Merry Christmas & update on my fosters & The Parking Lot Colony

Hola mis amigos!!
I haven't posted in agesssss and a good friend texted and said i shouldn't stop :) Thanks Eileen! I actually have tons to update on and that's kinda why I haven't... You know when you procrastinate until there's so much to do you don't know how to start tackling it? This is one of those things. I won't go into major details and verbal diarrhea like I usually do. Quick summary of everything alright peeps? Here we go.

Charlie is a 3 month old tuxedo kitten. He was rescued by a friend who found him while walking his dog. Charlie was tiny then, perhaps 6-7 weeks old and he had been tossed out in a shoe box. Luckily the dog sniffed him out and Charlie was rescued. He was very ill with a virus similar to Coccidia and Parvo but has since recovered after two weeks on two kinds of antibiotics. Charlie is ready for immediate adoption. So far, 5 separate parties have inquired about adopting him. Hopefully one of them will be awesome and Charlie can go to his forever home. Charlie is playful, affectionate, mischievous, and of course Uncle Fat Fat loves him and has been giving him lots of parental love.







Knut/Knutella is a 3-4 week old pure white kitten. Not sure if he's male or female hence the name options.. hahaha.. The little booger is named after Knut the hand-reared polar bear that passed away and also my favorite hazelnut spread Nutella :) I found him the Thursday before christmas in my condo parking lot. I suspect he may be one of The Parking Lot Colony Tortie's kittens since my neighbor MK and I have been unsuccessful at trapping and spaying her. The Tortie was pregnant and then I did not see her around for a week or two. When I found Knut he was under a car parked two spaces down from mine, all alone. He was extremely filthy, dehydrated, covered head to toe in fleas and had an eye infection although his eyes had not even opened yet. I hate fleas. They are such bastards and there were hundreds of them feasting on this little guy's body. *SHUDDER* soooo gross. they were even crawling all over his face and eyes. I itch now just thinking about them. It was touch and go the first couple of days. He refused bottle feeding and syringe feeding and you know how much i HATE hand-rearing. I wasn't sure Knut would make it. His appetite was shitty and he was weak. But the last couple of days he has started drinking more formula and his teeth have come in so I have started him on very soft mushy food as well. His eyes have cleared up and they are bright blue. I am pretty confident now that he will be ok and adoptable in about 2 months. The pictures below were taken the day I found him. He looks much better now!






Below, Knut on Christmas Day. The crud around his eyes is dried up discharge stuck in his fur. I didn't want to injure the little baby's eyes so just left crud there but you can see his blue eyes are clear and healthy :)



The Parking Lot Colony continues to be an epic meow-filled soap drama. The Ginger Tom is still scary, The Tortie is still scared of everyone and everything, Carpark Cat is back and in decent condition but still scared of the Ginger Tom and Mr CrankyPants. There is a new resident in the colony, I'll call her The Calico. Another female. ARGHHHHH!!!!!!! I hope she doesn't breed!!!!! She's a scaredy cat like The Tortie. Why are the females so hard to trap and spay? They are the ones MK and I reallyyyyy want to catch. No more kittens please :( I wonder where Knut's siblings are :((( Mr CrankyPants got the shit kicked out of him again while I was out of town. Much worse this time. Luckily for him his other mummy MK was around and took him to the vet. He had to stay there for a couple of nights and the wound was infected and required draining. After he was discharged from the vet, he stayed with MK for a couple of weeks at her apartment. His whole neck and chest area were raw, totally furless, and there was a huge puncture like a gaping hole in his neck going through to his shoulder. We don't know what happened. All the other cats in the colony are totally unscathed so it doesn't seem likely he fought with any of them. Anyway Cranks is the alpha male and the rest run at the sight of him, not stay and fight! Plus he was neutered after his last fight recently so I thought he'd be staying out of trouble... Below, a photo MK took him immediately after rescue. All that pink and red mess is exposed raw flesh :(

Bye my Miko and be a good girl!

Miko was adopted last Sunday and I am sooooooooo super sad. Lots of people called me about her after seeing her adoption profile on petfinder.my but it was easy to choose the family I wanted her to go to. Her new mummy rescued her first kittens when she was just 14 years old. Miko will now have a cockapoo pooch to run around with and two little girls aged 4 and 6 who adore kittens. When Miko's adopter came over to meet Miko for the first time, she brought her 6 year old and I was really impressed by how gentle the little girl was, cradling Miko like a little precious baby in her arms. Major "Awwwwww" moment. My heart melted. The little girl informed me that she was going to take such good care of Miko and that they were going to be so happy together :) She then insisted on carrying the carrier (with Miko inside) to the car. I heard Miko's new mummy tell her little girl that she had to learn boundaries with Miko, that kitties want to play but not all the time and that sometimes you have to leave them alone because they want space. I know my Miko is in really good hands. I wish them all a long and happy future together.
Miko snoozing on my arm as i lay reading in bed. Our last nap together before she was adopted the next day.

