Raising Cats In Ho Chi Minh City - Summary up to Pearl Grey (January 10th, 2014

This post will be dedicated to the successes and failures of raising kittens that Hannah and I have found on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. It has been a rather gruesome battle with a lot of discouraging findings along the way. Nonetheless, I can't find what I have done as anything other than helpful and true in giving cats in Vietnam a chance to find a home where someone cares for them. I can't imagine what it would be like being born on these streets, particularly as an animal that most likely will be abused and even killed for food or even just as a sick joke. We currently have our first cat, Cargo, a white (with a hint of grey) mother cat named Pearl Grey and her three kittens: Olive, Midas and Coy. Three kittens have died under our care (Felix, Spick and Soba) for reasons I will expand on for our sake and for the knowledge of other cat owners who may read this, particularly those who live in Ho Chi Minh City.

Cargo

Cargo has always been sort of an odd kitten, but he has stuck with us through our entire experience.

He has stayed extremely positive, while losing three kittens around him, one of which, Felix, was his best friend for what some say is the most difficult part of their life, from the 1st month to the 5th month. The story of Cargo's beginning is expanded upon earlier in this blog. We found him in District 5 in the middle of an alleyway who was almost crushed by a trucker (who had no intention on stopping or even slowing down for the kitten). Things are just so different in America. Most Americans, if they

 are not demented, slow down and even swerve around, desperately trying to avoid living things that cross the road, whatever it is. It took a long time to debate about picking him up since he was, not only our first stray kitten, but our first pet in general. We travel around a lot and also work very hard, so a pet never seems ideal when we analyze our personalities. This kitten, however, pushed our ability to say 'no' to the curb and we decided to take him in. Everything was so new with him. We treated him much more like our own infant than a kitten, however, I think it was a great upbringing. He ended up with a lot of personality traits that I don't think would have existed without the surroundings he had...He does act just like a dog: He'll run out to the front gate to meet us, he'll play fetch and wrestle around with us as if he is the same size as us, when he knows we are getting ready to leave (grab our keys) he will patiently sit at the front door looking up at the door nob, wagging his nubbin of a tail. His meow always seems more like a miniature cow than a cat. In the end he has always been a great cat and we hope to bring him to Japan with us.

Felix

 Felix always had his quirks also like watching the camera screen as if he was human, always sleeping between our pillows and the headboard of the bed, and obsessively carrying around a toy mouse wherever he went (he was always willing to do things like never before for his mouse, such as hold onto it until he was dangling from his fore-claws). Felix sort of fell into our care since the daughter of the family we were living with at the moment came to us and said she really wanted to save Felix, but her mom wouldn't let her have a cat. It worked out well since we were looking for a second kitten to grow up with Cargo

and Felix was almost exactly the same age. At first he was a bit reclusive, who wouldn't after being stabbed three times and thrown out in a bag to die. Luckily, with the help of Dr. Nghia from Saigon Pet Clinic in District 2, Felix became physically much better. His wounds healed nicely and he began to act like a normal, but shy, kitten. Things were going well, there was no indication that anything was going wrong or that we had anything to worry about.

Soba

Around mid-October, Hannah found another stray kitten outside of her work. She was very sick and so we took her to Dr. Nghia to get her some help. At that time we were on a rather large Japanese food binge, eating it close to every night, so the name Soba fell into place with her. Although we never expected to actually 'own' her since we knew we were going to move to Japan and preparing three kittens is a bit out of our budget, we watched her grow with the other kittens. Even though she was around 3 months younger and was introduced to Cargo and Felix after they had been together for around 4 months, Felix really took an effort to welcome her in and play with her. She also had little problem getting food. Though she looks really cute, when eating time came, she would be first to the plate and then she would growl a low, evil growl that even I didn't want to approach. She would also use this growl when Cargo would happily come into the apartment with a cockroach. As Cargo would take time making the best of the roach by letting it free and chasing after it, only swatting and lightly trapping it with his paws, Soba would trap the cockroach at first pounce and then clutch the roach in her jaws, growling at Cargo to stay back....even though it was scary, it was really funny coming from a baby. By December, all three were starting to hang out together and although Soba had a lot more energy than the other two and didn't really know how to share yet (growling Cargo away from the roaches), they were close.

The Lack of Knowledge or Time?

