Sick Kittens

It's not been a very good week for pets, I must say. First, AJ's hamster, Rex, died due to unknown causes. Then, over the weekend, Thomas disappeared.

He was hanging around the house as usual on Saturday evening. Later that night, he wasn't at home and we couldn't find him the next day either. Come Sunday night there was still no sign of him. We started to prepare ourselves for another cat going to the Big PAWS in The Sky, just like our previous cats.

Then on Monday morning he showed up in front of our gate, not too scraggly but somewhat quiet, not very energetic and even hesitant to come in to the compound. I usually give the cats a bath after a disappearing act like that because they usually would have wandered further than usual and/ or got into a fight and were too scared to come home.

After the bath he disappeared again until this (Tuesday) morning. He was hanging out outside our opposite neighbour's house, seemingly reluctant to come home. When I finally persuaded him to come in to our compound, he was walking very slowly and obviously unwell. Abang and I decided a trip to the animal hospital was called for.

We got there when it opened at 10am and after a check up, the vet informed us that Thomas was having a cough and slight fever. He administered one dose of medication (so I wouldn't have to do it!) and prescribed the rest for me to dispense at home. I even learnt a trick to do it since the medication came only in tablet form and not liquid. The Good Doctor suggested I stuff the tablet into some canned food and give just a little - not a lot - of the food to Thomas. That way, Thomas is more likely to eat up the piece with the tablet rather than eat up all the food and leave the chunk with the tablet inside.

Thomas wouldn't have any of that! When I tried it in the evening, he sniffed the food and walked away. Cheh. I ended up giving the tablet to him straight up, a'la Animal Hospital Vet. Looks like I'll be doing that the whole week.

Incidentally, Abang has been unwell too the past 5 days. He came down with a fever on Thursday and on Friday his paediatrician said Abang had tonsil infection. He's fine now, resuming kindergarten tomorrow.

From one sick kitten to another - looks like Nurse Mummy has yet another patient to look after for the next few days!