Nothing lives forever. Everyone has their own destiny including animals. I guess ever since I knew Ah Mao was sick, I began to accept and appreciate the fact that death is a part and parcel of life that no one can escape. In the beginning, I used to brush aside the thought that she would leave one day. However, as she got weaker, I knew that if I were to continue to be in denial, I would be in a…
I think every pet owner’s wish for their sick furkid is that it has a quick, painless and peaceful death. Unfortunately, things don’t always go the way we want them to. Actually, I am rather thankful for the way Ah Mao went. It could have been worse. The vet had warned us beforehand that the last moments of a beloved pet might be difficult to watch. Some animals pass on peacefully while others might suffer seizure and the situation could…
The term Herpes virus sounded scary the first time I heard it. I thought it was referring to the same thing as the infectious sexually transmitted disease among human beings. Luckily FHV cannot be transferred from cats to human beings. From my experience with FHV, it is truly a menace, a pain in the ass, a terrifying nightmare that wouldn’t end.FHV is an infectious disease which is known to cause infections in domestic and wild cats. It can cause countless…
Renal failure is one of the most common medical problem for cats. There are two types of renal failure in cats, namely, acute renal failure and chronic renal failure. Acute renal failure happens suddenly, over a matter of days or weeks. If diagnosed in time, acute renal failure can be reversed. Unfortunately, chronic renal failure is irreversible. It develops over months and even years and is found mostly in middle-age and older cats. One of the first signs of renal…
If you own a cat, you would definitely have heard it cough before. Occasional coughs are normal and are usually harmless, such as when it tries to cough out a fur ball. But, if it coughs repeatedly, or when it coughs it crouches down and extends its head forward, or if you hear it wheezing, you should bring it to the vet to check whether it is suffering from asthma. Surprising right? I was very surprised as well when I…
Like humans, cats can have allergies too. They could happen in cats at any age and can be categorised into the following: Contact Allergy Drug Allergy Food Allergy Contact AllergyA cat may develop contact allergy when it comes into contact with chemicals such as detergents, soap, shampoos, plants, litter additives etc. So far, I have had two encounters with contact allergies. Both times happened to Ning. I woke up one morning to find tufts of her hair strewn all over…
All cat owners would know how playful cats can get. Even if you don’t play with them, they will self-entertain by tearing out your toilet roll, pulling out tissues from your tissue boxes, knocking things off your table, you name it. Kittens like human babies, learn through play. If they learn the wrong stuff, they would grow up doing the wrong things. Bet you had also done things to encourage bad behaviour during play before. This is completely normal. Who…
I guess the biggest fear of all cat parents is to return home one day and find your precious furniture riddled with scratches and tiny holes. Once, I bought an extremely expensive bed and I was just chilling on top of it when I heard “Pluck pluck pluck pluck…” I sat up slowly to try to listen closer but the noise stopped. It started again when I lay back down. “Pluck pluck pluck..stop…pluck pluck pluck pluck.” This time, I sat…
Growing up, seeing stray cats loitering around hawker centres picking up food scraps off the floor is a common sight. As a result, my impression of cats is that they eat anything. Therefore, when I had Ah Mao in 2005, I didn’t pay any attention to her nutritional needs. I thought commercial cat food from supermarkets was already an upgrade from our leftovers. Thinking back, the severe lack in knowledge about the nutritional needs of cats had caused devastating effects…
To be honest, this did not cross my mind until the day Ah Mao first went on heat when she was about 6 or 7 months old. It started off with her licking her tail area excessively. I didn’t pay too much attention to it as I thought it was normal for her to clean herself. It was until she left a crystal clear, beautiful round ball of white discharge on my thigh that I realised she was reaching sexual…