YUMIEKO who will cost me another trip tomoroow.  She didn't want to be held, she was so stressed out that her temperature went up.  Because her temperature was high, I dared not take any chance and hence did not push her to taking the shot.  I've asked around and the rabies shot is a requirement for export-import, so i'll still need to take her there...

In the afternoon.....

I took SUNSHINE and MICHIKO

SUNSHINE

-rabies: done

**she was ok, apart form a bit whining.  everything else is done.  she didn't get her rabies shot last week, coz she had just gotten her microchip. dun want double pain for her.

MICHIKO @ 4.9 kg

-deworm: done

-rabies vacc: done

-pet passport: done

**as usualy my cry baby would cry and whine, not wanting to be there, but he is manageable.

so for the sake of YUMIEKO, another trip tomorrow!

I shall hope tomorrow will be the last of my consecutive visits to the vet!

a visit to the vet....

This is just to note that they went for a vet visit today..

BINTANG
-yearly vaccination
-deworm

She weighed 4kg. She was vaccinated & given deworm tab with no difficulty =).

BULAN
-yearly vaccination
-deworm

He weighed 4.2kg. He got kinda angry and tried to snap at the guy when he was about to be vaccinated. It wasn't too easy with the dewarming tablet...

MICHIKO
-deworm

He weighed 4 kg (at 9 months, hope he won't get too heavy). I took him along to save time, as trying to get the meds in on my own would be time consuming, but he just had to proove to everyone that he really didn't like to take meds. ermmm....

YUMIEKO
-deworm

She weighed 2.8 kg. Wohooo... I didn't know she was THAT difficult with medication. It was just taking too long that I ended up taking the tablet home. And it took me nearly an hour, before I finally got it in.

SUNSHINE
-deworm
-the ear..

She needed the deworming too, but I also took her in to check the ears. Ermmm... no diagnosis given, but she was given Surolan for her ears (which was the same thing given for YUMIEKO'S fungus not long ago)... I believe she's having mites problem... Owh.. she was well-behaved with the deworming tablet =)

Ermm.. I'm thinking of getting that small thingy that they use to feed tablets to cats... letme look around..

YUMIEKO spayed

Prior to the day she was spayed, she had to be separated from the others so that she had no access to food and water starting at about 10 pm. So I took her out of their room to freely roam around. Instead of enjoying the freedom, she started MEOWING (which she RARELY does), possibly because she noticed none of her friends were around. I couldn't stand the meowing, and so I got BULAN, BINTANG and MICHIKO to take turn accompanying her outside. And so she was better that way, she stopped meowing, but the cat who accompanied her had to take turns because after a while each one would start scratching the door to the room wanting to go back inside for food and drink! I got tired of taking one out, returning that one in, then another out then back in, and decided to just let YUMIEKO stay in the room, with the other three but of course minus the food and water and that was much better for me. Phew! So all four had no access to food and water.... the next morning, YUMIEKO as usual was fine, no signs of demanding for food, but MICHIKO and BULAN, were meowing on top of their lungs!

Day 1: Sunday 15 November 2009
I woke up late, hehe.. that's the usual for Sundays nowaday... so we reached Klinik Kembiri at aobut 11.00, thank goodness they were still accepting. Left her there and went off for some shopping. Her turn was #26. (MICHIKO was #14, BULAN & BINTANG were the first 10), and she was done by 3.30 pm. Unlike MICHIKO, YUMIEKO was awake and alert by the time we picked her up. Her eyes were wide open and she tried to get out of the carrier, although appeared drowsy. We got home, and I gave her canned food, but she was more interested in getting out of the cage rather than the food. Later at midnight, she ate a little but not as much as her usual self. She was confined in the cage at all times. She's such an active lil thing as compared to MICHIKO last time and so the e-collar had to be on by the 1st day itself.

Look at her eyes wide open

energetic: biting on the cage hoping to go out

very alert to her surrounding

Day 2: Monday 16 Nov 2009
The next day, she was looking fine. She was eating and drinking, but it was obviously lesser than usual.

enjoying the space after litter box was taken out

eating a bit but not as usual

I got MICHIKO to accompany her, but I think he didn't get what was going on

Day 3: Tuesday 17 Nov 2009
She looked well, and I was happy to find poo in her litter box upon returning home but eating and drinking in small amounts (owh, she had beeing urinating once a day for the past 2 days). She didn't like being left in the cage all alone, and meowed whenever she saw me. I decided to put her cage in the room, at least she could see the others around her, and yes, she was better that way. She also let her roam around the room and she went to their fountain and took long drinks and then went to eat. She wanted kibbles! Now I know, so I started giving her kibbles, now the amount of food she's taking seems 'normal'.

