# Cat with "issues" - please read!!!



## MissMel (Jan 8, 2010)

Hi all,

I have recently adopted a 4 year old pedigree Tonkinese.
What I know about her background:
She was a breeders cat. She has had quite a few litters. She was rescued by a lady in Devon. She was given a contraceptive, however, she still became pregnant. Only one of the litter survived due to one of the kittens getting stuck on the way out. She had to live in the shed as she was beaten up by the other cats.

We got her on Christmas Eve, and weve had her home and settled in the flat since 29th Jan. She is an indoor cat and (I assume) always has been. She is due to be spayed next Friday 29th. Both my boyfriend and I work 9-5 jobs so she is alone in the house most of the day. She was recently on heat for about a week, however, I think thats over now.

A little about us. I have come from a home where we always had a cat, if not two at times. My parents cat has had his fair share of problems, including a bout of 6 months worth of diahorroea all over the house! So Im well aware owning a cat isnt always easy. My boyfriend has also had cats in the past, but not with any major problems. He used to have rabbits and they were quite problematic. We wanted to get a cat as we both love them, and as a little companion and friend. We decided not to get a dog as we live in a flat, and we do not own the flat, we rent. Also, a cat seemed like the easier option, and you can leave a cat during the day.

The problems:
Wailing
Im not quite sure Id even use the word wailing. It sounds more like a scream. I understand from my research that Tonkinese are very vocal. However, I do think Annie takes the biscuit. She wanders round the corridor in the flat and starts meaowing. It feels like a come and pet me miaow. I could deal with this level of vocalisation. She progressively gets louder, and more angrier sounding until she starts to sound like an angry babys cry and you can hear her vocal chords straining. This feels like a Im angry because you are not paying me attention wail. This goes on, nearly constantly. We have had to confine her to the lounge at night because she would sit all through the night making this noise right outside the bedroom door. She still makes this noise all night, but we cant hear her as much in the lounge. We have tried ignoring her: she gets louder and more persistence. We have tried shouting at her or making sudden loud noises: she stops because she is startled, but then starts again a couple of minutes later. I am also concerned that we are teaching her the wrong thing (i.e. wailing gets you attention), or in the wrong way (i.e. she will associate me with being shouted at). At first I assumed the wailing was to do with being in an unfamiliar place, but shes been settled there now for almost 4 weeks. Next, I thought it might be due to her being on heat. Indeed, it did get worse during the week she was on heat, but it has carried on since then. Now I am left with the suggestion that it is purely attention-seeking behaviour.

