Cherish Each Day - and Happy Birthday Nish!

It's been exactly a year since I last posted in this cat blog, how about that?

It's also almost a year since we moved in Berlin. The cats adjusted pretty much faster than I did. The move was definitely a positive thing to them - especially to the Nish.

Remember the days when Nishi had to take medicine daily to manage her inexplicable seizures? It miraculously went away when we moved to Berlin! We could never be happier.

Until a month ago, she had an episode that scared the life out of me. I found her one evening under the bed slightly twitching her back as if she has a hiccup. Long story short, we rushed to a 24 hour vet clinic and later realized that she has also gone blind.

I'll spare you the details about the trip to the 24 hour vet, but it was the worst vet I have ever encountered in my whole life - I still get upset by just recollecting how she treated me and Nishi, specially when she said Nishi was dying.

Well, Nishi wasn't dying. It was just her bad judgement.

The thought of Nishi dying, and just the thought that all my cats will all go one day, hit me pretty bad. I have seen and shared grief with friends and family members who went through with death of beloved pets, but the real thing is totally something else of course. I can definitely say at this point that I am not ready for any of it. In fact, I have a problem with death in general. A fact of life, but still...

Everything will and must come to an end. Life will end wether I like it or not. What really matters is what you make of it while it last. And from those memories, it is what you cherish that makes it live for eternity.

Today is Nishi's 5th birthday. I think it is a good excuse to mark this day to start blogging again and document the moments I share with them.

They say cats have 9 lives. And Nishi has used up 4 in 5 years. Nevertheless, she is back to her normal, bitchy self. Her sight has returned too. We had a long talk that she's going to stay healthy and live a long life with her mum, dad, and the pupicats. We love our baby girl so much. Here's to another year of health, wealth, happiness and love.  Love you Nishi!!! You are one of the best things that ever happened to us!

Happy Birthday Nishi!

Nishi if 4 years old! We love you so much baby girl! Long live the Nish!!!!!!

Nishi's Having Seizures :(

My eldest cat (3 years old) Nishi started to have seizures all of a sudden. It started January 3, when i saw her fell from the foot of the bed, about 1.5 ft. high, and thought she just got out of balance. I followed her immediately and thought there was something wrong. Her ears were all outwards, and she was holding her one paw up. I got scared and thought she fell bad and carried her instantly to inspect and comfort her. Then she started twitching violently. She got me scratched up pretty bad but I did not let go because I was afraid that she might hurt herself. The seizure lasted for about a minute. My husband and I were in shock and I started crying because I didn't understand what the hell just happened. Nishi foamed in the mouth, and she was very exhausted.

We immediately took her to the vet clinic to get her checked up. They did a full blood chemistry to eliminate cause of seizure, but didn't find anything significant. I described what I saw, and how long it lasted. Seizure incidents are uncommon to cats, but unfortunately the doctor couldn't tell us what's wrong with Nishi. Blood test came out negative, there's no infection, temperature was normal. She also have an appetite, and she's very much alert and active after the incident. The doctor said she might have an idiopathic epilepsy, which just means seizure that has no apparent cause. They offered to admit Nishi, but they also said that all they can do is observation at most. Their advise was to bring home Nishi and observe, then take her back if anything happens. And that's what we did. Besides, I'm not really comfy leaving my cats in the vet clinic where there's more possibility that they can get exposed to other diseases.

5 days has passed after the first incident, Nishi was fine. So we were quite hopeful that it was a one time thing. But all of a sudden it happened again, without clear cause or trigger. It lasted for a minute again. After the seizure, Nishi was again foaming in the mouth, and very much exhausted. Then she recovered, walking around like nothing happened - only, she seemed to be disoriented. She seem to not recognize the house she's living in. She kept exploring everything, sniffing everything. But other than that, she looks perfectly normal.

Again, the vet couldn't explain what has occurred. She wasn't poisoned, she has no infection. She didn't have any injury in the head. Nothing. Their best bet is epilepsy. They prescribed us a drug to give her to help manage the seizures - but not to cure it. Since there seems to be no apparent cause, they can't cure anything. Seizures are very rare in cats, and probably that's why there are less veterinarians that know or expert about this. It's too unfortunate that Nishi got this problem - yet better than fatal diseases.

