Rey & Robin came back on Saturday (that’s 4 days ago) and Minnie, Smurfy and Lynx came back yesterday.
Rey & Robin are the ones with the medical issues that needed to be addressed, but they settled down remarkably well and fast, and are 100% confident and comfortable now. Whenever I open the door to the rooms, they will always be there to greet me, as excitedly as….puppies! You’d think that cats are calm, cool, collected and nonchalant? Well, not these two!! They are like happy, excited little puppies!
This morning, I found well-formed stools in the litter boxes and still a bit of diarrhoea (must be from Robin). So it looks like it’s a nagging, stubborn diarrhoea. Still there….a little bit. But our little friend, Robin, is so active and happy…..yes, like a puppy.
Minnie is still sitting by the window trying to break out. It’s wired in her DNA, so that is something that will not change. Lynx is already out of hiding now and is friendly.
Robin, Rey and Lynx are food guzzlers, but the biggest guzzler of all is…undoubtedly, Mr Robin!! He eats like he has a bottomless stomach. If the diarrhoea is totally gone, I would let him eat more, but now I still have to restrict the volume of his food. We all know Robin HAS to put on some weight. He’s so severely underweight. Mostly likely malnourished, the vet said, since his organs are all normal and we could not find any other underlying issues. He has the biggest appetite I’ve ever seen in any adult cat, so that is a good sign.
Minnie is also eating, though she would very much prefer to just break out and go out to explore her old neighbourhood.
Unfortunately, I live in an animal-unfriendly neighbourhood with the majority of the people totally against any free-roaming animal, who will threaten to call the authorities to “get rid” of them. My pleas have fallen on deaf ears, empty hearts and fixated minds, so I’ve accepted that some things just cannot be changed. I know what it is like to be a lone voice appealing for compassion for street animals. That’s the story of my life. The moment a free-roaming animal is spotted in the neighbourhood, whatsapp messages would be flying all over the neighbourhood chatgroup. And I will be the lone voice appealing for some compassion. It’s a lost cause in heartless people who think that only humans can live in this world. Try it and see – see how long you can live without animals.
So while AnimalCare promotes CNRM, we totally acknowledge that it cannot be done in certain places and alternative measures would have to be taken to ensure the safety of the animals – rehome and/or adopt. But neuter first.
Sorry I digressed.
Now, back to Lynx. I later spotted Lynx squatting in the litter box and he only produced a small amount of urine, then he squatted again, twice. Nothing came out. Ok…we may have a case of FIC or FLUTD here, most likely due to the stress of relocation. I tried giving him a tablet of UTI-Oxi and that ended up with a bleeding finger on my part. Then, I tried to give him some CD but he had already had breakfast and he wasn’t interested in food anymore. So I force-fed some by rubbing it all over his mouth. Will monitor him. The vet did say I should monitor them closely for a week. If there are any issues, it would pop up over a week.
Smurfy is the only one who is still scared and in hiding. I spent almost half an hour looking for him in two rooms today, which is ridiculous because how big are two rooms? And yet, I could not find him. I checked all the windows – everywhere is locked securely. Of course the fiberglass mosquito netting had been pulled down, but the window is still locked. I absolutely could not find him until I had to called my husband to help look.
Finally, he found Smurfy, hiding behind the tv.
Phew….
I offered food, but he only smelled and licked an insignificant amount. I left the food there and left the room. After 15 minutes, the food was still untouched. I shooed everyone to the first room and left Smurfy alone in the second room with the food. That too did not work.
Our senior vet had already told me that some cats are just so scared that they will not eat and they would just starve. Even natural instinctive hunger cannot overcome the fear. But he also told me not to worry if the cat is of considerable weight. They can go without food for some time. Smurfy is 5.5kg, so that’s okay. And he did eat some last night.
Patience, patience and more patience….
Thank goodness I am no longer working and I can spend all my time to help them settle in.