Saturday, March 31, 2007

Megat's Place

You can't be too clean...

This is a much better picture of Megat's Place with him in it :) Its a very big carrier with room enough for two kitties. But if your kitty is extremely enthusiastic and prone to panicking, this may not be the best carrier as the netting can easily be destroyed by sharp feline teeth. Bujang has bitten through some of the mesh and I had to repair it with very strong green thread.

I have tried to look for another pet stroller but didn't find anything as attractive. I thought Megat would appreciate a walk. I have yet to put him in a harness but I think I will have to try soon. I think he might appreciate looking at the old neighbourhood without the danger :)

Toro's busy saturday

Toro decided to watch the world go by....

Hmm....what's that....

Fom Toro's point if view...

What's in this plastic?

So much stuff on the table..wow...

Toro was in his element this Saturday. He was Detective T all over again :)

When you are afraid you have to...

Get up the sofa so you can watch everything from higher ground!

Sit in grandma's lap. She will save you from everything!

Sleep in the red tunnel...

Okay..but if you are quiet, no one knows you are here..
.

Sit under grandma's dinner table...

No one ever sits here anyway but me...

In times of an emergency, the amigos know what to do :) There is no need to hold an emergency exercise in the amigo house for them :)

I was reading vegancat's communitycat blog yesterday and in one of the entries he had written about what to do in case of a fire. What is it that you have to bring out first?

When we experienced the tremor in Pasir Ris earlier in the month or was it last month, grandma was alone at home. When I came back from work she said the first thing she thought about was - How to get the amigos out of the flat? She did not think of anything else. :)

And so we discussed what she has to do in case something happens and how to put the amigos together in the green carrier and the blue one (for Ms Akira only). Then she has to put both carriers on the stroller and bring them all out that way. I think for this one, we would have to practise.

Now I only have to tell her where the envelopes for important docs are - yalah one of them would have to be the amigos' medical records :))

Kool Kat Totoro

I am kool...I am afraid of nuffing!

I face danger with my back...I ain't afraid of the black cat..no way...

Ain't afraid of Bujang... he is my bruffer...

Yup. Totoro is afraid of no cat...except maybe Ms Akira but she is a strange one! Toro is usually very relaxed and would sit about almost anywhere. I think after the first time he actually patted Megat on his rump, the little fear he had of Megat totally disappeared. :)

Hunting the hunter

Shhh...

Tread carefully...

Now's the time..I'll get'cha ...

The quarry... hiding under the table :)

Bujang is now quite game to play with Megat. This is all due to Megat's persistence in getting him to play with his mock attacks. Since Megat has never seriously tried to claw him and would stop mid-attack Bujang got more confident that there will be no real fight. Also Bujang knows that either grandma or me would take Megat away from the fray if Megat actually fights with him (we had done this consistently when these mock attacks or threats began months before).

So both of them know the routines and consequences. Added to this of course is Totoro's brave attempts to play with Megat. Toro accepted Megat quite readily as they had become friends so much earlier. Toro is veryone's friend really :)

Now Megat and Bujang play catch with each other and I do not have to separate them or go to someone's rescue. I must say all the boys have accepted each other's existence in the family. :) Phew!

Routines

Megat hanging out at the computer with me - his new routine...

After several pieces of Friskies treats...yum...

Sleeping the treats away...

Dreaming of what I wonder....

This is Megat's usual routine these days. He has taken over Ms Akira's place on my lap at the computer. These days Ms Akira spends much of her time under the covers or on my bed. Since my routine at the computer itself is rather erratic, the first amigo (either Megat or Ms Akira) who sees me gets on my lap and therefore gets to sit under the warm lamp. The one who comes later would have to give up the place :)

Megat has now also taken to jostlling for first place when I give out treats to the boys. Before he would sit back and wait to be invited but now he is just as eager to get first bite. But I usually give first bite to Bujang as I know he is very sensitive about these things. :) So it is usually Bujang, Toro and then Megat unless Megat jumps up to get the treat first then of course he gets it as a reward.

Megat has also learnt that the sofa would seat only 1 cat and 1 human at any time. If he gets the seat first, usually he would be the only one there as other kitties and even the human do not like to disturb his peace :)

Look alike II

Megat's face in close-up...

I was talking yesterday about how Moshe and Megat look alike. Then I came home and took a close-up picture of Megat Hitam aka Shaolin Megat. I still think there is a similarity except Megat's face has missing hair and he has white gaps spots near his nose. Grandma asked me if they were tear stains but they are not. there is no fur there at all just like there is no fur on parts of his nose. But he looks very much better now of course :)

Friday, March 30, 2007

Look-alike

Moshe...waiting for adoption at the Cat Welfare Society website...

When I saw Moshe I thought EH??? MEGAT! This is really what Megat would look like if he had lived a much healthier life and if he was younger. Now of course he is 10 years or more and so, his fur is speckled with white and his face ravaged by hardship. But Moshe reminds me of Megat almost immediately :)


My green carrier, my home

No one can get me here...

Are you looking at me?

I have been talking about Megat's green carrier and I finally have the pictures with him in it. This is the carrier I had bought for Bujang and it came with a set of wheels. It's actually part of a pet stroller. Megat likes it as he can hide himself at the back, well-covered by the green canvas as well as peep out at the world through the green netting :)
None of the other kitties go into this carrier anymore and it has become Megat's Place :) Sometimes he would not get out of it for the whole day until I come home from work. then he would promptly just sit on me and groom or take a nap. Now however, he has become quite brave and would sleep on the green sofa by himself.
I am very glad that he has settled in quite comfortably with the amigos. Of course Ms Akira still hates him, much more than she dislikes Totoro :) But then Ms Akira's first love is Bujang :)

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Calm after the storm

The boys up on their roost...