She has both arrogant and sweet in her face

I also took the plaster off today, oh I got drowsy alrite, and she wasn't cooperative. But the wound looked find. Glad to know that.

Day 4: Wednesday 18 Nov 2009
She has been doing fine, though confined in a cage, the cage was in their room and she could see the other three. She sat in her cage quietly, not causing any problems, other than tipping over her dish bowl.

Day 5: Thursday 19 Nov 2009
Nothing significant and there was poo in the litter box today =). She was allowed to walk around the room, but I'm guessing that she thinks she's well enough already, she attempted to jump on to the cat tree and even wanted to walk into the tunnel with the e-collar on.

Day 6: Friday 20 Nov 2009
I think she's gonna be just fine, there was poo in the litter box, looks like her eating cycle is getting back on track. She spent sometime out of the cage, with me monitoring her, she was jumping and running joining the other three. I'm not sure if she's ready to do that yet, but I didn't really allow that, and I'll keep her confined until I'm definitely sure that she has fully recovered. But looks like she's doing really, really well.

Day 7: Saturday 21 Nov 2009
She was now free from the cage, she could walk and hang around with the other, but her e-collar was still on. I had no worries for her, as she had the e-collar on so she couldn't lick on herself, and she takes care of herself very well that she doesn't allow anyone to touch her stomach area (not that it really matter by now, since the wound is healing well)

Day 8: Sunday 22 Nov 2009
She decided for herself that the e-collar was going off and had it off her, I'm not sure if any of the others assisted her =). Looks like she's telling me that she has fully recovered and it all went well...

Next up is gonna be SUNSHINE!!

CFA catshow @ The Mall 8th Nov 2009: YUMIEKO

Yay! another catshow. while I dream, wish and plan my my own pedigrees, we'll keep going for the shows with our HHP, though they might not have enjoyed it as much as we humans do, well at least not my house-bound cats. Well it's partly my fault, I've been telling each one of them, that I shall care for them with all that I have, so they shall eat proper food and they have their home, not to worry about when their next meal is gonna be, where they'll sleep when it's raining, where they can find a cool place to hang around when it's too hot.... provided with such circumstances, they should all develop themselves into elegant felines with attitude. and heck ya, they did! Unfortunately, at the time, when I decided to bring them up into arrogant little ones, I didn't know about all these cat shows and that they're suppose to be friendly instead of arrogant. huhu. a swell job indeed.

YUMIEKO, when she was not under the piles of blankie and she would stay this way, unless we left her unattended.

The 1st ring, she ranked 5th out of 12

2nd ring, she ranked 5th out of 12
The 3rd ring, she ranked 9th out of 11

and then the last ring, she ranked 5th out of 12

huhu. not bad. looking forward for a next one, I'd like to take MICHIKO. SUNSHINE might be ok too, but she hasn't settled. Actually, I would like to take BINTANG, but her arrogance just can't be challenged....Hrmmm.. what can I do about that. However, there's a certain someone that has preference over YUMIEKO and would like to take her for a CFA show again. Well, we'll see how she is after she's spayed. She's next in list to be spayed. I hope everything goes well on that.

catshow 1 November 2009 @ midvalley : BULAN, BINTANG, YUMIEKO

~BULAN signing in~

*yaaaawwwnnn* Yeah, it's another cat show. I've been to so many and after not winning on the previous show, I thought these humans would give me some peace and let me stay at home. But NO, they want the entry gift so much that I had to tag along with BINTANG and YUMIEKO. I know I'm all cute and playful at home, but don't even hope on me entertaining all those people. huh! it's better that I sleep so I can save energy to play and run around at home. Oh.. should I mention that she didn't feed us this morning, because you didn't feed me, I will not be nice to people as you would hope! With cool air and my blankie....aaahhhh... I shall complete my beauty sleep. Careful people, I may be cute, but I know how to bite!

BINTANG was about 4 cages away from me. BINTANG, you should do what I do, SLEEP and ignore those people. When you respond to them, they like you more and you do not want them to like you. It's good that you bite them, but the thing is you don't bite hard enough. But I think you shouldn't bite them. God knows, how clean their hands are. Anyhow, I think BINTANG hated it more than I did.

YUMIEKO was placed further away, across the hall, but from where I was that's what I could see. Hehe.. do you see YUMIEKO in cage #72. Great job!

We're not used to being inside prison, but I got used to it after all these cat shows. For YUMIEKO, this is her second time and this time no one is nearby to comfort her, so she screamed for help, but people thought that was cute, and you do not want to look cute at a cat show. Oh yeah, if you happen to stop by her cage, give her a kiss, she would be glad to return you kiss with free signatures, and if you're lucky you'll get signatures from both paws.

YUMIEKO found out that she was just too cute to be seen. She didn't like the spot lights, and I think she really meant it. So if you came to see YUMIEKO but didn't see her, that's because she looked like this.