On December 22nd I posted this onto my Facebook: 

"This morning around 5 am I discovered a text the vet sent me last night around 10:30 pm that obscurely informed us that our 7 month old kitten, Felix, died during a 'safe' routine neutering operation. There was almost no information on what had happened and even when we arrived at 8 ( the earliest they would allow us to see Felix) no vet was there who could explain to us what happened. We stayed until past noon because the secretary kept telling us different things such as, 'the doctor will be here at 9:30', then, 'the doctor is tired and will be there later'... all the way to, 'the doctor is really sick and in the hospital.' The other vet who was supposedly there wasn't even answering his phone. She expected us to leave right away. She asked 3 times on if they could continue by cremating the body... I think more times than she tried to call the 'other vet'. They expect this to just 'blow over' as most Vietnamese people do about life. To Hannah, Cargo, Soba and I Felix was the sweetest creature we've met in Vietnam. Now Cargo will grow up the rest of his life without the brother of his childhood because of the mistake Saigon Pet Clinic made. I'm telling anyone who is thinking about getting operation done in Vietnam that they need to ask a lot of questions because there is no way in hell they'll properly inform you about the risks. Also, demand to be present and to witness the operation because most likely if you don't they'll mess it up or try something experimental on your loved one." 

This was the beginning to our struggling relationship with Dr. Nghia and the Saigon Pet Center. I still stand by all of what I had said that day. To be properly informed in Vietnam is almost impossible since the rationality here is 'I don't want to hurt the owner/patient's feelings therefore I will lie to the patient so that they can still be happy and have hope'. I ask the question all the time in my test based courses, 'if a patient has an incurable sickness should the doctor tell them the truth or lie to them?' As an American the answer is rather easy and I believe most Americans would very simply state, 'of course the doctor should tell the patient the complete truth. The patient has the right to know.' However, in Vietnam, I see the students struggle with choosing sides and most, after much deliberation, choose to lie to the patient. There is absolutely no information flow between patient and doctor; I don't believe it has anything to do with a language barrier either since we have had some fairly complex discussions with Dr. Nghia. Also, all it takes is a simple email where you have more time to think things through and research words you don't know. We only received those 'what was going on with our kitten' after they die. 

To this day, we are not sure what really happened to Felix that night. It sounds as if Dr. Nghia was sick and couldn't stay around all night to watch over Felix. It sounds like he did the surgery (though that is even questionable) and then left to get some sleep just before he ended up in the hospital in the early morning. It was stated that they came in every fifteen minutes to check on the kittens. That was a very large, idiotic mistake and, in the end, cost Felix his life. He apparently vomited from the medicine given him to keep him under during the operation. He then choked on his vomit and died. There is typically an oxygen tube that is inserted in their throat until the dangerous period where this could happen is over. They had decided to take out the oxygen tube just before Felix vomited. We had an autopsy done on Felix and though they found some unusual organ placement in Felix's body, it couldn't have had anything to do with his actual death. 

                                                Focusing on the Strays in the Japanese Area

Hannah and I started to eat at a Japanese Restaurant in the Japanese area of Ho Chi Minh City, which basically stretches around two city blocks on one street called Le Thanh Ton. This area could actually be missed though if you are driving on the street and not looking carefully. There are not nearly as many Kanji characters as one would expect and the architecture is only slightly influenced in the front of some of the buildings. To get to our favorite restaurant in that area, you have to turn off, into an alleyway. The scene is more intimate there. The alleyway is closely watched by neighborhood security and the paved way is wider than a typical Vietnamese alleyway. The restaurant is at the corner of one of the alley's intersections. With complete glass sliding doors, the area is lit up with the dimly, yellow tint the lights create. Inside, there is very little room. It is mostly a U-shaped, sit-down bar, where the chef cooks in the center and everyone can watch. It makes it a bit hotter of an experience for lunch time, but at night it is a pleasant and cozy atmosphere. If you look up from your meal and look out across the alleyway, you can see the back of another restaurant; the part of the restaurant no one is supposed to see. Where the front is a modern, well designed, cottage style theme, the back is extremely simple, dark and falling apart. It is an Italian restaurant, with the kitchen staff that is completely Vietnamese. They had a group of kittens we saw grow up into cats quickly, but as we watched them grow, we also watched them disappear. I had heard that cats are rather independent and not known to be socially confined, so I figured that is what stray cats do is spread out. Hannah finally asked one of the Vietnamese staff at the Japanese restaurant and she told her that these cats were eaten by the workers at that Italian restaurant. At that time, there were only 3 cats left, one that was about average adult size, one that was a bit smaller who was actually more of a newcomer, and another that was mostly white and pregnant.

