Cat Tree #2

My second try at building the cat tree...

This was what I had done to the cat tree this evening. I think any cat worth his/her salt would know it would be dangerous to lean in the wrong way. We will see what will happen. I still have to get the two planks but it might be difficult as the workshop is already packed and in the new premises. Aiyah...

If this fails, I would just have to remove the bed and nails and Bujang would have his fav cat tree back at the window. Megat can have the cat bed as Bujang's snugs are coming apart at the seams from wear and tear and laundry. Since Megat likes the snugs, I am sure he would take to this cat bed just as easily.

If you can't buy 'em....

You try to build 'em with some stuff...

What the station looks like now...

Ms Akira taking a look...

Toro's verdict - the sink is waay better man!

I have been trying to get the amigo a bigger seating space on a cat tree but the going is really tough. I don't think its wise to buy cat trees online as the shipping cost itself would cost more than the cat tree although I had seen seating of 24 inches in diameter.

My friend gave me the idea of building my own cat seat out of a bed and I had nailed this bed to Bujang's existing cat tree. I then placed the fleece mat in it and placed the cat blanket for good measure. The amigos looked at it suspiciously. Yesterday grandma told me that Bujang slept in it and this afternoon she found the blanket on the floor. We think Bujang was too comfortable and fell off as there was really nothing to arrest his fall. :(

I have to get two planks and nail them to the sides of the flat board so it would give him some leeway to stretch. I hope the experience did not put him off as I really have tried to get him something bigger to no avail.

Where do I sleep?

http://www.millan.net/anims/giffar/giffar2/scratzer.html

Megat has been trying to get out of the pethouse for some days. I had blogged about Megat's housing problem some days ago.

1. He feels that he does not need a formal sleeping area for himself BUT
2. I feel that he needs one so that every cat knows where his own sleeping quarters is.
3. He feels that he should be able to get out of his sleeping quarters any time he chooses BUT
4. I feel that THIS would put The Boys in danger of having to find alternative sleeping places. This is not a good idea as I have been trying to get into Bujang's good books. Depriving Bujang of his favourite sleeping quarters is NOT the way to go.
5. He feels that if he asks me loudly to let him out, I should BUT
6. I feel that if a kitty wants to get out at 3 am and I let him, I must be outta my mind.
7. He feels that if he wants to, he could shred his sleeping quarters or at least the door flap to bits as this would allow him to escape BUT
8. I feel that as a sane person, I should be able to come up with something else so I can get some restful sleep and not have a 4.5 kg cat walk all over my face in the early hours of the morning.

So I got him one of those dog kennels with a green roof and red door. Megat slept in it without incident for one night. I was so pleased that it went okay so the next night, I put him to bed and opened the room door (he is now sleeping in a different room). The next morning, grandma woke me up and asked me where he was! ARGHHH! Megat has struck again. He managed to escape from the kennel and he had figured out how to unlatch the door. So once a cat knows how to unlatch the door, it makes little sense to put him in the kennel again. Once an escape artist, always an escape artist.

So today, I went to PL and bought a new cage for Ms Akira as she has outgrown the MARUKAN. I am putting Megat in the MARUKAN and there is no way in #@$% that he can get out of THAT by himself. I am returning Bujang his pethouse so he can have restful naps in it in the afternoons and I am giving the kennel away to my cousin for his 2 cats. No one else likes the kennel. Maybe they know its for dogs :)

The new cage will be here on Wednesday so for now he would still have to sleep in the pethouse in my sister's room. I have reinforced the doorflap with masking tape (yeah I am THAT desperate). I think since my sister would not be in Singapore for some months yet, Megat can squat in there and it makes me happy as he does not yell when he is in that room. I guess he knows it would make little difference as I am not in there with him :)

I hope this would finally solve the sleeping arrangements in the amigo house :)

Postscript:

Grandma just told me she thinks Ms Akira would be much happier in the MARUKAN cos it has 2 tiers where she can hop on to when she feels like it. I guess I can try to reorganise her night snack so she would have more space to laze about at the bottom of the cage. :) I guess Megat would have to be contented with the new cage - no tiers but with lots of room for him to laze about.

CATWARS

The gangsta moll...

The Superhero...

The victim..in an appropriate pose...

The long suffering relative..."when will this end?"

Hotbed of Chaos in PR

At 2210 hrs, on 27th October, Saturday, 3 siblings in PR were found entangled in a hotbed of chaos.

