Nonya kuehs from Maxwell Food Centre

When I think of Maxwell Market, I will think of the yummy nonya kuehs (sweet desserts coated with coconut flakes) I tried a few weeks ago. One is made of tapioca

and the other from gula melaka.

Angel's tongue

I took this photo of Angel a few weeks ago and I think he looks funny :)

Goodbye, Pebble

Pebble, our pet female Syrian hamster passed away yesterday. She could have been 3 years old or older. We knew her days were numbered when she was losing most of her fur, had soft stools, turned blind and in her last few days, she didn't eat much. Her 2 brothers, Peanut and Poofy are still as active as ever.

Being used/hardened to the passing of more than 30 pet hamsters over the past 16 years, I was still a bit teary-eyed when I held Pebble's hardened cold body in my hands as Mom and I wrapped her in tissue paper and said our goodbyes.

Shopping for cat stuff

For the past few weeks I realise I enjoy shopping for food, treats and toys for the cats.

Recently I got Angel and Bob some toys from this pet shop called Sundreams at Far East Shopping Centre. The lady there is friendly. I have also bought a scratching board for Bob, wet food imported from Japan for him and Angel. The wet food will be a weekly/fortnightly treats for them. I also bought this pet grass to see if I can grow them for the 2 of them and the community cats to eat.

Making a difficult decision

On Sat morning, we decided to let Bob and Angel meet without barrier as it has been quite some time. It was not successful. Both were growling at each other and it was clear that Angel couldn't hold his position as he was slowly retreating. At the same time, we tried to prepare the canned tuna as a treat for them but they were not interested at all. The moment Angel looked away, Bob pounced on him. Both wrestled with Bob on top and Angel managed to break free and dashed for the living room and scrambled to the top of the rack. We managed to hold back Bob by spraying water at him but that didn't really deter him. The moment he stood still, eyeballing Angel, I quickly grabbed him by his scuff and put him back into my bedroom.

Angel was shaken up quite badly and kept hissing at us too. We left him to calm down. I sprayed some Feliway, hoping to calm both cats. Angel stopped hissing at us almost an hour later and seemed to be back to his normal self. However, yesterday morning, he didn't rub himself against my legs or lay down on his side to let my foot stroke him when I woke up and came out of my bedroom. He just lay at one corner of the hall or under the dining table throughout the day. Luckily last night, he seemed to more like his usual self.

Today, he seems normal but he is still not covering his poo (like the past few days) and Mom observed that if he sniffed scent of Bob, he would look around to see if Bob is around. Otherwise, I could entice him with his food, play with him and stroke him when he was laying on the kitchen while I was having my dinner.

All of us in the family saw what happened on Sat and we felt quite affected by it. Sis said she feels heartache to see Angel being attacked. For me and Mom, it seems that Angel is unlikely to be comfortable with Bob around as we found him alone without his mother or siblings and he has no other experience with other cats. He has only seen cats I brought home in carriers, trapped for sterilisation. He had paw fights and hissing sessions with Charcoal/Salem during that brief period. When we were fostering Pearl, Pearl would also chase Angel who of course didn't enjoy it.

Over the weekend, I thought I would have to put Bob up for adoption as Bob is miserable being cooped up in my room most of the time. Angel is clearly affected by the encounter with Bob at the moment. From what I read, I have to do complete separation and reintroduction all over again. It will only work if Angel can be conditioned but if he is a cat who can only be a one-cat family, whatever we do will probably not help the situation.

I love Angel, my first pet cat. I have also grown to love Bob who has been sharing my bed every night since a week after Mar 20 (the day we brought him home). I don't mind sniffing his poo when he does his big business while I'm sleeping. Most of the time when I don't feel lazy I will wake up to scoop out and throw away his poo and clean his backside before I go back to sleep. I play with him or groom his fur for a short while before sleeping, to relieve his boredom of not able to go out of my bedroom. I'm still undecided at the moment whether to put Bob up for adoption. Dad and Sis were alright for us to keep Bob if he and Angel get along. But Sat's episode has made all of us feel upset/sad.

Right now, my mind feels cluttered. I need to get it cleared first before I can think about the best way forward and discuss with my family. I want both Angel and Bob to be happy.

Effects of Catnip

are definitely not wide eyes for Bob (he was probably surprised by me taking a photo of him as he didn't show much reaction to the toy)


and also does not lull Angel to sleep (as it was his usual nap time and earlier Angel did act a bit strange by hugging his head with his front paws for a short while)


I used my pair of old stocks and put some stuffing in with the dried catnip.

