Remembering Mouche

It's been a long, long while since I blogged about Mouche. I was too busy with projects, friends, family, guests, other things that I could list on and on and on but neither has any importance as a real excuse right now. But I'm not going to start blaming myself on that. No, I won't. Because it's over now. She's gone.

Yes, you read it right. She's gone. To the heaven of little cats. She's gone.

It's been only 20 days since she breathed her last breath, and though I've run to the Borneo jungles and to the arms of my mother, my soul doesn't rest yet. Not quite. So I'm hoping this could be some sort of closure for me. Not to forget her, but to remember her and her good days with us.

This was Mouche in Vincent's wrap just a few weeks before she died.

The Return of Mouche

The vet called early in the morning asking if he could bring Mouche back at 10. I thought that was super quick, but I said yes. I told Vincent and he delayed going to the office to welcome Mouche back.

When she was finally here, she couldn't wait to get out of the cage. She dashed out as quickly as she could and she tried to climb up the stairs.

But she couldn't. She fell down showing how weak her limbs were.

The vet said that she was still drunk due to the anaesthesia. Vincent took Mouche back so that the vet could explain to us more clearly about the operation. We saw a rectangle shaved part of Mouche's stomach, on the side, and there was a bandage covering the wound. He said basically the drug is going to go away after a day and she'll be fully recovered in a week when we can peel off the bandage.

We actually wanted her to be vaccinated as well, but the vet gave a better option: he can go here again next week to check on the week and at the same time have her vaccinated.

Mouche was so needy the whole day. She could barely open her eyes but she knew when I was moving from one room to another. She followed me everywhere, I think based on the sounds I made, and she kept stumbling down the stairs. I put her food bowl upstairs so she didn't have to do all the work going up and down the stairs when she was so drunk like that. It was almost hard to leave the house for the ad print meeting.

Anyway, it was weird to see the so very loud Mouche the night before and the so very quiet and helpless Mouche now. Yes, she's normally pretty quiet, but not this quiet. I'm worried but Vincent says she's gonna be okay soon.

Desexing Mouche

Mouche has been very difficult these past 2 days. The normally quiet kitty has become crazily so loud. Vincent suspected that she was coming to puberty age and perhaps was having her first period. There have also been two other cats that were checking out our house and meowing loudly. They're probably thinking, "Oh, there's a girl there!"

We felt alarmed as we didn't want Mouche to continuously have babies. So I called a vet yesterday and asked him to check her out. Mouche knew that a vet was coming so she was hiding under the couch. Vincent had to lift up the couch so I could reach her. The vet then did a short check on her and he confirmed that she was ready to mate - proven by her excitement as you touched her bottom. We agreed that he could take her so that he could perform the operation.

If yesterday I couldn't sleep because the teenage cat kept meowing, last night I couldn't sleep because I was worried. Mouche was never happy with the existence of other people but me and Vincent. And now she's away from us in Sanur and with nobody she knows. She must have been terrified.

However, I'll see about it today. The vet promised to return her today as he would be performing a new desexing method - cutting the side of the stomach instead of the one under. He said this method was much safer and wouldn't hurt the kitty as much as if the incision was made under the stomach. Because then there would be no gravity effect to hurt the wound more.

"He'd better be good," Vincent said about the vet. Obviously we didn't want anything to happen with Mouche.

Her Mom is Dead

When arriving home yesterday evening, Vincent was saying to Mouche,

"Poor Kitty; your mommy is dead."

I got out of the office and asked him to explain more. Vincent said that he heard from his colleague that Mouche's mother fought with a dog and she lost.

Poor Mom.

I hugged Mouche and told her, "Don't worry. I'm your mommy now."

And to think that last year I didn't even like cats....

Not As Greedy

Mouche is starting to be not as greedy as she was before. She also behaves when we eat. She would sit by our feet, but she wouldn't meow to beg for food. Good girl!

Sleepy Head

Yeah, she is not exactly feminine when sleeping...

Foot Lover

As in foot biter.

She can't see a moving foot and she'll just catch it and bite it.

Under the Chair

Mouche likes to be under the chair where I sit on when working. Sometimes she rubs her body against my feet, expecting my toes to react and tickle her a bit.

Patient Hunter

Once she tried it, she could never stop.

Ever since Mouche caught and ate the bird, she consistently sat here by the window of the living room, looking at the dense bamboo tree where she could hear so many birds chirping noisily in the morning. Her face alert and occasionally she would stretched her neck outside to get a better view where the birds might be.

Patiently waiting for another bird to come close to the house

She could be there for hours. Once she fell asleep from waiting. She looked so cute though at the same time her intention was not that cute. :P

Falling asleep after waiting too long

The Little Hunter

Compared to Geisha, Mouche is a more clingy kitten. She makes sounds as if she was sad or hungry or lonely almost all the time. She gives you that sad "I'm dying" look if you ever let her food bowl empty. She's afraid of new voices and new people and she will always hide under the sofa if she senses danger coming from other people but me and Vincent. It makes us think she is a weak kitty.

BUT IT'S ALL A DISGUISE!!!

She's a mean, senseless, cold-blooded, bird-killer kitty!!!

One day I was working early in the morning in the living room. As usual I opened the window so that the nice morning breeze can get in. Mouche was sleeping under a chair far away from that window.

Then I heard something and Mouche was already flying in the air by the window then she landed on her four feet on the chair next to the window.

I was like, "What? What happened?"

Then I heard something chirped from her mouth. I thought it was a mouse at first. But there are never mice in our house, thanks to the so many snakes here (yes, that's an irony). And why would it be in the air? I watched her closely and asked her what it was in her mouth.

She said, "Grmmmeeeehhhhrrrr," which meant, "Shut up, it's mine!"

Then I saw it.

It was a bird!!!

The bird was still alive and it struggled to get away from her teeth grab.

I was SO freaked out.

I told Mouche sternly to let the bird go away. But she hid under the chair.
When I tried to get the bird, she ran downstairs.

After a short while, I didn't hear the bird's sound anymore. I concluded that it was already dead.
There was no way I would want to go downstairs and find the bird's dead body somewhere there. So I waited until Vincent woke up and told him all about it. Then I also told him to get rid of the bird's body so I wouldn't have to see it when I went downstairs.

He looked at me in amazement, "Bibou, Mouche is a cat. There won't be any bird anymore."

I screamed. She couldn't have possibly eaten the bird, could she???? She was just a little spoiled, weak kitty!!!

But she did. As Vincent went downstairs, there was only the head of the bird and Mouche was playing with it.

I hated Mouche for two days.

Spoiled Mouche

Hi-Tech Kitty

Who likes to sit on the laptop after a fresh bath?
Who likes to sit on the laptop just for the sake of intruding me working?

Yes, Mouche.

Mouche after bath

Like any other cats, Mouche hates to be bathed. But she doesn't normally struggle a lot. She just makes sounds as if she was dying for touching the water. Anyway... as long as she's smelly and maybe still infected by fleas, she has to be bathed. This is how she looks like on typically Saturday morning.

Cute when asleep

What? Did I say that Mouche looked mean and not cute? Apparently it is only when she has her eyes open. Look at the photos of her below when she's asleep or just awake. She is as cute as the other kittens!

By the way, she has claimed the pillow hers since the first week she was brought here. You can try to remove her from that pillow and sit on it. The second you leave the pillow, she'll be claiming it back!