Ms Akira, the sometime gangsta moll was found hiding under the table after being reprimanded by Big Boy Totoro. "She waz bein unreasonable you know...what was she thinkin? Biting san like dat?" Big Boy Totoro huffed and puffed. "We was just sittin when she screamed blue-murder...WOORRRWWRRR!" Big Boy Totoro bared his gleaming white teeth, showing his strong canines, trying to imitate Ms Akira. " I had to nip her to remind her that san was just trying to stop her from doin somethin rash...you know...like reckless. We are not badly behaved and will never bite the hand that feeds us...umm..."

It transpired that Ms Akira was trying to tell Megat, the newest addition to this hot-headed family of 4, off. Megat was found abandoned in the cavenous dungeon in the vicinity, small and shivering with his fur bald in patches and fur mites crawling through it. san, a sometime cat woman :) found him and had been taking care of him for about 14 months. "I thought it best that we take care of the poor guy. After all, he is 10+ years with just one canine and a few teeth left. His eyes have the hint of the beginnings of a cataract and he will be the victim of kidney disease if nothing is done," san the cat caregiver said. She added that Ms Akira did not like the looks of Megat from the very beginning and was wondering if it was just revenge for the time Megat had spent harassing Ms Akira when he first came to the house 10 months ago.

She managed to separate Megat from the rest of the gang and put him in the bedroom to cool off. Then the rest of the Cat family were told to rest and reflect on their behaviour. After 30 minutes, when everything was calm, san gave them a light snack and put them to bed.

When interviewed, Bujang, the veteran of CATWARS replied that he was not surprised. "Youngsters today have no respect!" he hissed. "I do not know what the world is coming to." He then closed his eyes and took a nap.

san had to rest her hand but she reported that the skin was not broken although she can still feel a little dull ache. "But its nothing," she said "I am just glad the cats are all right today."

Sleepy Saturday

I'm still hanging on....

Boys just lounging about...

Toro loves the breeze with a little rain in it...

This morning, it threatened thunder and then it drizzled. The boys were hanging out at the cat gym, each minding his own business. I am quite surprised the basket is not falling apart and Bujang can still sit in it comfortably. Toro likes sitting near the window as he likes the soft breeze blowing his against his fur :)

All clear

All quiet on the homefront...

Tuesday finds the amigos all rested and quite relaxed - everyone is in their own personal space. We had a short burst of Da Bird with everyone playing. I had to close the bedroom door so Megat does not get to monopolise the whole game. The 3 kitties took turns at the zig-zag runs and flying leaps. Even Bujang deigned to take a few bats at Da Bird when it flew past him.

Then I had a solo game with Megat. Bujang came in the bedroom and played the game with him until Megat became too rough for Bujang to tolerate. Toro just sat by and watched. But it all ended quite nicely as after that everyone just went to their own spaces for some private time. Toro did not pull out any more of his tail fur, much to my relief. He is at present asleep on his own blue chair.

I try as much as I can to make sure there are enough private corners for everyone to find private time as I have yet to figure out how to get an overhead catwalk done or even figure out the vertical spaces for them.

Yes, I want to be on film....

Here Toro was trying to tell grandma that The Seven Samurai is not as interesting as he is. He also offered to arrange the tapes for us but we told him he should just go rest and relax. He did as he was told...like all cats would :)

Stop that Totoro!

In easy times...

Toro dreaming up of his next bout of shenanigans...

It finally happened.

My cat Totoro has finally flipped out.

He actually pulled out the hair on his tail.....and

ate it...

TWICE!

I had to stop him...

"STOP THAT TORO!" I yelled and jumped up from dinner to stop him.

Toro was quite shocked and started to walk away quickly.

I gave him some bonito flakes and he stopped long enough for me to look at his tail.

"Stop it Toro. What happened?"

"He looks stressed," my cousin said and indeed he did.

After two pieces of bonito flakes, he relaxed and sat as usual with his arms folded.

Grandma then cuddled him and she crooned, "Darling...."

After some thinking I thought he might be feeling stressed when he saw Bujang chasing after Megat. He hid under the chair, quietly watching them. It could be envy or just plain fright.

After 10 minutes, he sat and visibly relaxed and is now napping.

He gave me such a fright.

My poor kitty Totoro had a big fright today.

I think...

Where are you Big Casanova?