Wool-eating
Again, Ive done quite a bit of research on this.
When we adopted her the lady who had her mentioned she had a bit of a problem with eating-wool. What an understatement! Sometimes I wonder if we have a domesticated cat or a velocoraptor! In the 4 weeks we have had her she has eaten: 2 scarves, a towel, 2 pairs of gloves (just the ends of the fingers), 2 pairs of socks, a jacket, a cardigan, a blanket, a gym bag handle, a pair of walking boots (fully chewed through the top), a pair of motorcycle boots (she had a pretty good go at them), a jumper. I think she starts my sucking the wool as when we find it it is soaked through with saliva. However, she must then start chewing. And Im not talking nibbling, Im talking wacking great holes through the fabric. Sometimes more than one. She started with wool so we tried to remove everything wool from her. Then she ate my walking boots so we tried moving shoes away from her. She also tried eating the Christmas tree when we had it. There have been times when I have her on my lap that she tries to eat the clothes I am wearing. At this point I told her off, but she still chews things. I have also noticed she seems to be concentrating on destroying things that are mine (Im female). Im not sure whether thats bad luck on my behalf, or if theres a meaning behind that. It also seems that during the day when were out and on the night she actually goes hunting for things to eat. She finds fabric in the most obscure places and eats it. Weve tried hiding blankets from her and she found them. I left my gloves on the coffee table and she found them. Its not that shes just stumbling across them and then eating them. She has a towel in the box in her cat tower, and she also has a blanket in her basket. She has had a chew on the towel, and now doesnt touch it. She has plenty of toys. She also eats them. She also has a cat tower as I mentioned above, with a box at the bottom and 2 levels with scratching posts in between. She has been known to pull jumpers from the washing horse, pull socks from the washing basket, and pull cloths from the radiator. We are not concerned about a bowel obstruction. The wool is quite visibly coming out the other end and she is doing her business VERY regularly.
Things we have tried:-
1)	Behaviour spray  a citronella spray that apparently cats dont like. I have sprayed this on things she has already tried to chew, and other things I thought she might chew. Although she hasnt chewed these things, she has simply found other things to chew instead. She obviously doesnt like the smell, but aside from spraying everything in the house with this spray, its not that effective.
2)	Removing fabric from her. This sounds easy. She eats wool so you remove all wool stuff from her. She then starts to eat other fabrics, so you try and remove them as well. Then she starts on boots, so you remove them. Then you forget about one pair of gloves and wham, theyre now fingerless. I am feeling that we shouldnt need to hide everything away and live in fear that the cat will destroy our possessions. I am also worried that once every item of clothing or blanket is removed from her she will start on the settee or the carpets.
3)	Startling her when we catch her. Its quite rare we catch her eating wool. We have tried startling her, but it obviously hasnt worked.
4)	As mentioned above she already has a towel, blanket and toys that she is allowed to chew.
5)	Diet. A spot of internet research suggested she might have a fibre deficiency in her diet. We bought her indoor cat food which is higher in fibre than other cat foods. She is also on dry biscuits only. This has not helped. I also bought and grew her cat grass. I think this is making her vomit more, but has not abated the wool problem.
I wondered about getting a wool sock or something and giving it to her, then when she starts to chew it, telling her off. This might work with dogs, but Im not sure if it would with cats?
This is one of the biggest problems: HELP HELP HELP!

Other problems, or incidents include spraying all over the house (I think this will stop when she has been spayed), and urinating on the duvet on the armchair. She used to sleep on this duvet all the time and not manage to eat it.


Yet more research suggested that she was lonely and needed a second cat for company. Obviously we never envisaged getting two cats, and seeing as the first has been such a nightmare we are reluctant to get another one. Would borrowing either my parents or my sisters cat for a week or two and seeing if anything changes help?

I worry that as she has never been a proper house pet before, and that she is already 4, that it is possibly too late. I dont want my life to revolve solely around the cat.

When she was at the vets the other week he seemed uninterested in sorting her psychological problems, and just interested in giving her a vaccine jab. He suggested getting a feliway diffuser. 

Ive heard mixed things about it. They work on some cats, and not on others. Theyre also quite pricey. How long do they last? 

As you can probably tell from this post, I am at my wits end and about 2 seconds away from giving up and sadly sending her to the rescue home. Im finding it quite difficult to bond with her as she is literally destroying our flat. I come home and get that feeling of dread as I open the door and assess what damage she has done during the day. I dont want to have to confine her to one room all the time unless were in and awake, but thats the way its heading.

Please, please, please, someone have some solutions for me!

MissMel


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

I can't help with all but 

a) don't borrow a cat - cat's quite often take a few weeks to accpet another cat in the house and it will be traumatic for both cats and then if your cat gets on with it, she will grieve when that cat returns hoem.

b) Feliway works (in our house) - 1 refill lasts around a month, left on 24 hours a day 7 days a week

c) tonks are 'known' to be quite hard work, maybe a permanent playmate? 

I can't help on the rest, sorry


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

definately try feliway to see if it calms her abit

when it comes to the other stuff you need to be quite harsh with her or she won't 'listen'.

when she does anything bad she needs a time out. No shouting, no smacking or startling her that is attention of a sort which if that is what she's craving won't matter to her what sort of attention.
when she does something you want to correct, pick her up and put her in a cat carrier, leave her in there for 5 mins. don't look in her direction, don't talk to her, completely ignore her. do this every time you catch her doing something you don't want her to. only do it IMMEDIATELY after she's done whatever it is or she won't know what shes in trouble for. take turns in doing this or she will take preference to one of you instead of correcting behaviour properly.