Last closeup of my Munchkin Miko. I'll miss my little kitten. Never ever hand-rearing kittens ever again. I just get so super attached. There's something about bottle-feeding tiny fragile newborns that makes the bond to them sooooooooo strong. I'm happy that she made it but sad for me too. I hope I get to keep one of my own hand-reared ones someday.

The Parking Lot Colony - Update on Mr CrankyPants

Cranks was released last Tuesday night with very little fanfare. He had calmed down a lot by then and allowed me to stuff him into a cat carrier for transportation from my apartment back to the parking lot. He was pretty freaked out about being stuck in such a small space and cried pitifully. When we got to my car, which is where he usually hangs out, I set the carrier down next to it and scooped a handful of kibble out onto the ground right in front of the carrier door in the hope that this would help him exit calmly. It worked! He stopped meowing immediately. I opened the door and he stepped out and buried his face in the food as if it was any other day. I was afraid he would bolt and never return once released but luckily he still trusts me. Since then we have returned to our usual routine and he is at my car every morning and evening waiting for his meals. He has suddenly decided that he is in love with me and keeps trying to follow me back into the building. This morning he even ignored his food and jumped into my car as I was about to leave for work! What is happening?? Has Mr CrankyPants suddenly become Mr CuddlyPants??? Perhaps be is adoptable after all! Any takers? He is a very handsome grey tabby, neutered and ready to go!

No luck yet with the others in the colony. I have seen and fed The Tortie and The Ginger Tom but there is still no sign of Carpark Cat :( I hope he's ok wherever he is.

The Parking Lot Colony

Four neurotic felines make up the feral colony in my condo parking lot. Each one is crazy in his/her own unadoptable way. They are fed and looked after by my upstairs neighbor MK who has been feeding them for years and now by me as well after I moved in a year ago. The cats in the colony are Carpark Cat, The Tortie, Mr CrankyPants, and the Ginger Tom.

I have only gotten to know (and photograph) Mr Crankypants and the Ginger Tom. Carpark Cat and The Tortie are super duper scared of all humans except MK. I can't even get near them. If I leave them food, they will not eat until I am out of sight. Mr CrankyPants and the Ginger Tom are tamer but in an aggressive, demanding, bitey, scratchy sort of way. They don't want to be friends but they are not afraid of us. Cranks will yowl at the top of his lungs demanding food, the Ginger Tom will get angry and actually bite us or grab our feet and scratch us if we don't set down his food fast enough for his liking. We keep containers of cat kibble in our cars for them but sometimes we run out and have to go into our apartments to refill. When this happens, the Ginger Tom gets really mad and chases after us and blocks our path furiously. I have scars on my legs from this lunatic. He is a freaking nut. He looks nuts too with all his bald patches and battle scars. Sometimes while he eats I muster up the courage to cautiously stroke his scarred bald head with one tentative finger.

None of the four in the colony get along with each other. The Ginger Tom and Mr C are both alpha males and always pick fights with each other and anyone else. Carpark Cat is also male but much smaller and timid and easily bullied by these two. The Tortie is the only female in the colony and also easily bullied... Poor thing. MK and I try to make sure everyone is regularly fed but more often than not, the bullies eat, and the timid ones are off hiding somewhere. We hope to have everyone neutered to stem the bullying and territorial issues and also to make sure they don't breed. They are extremely difficult to catch :( People who live in the building have been complaining about cats in the compound and also complaining about people feeding cats in the compound (MK and I of course.. hahaha). I don't see why it bothers or affects other people that we feed the cats but well, I guess some people are just petty, arrogant, heartless, and really really stupid with nothing better to do or think about.

Mr CrankyPants and Carpark Cat had a big fight last week. Both ended up pretty badly beat up. I managed to catch Mr C (he went ballistic when trapped) and send him to the vet. He's been patched up and neutered and is staying in a cage in my study until his antibiotics are finished at which point I will release him back into the parking lot. His stay with me has been challenging as he can't stand being confined and became super freaking mean. He makes a huge disgusting mess in the cage everyday. I can hear him "working" very hard at that all the time and yowling his head off. The vet and her assistants had a lot of trouble with him. I had hoped to rehome him but the vet says he's not adoptable. She's right. Carpark Cat is still out there somewhere with his injuries :( MK was out of town when the fight happened and isn't back yet. She's the only one that might be able to catch Carpark Cat and bring him in for treatment and neutering. I haven't seen him since last week.