YUMIEKO felt better when she was placed next to BINTANG though, I think it's because BINTANG did the biting and chased people away.

Gosh, I was sitting quietly and they took me out for a while, they messed up my cage and I couldn't get myself back under the blankie nicely. I managed to get my head underneath, but I could feel people poking me on my back. That was irritating, I don't want to be touched by their dirty hands because I don't want to have to bathe again! and their hands smell! I gave them my sharp looks, but these people just didn't understand. Serves them right, I bit a hand, and I bit him hard! I hope he went around and told everyone that it hurt!

Anyhow, glad it was all over. none of us won anything, but of course everyone got the entry gift. but NEWFLASH! I won't eat that. I don't care if it taste good or if it's good for my health, I don't want it, I don't want to take the risk of getting upset tummy. MICHIKO can have all that, I know he eats just about anything and he doesn't learn from experience, he eats anything even when it made him come out with watery stool. yuck, then the room would be smelly because he got that stinky poo stuck on to his fur. You see, how all these new brands can cause me trouble even if it wasn't me that ate them. btw, those new types of food weren't even served for us, but MICHIKO is such a hardworking boy when it comes to food that he helped himself to them.

*sigh* I'm home. hah! the human is tired, but I got enough rest! I shall run around now, make some mess. so that she realize how tired she is that next time, she won't go for the cat shows anymore. But somehow, she's just like MICHIKO, I think she doesn't know how to learn from experience. lucky me.

~BULAN signing off~

Fun Cat Show @ Midvalley 31 August 2009

BULAN, MICHIKO and YUMIEKO were there


BULAN as his usual self

1st cat show for MICHIKO, as playful as he always is

1st cat show for YUMIEKO, didn't seem to like it much

judging time


BULAN took these home, but he couldn't be bothered with them

MICHIKO also took something home

Until next time!

2nd vaccination for MICHIKO, YUMIEKO & SUNSHINE

Off they went for their 2nd vaccination... and as for SUNSHINE....

MICHIKO, YUMIEKO & SUNSHINE to vet for 1st vaccination

Off they went for their 1st vaccination..... Happy to find that all three were still active and playful even after the jab.

MICHIKO & YUMIEKO 1st visit to vet

The 15th of June, was their first trip to the vet, they were planned to get their first vaccination. Instead, on the way to the vet, I noticed something on YUMIEKO'S left hand. I freaked out! I'd never seen anything like that before, it was scaly, something like dried wound as I first described it. I had no idea, and I thought it was soooo bad, that I felt really, really, really bad for not noticing it sooner. I wonder how she could've gotten that and how long she'd gotten that.

Turns out it was fungus. Read around and I suppose it's ringworm. But how is that possible?? I've not idea, it could've been my house, but never had I seen it with the first 3 cats. I read that she may have already had it, and could have been trigerred by stress, due to new environment and presence of the other cats. What ever it was, it better go away soon.

So instead of vaccination, she was treated for that, they cleaned the area and prescribed some pils and cream to apply, they said it wasn't so bad that she didn't need to be injected for that. Apparently the thing spread fast so it probably had only been a few days.

YUMIEKO could actually still be vaccinated, but because of her condition, I didn't want to have her vaccinated, which may add more stressor to her. Further more, I got the impression that they were surprised to know that she's already 3 months, but if I say she's 3 months then she's good to go for the vaccination. So I decided not to, after all, her size was kinda small.

As for MICHIKO, he was there for the walk. I didn't want him vaccinated either, coz I wanted to save the trip for their future boosters, so I want them to have their vaccination on the same date.

They came in one carrier, so to avoid passing on of the fungus (which may have already been passed on anyway) on the way back, MICHIKO was in my bag which he pretty much enjoyed.

Welcoming YUMIEKO

After about a month MICHIKO joined the family, it seems like Bintang has been keeping to herself, because the 2 males play actively so often, that Bintang finds is to harsh for her. So it is so often that she keeps to herself at a high position watching BULAN and MICHIKO play rough. She seems to be lonely, while BULAN enjoys MICHIKO's company so much as he has a friend to play with when the other is not in the mood for playing =).

So to accompany BINTANG, perhaps a female cat may be nice. So we welcomed YUMIEKO. Unfortunately, she is an arrogant young female cat, she joined the family on 23rd May 2009 and at the time she was nearly 3 months of age. MICHIKO had of course been extra friendly, he later realized that YUMIEKO didn't really like him so he took it slowly, though still forcing the newly arrived YUMIEKO to play with him. BULAN is like, if you no friend me then i no friend you. Annnndddd BINTANG, if she could gag, I think she would've. You can see it in her face, 'not another one.....'. So maybe another cat to accompany her was not such a great idea after all.... anyhow, I hope this will work out well.