Indy stuck on the roof!

Last night, Indy had come upstairs to the shrine room to sleep. We thought he deserved that since he had been in hospital (inside a cage) for two full days, so we let him be. He slept for very long hours, too. The poor boy must have been exhausted, especially after another experience at the clinic yesterday evening for his Trixone (Ceftriaxone) jab. I have to take him for another 5 days (twice a day, that would be a total of 10 car-trips) to complete the course. Well, it's between the stress of being forcefed oral medication (which could make him rergugitate and stop eating or the stress of travelling for 5 mins in the car and getting a jab). Which is the lesser of the two evils? The jab, unfortunately, is also quite painful as it is given into the muscle, but Indy did not whine. You know how stubborn cats are, right? They seldom demonstrate pain, which perhaps, is not such a good thing, because then, we cannot gauge.

So, we closed all the windows and let Indy sleep on. He hadn't moved a muscle all night. He must have been so exhausted and finally, he is home on familiar ground again. I didn't want to put him in a cage again since he was sleeping so soundly.

This morning, I woke up at 5am and found Indy missing. Gosh, how did he get out and where is he? We had even closed the downstairs windows. The only windows left open was our bedroom window.

I went out to the road to search for Indy. I took a torchlight and look under every car in the next 4 houses, on both sides of the road and in the opposite houses, too.  There was no sign of Indy.

That's when I started to worry. I hope Indy has not run further away.

As I walked back to my house, I saw Indy!

There he was, looking quite desperate. He was on the roof! And who was beside him? Cow!

Indy and Cow were both on the roof. Indy was standing on the edge as though asking for help, while Cow sat nonchalantly near to him, as though saying, "Don't worry, I'm with Indy, he's safe with me."

Yes, Cow, thank you very much for looking after Indy, but now, we have to get you BOTH down from the roof.

But, how?

I went up to the shrine room and opened the windows. Cow came inside. But Indy had disappeared.

Then, I went to our bedroom window and looked out, there was Indy, standing on the edge of the little roof, looking in.

Gosh, there is just a little bit of space to jump in, and this is a pathway only taken by Cleo because she is small and agile enough for the manouevres.

After ample coaxing, Indy managed the manouevre almost effortlessly (I underestimated him) and jumped up to the window sill.

Phew...finally!!

I carried him downstairs to the kitchen, and offered him some food, but he wasn't interested.

With the Christmas holidays coming soon, Amy Lim's shop will be closed for a week, so I went yesterday to buy some supplies. I've got Go!, Evo and Natural Balance (all grain-free) plus two more cans of Fussie Cat (as they just love this despite it having the jelly which isn't good) and a bag of Natural Balance kibbles. I figured I might hit one or two brands which my cats might like. I've tried Go! and Natural Balance before, but they weren't much interested, still preferring Fussie Cat. But Indy has to eat good food now to build back his health so since I'm forcefeeding him, I might as well take the opportunity to give him better nutrition.

 Pole kind of like Evo, so that's one thumbs up! Pole and Cleo are my fussiest cats when it comes to food.

Yesterday, Cow and Bunny also did not mind Evo, so I was really happy with that. However, Tiger would not touch it at all. I know he likes fish, so I gave him the Fresh Water Trout Go!,but he did not like that either. He only wanted Fussie Cat. I managed to hide small bits of Udo-chicken into the Fussie Cat and he ate it up, but only if the pieces are tiny enough.

If only I can get my six cats to eat one of these brands, I'm home-free. Then, I can slowly introduce home-cooked food for them. I know this is going to take time and a tremendous amount of patience and perseverance. It's all about changing five years of eating habits. Surely that will need time.

The kibble is for convenience when the rest of the family feeds them. Unfortunately, NONE of them ate the Natural Balance kibble. Well, none except Tabs. Tabs would eat anything and is always hungry.

I'm not sure what to do with Tabs when we move, actually. She's practically staying put in our house now and her owner has not looked for her at all. Yesterday, another black cat and ginger cat (both adults) from her house came to our gate. I don't know if they were looking for her or they too wanted to come in.

Cow and Cleo have ganged up on a mission to chase Tabs out, but the little feisty one is undeterred. Yesterday morning, a HUGE fight ensued and Tabs was chased all the way out to the driveway but within minutes, she took the Cleo-pathway and appeared on our bedroom window sill, looking very happy. Then, she followed my husband into the bathroom and that was when he found faeces on her paws. She must have been so afraid, she defecated during the fight as there was faeces on the floor at the scene of the big fight.

Poor little Tabs, but that's cats' politics. Tabs would have to either fight or charm her way into their hearts, but we are moving soon, so where is Tabs going to go to?

Anyway, back to Indy....

So he refused all food and wanted to run out. I had to quickly put him into the room. He wasn't happy, of course.

 Here's what I offered Indy this morning. From left: AD, Fussie Cat, a mix of Evo and Go!

Nope, don't want any of them.

Okay, Indy, but we have to eat or you'll have to go on the drips again, so here we go...

I forcefed him small bits of AD, Evo and Go!. He did not quite mind the AD, but didn't like the Go!. I'll leeve Fussie Cat out this round.

 Tiny bits at a time again, interspersed with singing him the Itipiso song, which actually calms him down and makes the feeding much easier.

Bunny came downstairs as well, for the first time, after so many days. He had been sleeping on Jia-Wen's bed and I had been bringing his meals up to him. I think he is not feeling too well, but he was still eating, so I thought I'd let his body sort itself out. Sometimes if we interfere too much, we might be doing more harm than good. As long as the animal eats, I think we should not worry too much. At least that's what I've been told.

But Bunny saw the big cage and thought it was so interesting, so he came in as well!

So, they are both with me now, in the room. Indy was very unhappy about being in the cage, so we put the broken box inside for him. Somehow, they all like this broken box.

Today is going to be a very long day for me with several cat-in-tow car trips.

First, it's taking Indy to the vet's for his antibiotic jab. Then, it's taking Indy AND Bunny for acupuncture at TTDI. Later, it's taking Indy for another evening jab at the vet's.

Three cat-in-tow car trips. Gosh...please wish me luck.

I've taken one week's leave to look after Indy. Luckily the semester is not in session. Indy sure chose the "right time" to be sick!

And we're going to be on BFM radio this evening...read on!