Our rationality was to save the pregnant one first since she looked rather large. If she would have had the babies on the street, who knows what exactly would have happened to them. I remember a long time ago there was a different litter that was born...a rather large litter, maybe 5 or 6 kittens, and most of them disappeared quickly. At the time I wondered where they went, however, with the knowledge I have know I would almost assume that they were eaten by the restaurant workers. We didn't want to see that again.

On December 23rd, the night before we left for Hanoi for our Christmas Holiday, I tried to capture the mother. She was extremely cautious, so it was impossible to approach her. We tried to wait to have her approach us, but we knew we were leaving for Hanoi on a 6 a.m. flight the next morning. Once, I tried to come from behind. It startled her so much that she quickly bit me 3 times in the hand and then scurried into a ventilation escape in the roof. (I absolutely never recommend anyone to try to capture any stray cat with your bare hands unless you have been trained to do so. It was an extremely idiotic decision of mine of which I only did out of desperation, feeling that if we didn't capture her now, she might be killed before we see her again...I had to dress the wounds extremely carefully. They were sore much of the time we spent on our holiday in Hanoi) Knowing that she would not probably leave the shaft, we then decided to grab the newcomer since he was extremely placid and would just come up to us when we knelt down and held out our hand. We grabbed him (slowly) and around midnight or 1 in the morning and rushed him to the Saigon Pet Clinic in a carrier. Of course, no one was around so we just sent the secretary a message that we were leaving him there, they could check everything and take care of him,  and we would be back in Ho Chi Minh City to pick him up less than a week later.

She received the message and everything seemed to be working out... Except the white pregnant cat was still volnerable.

A day or two before this we decided to bring Cargo and Soba to our friend's apartment to take care of them while we were in Hanoi. We knew he could take care of cats since he had 5 of his own. I guess a couple of things we didn't keep in mind I'll talk about later. Though we knew it wasn't really the best to leave the two with his 5 cats, we couldn't really think of anyone else we knew in Vietnam that would take good care of our cats. At this point we really didn't trust Dr. Nghia with our cats since what happened to Felix and we knew if we left them with any other Vet, that they would just end up in a cage fore a week. It was the best option (we knew Cargo would have a thing for the girl cat he had also).

In Hanoi

Hanoi was a sort of grieving time for us in reaction of the shocking death if our second kitten, Felix. Every time we saw a cat we would stop off, analyze the situation the cat was in and determine if we should take action in giving it a better life somehow. Most of the time giving it a better life involved trying to buy the kitten or cat and bring them back to Ho Chi Minh City with us. A large hinderence to the plan was a fact that we only learned toward the end of our trip which was: the only way to get a cat from the north to the south is to send it by train which was ultimately very dangerous for the cat since it was at least a day and a half trip with no freedom or ability to check up on the cat. 

There was one situation we were able to influence dramatically. The first day we arrived in Hanoi we walked around and ended up in a street that mostly sold flour and other grains/ powders sent away in very large bags swaying back and forth fastened to the back of a motorbike. A small kitten caught Hannah's we first and we both stood there for a second watching her. It was obvious she was extremely weak limping around, sniffing the ground looking for food in the same sort of delusional circle. The kitten probably needed medical attention she would never get. The family running the store would load the bags of powder and as she sometimes got in the way, they would kick her aside as some attacking venemous snake. It was really tough to watch. Hannah took action by asking with a big smile if she could pet the kitten. Of course, the owners always say yes, with a slightly uneasy tone since no one usually touches cats in Vietam. As she was petting the kitten she inquired about who the owner was and if she would be at all interested in selling he kitten to us. We didn't understand at the time,, but they were laughing at us and she said, rather aggressively that first we wouldn't be interested in her cat and second that it's not for sale anyway. Hannah persisted in trying to convince the younger girl to let us keep the kitten since we have other cats and it would be very happy with them. The woman finally just walked away from the situation. 

