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!

Felix thinking of the medical staff again?

 On 6th December, Felix vomited, refused to eat. Worst still, he went to sleep on my pillow, a tell tale sign that he was not feeling well.

Luckily, we managed to jump queue and blood test showed his ALT shot up to 147. Its abnormal for sure, but not overwhelming. We were given 2 choices

1) Stay at home and take oral medication.

2) Stay in hospital for drips.

With us being risk averse, and Felix looking a lot worse than the blood test readings, we opted for (2) with the hope to prevent an out blast.

Luckily, we succeeded. His appetite returned that evening and improved gradually. Blood test readings by Monday were already normal, so he was discharged. Lucky us!!

As the nurses said, " Felix, if you are thinking of us, just send us a Whats App with your photo will do. No need to stay with us......" Haha

Stella's 5th cat show competition

As a gentle reminder, the purpose of us documenting events in this blog is NOT TO SHOW OFF, but to record our children's life journey as part of our precious memories.

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Superstitious saying that "44" is an unlucky number. Is this really the case? Let Stella tell you....

Stella attended FFF's 3rd 2024 cat show on 16th-17th November in Kowloon City Plaza. This is the final cat show in Hong Kong for the year. Its a pretty tiring exercise, running from around 11am-6pm each day. The place though spacious is a bit noisy. 

Day 1, 16th November:

Day 2, 17th November:

The finale:

Snippets:

The official results:

After thought:

This shall be Stella's last regular cat show. During this past year, we have learned from the judges (comment on Stella and other competitors) on how to better take care of our children. 

During the year, we have constantly reviewed our strategy as to whether we should continue competing. With our clear goal to find out where is the limit for Stella's potential. Full participation in FFF's Hong Kong competitions for 2024 is the answer. We hope that her total score would be sufficient to achieve a national standing. The result will be announced in early 2025.

This year, Stella's closest competitors are 2 other Exotic cats. They are brothers from the same litter and is roughly a month younger than Stella. Both are very handsome and well groomed, each with their own strength and glamour. Hence competition amongst them are really tough. In my view, luck matters here. 

As a joke, we called them 串燒三姐弟 (Three brothers and sister on a Skewer, DanGoSanShiTei, だんごさんしてい  ). This is a modified version of the Japanese cartoon 串燒三兄弟 (Three brothers on a Skewer, DanGoSanKyouDai, だんごさんきょうだい). Though competing amongst each other, the 3 of them exceled over each other in different rings and sometimes, they are united and formed a strong frontier against other group competitors in order to secure the lead. 

An interesting episode happened in Day 2. Stella was placed 6th in one of the rings. This came as a surprise to us and probably to some cat owners as well. As an amateur, we respect and accept the decision of each judge because we trust in their professional experience and judgement. We suspect Stella on a white and cream coat might look less appealing than those with obvious pattern, as coat color and pattern has a 20% weight. 

So when comes to the finale - nomination of FFF Queen, 5 judges will choose from the top female winner from the kitten, adult and premier category. It was a very tight race, as #6 was nominated by VC and FC, while ET and IM voted for #44. The swing would come from AS, who despite giving her a 6th, cast his vote for her, crowning Stella as the FFF Queen. He also voted her as cat in Best Condition. 

Overall, life is full or surprises! It has its ups and downs! It has a lot of noises (unfriendly comment at times - "she wins again", "influential personnel" putting the cat in the competition cage" etc). So just take things in life as they come, concentrate on what you are doing, continue the game at ease and enjoy the process. 

Thanks be to God! 

Felix's 4th bile duct surgery

 Well, life is really unpredictable. I have for some time in recent months been grateful for the serenity at home as Felix was able to lead a "normal" life. A vomit in the afternoon of 6th October which was initially thought to be a minor setback, though he looked a bit dull, but he ate pretty normally. By 2.30am on 7th October, he came to sleep on my pillow. This to many is nothing, but my heart tanked and squeezed hard. Its a tell tale sign that he's not feeling well and could be nasty, or at hindsight could say something wrong with his bile/liver.

He was admitted to hospital on 7th and blood test showed his ALT shot to 1267, and TBIL at 9 (which though was normal, was high by his "normal" standard). With the help of medication, his ALT dropped to 801 on the 9th, but the TBIL was slightly above normal at 17. Ultrasound gave us the bad news that the bile duct was blocked again and surgery was the only solution.

