Araminta - Minty's Garden

Why did I name the Dw33b Collection "Araminta- Minty's Garden"?

Araminata is Greek for the word "Defender" and it is the name of my cat.You might wonder why I named it after a cat. Well, this collection is like her : bright, colorful, sweet, fun and elegant without going too overboard.
I like the seemingly simple design which is complex plus she like any cat enjoy playing with the occasional bug (Making the humans flee in a state of panic), get distracted by the sound of bells and circle shapes items that appear foreign
(I included these components in the jewelry).
The collection is so much like her. I make this collection in memory of her as she recently passed away. I really miss her and wanted to honor her in my own way.
This is for you Minty...I shall always remember you.

Who is Araminta a.k.a Minty?

This collection was inspired by one of my cats that has recently passed on. The original name was suppose to be a Bug-full Garden but the way events transpired.... I changed the name of the collection and created other items.
Her name was Araminta a.k.a Minty and I truly did adore her.

I usually called her Minty as Araminta is quite a mouthful.

She usually responded to both with a "Yes, May I help you?" look

Araminta's name was a result of flipping through book and it caught my eye hence the name. Her name Araminta is Greek for defender (yes I am repeating myself). She was a bi-color mackerel tabby and was a result of an 'accidental' pregnancy'.

Her father is a cat who I found in my house compound when he was a tiny kitten. He had terrible scabs on his ears or lack for a better word kurap on his ears which eventually went away after applying medicine. He is also a bi-color mackerel tabby and is a domestic short hair (DSH) who I named Aldous (I was re-reading a 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley during that time I found him, so the name stuck) .

Minty's mother is the descendant of the Chinchilla breed as well as a domestic long hair (DLH) owned by older sister.

This is Aldous

(Not really a flattering photo as he was busy sniffing catnip at the time I took the photo)

By the time my sister's $500 cat was pregnant and finally gave birth to 5 extremely cute kittens...it was pretty obvious my cat was the father. I was seriously in trouble during that period as 4 out of the 5 kitty litter were Aldous certified kittens. How could she tell? Well, the 4 of them were DSH and bi-color. It took awhile for my sister to get over that fact, then I got Minty as a gift. She was pretty well behaved as a kitten and spoiled rotten by her mother. She was friendly and got along with the majority of the cats around her.
She was a pretty cute kitten and had no problem with me taking photos of her.

Minty's condition

Then one day she got sick with a high fever and when I brought her to a private cat clinic... they told me it was ear mites. They applied that problem to another cat who I brought along who was quite sick as well. I will be honest I was skeptical. I have seen enough cats getting sick and knew it could be worse then that. I accepted it anyway since I was not a professional. It still bugged me in the back of my mind I kept on asking :
How could ear mites be the cause of her sickness?

Two days after her getting worse and the death of a dear kitten which I brought to that cat clinic..I decided to phone this private clinic and ask them what could be the problem.

The person who answered the phone kept on asking so many times about whether Minty was vaccinated (she was already vaccinated twice!) and after many minutes it felt like I was the one patiently explaining instead about the issue at hand. I felt like they were trying to place on the blame on me but then again I was not in a good state of mind.
In the end, I never got a proper answer from this person... in a way i felt being treated like an idiot.
Then I brought her again to that clinic and they told me something which made me shed tears.... the doctor had absolutely NO IDEA what was causing the sickness and he could do nothing for her. He told me she might have blood in her lungs. All he told me was to bring her again the next day and hopefully her high temperature would go down.In his words "They could only treat what they can see"

I felt so powerless on that Thursday last week looking at Minty in the cat carrier and she looked back at me with pain in her eyes. On that same day of that diagnosis which brought me to tears, My older sister then suggested I go to another cat clinic and
I rushed there with the help of one of my other sister who lost that dear kitten-as a result of the unknown illness-.
I called this clinic before they closed. When I reached there a few minutes away from closing time, the doctor there told me what the problem was.... Minty's kidneys were infected hence inflammed. He explained to me that she was in a serious condition and her odds were not looking good. I still took that gamble anyway to help her by buying medicine. He told me to come back three days later and when I did her temperature actually went down. The doctor was now worried about her drop in temperature and suggested I put hot water containers on her sides to keep her warm. The doctor told me her odds were still not looking good . Sadly she did not survive the day and Minty passed away on 8 May around 6:30pm. She was just six months old... It has not been so long ago and I still am sad thinking of her. However, I knew I tried my best to not wallow in my grief and call me dramatic if you want but her pills are still in my room and I do not have the heart to throw them away.

How to check on your cat's health?

If you own a cat and it is behaving differently from its normal behavior such as not eating, sleeping way more than normal and hiding from you.

It is an indication that they might not be feeling well.

The next thing you can to is bring your cat to the cat clinic as soon as possible to get a checkup for the kitty in question.

I brought my cat to the Pet Link Clinic that is located in Kiulap, Brunei where the doctor diagnose Minty's inflammed kidney. I thank the Doctor there --Dr. Wallace-- for being helpful and being honest regarding Minty's health. *One of sister's friend cat had similar symptoms to Minty's condition and he diagnose correctly in time to save that cat's life*

From now on I am going there if any of my cats are feeling unwell.

With that I end this post learning to live more in the moment, treasuring what little time we have and the word written by
Lori Deschene of Tiny Buddha resonating in my head

"Pain is inevitable and suffering is optional."