Cats who teach me to fly…

Kelly, Bento and Mr Slow were all from my feeding area at Whampoa. Kelly left on 2 Nov last year. The LTCI did not work on her or perhaps it was too late. She was cremated on the same day.

Bento appeared 2 to 3 years ago. We noticed that he lost a lot of weight and we decided to bring him home. It was early this year. He was suffering from kidney failure. He got along well with other cats. We tried our best to make him comfortable. He loved sitting on a high wall bed. We will let him be wherever he was comfortable. Bento left on 27 April. I remember on that early morning, while I was still sleeping, his image flashed in my mind and I thought to myself, Bento must have left us. Shortly, Mel informed me that he has left.

I remember when I first saw him in 2013, he was sitting on top of a motor bike. I told Mel that this cat was a female, Mr Slow immediately roared at me with disagreement and we both broke into laughter.

The reason why we named him Mr Slow was he was always the last one to finish his food. He eats slowly and walks slowly. Everything about his actions were slow. Sometimes I called him Slow Slow…and he responded to it.

Mr Slow went missing twice. The first one was for more than three months which I believed someone had took him in and released him again and I think I know who…

The second time he was relocated by someone for more than a month. A neighbour spotted him, informed me and I brought him back. In just one to two weeks time, Mr Slow has lost so much weight and with covid 19, many vet clinics were not opened for consultation. By looking at Mr Slow’s conditions, we believe that he has kidney issue. We gave him sub-cut fluid and all the supplements that we usually give to our kidney disease cats. After two days of fluid, he seemed to look better and started to eat.

Sadly, it didn’t last long. He was with us for less than two weeks. I found him breathing heavily yesterday and sent him to the clinic. He was diagnosed with end stage kidney failure. Our vet tried her best. Mr Slow left us this morning.

All my community cats are getting old. They were already adults when I started to feed them seven years ago. Therefore, many whom I am still feeding are more than 10 years of age and I am prepared for what is coming. I want to take care of them when they fall sick until the end of time…