I lurve napping on my flowered cushion...zzzz

Looking at this picture of Bujang, I am reminded of Big Casanova the big black tomcat that I used to feed. He was an infrequent but welcome dinner guest. When he first came, he used to try to intimidate FatBoy and Cal would frequently have dinner on the run when he was about.

However he has not come to dinner for a whole month. This is pretty strange even for a sometime-dinner guest as he would frequently appear twice a week for dinner and two weeks before he disappeared, he was at dinner every night, much to Cal's dismay. My cousin said she saw him hiding in the drain where we usually feed Putih the last week before he totally disappeared and when she tried to feed him, he snarled and scowled at her, which was very strange behaviour as he would usually just meow softly for food before. I think something horrid must have happened to him to make him change his behaviour so radically. Someone may have hurt him cos he does look pretty scary since he is a very big tomcat with a face like a saucer. I had wanted to make friends so I can get V to catch him for neutering. But now well...

I hope he has found a new person with whom he can get dinner as even with us, he just appeared out of nowhere and came to stay for a bit.

I hope life is treating you well Big C. You know you can always come back for dinner anytime with us.

Megat's new housing situation

Megat staring at the camera...wait till I get you!

Megat in profile...

Megat is getting the hang of screaming for attention, usually at 4 am. It was my fault for allowing this to happen. his voice is so shrill that I can't allow him to yell for long. So once he realises that I would get up when he yells, he would continue yelling for along time until I would let him out of his pet house, where he sleeps in. This morning he yelled continuously for 2 hours and started to bite at the opening flap of the pet house. He had torn the flap to his first pet house and now of course that house was quite useless to keep him (and the boys) safe at night. I had to put him in Bujang's pethouse for the time being. Bujang was very disgusted and refused to sit Megat's house (that I had now put in the living room) instead.

So I went to get him a house made of plastic with a green roof and red door. He would not be able to bite through this house :) The reason I need to separate him from the boys is because he would try to intimidate them. I do not want them to have ill-feelings towards him in turn.

I would like to think that Ms Akira's aggressive behavious towards Megat is just her trying to save the boys :) Her bark is worse than her bite anyway and she would just always scream like a banshee when she chases Megat but she has yet to physically take him on. But I also realise that she would usually leave him alone if he does not stand directly in her line of sight or draw attention to himself. But once she catches the sight of him, well....

Our neighbours by Intrepid Reporter Bujang

The neighbour's plants....

The nighbour's mysterious washing...hmmm...


The other neighbour's doorstep...what is this crumpled paper?

Can I stay here san?

Yesterday morning san and I went fur a walk along the corridor. It was quiet and nice. I saw our neighbour's plants and the furry mysterious washing. Grandma does not have that kind of washing. She putted them in the hot machine to dry and the machine goes whirrr...whirrr.. Grandma usually closes the door to the kitchen as she doesn't wants us to gets hurt by the hot machine. I told grandma I didn't like the door and I would bite the plastic cloth on the machine so the machine would know. But grandma would sometimes scream and tells me to stop it :( I do not like the noise of the machine.

That is why I wanted san to leave me at the 2nd neighbour's house. It has interesting crumpled paper outside. This means no one would be always cleaning the house, unlike grandma. I think there would be less noise and I can rest more. San left me for a while and I was thinking san was really going to let me have my wish but she came and scooped me up. Then she put me infront of my house and I was rather glad as I saw Toro and Ms Akira. Then grandma came and said hello to me too and told me I was a good boy. I fink it is better to be home with my furriends and san and grandma and even Megat. I would not be lonely and I would have treaties for being good. Yum...

Ms Akira - Can i go too please?

Ms Akira trying to tell me that she wants to go out...

Ms Akira finally agreeing that indoors would be a better place for her...

Ms Akira was very adamant that she wanted to join the boys in their saturday adventure but I told her that she would be better inside as she is a scaredy cat:) Finally she was contented with watching the goings-on from the window.

Saturday morning outside

Bujang finally deigning to inspect grandma's plants...

Toro making his way for morning inspection...

Bujang curious about Toro's findings...

Yup. Something is up at this ochre pot. Both cats confirmed their suspicions...

Toro and Bujang made most of their Saturday out. They were particularly interested in this one ochre pot of money plant. I do not know what it was but they spent an inordinate amount of time sniffing the pot, the stand and even the bricks. I think it might be the residue of Hari raya visitors as a few of them had gone out to smoke along the corridor :(

Megat's fishing expedition

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care...