Smiling, Hannah stayed with the kitten while I went for some tuna. The owner said the kitten was very sick and would not eat. It took some persistence, but in the end we got the kitten to eat some of the tuna. She was extremely weak, having a hard time not only tearing the tuna up, but even just keeping the tuna in her mouth. We left her there with the can of tuna and headed away since we only had a short amount of time before heading to Sapa. 

When we returned from Sapa and visited the same spot with the kitten, we were really surprised to see the kitten was doing better and that it actually had an obvious hand made kitten tunic to stay warm. The normal owners that we saw last time were not there. Instead a different man was watching over the shop. He was a very kind man who smiled when he recognized us. I think he knew we would love the new change the kitten had gone through. When we saw the kitten, we understood fully why the man was smiling. At that time it was a bit cold in Hanoi, but not like winter; just a chilled breeze from time to time. The kitten was wearing what was obviously a homemade tunic, composed of a couple of thick pieces of cloth sewed together with very thick thread - almost the exact size of twine. She was now much stronger than before, walking around and enjoying our company. We decided to buy her another can of tuna since the same can from before was there. We decided it would also be a great idea of giving 5 more cans to the guy. We were worried he wouldn't accept the gift, but after a bit of refusal and insistence, he took them with a large smile. That was a great feeling to have coming home from our trip, that we could make an influence with even the smallest encounter.

Back from Hanoi - Winning One

Coming back home on December 29th, 2013, we were really enthusiastic to get started on taking care of the three the cats we now had and to trap the cats in the Japanese area. We picked Cargo and Soba up from Brian's apartment right away and then picked up Spick and brought him to our apartment for the first time. 

Spick

Spick was an extremely friendly and playful cat...sometimes bringing more energy to the clan then they were used to. I think being a street cat, he just had a different sort of vigor the rest couldn't keep up with...he always looked like he was in fast forward. However, after all his energy ran out...which usually lasted between 30 minutes to an hour... he would be the most peaceful, loving cat. He was very casual about us picking him up and petting him. Sometimes you would wonder if he was at all born and raised in the streets.... until he started playing again. He really seemed at home and happy with us for the amount of time he was with us. 

When we picked up Spick from the vet we also grabbed an animal trap with the intention to capture the pregnant cat as soon as we had the time, which came quickly since we had a day off for the New Year. On the night of January 1st, 2014, we made it to the Japanese area. We found the mother cat, but the other one was nowhere to be seen. It seemed they had already killed him. We sat and waited next to our motorbike watching the trap, set with wet food set inside the cage. We waited....and waited... she was extremely timid this time along, as if someone had been attacking her or she was scared of something in the alleyway. Finally, right as the night moved into the 2nd of January, she decided to try the food...luckily the trap worked perfectly, closing and locking shut as she started to eat the food. Right when the trap door shut, she frantically jumped around the cage, slamming her body on the sides and clawing with strength, hoping the bars would give way to her efforts. Though this was difficult to watch, it didn't actually last long and she understood quickly the impossibility of escaping.

Thinking back on that feeling I had, watching her look in almost terror as we approached the cage, it brings up a core question for people trying to 'save' strays. The question is, 'are you really helping the cat?'. Some days, I look at the cats I have in my apartment and wonder if somehow, they would be happier completely free, roaming the streets of the city. I have two large points weighing for my decision to take these cats in: the only cats I will choose to 'save' are cats that have a very high probability of dying in an improper way (ran over by a vehicle, starved to death, or killed by a human outright for food), also when I think of this culture and how the people generally view cats, I remember that it's probably much more fortunate for the cat (particularly if it is a kitten) to grow up in my home than anywhere out in the streets where they will be kicked around, ran over for fun, fed completely the wrong thing or not fed at all and sometimes just killed for pure entertainment purposes.

Even though her posture, which was scrunched as tightly as possible in one corner of the cage, struck a sad cord in me, I knew we would at least get her away from the people that are probably purposefully getting her pregnant to raise more cats to kill and eat. The security guard in the area, who I never could figure out whether he was for or against what we were doing, helped us by efficiently tying the cage down to the back of the motorbike as easily as if he was tying his shoes. He also demanded we set a piece of cardboard in between my back and the side of the cage so the mother couldn't scratch me as I drove. Hannah decided to squeeze on the motorbike in front of me. It was really a silly looking scene: her scrooched in front like a child and a large cage with a cat tied to the back. We contacted Dr. Nghia to let him know that we had caught her and that we were headed to the clinic (with the towel covering as much of the cage as possible...he informed us it was extremely important in keeping her calm). He actually decided to meet us there. It could have been because we had been talking with him a long time about the condition of this mother and how close she was to having her kittens. That night we passed her off; two days later on January 4th, I received a text message saying that she gave birth to 4 kittens.

