I was merrily taking photos of Mogli through our bedroom window the other morning, while he was enjoying the sunshine. Meanwhile, he was aware that we were being watched from over the fence. All of a sudden Momo darted up over the roof, so curious, I went outside to see where he went to and why he had gotten the wind up his tail. Low and behold I found the culprit, just casually staring over the fence, like a real stalker! I did think he was super cute though.

On Friday, April 25th at roughly 8:30am, my fur-muse came crawling in the window in obvious pain, his breathing gurgled. His whole body was dry except for his back legs and he had this strange fluid coming out of his nose. Instant neurotic mother mode kicked in and I started to panic! Thankfully my human was still home, about to leave for work. I calmed enough to call the vet and asked if we could bring in my cat ASAP, it was an emergency! Then I put Mo straight into the traveling box and we rushed over to the vet. Thank goodness my human is calm and reassuring, because I was an absolute ball of mess with worry! The kind nurse at the took him and put him into an oxygen tank, so he could try breathe a little easier, until the vet could see him. The vet did an examination of him while we waiting in the waiting room and then called us in.

With not knowing what Mo was doing or where he was when what ever happened, the vet could only speculate, but wanted to do an x-ray and blood test to try rule things out. So we left Mo in the vets capable hands and waited to hear from the vet. Chilli phoned the vet for me, because I would've been a blubbering idiot. Mo needed to stay for the weekend on a drip of anti-biotics and pain relief, his x-rays showed no broken bones or collapsed lungs, but they still couldn't ascertain what was wrong. They did know he had loads of mucus coming out and his chest area was bruised and sore.

I was allowed to visit him on the Saturday afternoon, and it broke my heart to see him look all groggy on pain medication, with the drip in his leg and a cone-collar on so he didn't pull it out. He was doing a bit better with his breathing, but hadn't eaten anything. So I left with a heavy heart, hoping he'd be well enough to come home the next day... Which thankfully he was. I got to take home my patchy kitty! (they had shaved him on his neck for the blood test, one front leg for injections, one front leg for his drip and a spot on the base of his tail for his pain patch). He was sent home with 10 days anti-biotics and pain medication, as well as something to help with the mucus stuff still coming out his nose. He had another check-up I had to take him to on Monday...but Sunday night I pretty much stayed awake worrying that something would happen during the night and I would be helpless to help my furball. So on the Monday they kept him after his check-up, more as a precaution because he hadn't eaten. But we got the go ahead to bring him home, once he had eaten a whole tin of what they call pate for cats.

Slowly but surely he has been getting better every day, he had a lot of sneezes, coughs and snot balls come out. He wasn't allowed out (mostly because of his neurotic mother) until his meds were complete and I felt he was strong enough to be able to defend himself again...which I'm sure the process was sped up by Bennie tormenting him all the time. He's back to being out in the sunshine and watching for birds, but is in every night curled sleeping on the pillow right next to my head...his mothers child!

P.S. A BIG thank you to my human for your patience, calm and support with Momo, how would I have held it together without you!

I have one of the best subjects and models! The flowers started to bloom and Mogli started to pose. I love photographing him and seeing him through different angles and perspectives. He's a natural, needing little instruction or coaxing... He is such a poser! But I am thankful, because he encourages me to try new things and see things differently each time. My amazing fur-child, secret teacher and avid bird watcher.

Another post about my infamous travelling cat. He flew in a plane to a new world, and watching him explore his new land and territory has been inspiring.

I was so nervous, cautious and hesitant about him coming here, afraid that I'd finally gotten him here and he would lose his was, or just find more love in another home and run away...such a paranoid cat mommy.

But he's a wonder to watch while he's exploring, not afraid of anything. Back home in SA, he never had other cats around, he never encountered other cats. He had three Jack Russell's that respected him and a Staffie cross Daxie that loved to play with him and run circles around him! So the end result being, he has no idea what other cats are, and I assume Momo thinks they are strange looking dogs.

There is a resident cat that has been here for a while, Stompie. She has a short tail and little voice. Momo is trying in vein to be friends with her, but she just hisses at him and he stares at her and can't understand, so swishes off to carry on doing what ever he was doing. We also have a stray, squint Siamese with a deep meow that comes waltzing through the garden, whom Momo follows around when he's here...it's more like a fascinated stalking, and I'm sure Mogli is just trying to understand what this cat is yowling out.

Just as a mother documents the stages of their child's life, I try to capture the life story of my fur-baby. The images are from some of his first wanderings in his new space and into the garden. And yes, he also wears moustaches on his attire!