Turning 30

I spent my birthday last Fri at home most of the time, other than feeding the community cats in the morning and in the evening. In between, I busied myself by cleaning the cat litter trays for Angel and Bob and also played with them.

Since we kind of celebrated the day before by going out and having lunch, I was happy to enjoy Mom's home cooked meals of stir fried instant noodles with veggies and meatballs (lunch) and fried rice and soup (dinner).

Oops. I don't have no camera with me.

This is the response I have been giving to my family and friends when I was out with them last weekend and today. Somehow I have lost that something... to capture the moment when the yummy dish sat in front of me before I tucked in.... the candid shots of my family or my friends laughing or goofing around. But it's not that I have been feeling unhappy. Somehow I think it's linked to less time spent in front of my PC to blog and surf and I want to spend more time with my family and cats when I'm home. Or it could be I have been taking too much photos and now I'm just contented to soak up the moment and enjoy my food immediately or look at my family and friends and just tuck those happy moments instead of snapping them using my camera.

I guess when I'm thirsty for some photos, I'll remember to carry the camera with me.

Simply Peaceable's photo contest

I love Simply Peaceable's natural skin remedies:

• Bugged Outdoor Balm (I apply every night when feeding the cats to prevent being bitten by mozzies)
  
• Botty Balm (it's for baby's nappy rash and it works well for rashes I get during this hot weather and it's great as a body moisturiser too)
• Calm Balm (a nice smelling solid perfume that is soothing)
• White Clay Mask (to detox my skin gently)
• Polishing scrub (as a face and body scrub that smells deliciously like oats)

If you are interested in getting such stuff for yourself, you may wish to visit Simple Peaceable's website to check out the products or even join in the contest if you are inspired :)

Furry foot reflexologist

Angel likes me to give him a massage using my feet and also nuzzle his face against my toes.

Gifts from Japan

My cousin went to Tokyo recently with his friend and he helped sis to buy 4 tubes of mascara and on his mom's instruction, bought some lightweight sturdy brolly for her and me. He is also very sweet to get Sis and I handphone straps with cat cartoons. I choose the one with the eyes opened and I'm going to keep the paper wrappers (with cat stickers) :)

Angel, his new toy and the books

Angel also didn't take much notice to the toy initially and I had to make it bob in front of him.


He was more interested in checking out the 2 books I borrowed from the library. One book is "Cat vs Cat" that Sis said it is a recommended book by some online site on how to introduce a new cat to the resident cat. Another is "Meow Chow" - I want to find out if there is any good recipe that I could introduce to the cats if it's simple and nutritious. So far I have only been feeding them dry food and occasional wet food as a treat.

Bob in my bedroom

Bob seems quite comfortable in my room and also putting on weight.

He looked a bit cock eyed here.

and he was curious in the camera.


YesterdayI bought him and Angel some new toys (like a roly poly) so that he will have something to entertain himself when we are not in the room with him.

At first Bob wasn't too interested in the toy. He actually overturned it, so that it can't bob anymore. He was more interested in following me around the room.

Then I played with it myself and he noticed the new object and bit the felt material.


Then he went stoning after playing with it for a short while.

Busy

With Bob at home with us, I find myself less time to blog and surf the internet as I want to spend them with Angel and Bob after feeding the community cats with Mom. Bob is usually in my bedroom and we would let him out sometimes in the kitchen or around the house when Angel is sleeping in the other bedroom. Angel is still hissing at Bob, so we are trying to be patient and wait for the right time to introduce the 2 cats face-to face.

Work has not been exactly fulfilling but I'm fortunate to have bosses who are not nasty and nice colleagues. Come May 22, I will have been working in the same office building for 8 years. I have been thinking what else I can do but part of me enjoy the familarity of the work environment and also the pace of work that doesn't require me to work late often. I can then exercise with my good friend once a week, feed the community cats with Mom almost every evening, plan for outings with my family, squeeze in some time to catch up with friends or with things I want to do (like reading a good book) and also help a few other caregivers to trap their community cats to sterilise or handle occasional complaint cases about cats in our areas.

At the moment, I'll just go with the flow and see where it will lead me to.

Health check

I have recently received my medical screening results and was shocked to find out that my bad cholesterol is borderline high (used to be low) and my Rheumatoid Factor (RF) is 23 (acceptable range is 0 to 14)! Otherwise, I'm in the healthy/good range for good cholesterol, blood triglycerides, BMI.

I'm now waiting for my organisation to organise a post-briefing and I will ask the doctor present about my results. No point jumping about the information I have read about RF (eg. high RF could possibly mean risk of rheumatoid arthritis - scary).

However, I realise I have been eating less actively and exercising less. It's time to watch my diet and start exercise.