Dismally, events just didn't continue in a positive way.

Without warning, Spick started to vomit on January 8th. I noticed that he had vomited right before I went to leave in the morning to teach. When I came back, there was another pile in the apartment, this one had a very large worm in it (about 3 inches long). I didn't work that night and as it progressed, Spick just continued to vomit. I gave Dr. Nghia a text almost at 9 p.m. just after he had vomited a total of 6 times. Dr. Nghia advised me to give him no food and to buy Phosphalugel at a pharmacy and to give Spick 2 ml. I quickly went to a pharmacy and headed back to give it to Spick. I had no idea how to administer it to the kitten, because I didn't have a syringe and he specifically told me not to feed Spick. I tried to combine it with the vitamin gel we had for the kittens, but he consistently refused it. We brought him in the next day. The doctor took a blood sample and sent it in to get tested that day. That night, we got the results which said, 'He has very low level of blood cells. I worry about seft immuned haemolytic problem. I am testing mycoplasma - a blood parasite to rule out.'

The next day I asked for an update and the message said this, 'Spick is better a bit but still very weak. I find negative results for Mycoplasma. But the blood volume is low and so anemic. He is on iv fluid, nutrient iv and antibiotics. I gave him blood creation too. I am looking for blood donner too.'

On January 12th we visited the clinic to check on both Spick and the mom. We really didn't have much time at all. Spick didn't look the greatest, he was in a fairly small cage and was barely sitting up. When we checked on the mom, we discovered that she had eaten one of her babies. It's limbs were torn apart and buried in the litter box in the cage. My initial reaction was not of horror or disgust. It was actually out of wonderment and shock (shock not to the situation, but actually to Dr. Nghia's reaction to the situation). He became very animated, looking away as if a loved one passed away. He started to narrate the scene like we were blind and unable to see what had happened right in front of us. He kept saying, 'How could this happen?' and 'I just don't understand.' This seemed rather strange since he was not only a 'well respected' Veterinarian, but also one that is known to specialize in cats. We didn't really have much time at the moment, so we just left him in this worried state.

Just to note: there are a number of interactions with Dr. Nghia that gave both Hannah and I strange feelings that he didn't really have the education he claimed to have, or that maybe he didn't exactly have as much 'passion' for cats as even the less than average Vet in America. The lack of knowledge he had on the situation of the kitten getting eaten shows me he either lacked in the education, the experience, or both. Also, the fact that Felix died of an amateur mistake that almost every Vet in America would have said was wrong. He seemed to never have answers for us either because he wasn't there or because he just didn't know.

Spick continued to receive treatment at Saigon Pet Clinic. on January 16th I had asked Dr. Nghia for another update (something he never seemed to provide unless I specifically requested it from him). He said, 'Much better. No vomiting. Eats a bit and drinks. Still in fluid, antibiotics (aerobic and gram + and gram -) and nutrients. We then got another update on January 19th stating, 'Dear Thomas. I am sorry. Spick has just died in silence. He is up and down but his blood count is so low due to auto henolitic disorder. I AM very sad. The mother and the kittens are very well.' ...In this case, I'm not sure exactly if there was anything else he could have done...The one strange point though is how it seemed he really was keeping information from us the whole time. Just 2 days earlier, he had given us an update that made it seem like Spick was absolutely fine. I somehow got a feeling that he had a good understanding for the chances of Spick surviving, but didn't care to share with us.

Note: A very popular thought process for doctors in Vietnam is to not tell the patient the bad news so that the patient will not get offended, sad, or lose hope. It is the craziest ethical choice in my opinion, however, this is truly how they feel about it. Even the patients think that they are doing them a favor. Again, I think it is crazy.

Tet and Back again

Hannah and I were both off work for about two weeks for the Annual Tet or New Year Holiday. We actually planned to go to the islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Somlom off the coast of Cambodia to get my Open Water Scuba Diving Certification. Though I was excited about it, I was a bit worried leaving our cats again after everything that had happened. We both decided it would be best to get out of Ho Chi Minh City, so, again, we left Cargo and Soba with our friend with five cats. 