shouting and startling her won't do anything but make her scared or dislike you. you can also try a water squirter in the face or up the bum are the areas you want to aim for.. biggest impact, close up for the bum lol but further away for the face normal loose arm height to cats face is fine you want her to know your displeased, not scared of you. it's not as mean as it sounds it's only water.
check your cat doesn't like citrus first (stick fresh orange peel near her nose and keep it there see how she reacts, if she sniffs then moves away, she doesn't like it, if she sniffs and stays citrus spray won't work to stop her eating anything).

dont borrow another cat as this won't work. do get her another cat as a companion if you can afford it and have room and actually WANT another one, don't get the same species or a siamese (full or half as they are just as troublesome and noisy) try and get a male (already neutered) as she won't see him as competition like she would another female. try either getting a really laid back older cat or a laid back younger cat whos very playful and accommodating. do note that it is quite hard to know how cats will react to each other and someone elses laid back might not be the same as yours. ideally look for a rescue cat that is happy with children and other animals that way they have been acclimatised with many 'bad' experiences and a sulky cat will be easy for them to deal with. don't get a cat that has been previously abused as they need a calm household, the rescue if they are any good will know which cats they have are best to house with yours.

play with your cat as much as humanly possibly! the more you play with her the more she will settle in and become happy with being alone if you play with her as much as possible, get her a toy friend ifyou don't alreadyhave one for her (katnip kipper or similar) something she can snuggle up to.

if you have to leave her in one room all day, make it the biggest one you can where she can't decimate much if possible. 

the diet thing is unfortunately trial and error, but useless if you can't get her to stop eating wool and other undigestibles which will be upsetting her stomach. Try her on the blandest food you can get, the vets should be able to point you in the right direction, also keep her to one flavour (chicken if possible) as other meats can be too rich (oily/fat) and cause problems (our neeps can't have duck or fish as it upsets her tummy). keep treats as pure meat as possible, PAH have a range of dried meat treats. keep buying the kitty grass as it will help her enormously, and hopefully stop her deciding any other plants in the house are fair game.

remember she's only been there 4 weeks, it can take months for a cat to fully settle in with such a big change in circumstances. you need to be patient and gentle. lots of love and affection for good behaviour and ignored completely and locked away for bad things. cats are pretty intelligent so should quickly learn the best ways to get good attention.

the crying should stop to some degree, depending on the cats personality) once she's figured out what happens when, gets used to you and has acclimatised more. do remember this is a completely different way of life for her compared to what you described, it's upsetting and scary for her, the old addage you can't teach an old dog new tricks is complete clap trap and certainly doesn't apply to cats, they are adaptable animals. it can be frustrating and annoying but abit of perseverence, consistency and patience and she'll be a great cat.


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## MissMel (Jan 8, 2010)

Oh thankyou so much for your advice.

I like the idea of putting her in the cat carrier when she does something bad. Should we be doing that when she makes the god-awful noise for attention, or just if she tries and chews something. I suppose our only problem with that is she generally tends to do bad things when we're not there so we can't discipline her straight away.

I think after this one we're definately not ready to risk getting another horror cat.

Dried meats seems like a good treat. She loves meat.

She doesn't like cat nip, any way I can change that? I've bought powder, spray and catnip treats and she only eats the drops because they are 29% fat or something!

Do you think the vomiting is due to the cat grass? And if so, will she figure out how much to eat in order to not be sick? I can't imagine cats like being sick any more than humans do.

We do try and play with her as much as possible, but I guess we've gotten a bit slack on this in the past week. It's also quite difficult to find toys she likes or will play with. A hamster-looking wool thingy on elastic attached to a stick is her favourite and she goes mental when we play that with her. She also plays with her toy mice on her own. Any other toy suggestions? Catnip doesn't work. A ball of wool?!

She definately does not like the training spray. After she'd peed on the sofa I sprayed it on and she won't go up there at all anymore.

I know, I know, I need some more patience. I think I'm finding it especially frustrating as I want to give her lots of love and attention, and let her have free reign of the flat, and sleep on our bed and cuddle with us, but her behaviour and destruction means I just can't do that.