After further discussion with family vets, we decided to transfer him to VSH on 10th. Blood test showed ALT rose a bit to 850, TBIL shot up to 42. By the expression on his face, the discomfort is getting worse pretty fast. So we quickly decided go for surgery on that day. It ran from 5.17pm to around 7.46pm. Luckily, the "mess" from previous surgeries were not too bad, managed to clear the bile duct via flushing and took out as much of the stent as possible. 

His blood test readings showed fairly quick and consistent improvement during his hospital stay. However, improvement in his appetite and appearance fluctuated widely and to me doesn't seem to gel with the blood test results. So when he was discharged on the 15th, we decided to transfer him to the family vet for further convalescence before taking him home, as I don't want the worries we have to affect his psychological health.

Turnaround happened on the 19th, after he refused to open his mouth for food during lunch time. Via ultrasound and blood test, found that his stomach wasn't functioning properly as a lot of water was there. Moreover, his abdominal cavity and pancreas showed signs of inflammation. Felix showed fairly quick improvement after taking relevant medication and has since been eating normally by himself.

He was very happy when we took him home on 22nd. He greeted us with his loud meow when the nurse handed him to us in his carrier bag. When we walked in the street, he was poking against the carrier, wanting to take a better view and smell the air of freedom. In the video, you can see him wiggling inside his green carrier bag while auntie prepared to clean him before letting him out.... haha

Felix is readjusting to life at home pretty well. Unlike in the past, he's not hiding himself and seemed pretty relaxed. He ate his meals by himself, walked around a bit, and catch up with his sleep as well.

Betty being the elder sister has no problem is welcoming Felix back. She went to kissed him a few times and have their snack together. Stella, being the youngest one is totally new to welcoming Felix back. Though looked a bit puzzled, she adjusted pretty fast as well. She started by turning her turbo to the highest volume and watching Felix from a distance, to gradually lower the volume and distance apart. Its nice to see their decent love bonding, despite their age and breed differences. 

Although its difficult to say exactly what caused this episode, there are a few things I wanted to highlight:

- As parent, trust your instinct when you sense something is wrong and don't be affected by non-professional advise. 

- Very likely, steam dried Ziwi Peek is not suitable for Felix. He ate a total of 100 pieces of this "raw dried food" since early October and is the only new food he ate. Likely this sparked off problem to his liver and might have spilled over to the pancreas and bile duct.

- Must comb him more frequently. I brushed him 100 times in the evening each day. This might not be enough as found a fur ball hooked to the mesh of the stent, which blocked the bile duct. If I had known of this earlier, I would have asked the surgeon to save it for me, as its a very expensive fur ball!

- Unfortunately, Felix has to stay with the food he is used to for his own safety. Must stay firm, regardless of how "cute" he looks when he enjoys them.

- Continue to save for the rainy days, though I sincerely hope history will NOT repeat itself. 

The family and Felix are truly grateful to Dr Tint as always, for his sound guidance, Dr Tasmin for the professional care and willingness to listen and to discuss. For Dr Francois and Dr Alice for the successful surgery. The last and the most important person is Dr Vera, who regardless of the hour of the day and time zone differences, responded promptly to my queries with sound practical professional advise which is highly useful to all of us.

Below is our document of this incidence:

- Pre-surgery hospital stay

- Post surgery hospital stay

- Home sweet home

The 3 surgerical options:

The incision area:

The feeding tube:

Other shaved areas - tail and hind legs and a pair of short boot in the front :

Church Service

Last year, Saint Francis Xavier's Day Church Service was cancelled because of the typhoon. This year, under the hot and sunny weather, the children went to All Saints Cathedral for the service and received the Lord's blessings.

All the children behaved well. Felix made it through despite not feeling too well as he vomited shortly after lunch. 

Snippets

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Stella is thinking of preparing a roast piglet for Mid-Autumn Festival dinner.... In order for the skin to be crispy and crunchy, she decided to first sunbath in the beach..... 

Is this really a piglet??!! Looks more like a pig to me!! Haha

   

                                                   

Wishing all our bloggers and their loved ones, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

If you cannot reach the moon, then reach for the bubbles..... haha