nothing in particular

On 14th July, we discovered Crookie (our community cat) had a large lump under her chin. I took a chance to feel it and felt some scabs forming. Crookie seems ok and so we left for work. During lunchtime, we dropped by and saw there was no more lump, instead there was a large gaping hole and some of her fur came off. We wanted to bring her to the vet but at the same time, K's dad was hospitalised. So meanwhile, I tried looking for mobile vets to come down to take a look at her instead of us bringing her there as we were afraid that stitches maybe required and the kittens won't recognise her after she comes back from the vet's.

This went on for quite awhile and we continued monitoring her condition..more fur and skin came off each day and I got more worried. However, we had insufficient time after work to "catch" crookie cos the vets close at 8pm. Finally, I managed to borrow a cat carrier from a friend and we researched on "How to trap a cat".

This is Crookie's wound on the day before we brought her to the vet. This hole has became smaller but there seems to be pus surrounding it...but hey Crookie is behaving normally.

To capture Crookie, we dropped by on saturday noon..placed her food in the far corner of the carrier before she came. K sat down on the stone chair with the carrier on the ground between his legs. Crookie was hungry..so she came over and investigated the carrier before going in to have her food. While she was chewing halfway, K zipped up the carrier..and omg~ we managed to capture Crookie.

The next 2hrs was agonising to me, cos Crookie was turning in circles wondering where she came in from. According to some sources, it says covering the carrier will calm the pet, so we covered the carrier and brought the struggling Crookie down the steps and into a cab.

Inside the cab, Crookie started whining..so sad that it sounded like she's sobbing. K got worried that she might be distress and decided to lift the towel, Crookie saw K and she stopped whining! After that, Crookie continued to stare at the fast passing scenary outside the window. When we arrived at VivoCity(we finally found a vet clinic- The Vet Clinic, that was just 10mins drive away on Thursday) Crookie started whining in the carrier, so we covered 2 sides of the carrier (1side, 1front) and she was able to see alittle bit of the human traffic in the shopping mall.

Our appointment with the vet was 2.30pm..however, due to unforseen circumstances(catching crookie so easily -_-'') we arrived 1.5hrs earlier. Then I brought Crookie out to the garden in her carrier, while K went in search of the Catnip spray that is said to calm cats down. Staying alone with Crookie while she whined was stressful for me..her whines are heartbreaking ='( Fortunately, K was more calm and when he was here, crookie seems to be more calm too.




This is Crookie just before her turn to go into the Vet's room. She's lookin at the vet who called out "Next! Crookie~"
Crookie's vet, Steve Johnson explained that Crookie's wound is actually healing by looking at the pic we provided above.

He explained that unlike dogs, who bite and tear flesh away; cats actually bite and leave bacteria in the punctured teeth wounds. As cats have fast healing ability, the scabs grow over the teeth marks and bacteria is trapped inside. Bacteria inside starts to act up, thus forming the lump. When Crookie scratched the entire lump off, she's draining the pus out. The fur that touches the pus dies off, which is why Crookie is losing clumps of fur+skin. All these happens about 4-5 days after the wound is inflicted.

When the vet opened Crookie's carrier, he asked us to call out to her..of cos Crookie doesn't respond, she sits with her tail beside her, hands tucked in..totally withdrawn..but she isn't whining nor aggressive either. *Crookie is such a darling..melts*

The consultation came up to $28, with 10days worth of antibiotics for Crookie to purge out the bacteria. The vet was nice to charge Crookie's consultation at Stray's rate =)





This is Crookie on her way back in the cab, she's much more relaxed. Upon reaching her homegrounds..she starting whining urgently as if she knew she's back home. We took her in the carrier to the spot where she got captured and opened the zip. Crookie stepped out slowly..took a look around and went to shit in the grass @_@? Did we scare the shit out of her??
After that, she went back to her "old home" - under the overhead bridge..I thought she forgot about her kittens.

K then prepared Crookie's pink pills crushed and mixed in her Mackeral Whisky Cat Food. Unexpectedly, Crookie rubbed K before having her meal and meowed loudly cos she was really famished.