Stella - an accident

 When playing, Felix accidentally hit Stella in the eye and caused a wound at 3 o'clock position of the cornea of the right eye. 

Luckily, after over a week of intensive care. She fully recovered and is back to her old self 

As an aside, below is a video taken before the accident

Betty's first hospital stay

On 15th January, vet found that Betty has Neck Lesions. She kindly scheduled Betty for tooth extraction in late afternoon. Because Betty's condition was worse than expected, the procedure of extraction of 5 teeth lasted for 1.5 hours. In the end, we decided to let her remain in hospital overnight.

Maybe because its the first experience in her lifetime to be away from home, she urinated, but refused to eat. So we picked her up the next morning.

Upon returning home, her appetite improved satisfactorily. Eating 40% of her normal amount that lunch time, and increasing to 75% in the evening. Back to 100% of normal the next day. 

We gave her soaked dry food on the fifth day and she enjoyed it. By the eighth day, she wanted normal dry food. The amount she ate doubled that of what she ate before the dental treatment and didn't require any toppings to make her eat.

Hope she can regain her weight soon, as over the past 6 months or so, she lost around 0.5kg and vet is starting to get worried. 

Happy Year of the Snake

 Wishing all our bloggers and their loved ones:

2024 - A year of competitions for Stella

 Stella started to experience "what is competition" and "charitable drive".

Like her brothers and sisters, we believe that Stella should try her best to help less fortunate children. She tried hard in cat shows to apart from winning rosettes, to win "goodies" as well. But unfortunately, sponsorship doesn't always work out well, so Stella wasn't too successful by this means. 

Luckily, during December, there were 2 competitions giving out cat food as prizes. As mummy is often pretty well prepared for this, she dug out from the album collection, submitted them and then went on charitable drive plea for support. Fortunately, Stella was able to master sufficient "LIKE" to stay within the top 10 and got her share of the pie.

1) Hosted by Vetmacy: 30 cans of Hills cat food

  

2) Hosted by: Hills Nutrition HK: 120 cans of Hills cat food, 5 bags of Hills dry food, a cat scratcher, a cat teaser

The above prizes were being given to 3 cat volunteers, helping less fortunate children in Tsimshatsui, Mongkok, Prince Edward and Shamshuipo. 

Another type of competition is cat show. We chose to be a regular participant in Feline Fanciers Federation (FFF) 2024 cat shows in Hong Kong. Compared with the CFA which is an international organisation, FFF is Asia focused. and they run fewer shows in HK each year. Hence, less time consuming and costly, and less tiring to human and cat, and yet we could have a rough idea how Stella stands against peers in Asia. 

Overall, Stella performed to our satisfaction, as she won 3 awards:

- Regional Winner: Hong Kong Best Alter

- National: 13th Best Regional Alter

- National: Best Condition 

So overall, a pretty rewarding year for Stella!

Happy Birthday

Betty dear, 

I thank you for being my daughter and companion for the past 11 years, and I trust that we can continue this cordial relationship in the years ahead. As time goes by, things will grow increasingly challenging, but fear not, as together as a family, we shall overcome them!

Happy Birthday!

Wishing you forever elegant, beautiful, charming and good health!

Love you Now & Forever!

Special edition - Good bye Tai Tai, my dear "son and nephew" 💔💔

Tai Tai is a handsome boy, with big round head, sparkling eyes, clear nice pattern. Above all, he is very people friendly, neat and smart. He grew up with my brother's family during the past 15 years 7 months. He has been an integral part of the family. Through interactions, they have provided each other with company, comfort, warmth and love. I remember, the beaming eyes, pride and smile on the children's faces when they return to HK and found out that "Tai Tai still remembers me"! But unfortunately, I will no longer be able to hear any more of this!

Although Tai Tai has the habit of waking up his parents during early morning hours when he's hungry, they willing answered to his needs. But on occasions, when they told him to wait, he would comply as well. During cold weather, he would play musical chair with them, eyeing for the most comfortable spot, and of course, he always win!