Will definately purchase some dried meat and a water squirter tonight!

Cheers!


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

dont' worry i know exactly how you feel, neeps has been a challenge for us too and neither her or bubs get on, they go through bouts of ignoring to full on fur-flying fights, then play swipe at each other through the kitchen door! stupid animals! 

the grass is a digestion help so even if it is making her sick it's a good thing as it's helping her clear out the undigestibles she's eating on the sly, so i'd leave her to it just now.

you might find that the chewing is her reactin to being lonely, dogs do it so don't see why cats wouldn't. i would wait until she is spayed and persevere with the cat carrier correctional facility (or CCCF for short lol) for a month after that. if there is no improvement, seriously think about getting her a companion. Rescues do expect some cats to never get on and will accept a cat back if it's not suitable so dont worry too much about that, just make sure the cat you pick is as suitable as possible before taking it home.

she may like catnip but not feel happy enough to react to it just now, once she's more acclimatised she will take more to it, although some cats aren't as susceptible to it as others most will enjoy it occasionally, we find prefilled catnip toys the best, the flatter and more scratchable the better (fozzy one side and hessian the other, for example the catnip kipper from PAH or similar).

the best toys we have EVER been given is called KONG
KONG Cat Wubba
both our cats love this toy, neeps especially loves kong.
neeps also likes pens 
bubs finds the rug next to the fish tank AMAZING and tries to kill it at every opportunity.
they also love watching cat-tv (the fish tank), and looking out the cat window (the cat flap). make sure your cat has access to a window to look out and watch the birdies. you can try laser toys also, try hanging up a plastic prism so that it throws light around the room when you aren't there (take it down when you are). anything that she can play with without you there should only be available when you aren't there, and other toys that need you to interact with them with are only out when you are there.. if that makes sense lol.
i would suggest feathers and string but as she eats stuff i wouldn't use these until that has stopped. we play 'worms' with our cats.. any bit of wool from my knitting or the ribbon hanger-holders you find in some ladies tops (i always cut them off hate the bloody things) being dragged across the floor is the most AMAZING thing to most cats and they can't resist killing the worm.

rescues can be a horror to begin with and it can take some long arduous tlc to get them to settle in a behave, but its really rewarding and worth the effort.

try not to give her any kitty milk for the moment (don't give her cow milk or other dairy products as they are lactose intolerant), if she has a dicky tummy then she might not react well to milk of any sort, and experimenting should be left until she isn't eating odd things anymore.

i wouldn't chastise her for crying. if you are up and she's making noise go see why, it's possible she's just playing and wants you to join in, or wants attention but wants it where she is now.. i know it's annoying but pandering to her a little means she won't shut up completely. having a vocal cat is soo muchfun! sometimes annoying but mostly fun... have a wail-off, copy her crys as best you can and see if she answers then try and copy that one! me and bubs used to play this game.. she always won as she made them more and more complicated!
while your acclimatising her think of her more like a dog.. you have to take a dog out to the garden to play ball.. so go to her to play wail-off, show your interested in what she is doing.

another thing we do with our cats, is when they're at the top of the stairs or looking out kitty-window is get face to face and start speaking to them, look out the window with them.. etc lol they think we're mad but we get payback as they then come and see what we're doing on our laptops or want to see what book we're reading etc.

you can also teach her some commands like NO and DOWN. neeps knows both of these.. NO chasing bubs, DOWN off the worktop.

so find her chewing something a louder than usual (but not shouting) "NO" sound angry *straight in the cccf* ignore for 5 mins and out.. and probably repeat lol
that way when you need to say NO for a lesser offence you can say it loudly but no sound angry, believe me if your cat is even remotely as bright as you are making it sound from it's behaviour it will quickly learn the difference in your tone of voice.

when she has been really really good, don't be afraid to let her into your room to snuggle with you, even if she then does something bad, the minute she does it straight in the CCCF! for 5 mins let her out again, try again, if it happens again the same night in the CCCf for 5 mins then barred from the room until she's had at least a few hours of being really good. 
The more positive things she does and gets REALLY good rewards for the quicker she will realise what you want from her and what brings her treats.