On February 8th we returned to HCMC and picked up our cats from our friends' apartment. We found out from him that one of his cats, he was actually a disfigured little guy, had passed away during the Tet Holiday. It was really sad to hear that though because he really did care so much for that kitten. 

The same day we decided it was time to pick up the mother and the kittens from the vet finally...they had lived over a month at the Vet and judging by the way they acted, it really seemed like they were never given the chance to run around or go out of the cage at all...the mom, in particular, seemed to lack trust completely. We knew it would be a bit of a handful, but we hoped to give the babies a stable childhood and then give them away after they were 3 months old to some caring owner. Also, we planned on making sure their mom was with them. Our plan was to spay her right after she had weaned the babies off of her support. 

Soba's Struggle

I actually noticed right away that Soba wasn't acting quite right and also didn't seem to eat for an entire day. I let Dr. Nghia know on February 9th that she wasn't eating at all. Dr. Nghia quickly shoved the comment off saying it really wasn't a big deal, but that I needed to watch her. She started eating a little bit, but we just watched her get weaker and weaker. I finally convinced Dr. Nghia that it was a severe case on February 22nd. He decided to see her, took a blood test and prescribed some medicine for her. As Hannah and I observed her, it seemed like the medicine was doing nothing to help her and only really made things worse. We went back the next day to let him know, but he wasn't there. Instead his assistants (who first off have the worst interactions with animals out of any 'care taker' I have ever scene and second off cannot speak any English) were there and as he got the fact that the medicine was making a negative impact, he started to give her fluid treatment along with change her medication. I had to constantly demand what medication they were about to administer to her or why exactly they were doing the fluid test. I got nothing out of them except one of them pulled out a book, opened it to the page of the drugs that were used and what he changed them to. I had to take a picture of them and research, by myself what they were used for and try to rationalize why they switched in the first place. I had no idea what was going on with Soba and even though I asked Dr. Nghia to at least call me and let me know what was happening with her, he never answered. They still communicated enough with me for me to understand that I needed to go there every day. Hannah and I went to the vet every day from February 23rd to the 27th and even though it didn't seem like her condition got much worse, it didn't get any better. I was so frustrated because that entire time Dr. Nghia never contacted us to explain clearly what he thought was happening. On March 1st, Dr. Nghia was at the clinic, but was busy at the moment. He noticed us and without even saying anything, left the clinic out the back door. When we didn't see him for a little while we started to get impatient and asked if we could just talk with him for a little while and when we were informed that he had left, I became really upset. 

On March 2nd, Dr. Nghia's secretary sent me a text saying that Dr. Nghia was refusing to treat my kitten. At the time it seemed like it was because of our insistant nagging for Dr. Nghia to see our kitten and then our constant show of disgust on how the clinic was ran, but after talking with a native Vietnamese of Ho Chi Minh City, I'm convinced that the reason he refused to treat Soba was because he finally understood that she was 'too sick to save'. This is apparently a judgment that rather known about Dr. Nghia, that if it seems completely out of his hands, that he will only refuse to continue trying to treat an animal. If I think about it rationally and not selfishly, I could understand that he was extremely busy and when you have such little time, you must pick and choose where you put your efforts. However, this is not where my extreme lack of respect of him and his clinic comes in, it involves the fact that he did not, first off, tell me himself, he didn't explain to me why he is refusing treatment, he never explained clearly what he thinks is happening to Soba, what we could do to help, or realistically what sort of chance she had. I felt like we were constantly left in the dark, watching our kitten get weaker and weaker until she couldn't even stand up. I still believe, if he would have taken seriously my comment that Soba wasn't eating that it wouldn't have ever gotten as bad as it did. 

We didn't end up going to any other Clinics, because if you search Vet Clinics in Ho Chi Minh City you get no more than 3 different clinics, two of which have really negative results and one that is the Saigon Pet clinic. I was so sick of dealing with the lack of professionalism of the clinic and figured it was hopeless. Starting March 3rd Hannah and I did our best to take care of Soba as naturally as we could. We tried many different things: we started with coconut oil but this seemed to make her condition much worse. We consistently force fed her pate and water from a syringe. We also researched that Milk Thistle might help in what we thought she had. We diagnosed ourselves that she suffered from not eating for a period of time. Apparently, if a cat doesn't eat for three days straight, their body can't handle it and the liver starts processing sugars differently. Even if the cat decides to start eating again, it tends to be an irreversible effect that ends up intoxicating the blood system until the liver fails. We really tried our best and for a while it seemed like she was improving and doing better than when we were bringing her to Saigon Health Clinic. 

