Our little ginger furball, our little pocket torpedo

Yuan Yuan

November 2004 to 10 October 2019

14 years & 11 months old

We read stories about people who had been inseparable all their lives and when one party dies, the surviving one gets so heartbroken he/she will also soon move on.

We never thought this would happen to us.

Our Yuan Yuan moved on last week, 8 months after her beloved adopted mummy, Xin Xin, left us.

Yuan Yuan had always been a cat-cat, only close to Xin Xin. Ever since we picked her off the street as a 3- month old kitten, she had stuck close to Xin Xin, following her mummy around whenever she can.

Xin Xin never showed much maternal actions towards Yuan Yuan but deep down, we think she really cared for her adopted daughter. Whenever Yuan Yuan hollered during her bath time, Xin Xin would be pacing and meowing outside the bathroom to make sure Yuan Yuan is okay.

Since Xin Xin left us, Yuan Yuan could not find a new emotional support to lean on. She left heartbroken and depressed, her tiny body further wrecked by failing kidneys.

Our little pocket torpedo

Yuan Yuan was our little pocket torpedo. She had never liked to be held or cuddled and would find the earliest opportunity to struggle out from our embrace.

Just 3 weeks earlier, she would still meow out loud her protests when we grab her for her daily sub-cut. If she find that we were taking too long with the sub-cut, she would burst away from our grasps violently, sometimes taking the whole drip along with her. Sometimes, she might even turn back and give us a little hiss, telling us how much she disliked it.

Yuan Yuan was the only one in the household who would never come voluntarily to us for a scratch or a pet. We always had to approach her, sitting silently beside her and gently touching her. She would tolerate it for a minute or two before she walked away.

No matter what, we had always loved her, an important member of our family.

Catching the breeze

Yuan Yuan liked the outdoors. Below the row of plants, she would rest in the balcony where she would catch the breeze. This was her sanctuary where she would rest, sleep and lounge.

When she was younger, she would seek the rays of sunlight which shone on parts of the balcony, sometimes moving together with the rays as the sun raced across the sky. She would roll on her back happily, sleeping with her belly exposed.

Whenever she could, she would spend her whole day there, coming in only when the sun set.

Xin Xin, her adopted mummy

When we found Yuan Yuan as a 3-month old, she was alone in a Simei estate void deck. We walked past a small drain and she was hiding in there. We would not have noticed her if she had not hissed at us for allegedly encroaching into her space.

Over the next few days, we would seek her out as often as we could. She was always alone though there were several other older community cats living in the same void deck. But she was a loner and would never come to us like other kittens.

Her playmate was this domesticated young male cat from a household in the same block. We remembered her play-chasing after him, sprinting across grass patches. As she hurdled over the shrubs, her 4 short legs would spread wide open like a flying squirrel.

Her antics, cute face and short kinked tail won us over and we took her home one of those nights.

We named her 圆圆 to pay homage to her rotund figure.

For some magical reasons, she latched onto Xin Xin as her adopted mummy even though Xin Xin never paid her much attention. She would follow her mummy around the house, sometimes trying to get her attention by meowing loudly. If she was lucky, Xin Xin might groom her a little and I think Yuan Yuan must have been so happy with that.

It was very much a one-sided love affair most of the time. And it had a devastating impact on Yuan Yuan after Xin Xin left us unexpectedly earlier this year. She became moodier and spent more time alone. She tried seeking another mummy figure in Kim Kim, calling out to her whenever she walked past but Kim Kim is old and did not respond.

Her last stretch

We detected she had diabetes mid 2017 and chronic renal failure mid 2018. We managed to sustain her condition for many months with daily insulin injections and sub-cut. She continued to be fairly active with a healthy appetite till she started to deteriorate quickly beginning of Oct.

We decided that she should not suffer anymore and with a heavy heart, we let her go.

Goodbye our little pocket torpedo. We hope that you had a good life with us though we had never asked if you would like to be part of our household. We are glad you had Xin Xin as your mummy.

Go find Xin Xin and Bon Bon at the Rainbow Bridge. You had brought us so many happy moments. When we look at the balcony, we will forever find you there. You will always be in our hearts.