Tai Tai remembers me, although he might not know who I am. Whenever I visit him, he would come out to greet me. The thing I love the most is to put my hand on his head, as its big and round. Each year, when I take his photos for the SPCA calendar, I did it with ease. In the past, when I saw interesting things or receive presents for cats, I would naturally want to share them with him. However, I can do this no more! 

Tai Tai had been a healthy boy all along. Apart from those essential inoculations and the spraying operation, he was able to stay out of the clinic. This could be attributed to his quality genes, and good care by his parents. He leads a normal healthy life till 21st December with frequent vomiting. However, the consultation didn't seem to work well and he passed away while at home during early hours of Christmas eve (24th December). 

Tai Tai don't even have the chance to open my X'mas present for him! Don't worry Tai Tai, I'll tell you what's inside - a catnip carrot toy, 2 bags of freeze dried chicken and a mattress. Your parents have put them to good use, by donating them to help less fortunate children. 

Christmas this year is definitely not the same. For me, its not a time for celebration and joy. In the midst of the watery eyes, it teaches me in a very painful way that life is unpredictable. I last visited Tai Tai on 14th December. When I left, after shutting their apartment gate, I suddenly regretted that I haven't took any photos of him. But I said to myself, its alright as he's still healthy, next time la ....... but........

Tai Tai, may you rest in peace. You have completed your earth mission brilliantly. Don't be afraid, as lots of love from earth will accompany you to rainbow bridge. I have already told my beloved Kitty and Goldie to be on the lookout for you. May you make lots of friends there, run freely and be in perfect health and enjoy your new life journey. Whenever, you want to, feel free to visit us, for as always, you have a special place in our hearts!

P.S. I must admire my brother's considerate thinking, as he told me not to tell the children to avoid ruining their festive sentiment. 

Thank you Cici Au for helping us donate the cat litter, cat food and accessories to cat shelter. May Tai Tai's love remain forever.

  

Wishing all our friends and their loved ones, Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2025!

 Well, 2024 is about to come to a close. As always, life is full of surprises and this year is no exception !

Betty - Pretty smooth sailing

Despite a relapse of IBD in mid year, her condition was fairly stable. She really is a very good girl, eating the same cat food all year round without much complaint.  She is now more used to daily routine exercises which hopefully could help maintain her health. 

Betty dear, stay healthy and cheerful as your brother and sister takes you as their leader.

Felix - A nasty shock, followed by a smoother path

A year with minor hiccups till October, when the bile duct was blocked. So underwent his fourth surgery, which according to the surgeon was an immediate success, as the bile flow returned to normal after flushing. Within 2 months post surgery, his blood test readings were all normal. 

The initial recovery process was more rugged than before. As a layman, we suspect its the feeding tube, as according to "textbook", nurses were keen to make sure his daily intake was as per prescribed. We think that in practice, it should not be so and might result in overfeeding, resulting in gastro issues.  Its because when one is sick, one would naturally be eating less, and the appetite will gradually return as the recovery progress. 

Overall, in the past month or so, Felix moved around more. Whenever, he sees the sun shining in the balcony, he would go out and have a short sunbathing. He continues with his nasty trick to sneak behind Stella's or Betty's back and scared them. Haha. 

Felix dear, exercise more, stay happy and healthy and don't ne so rough on the girls!

Stella - Challenging experiences

Having attended a cat show in late 2023, we have decided to let Stella complete a full year showing exercise in 2024 to see what she can achieve. 

During the year, Stella continues to grow physically, but she herself controls her weight at 4.7-4.8kg. She will refuse to eat more regardless of how you try to intimidate her. Appearance wise, she has grown rounder, but with frequent exercise, she does not appear "fat" in the eyes of the judges.

Overall, she is pretty at ease in cat shows, as she sleeps, eats and stay nosy. 

Stella dear, you as per your name suggest is a rising star. Let's find ways to put this into work to help other less fortunate children, as your brothers and sisters all did in the past! Stay, happy, healthy and continue to grow into an intelligent beauty with charisma!

Although the official results is not yet available, Stella should hopefully achieved some success internationally. 

Finally, Merry Christmas and Happy 2025!