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## barbara2000 (Dec 18, 2009)

Hi, 
I agree with a lot of what Owieprone said.
I hope she will improve after spaying but do give her time for the hormone levels to decrease over the few weeks after the op. 
Tonkinese are known to need another cat's company and indeed another Tonkinese would be best. 
I ve got 2 cats at the moment and we are waiting for a Tonkinese kitten to join us. The little Bengal cat we got has had a few behavioural issues at first but now she is settling in nicely so be patient and consistent in your approach.

Good luck


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## MissMel (Jan 8, 2010)

Well... a bit of an update.

Annie went in for her op in Jan and we've seen a vast improvement (in some areas!) since then. The spraying and wailing have stopped completely. She is still VERY vocal, and although it can get quite annoying when you're trying to concentrate, it's nowhere near as bad. It's actually quite fun trying to mimic her, something my boyfriend and I do in unison - god knows what the neighbours think is going on!

However, all that said there are still some niggling issues...

The wool eating has not stopped. And over the past couple of months I've noticed a pattern - she is specifically choosing to chew my clothing. I'm not being paranoid here, even my boyfriend now agrees with me on this.

For example: the other day I had left my gym bag on the shoe rack in the hallway. She went in, got my netball skirt, brought it to the study where we were working, miaowed (A LOT) and then started eating it. We took it off her and put the gym bag in the cupboard out of the way. She snuck through the gap in the door, pulled out another item from my bag and did the same thing of bringing it to us, miaowing and then eating it. All this happened whilst there were plenty of fresh washing hung up for her to chew on (including socks which she really likes!), and yummy toy mice which she really rips apart.

I have two theories on this one:
1. She sees me as competition and destroys things with my smell on (gym bag items might smell very much like me)
2. She wants my approval so brings me "presents"

I am also concerned that she eats the wool out of spite and anger. She has often had incidents after being left for the weekend, being taken to the cattery for 4 days, and also from not being given enough food. Last night we wouldn't feed her anymore (see issue 2!) and she went upstairs, grabbed the washing sponge, brought it downstairs and started tearing it apart. Getting her the toy mice serves as a distraction most of the time, and she had these available last night but specifically went for the sponge.

Any advice on this issue would be appreciated.

Next...

She eats like a horse. Seriously. She's 2.75g (if I remember correctly) and we're giving her 60-75g of dry food per day, and putting it down in 3-4 portions (once at 6.30am, again at 8am, again at about 5.30pm and once more before bed). We're feeding her Go Kat Indoor dry cat food. She is whining all the time for more food, even when we give her extra portions. I daresay some days she has 2-3 times more than the recommended amount. She is also drinking a LOT of water, and getting quite chubby just around her tummy and nowhere else. She does an incredible amount of poo, and it's also really really stinky if that has anything to do with it! My boyfriend is a GP and was concerned she might have worms, despite the fact we wormed her about a month ago. We've given her another tablet tonight.
*Am I feeding her the right amount, or the right type of food?*

Finally...

We have decided to get another cat to accompany Annie during the day whilst we are at work. We decided we had enough tonk for one household (and weren't willing to pay for an expensive cat when there's thousands needing homes), so we're getting a female, all black cat who is of roughly the same age. She has a lovely temperament, nice and calm, and I think if they can get on, they will be good partners.

We are also moving house this weekend (it's all go in our house), so Annie will have to cope with a new environment, as well as a new cat in the space of a few weeks.* Does anyone have any tips on introducing new cats?*

Tigger (our new cat) has lived happily with cats before. Annie, on the other hand, has lived with cats before but was often "bullied" (or so her previous owner tells us - I find it hard to believe given her nature!) by the other cats. The rescue home where we are getting Tigger suggested giving them each a room for the first week or two. Then pick up Annie in a blanket and get her scent on it, and take it to Tigger and vice versa. Eventually you can introduce the two and take it from there.

Right, I think that's me for now. Advice much appreciated!

Thanks!


