Sunday, November 23, 2008

Round 2 - Fail big time, white flag

My subsequent attempts after round 1 had ended up with a furious and bewildered Poppy and me with either more pee on my fingers or sand in the jar.
Ok, I did it two more times and then raised the white flag.
Cos Poppy would not go when he sees me crouching in front of him, one hand holding a jar, all poised...he would immediately slink out of his kitty litter with a not so pleased squawk.
I mean, who would go right? If someone just looks at you with big beady eyes while you sit on the toilet.
I thought it wouldn't be right to keep on at it- cos if Poppy won't go when he's supposed to and holds back his pee, then it would not be good for the kidneys.
I am causing more damage than anything else.
So i stopped.
And then got caught up with so much work that I had no time to think about alternatives.
But thank you to all who took the time to offer me other solutions.
I will be trying Lee County Clowder's option next weekend.
Will be going shopping for the necessary stuff.
And it's time to put up the cage.
Poppy's happy i am not chasing him for pee anymore.
For time being.

Found some old photos of the naughty one the other day.

I think it was too bright for him, hence the paw over the eyes.



That was my old pillow. Poppy loved it.
The usual Poppy pose. All day, everyday. Hot belly.

My dad used to call him "Big Claw". I call him 'Yeti' sometimes.





This is the most precious photo. So pitifully adorable looking.

Have a good Sunday!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Round 1 - Fail

I suck at collecting pee big time.
Could hardly even do anything except stalk Poppy.
Each time he slinks to the bathroom, i would tip toe quickly after him just to see him sitting in front of the kitty litter, looking at me with big puzzled gollywog eyes.

The one that says "What's mummy's problem? Why is she skulking after me?"
That happened a few times.

And when Poppy FINALLY went to pee, i rush in but couldn't push the plastic container fast enough underneath him and got pee on my fingers. And cat litter sand in the container with a drop of pee.

Poppy had the most incredulous face.

He proceeded to follow me around then, with torrents of unhappy squawks while i wash the container and my hands.

Scolding mummy.

Sigh.
Now he's just parked himself on the work bench opposite me while i work.

Waiting for round 2.

I need to think out of the box here.

Me and pee

As I would have guessed it - no Katkor sold in Malaysia. Sigh.
I guess we are not progressive enough?
Or maybe that most cats in Malaysia don't have kidney problems, hence, nobody's gonna make any money if they import it in.
Most probably will buy it online and have it shipped here.
That will take a while.
For now, it's me with the plastic container the vet has given me.
Yes, i am the crazy or would be crazy pee stalker.
It's hard. While I am working on my laptop, i also have to train myself to be very aware of Poppy's whereabouts.
If he slinks to the kitty litter, i have to be ready with the plastic container to swoop it below the furry one while he pees.
Somehow, i don't think it's gonna work.
Poppy's such a fussy cat.
He eyes me suspiciously since i am acting a bit weird, lurking in corners when he's nearby the kitty litter.

Funny thing is, it's a cold and rainy day today.
Poppy has not even gone to the kitty litter and i have gone to the bathroom 3 times already.
He knows, the little tyke.

Will let u know if i score.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Pops and the urine tests

Work kept me from updating this month. It’s such a crazy time especially this year and I have been saddled with more work and responsibility than I could handle. It’s always nice to come home to my furry babies who are my ‘spirit lifters’ with their cute faces.

Poppy’s still healthy and playful despite having to now go to the vet once every 2 weeks for urine test so that we can monitor his kidney development closely.

However, it takes a lot to get urine out of Poppy. For a mummy, it’s never easy to see someone press on your kitty’s bladder to force the urine out. Poppy would be screaming, kicking like a donkey, all in protest of being handled in such an undignified manner.

And all I could do is to cajole him softly while the vet tries his best to get the much needed urine out.

Last week, Poppy went to the vet and there was not enough urine to run a full test.

Imagine the frustration for me and also for the fang face.

My vet said this week “Why don’t I give you the jar and if you see Poppy going to the kitty litter, quickly push the jar underneath him to collect the pee…”

I looked at him. Huh?

Poppy’s not an easy cat.

He would never allow me to do so. This is one cat who doesn’t like people coming up towards or behind him, would run away before you can hold or cuddle him.

Poppy would only come to you on his own accord.

So, imagine me trying to sneak up behind him to swoop the jar underneath his furry body to get pee.

Hmmmm…has anyone every done that?

“Poppy squats very low onto the kitty sand” was my other explanation to my vet.

Sigh.

Personally, getting urine from a cat is so stressful.

Poppy hates it – he scolds the vet.

Small tyke likes to scold people.

I am sorry Poppy has to go through this but he’s such a tough cookie.

Whenever I stare at the little fang face, I am impressed by how tough he is.

He has so many stones in both his kidneys and a huge one to boot and by any standards, should be in kitty heaven but he’s still holding on.

And he looks so unaffected. So adorable and so loving still.

But everyday, I wake up with slight trepidation that things will suddenly change.

I have heard of cats going to bed healthy and the next day, almost at verge of death.

Poppy’s always in my mind at work.

The locked door holds so many what ifs.

I am happy when the door to our apartment creaks open to reveal Poppy’s naughty face looking at me when I come home.

Or whenever daddy meow is home earlier than me (which is usually the norm), I would ask how are the boys.

At this moment, Poppy’s last urine reading had been quite positive. No signs of further kidney deterioration. I am happy, for now.

He still chases MeowMeow around and pokes his busy body face into everything.

Here’s MeowMeow looking outside.

And here’s Poppy sticking his face into MeowMeow’s view.

So naughty.

I read that encouraging your kitty to drink more water can help.

Not help by magically making the kidney stones disappear, but help to prevent more stones from forming.

One of the way is to put more bowls of water at various corners at home.

I used to have only one at the kitchen area.

Now I have 4 in my apartment.

One in the kitchen, one nearby their kitty litter, one near where Poppy sleeps and one near the window which both cats like to sit to watch the world go by.

Cats are curious creatures as well as quite lazy and can go without water for a long time.

Put one bowl nearby them and they would be motivated to drink more versus a bowl far away. Especially MeowMeow, the fat lard who would just sit and sleep all day.

Poppy would check out each bowl and drink from each one.

I guess it worked – he’s been drinking more water lately.

And so has MeowMeow.

The only thing is that I have to wash and refill 4 bowls everyday.

I guess that’s about the most exercise I get these days anyway, so no complains.

Do so too if you wish, it's good for your cats to drink more.