Close-up of Totoro dreaming...

Sunday finds the amigo household quiet and lazy. the boys and Ms Akira were all asleep in their safe places. These days Totoro and Bujang can share this roost without incident, each on his own space. Megat will either be sleeping on me as he considers me his personal roosting place :) or in his green carrier. Right now, he is asleep in his green carrier in the bedroom thank goodness.

So once again, all is right with the world :)

Oooo what's that noise?

Bujang sitting in the kitchen, safe from the monsters...

When I got home from the vet yesterday, the curtain people came to change the curtain rods. 4 men came into the house with noisy drills and loud voices. The amigos did not like it at all and all went under the beds to hide except Bujang. He was afraid for sure but he also wanted to see what was happening :)

He sat flat on the kitchen table and did not look at any of the men when they came into the kitchen to use the sink. He just stared at the living room where the centre of actvity was. It took about 30 minutes for the men to change all the rods in the rooms and then they cleaned up and left. I then changed all the curtains and kept the old ones away. The amigos did not make an apperance until 1 whole hour had passed. then they went about their business as though nothing had happened.

The only bad thing was Ms Akira was very affected by all the noise and she did not eat her dinner eventhough she was very hungry. She meowed in and out of the room and finally went to hide under the covers. I was very glad that she finally ate her night snack in her night cage later.

Megat's visit to the vet

Megat waiting for his blood test results calmly

Hmm...maybe this is not such a bad place....

Relaxing at home ...

Megat went to see Dr Su yesterday for a review. He sat in the waiting room for close to one hour as there was a back log. He was very calm and looked at the other patients quietly. I was very surprised as I thought he might not take the visit too well as he was not used to going to the vet. Dr Su was very pleased with his progress and told him he was looking very well. His coat has grown and he did not look as sick as before. She weighed him and he was a whopping 4.25 kg from 3.5 kg. She was pleased about that as she said if he was really sick, he may not have put on all that weight :)

His blood tests truend out very well indeed and all his numbers were normal. The last time he had his test, the numbers were off the scale! Only his BUN was 47.9 when it should be between 10-30. But the first time it was 59.0! His creatinine level was 1.30, well below 2.0 :)

I asked Dr Su if he should be vaccinated but she said she wanted to make sure that his blood tests remain positive and so I have to bring him for another review in 3 months. We are both very glad that we could manage his kidneys only with a change in diet, with the Renal 32 eventhough he would not eat it without his NB.

I asked Dr Su about the wisdom of giving him lingzhi mushroom and she was very enthusiastic about it. She said I was to get cracked lingzhi mushroom as it would be more potent. I could get them in capsules from the TCM Hall. He still has to take his ARCferon and his cod liver oil though but that is not a hardship :)

Megat took the whole thing very calmly and he even had a short nap while waiting for the test results. He really is a very good kitty :)

Sunday Thrills

Bujang laying ambush...

He started chattering his invitation...

The crows are having none of it...

Bujang trying a new technique...staring....

Maybe if I wink at them....

I took these pictures last Sunday 16th March. I had been feverish for the whole of that week and on Sunday, I thought I would bring him out since he had been very good at staying with me throughout my fever. Since I was still feverish, I thought I would bring him for a walk just downstairs. I didn't think he would walk but the worst that could happen was Bujang would just refuse to come out of his carrier and we would spend the time just sitting.

But I was wrong.

He got very excited when he saw some pigeons pecking at some pieces of bread thrown from one of the flats. He stalked them and chattered at them. I didn't stop him as I knew he would not be able to catch any of the birds. The crows made such a ruckus and the pigeons all flew up the trees. :) But I think Bujang had a good time even so.

Monday, March 12, 2007

At last - the park

Bujang looking at cyclists...who were looking at him...

Exploration into the unknown...

Sniff...who has been here?


Peek-a-boo...

Bujang had spent the last two days wailing in the house. His singing neraly drove grandma crazy. She told him to be quiet but I knew better. He was telling me very loudly that he wanted to get out of the house as he has not been to the park for two whole weeks. So we got dressed- him in his red jacket and me in jeans, and we went for a walk.

Bujang spent much of his time sniffing at palms instead of ixora. I guess it was more interesting to be between the long leaves. He sat about for some time before I told him we had to go to the grocery store to buy milk for grandma. At 6.30 he allowed himself to be bundled into the carrier without fuss :)

Spring cleaning


I spent much of Sunday cleaning up my study. The mess went into 4 large bags. The amigos especially Bujang tried to help me but he became embroiled with the amount of paper that I had to discard. Then he decided that watching me was much more entertaining and altogether less exhausting for him :) Finally after I had mopped and cleaned up the mess, Bujang decided to take a nap on the newly tidied table. I guess it was a compliment of sorts :)

Akira's sunday routine

Morning meditation...

Contemplating bougainvillea...

Two's a crowd Bujang...

Bujang waiting his turn...

Akira looks at ants while Bujang still waits on....

What are turtles?

This is Ms Akira's usual sunday routine once I open the windows to let the air in. She simply loves sitting at this cat tree where she can see the view unimpeded once the grills are out of the way. But she would not let Bujang sit with her and so I had to carry Bujang to the table just behind her. If Bujang gets the seat first, he would allow her to sit with him though :) Ms Akira knows she can make Bujang do anything she wants and he would give way to her in almost anything except food :) If he can get to her dinner, he would :)