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## MissMel (Jan 8, 2010)

Oh, couple more things...

1. We got some Feliway. I can't say I noticed a massive change and now we don't need it.
2. We tried putting her in the cat carrier when she was naughty. She was very repentent immediately afterwards, but soon did naughty things again. I must admit, we weren't very persistent with this one.
3. I tried training spray (smells like citronella) and she didn't chew things that I'd sprayed, however, she'd just chew something else I hadn't sprayed instead!
4. She really enjoys being played with, but she seems to have gotten a bit bored with the toys that involve us playing with her now. However, as I said before she really loves her moosies (aka toy mice), and she quite happily chases them around by herself. She also loves the bauble on a string I got her and she chases that all over the place.
5. Kitty grass I grew. She didn't really know what to do with it and the one time she did actually work out she had to eat it she vommed green vomit all over my cream carpet. She hasn't quite learnt the trick of standing still and being sick in one place, so instead she moved away and vommed in 3 different spots! lol
6. I haven't noticed her chewing on plants recently, but I moved the spider plant out of her reach.
7. She really liked her KONG toy, although there isn't much left of it now. She bit off the head and has chewed half the legs off. She bites so hard when she chews on her toys she breaks up the plastic rattle ball.

That's all!


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## ChinaBlue (Feb 3, 2008)

I will be honest and say that I wouldn't have brought a new cat into the equation just now - you could end up going back to square one bearing in mind she had the most horrendous time before you got her and she was being bullied and moving will probably be quite stressful for her. You have done so much and brought her a long way - can you put off bringing in the new cat until several weeks after the move - give her a chance to get to grips with the new home?

Try putting some of her food in a treat ball - that way she will have to work at it to get it out and it will keep her occupied. I would feed her a premium food like Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange rather than Go Cat.
There is a new food just out called Craze Balance which is all natural ingredients - no fillers I think. Craze Balance Chicken & Rice Complete Dry Cat Food (3 Sizes) - £3.99 : Pinky Pawz - Simply ... the cats whiskers!, Pinky Pawz - Simply ... the cats whiskers!

Would definitely invest in at least 2 or 3 Feliway diffuser plug ins for the new house.

Good luck and keep us updated. A photo of your baby would be nice!


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## MissMel (Jan 8, 2010)

Unfortunately we've already agreed to "rescue" the new cat. But we have spoken to the lady at the Blue Cross and we're going to take it as it goes and if it gets too stressful for one or both of them we won't continue with the adoption. At least because it will be a new house she won't have already marked her territory.

I got her a play ball to put treats in and she won't play with it! She just waits until it accidently gets kicked and some treats fall out and then she gobbles them up. I even tried warming up meaty treats and putting them in it for her and it didn't seem to make a difference.

She has this really bizarre habit of eating cat or dog chews whole. She doesn't even chomp on it, she just swallows it whole!

I was trying not to have to buy the expensive cat food, but maybe we could try upgrading her a bit and seeing if it helps. I'd been trying to look for one that is high in fibre (to help with the wool eating), and also has all the "indoor" qualities - i.e. doesn't make her fat and makes her poo smell less!


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## MissMel (Jan 8, 2010)

Oh, and my avatar picture thingy is the lady in question.


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## ChinaBlue (Feb 3, 2008)

MissMel said:


> Unfortunately we've already agreed to "rescue" the new cat. But we have spoken to the lady at the Blue Cross and we're going to take it as it goes and if it gets too stressful for one or both of them we won't continue with the adoption. At least because it will be a new house she won't have already marked her territory.
> 
> I got her a play ball to put treats in and she won't play with it! She just waits until it accidently gets kicked and some treats fall out and then she gobbles them up. I even tried warming up meaty treats and putting them in it for her and it didn't seem to make a difference.
> 
> ...


I would imagine she had to compete with all the other cats for her food with her previous owners hence her addiction to it now! Try a better quality food - hopefully it may satisfy her better. You could try hiding her food around the house so she has to hunt for it!


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## Baby British (Jan 24, 2010)

She really is such a beautiful cat. What a shame she has had such a bad start in life


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