Angel, can we keep Bob?

Mom and I had difficulty deciding whether to bring Bob home after seeing how Angel reacted to Pearl when we were fostering her. However, we couldn't bear the thought of Bob missing or trapped in the drain during a thunderstorm. On Thurs night, I brought the carrier to the park, hoping to get Bob to enter willingly. We made the mistake of feeding Bob first and by the time, I used the food as a bait to lure him into the carrier. It didn't work.

We almost wanted to give up the idea of bringing Bob home as Dad is facing some problem at work and we don't want to add to Dad's worries. On Fri, I brought the carrier down again. Mom and I were a bit half-hearted but we thought to give ourselves and Bob a chance. Bob doesn't seem to like the carrier, so I had to hold him by his scruff and Mom held the carrier upright for me to gently put Bob in.

Back home, I gave Bob a quick bath. He only struggled a little and then tolerated me using a cloth soaked in soapy solution and then warm water to bathe him. Mom toweled him dry before putting him in the balcony.


Yesterday we took him to the vet for his first vaccination and he even purred when the vet checked his heartbeat. I asked the vet to check the black stuff in his ears and the vet after examining some sample said they are just some ear wax and not ear mites. The vet also said Bob could be more than a year or 2 as he has already lost some of his teeth.

We have let Bob out for a short while when Angel is sleeping. Bob seems to be interested in the shows we are watching on the TV. When I tried to take photos of him, he actually slanted to one side to look behind me. Haha.



Bob is so friendly and gentle that even Dad and Sis are won over. He likes to rest/sleep on our laps or next to us.

I was quite surprised that Dad let Bob out of the balcony last night, so that Bob can sit beside him on the sofa to watch TV.

We realise Bob sleeps a lot. This could explain why we don't see him in the afternoon. He is probably sleeping in the drain or bushes. Bob is such a darling that we can't imagine putting him back in the park.


Angel seems to behave better than when we had Pearl. He would still hiss as he run past the balcony.


Last night, the 2 of them almost had a confrontation. Angel was sleeping on top of the rack next to the TV and Bob was resting at the sofa. When Angel was waking up and wanted to get down from the rack, Bob noticed him and I quickly put my hands on him. His body stiffened and he looked alert and seemed to want to move forward. Both of them started to hiss even though they are about 2 to 3 metres apart. I quickly carried him to the balcony.

Bob would have to stay in the balcony in the meantime while we try to think of ways to introduce him to Angel. I have seen Bob play wrestle with Bush in the park and I don't think Angel would take nicely to that. Angel, on the other hand, probably thinks any other creatures other than the 4 humans are his enemy.


I will have to wake up briefly on weekdays at 5.15am to help Dad when he leaves the house as our balcony is just next to the exit. Bob, unlike Angel and Pearl, has no qualms about leaving the house to explore the corridor and he also will like to enter the rest of the house where Angel roams.

We really hope Angel and Bob can get along.

Mom's bak kut teh

Mom cooked her own version of bak kut teh. There's no teh but pepper seeds and less salty.

Sunset and night

A lovely view of Clarke Quay and sunset from the top of Asian Civilisation Museum.

I like how the lights play against the walls of the museum.

Rambo and Trini

Mom has been preparing dry cat food soaked in hot water mixed with some canned wet cat food (sometimes some rice too from our dinner) for Rambo. Now Rambo seems to put on some weight and his coat looks less dull.


A friend has advised me to sterilise him while another said I may want to think twice about sterilising an old cat as he may not wake up from the anaesthesia, so I'm still considering whether to put him through sterilisation.

Although he looks quite sad with his jutted out tooth, out of shape face, he is gentle and friendly towards us. When mom and I come with food, he will run to us and sometimes when the weather is cold, he will snuggle near our legs/feet.

I have recently sterilised Trini, the 3rd calico cat in this area. She was actually pregnant, so it is a good thing I managed to trap her in time or we would have many kittens who might not survive the recent rainstorm. She is quite vocal and will greet us with her meows and likes to rub her head against our legs and hands.

DIY Facial Party

A few Saturdays ago, my friends and I decided to chill out at FR's place to do face masks. We had fun showing one another the stuff we have been putting on our faces.

FR treated us to some pies she and hubby got from a bakery from Sunset Way.


After the pies, we cleansed, toned our face before we slathered green and red clay masks on them.


FR also made some concoction of tomato juice and lemon juice to tone our faces after the masks. Our skins felt a bit stinging but I like the sensation.

Nearing the end of our pampering session, we each had a bowl of FR's health tonic of white fungus, wolfberries and dates.


What a nice way to spend our Saturday afternoon :)