Mr CrankyPants at the vet. He stayed there for a few days because he was too scary and angry for me to treat at home. His wounds needed daily cleaning and he was also neutered during his stay. I was too shit-scared to do any wound cleaning.

Mr C giving me the angry stink-eye. His paw pads were badly torn up. When walking (limping painfully really) he left bloody patches on the ground. His front forelegs also had many deep scratches.

He took of his e-collar and I was too scared to try putting that back on too. Anyway it occurred to me that if it was replaced, I would then have to worry about taking it off as well. Argh. I'm a chicken, I admit it.

The Ginger Tom and his bald, scarred, head.

My poor scary feral friend.

I have a feeling there might be a cuddly kitty in there somewhere... Just don't piss him off :)

Miko - 8 weeks old and fostered by Uncle Fatfat

One of my favorite things about rescuing and fostering animals in need is watching Fatfat "pay it forward". Once upon a time, he was a tiny helpless infant kitten rescued from the clutches of evil people who were about to throw him away in a plastic bag like yesterday's garbage. Now he is the ultimate fosterer's assistant. He helps me raise the little orphans and teaches them the ways of the world.

Uncle Fatfat shares his pearls of wisdom with Miko.. She is an attentive student.

Well... She was attentive for about two seconds.. Then she decided it was time to be a little shit.

Old cats need more rest while crazy kittens are wide-eyed and bushy-tailed :)



Miko hunts the twitchy end of Uncle Fatfat's tail..

When he's had enough Uncle F decides its time to lay down the law. A firm paw ought to set this little girl straight.

Or maybe not...

Finally Miko's eyes begin to close..

Zzzzzz..

Good night world

Miko - 7 and a half weeks old, and FEMALE. Oops!

Yes I camera-stalk the little tot. I'm soooo happy to finally have hand-rearing success! Miko is healthy, active, and out of the danger zone of the first few weeks. She knows how to eat and drink on her own. My work is done :)



Miko likes to sit on feet :) No, that is not my leg. I am not an insanely hairy chick.












Miko and Tamago finally share a bed.


The cutest little thing! Hand-reared SUCCESS!! WOOHOO!!! WHO ROCKS?? I SO FREAKING DO!! YESSSSSS!!!!!!! *fist pumps in the air*

Tabatha's been adopted and other updates...

Its been an interesting couple of weeks in my animal kingdom. Tabatha was adopted last saturday morning by a nice family while she was in the cattery at SPCA Selangor. She is ready for spaying in a couple of weeks so she will be back for that. We all really miss her. She has a larger than life personality and my apartment feels wayyyyy too peaceful now.

Miko is able to do his business on his own now and has a litter box which he diligently uses. He totters around on shaky little legs and invades Tamago's bed. His teeth have grown in and he can eat canned kitten food or moistened kibble although he still prefers his milk bottle. He doesn't know how to drink water so I've had to force him to drink water through a syringe. I hope he will be ready for adoption to a good home in about 6 weeks.



I didn't mention this before but Noel was adopted a few weeks ago. Yay for him! He was adopted by a nice young lady who has another little kitten.

Spike is adjusting to life without Tony Montana. It's only been about 5 weeks since Tony Montana passed away and he is so deeply missed. It is a great comfort to us that he died peacefully at home of natural causes. Spike's dad and I have been showering him with gifts of toys and treats and plenty of loving. He's never been an only dog before and I think he is quite lonely now. Spike and I will have this whole Friday together though because its a public holiday and Spike and I will be working at the SPCA booth at an event in Bangsar. It'll be a nice outing for me and my pooch.
Tony M loved his car rides. He loved watching the world. I miss him.
One of the few pics of me with both Spike and Tony.. Tony was sniffing something.. oh well..
Me and Spike at my last visit.

Spike and his dad.
Toys can't replace Tony but we hope to distract Spike from his loss.


Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Molly's death. I can't believe its been a year. It still hurts so much. I miss her everyday and I think about how happy she was when we were all still together. One big happy family. Then I think about all she went through and how miserable she was at the end and I feel sick and my heart aches. I feel a tightening in my chest that can only be the pain of loss and guilt. i have to say this, i care, i care a lot about all these animals but i wish i didn't anymore. i don't want to. i can't stand it when things don't work out.

Molly's smile.