Sunday, April 07, 2013

The Kitten....



We love cat. Since we start a family way back in the early sixties of the twentieth century we always had cats running around in the house. It was always sort of a family member that brings cheer to the kids and a good therapy for us. In those days we just fed the cats with food that we ate and it would do it things outside the house so there was no real budget when keeping cat at that time except the occasionally Veterinary service. Everywhere we went and live we always have cat. At time we kept more than one cats and it always bring happiness to the family. Even when working in Sarawak we had two cats. It was a stray that we pick up. When I got transferred back to the mainland state of Pahang we decided to bring along the two Sarawak's cats. To take it along we had to get documents since it is illegal to take animals and plants from the Borneo state to Peninsular Malaysia. We took the then Ferry Malaysia to go back to the mainland. The journey to Kuantan in Peninsular Malaysia start from Kuching, Sarawak; with stops at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and the port of Singapore before proceeding to Kuantan. On the way to Singapore we ran short of sands for the litter box and had to rush to the city of Singapore to get it. We got it and managed to catch the ship just hours before it left for Kuantan. We arrived in Kuantan and took the two cats in our car to a cousin's house at Batu Hitam. It was indeed a historic journey for us where we brought along our cats all the way from Kuching, Sarawak to Kuantan, Pahang. For the first few months we stayed at our cousin's house in Batu Hitam where the cat spends their first few months in Peninsular Malaysia. Later on we rented a house at Alor Akar and live there until I decided to retired from the Government service. While living at that house in Kuantan where there was a large compound and jungle nearby both the cat die mysteriously one by one, probably cause by the stings by insects or beaten by poisonous creature. We did not know what really happened.  It was a really a sad occasion for me. Actually I cried when both the cat died; sad indeed. A neighbour gives us a little mixed Persian kitten. It soon became the charm of the family. When we move back to Kuala Lumpur in 1990 after I retired optionally from the government service we took the cat along. It adept very well to our own home in Ampang Jaya and its surrounding. We call it Tina and as we move on over the years she too grow old and died after two week when we left to live in the United State in 1998. From that henceforth we decided no more cats for us but cats have always been in our heart. 

Some months ago a stray kitten with collar attached to her neck came around and because it was raining we took it into the house and give it shelter. She was so charming and adorable. We thought that it belongs to someone who love cat so we start looking for its owner through Facebook, asking around and even put posters of it on lamp-pole around the neighbourhood. After weeks without any respond we decided to just keep it for a while. We did fell in love with that kitten but as yet to decide whether to keep her or not. As time goes by we heard of a young couple, a friend of our daughter Lin was looking for a kitten for their two kids. So we decided to part with it. We were actually sad to let it go but then we found it was happy to be in a new home with kids around. So we are now had gone back to square one without a cat in the house. But lives go on as usual. There are two cats in our daughter Lin house nearby so whenever we go there we would play with the cats. 

Just before her mom's birthday our eldest daughter calls and told me that she wanted to get her mom a kitten as a birthday gift. I told her that it was OK but remind her that it would not be easy of taking care of cat. There is the daily chore to be done, the food to be bought and the litter bin had to be clean and of course the expenses of the Veterinary services. The next day she took her mom out and came back with a little Persian kitten as seem in the image above. So folks here we are with this addition to the family. We named the adorable kitten as Mei Mei. With this kitten it looks like we have gone full circle. Now we have a cat in the family. Well folks, life is like that. 

 Have a nice day.

2 comments:

Temuk said...

It's nice to be able to keep pets in the house. They can be a source of inspiration and happiness too. I used to keep cats some years ago. Unfortunately I can't keep this beautiful animal anymore now because of allergy problem. Have a nice day, Pak Idrus.

Pak Idrus said...

Temuk, thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.

Well we decided after the last cat died that we would no longer keep cat but what can we say when Nenek want to have cat again. Ikut je lah and enjoy.

Have a nice day.