Megat has taken to stealing grandma's fried fish again. he did this when he first came but we thought that was because he had been a stray for such a long time and found it difficult to integrate into an indoor cat household. It has been quite a long time that he had not done this but these past 2 weeks, there were 3 incidents of Megat surreptitiously eating grandma's fried fish on the kitchen counter.

We had tried to put the fish in the toaster oven and even blocked the oven door with the heavy tissue stand but to no avail. I think the Hari raya smells of all things fatty and fried triggered his dormant responses :)

Grandma threatened Megat that she would put him back in the carpark if he misbehaves again but megat ignored her and went to sleep under the coffee table :) Then 10 minutes later, grandma would relent and tells him that he is 'so poor thing' and she would pet him on his head!

Megat is the only one who eats fried fish and would actually get up on the counter to check out grandma's cooking. Bujang gets up on the counter so he could walk towards the kitchen window to peer at the birds. Ms Akira does it to get on top of the fridge where she could peer in safety at the goings-on in the kitchen. Toro does not get up on counter, not for the lack of trying but I think because he has short legs. I know the most sensible action is to train the amigos to stop getting on the counters but the easier one is to try to persuade Megat that there is nothing delicious on it in the first place. An even easier one is not to have any fried fish at all where he could get at it with his nimble paws. I think we will try this option first :)

Recycling

I'm only resting after a hard day napping...

I was reading Dawn's blog and read about Blog Action Day . I thought it was quite fitting as I had spent the whole afternoon with some colleagues and kids recycling books. We would be moving premises in Nov and we decided that we should have less than we brought to holding school. So we got all our novels/readers and had a book sale - 2 books for $1.00. The money that we got is going towards buying resources for the kids in 2008.

There was quite a frenzy of buying and the 13 year-olds spent a good afternoon persuading all the teachers and other students to buy novels to give away as presents or just for their own reading pleasure. We then spent what was left of the afternoon putting our things in the recycling bins.

Grandma is also doubling her recycling efforts and had spent the afternoon cleaning out the store room and putting things out for the recycling people this Friday :)

Peekaboo

Bujang's new observation tower...

Hmmm..let me make some notes...hmmmm

Bujang simply loves the new curtains whcih I had put up for Hari Raya. They're translucent so he can se us from behind them. He loves sitting on the cat tree, unobserved by us and just watching the goings-on. He sometimes even manages to surprise me a bit ...then I would make a great show of it, which pleases him :)

Ms Akira's disappearing act

Now you see me...

Ooops...where did my head go?

No worries I am still here :)

Now you see my cocoon...

How did I do it? Well I'll tell you...

I told san to video my act. I fink many people want to know. But you will have to excuse san's poor skills. I told her she should take a course on video taping so she can put up more videos of us cats.

Ms Akira is a master at this act. If you blink, you would miss it.

My video skills as as usual, blurry :) but I hope you can see how my kitty burrows her way to her very own cocoon where she will stay for the whole day...

What will happen if...

Our pikshurs are crooked...

Grandma always likes her pictures straight. I think I'll help her...

...we leave the housekeeping to Bujang? I'm sure then all the pictures would get straightened out pronto :)

After the 1001 guests had gone...

Megat actually came out from his hiding place...

and can be seen lounging around on his fav hang-out bed...

Ms Akira decided that it was safe to show her face...


from under the covers...
she was still not convinced that everyone has left...yet..



Toro was seen on the coffee table trying to see if anyone has left him something...like
an ang pow kibble or treat...

He was even perky enough to brave the papers...

Toro did not have a good day on Hari raya with the guests since one or two actually followed him about the house. They did not mean to chase him but since he ran from them, they followed after him. I think he was a victim of his own handsome-ness :) I had to rescue him twice and I finally decided that no one else gets to see the very stanger-shy amigos.


Bujang getting his well-earned rest.


Zzzzz....

The only one who greetd the guests politely was Bujang. He put on his usual impeccable manners and greeted each round of guests carefully, giving full attention to everyone. He went out of the bedroom and walked among his guests. of course everyone who saw him was very impressed with his good manners. I think Bujang saved the day for everyone :)

Hari raya morning

So are they coming? Do we need to hide now?

Dunno Toro. I'll see ...

Hmmm... I don't see anyone..but wait a sec...

Let me see ...across..right..left..lalala..the lift!!

Okie...its only san with daun pandan to make tea...no fear Toro.

No one is here yet:)