The seizures are getting more and more frequent, and all we could do is to observe the severity, how long it takes, and what exactly the seizures look like so we can tell it to the doctor. The doctor also mentioned that an MRI might help, but they don't think there's any MRI for cats around the metro. So yeah, we are kinda fucked.

Every time it happens, I cry. My husband is leaving tomorrow, and I don't know what I will do if Nishi would have seizures again - this time with just myself to rely on. I am so afraid. I don't want to lose Nishi. I love Nishi so much. Nishi has changed a huge part of myself and my life. I do not want to lose her. I am so afraid that one day, she will have a seizure and will not be able to recover from it. I don't know what else to do. I get paranoid all the time. I couldn't get out of the house because I am afraid that Nishi might have another incident and might hurt herself. I couldn't sleep well, because I always wanted to be aware of my surroundings, be able to get up immediately in case Nishi gets an attack when I'm asleep. I really wish the seizures would just magically go away, or at least tell us what's wrong so we know how to correct it.

A Nice Quiet Sunday Evening

After coffee session with my fellow cat slave lover, Gerry, I went home feeling lazy and was just in a mood for a quiet evening. We decided to have a movie night. So I cleaned up a little, showered, fixed some snacks and jumped on the bed with my hubby and started a movie. Surprisingly, Nishi jumped on the bed between us, rested her body against me and started to watch the movie. She was very quiet, very sweet. She didn't complain when I pet her. She usually bites me when I do, get pissed, and then get off. But this evening, she was super behaved, like the old times. She haven't done this in a very very long time. I enjoyed the moment. It's just like those times when she was little where she always love cuddling and sleeping beside me. Mark and I were very happy.

 However, like a typical Filipino, as soon as the movie ended, she stood up, stretched her tortoise back, and left the bed - without waiting for the credits :).

 The movie was >The Cat Returns (Neko No Ongaeshi) by Hiroyuki Morita. This is one of those simple joys I appreciate and cherish. I love my baby cat!

A Rescued Cat Called Nishi

Mark and I were walking to the restaurant when I heard a weird noise. It's like a crying bird. The street was still busy so I couldn't really tell where it's coming from. Mark didn't hear it so I thought I was nothing and proceeded to dinner.

After 2 hours, we headed back home taking the same street and I heard the same crying bird again. We tried to look for it, and there, we found this tiny calico kitten, about 2 weeks old, crying non-stop while laying in a small ditch at the middle of the walk way in Leviste St. Imagine, it was a busy evening, and yet nobody gave a shit to even pick up and put this little creature somewhere safe. Mark panicked and immediately picked up the kitten. She was very weak and filthy with street dirt. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to touch the little kitten as it freaks me out. I never had a pet before. We both didn't know what to do with her because our building admin doesn't allow pets in the condo. But we couldn't just leave her like that. We took her to our building and was immediately stopped by the guards. We talked to them and promise to take her to a shelter the next day, and that we are just going to feed it.

Since Mark have experience with cats, he knew that cow's milk is not good for them so he just cleaned the little kitten, and then googled for a milk substitute just to get by through the night. Then we took the shade off our lamp and used it to warm the little kitten up. Everything improvised.

I was very stressed that evening because I was afraid the kitten might not make it through the night. I was also stressed that we don't know any shelter that would take in the cat. Plus, this kitten cries so much and so loud - I was stressed to be confronted by the guards again and get me pressured to get rid of the kitten.

The next day, we took her to the vet for check up. She was a strong kitten. She didn't even sip the improvised milk that Mark prepared for her, but she seemed to be OK. She was checked up, got her nails trimmed, and got kitten replacement milk for her. She also had been tested for worms etc.

And that's where it all started. Eventually, we decided to keep her, and kept her a secret :). I fell in love with Nishi. She have changed my life to something better. She's the reason why I help and rescue cats in need. She have opened my eyes, and she was an instrument to awaken my compassion for the stray cats/dogs population, and at the same time act on it. She's my inspiration.

I recently compiled all the video clips we have collected from the beginning we got her, how we nurtured her, and now that she's full grown. I hope this inspires everyone to care and give those stray cats a second chance in life.