One time, as we were purchasing cat food from the Pet Center, we asked the owner what Vet she uses. She actually gave us the business card of a clinic we had never heard of called 'Trust Veterinary Clinic' which is in the Go Vap district. We figured we would check her out because we really liked the owner of the Pet Center and figured she would only trust good Vets with her pets. We visited the clinic for the first time on March 10th almost an exact month after I noticed Soba wasn't eating. Dr. Truc gave her vitamins right away and took a blood test. Dr. Truc is actually very calm and very good at handling cats. Soba had been a bit nervous and at her first touch, Soba calmed down dramatically. Dr. Truc sat and explained to me what she thought was happening and explained exactly what she planned to do in the future. It was such a 180 from the sort of treatment we got at the Saigon Pet Clinic. I know that Trust is just a small clinic in Go Vap with a small clientele, but that is actually what gives her the advantage. Dr. Truc has the time and environment to properly do her job and explain to you clearly what is happening. Not once did we ever see Dr. Nghia do all the normal check up procedures on our cats (checking ears, eyes, lungs, heart, nose and mouth) that seemed common-sensical  and she did this, the first time we met. Also, a large difference is that Dr. Nghia never really asked us questions about what was happening with our cats, and when he did it never seemed like he listened to our response. Dr. Truc not only listened to our responses, but also explained the basic steps of taking care of a cat that we had never known. If anyone is looking for a place to give their pet a normal check up, I would absolutely recommend Checking out the 'Trust Veterinary Clinic' on 159/2 Nguyen Kiem, Ward 3, District Go Vap. I believe they also have a website at tdog.com.vn 

Dr. Truc sat down on March 11th to explain to me that Soba had high Glycemine levels in her blood along with the high levels of other cells that show the liver is not functioning correctly. She set up a plan with us, but it was too little much to late.

On the night of March 11th, I woke up to Soba making a long howling noise as if she was in a lot of pain and helpless. I noticed that she had peed and so I brought her to the bathroom where I stayed with her and tried to encourage her to eat. She actually ate almost normally. However, she started to have regular seizures about every 45 minutes to an hour. I didn't know what to do....I stayed up with her until morning because it seemed to help when I would pet her and calm her down. I brought her to Dr. Truc's in the morning and Dr. Truc recommended that we leave Soba in her care. She let me know that Soba's case was much more serious than she anticipated and let me know that Soba would probably only have a couple days to live. We decided not to have her put down because she was under really good care with Dr. Truc. We visited on March 13th and basically said goodbye to Soba since she was now having seizures every couple of minutes. On March 14th Soba passed away.

I still think to this day, if Dr. Nghia would have done his job correctly, both Soba and Felix would be with us. I promise, for as long as I live, I will never go back to that clinic unless I'm visiting becasue I've found a way to close the clinic down. I do believe that Dr. Nghia cares about animals, in general. On the contrary, I feel I've seen enough to say that either the education that he had wasn't very good or somehow it is really slipping, maybe due to the lack of time he has. It seems he is pulled in a thousand directions at once. He's giving University lectures one day and then having a talk at another university to spread awareness of pet health and then yet another day, flying to an island to take care of some dogs (of which I'm sure the owner was willing to pay a good price for). In any case, his clinic is obviously not under his control anymore. 

This is one of the most tragic events I have experienced in my life because the solution to the problem should have been obvious to trained eyes, and if caught at that time, most probably would have been fixed. 

Cargo and the Family

Cargo has been through so much as a cat. His two closest friends passed away before he even really turned 1 year old. Another, which he had accepted into the clan quickly came and vanished. He was now left with 1 strange adult cat and 3 strange little kittens. 

Pearl Grey

Pearl Grey is what we named the mother. It stemmed from Hannah's comment about how she looked like a cat she used to have named Pearl. My knack for twisting words around and my love for tea birthed the name Pearl Grey.