Happy Mother's Day Tale

This is a little Mother's day story about the amigos and I. I had written something like this 2 years ago, a little sentimental tale of how the amigos had saved my life at http://animesanzo.blogspot.com/2007/01/nostalgia-on-saturday.html . This is a 2nd version and I hope it is not too sentimental. I did not have Tanaka then and had added a little something about him at the end :) I hope those of you who had read something like this before won't mind reading something like this again :)

I thought 5 years ago I would be a happier person if I had one cat. I have had cats for as long as I can remember beginning from when I was a very little person. But they were cats that I had taken for granted and did not know how to love. I had read about how to take care of indoor cats, talked to people,asked friends and worried that I would not be able to keep any as I live in an apartment, way up in the sky. I had had visions of my cat falling out of my windows and thought the better of it, until one day, I figured out I could actually mesh the windows and teach my cats to walk in a harness, which I did. And so began my journey with my 5 cats:)

Five years ago, on one rainy afternoon, I rescued Bujang from drowning. He scratched and clawed his way into my heart. I brought him to the vet and after examining him, Dr S smiled at me and said , "I think you are going to keep him. In that case, you should give him some very good food and get him to his vet appointments regularly." And that was how Bujang became THIS...

A gritty, fearsome feline with formidable claws weighing 7.05 kg

He still likes quiet and a lot of respect. He loves his gradnma and would sleep by her side every evening, holding a piece of her dress in his paw. He bosses everyone and expects everyone and everything to be in place before he goes to sleep at night. He likes walking in the park, eating grass and the smell of ixora. He is THE BOSS in the house with a formidable reputation. The groomers fear his nails and have given up trying to groom him and Dr S would whisper quietly in my ear, "Is that one in a good mood?" when she has to trim his nails. Bujang has come a long way from the screaming bundle of claws that I found 5 years ago drowning in a drain.

My sister and I thought ( 4 years ago) that Bujang was bored all by himself as he lay and flopped on the floor sighing. So after persuading grandma, I called the SPCA and got a another cat. Little did I know she would turn out to be like THIS...

A Queen of a cat with a mind of her own...

She was feisty and ruled the roost. She came and saw and conquered. Bujang did not know what hit him. One day he was watching her in her cage and on another day she was winding him up and slapping him from inside her cage.

She took no prisoners and very boldly made her presence known. She ran after Bujang, head- butted him fearlessly and sat in front of him. She went out of her way to make friends as she was from a litter of 4. I think she missed her family and decided to get herself another one as quickly as possible. She grew on him and they became friends, cleaning each other and even sleeping close with each other. But Ms Akira was not the most friendly of cats and although she loves Bujang, she really did not want a big family and decided to mind her own business when the other cats came along :)

And another cat did come along. M told me she had rescued a persian-cross who needed a home desperately. So at about 10 pm, I came down with my carrier and brought home a thin grey male persian cross who cowered inside it and refused to move. THAT was 4 years ago and now he is like THIS...

A very handome kitty with baby-blue eyes...

When he came to live with us, he was naughty and would get into fights with Bujang. I took him to the vet and he got vaccinated, dewormed and revolutioned. After a few months, he got neutered but he still got into fights. He had to undergo a long period of time-outs and learnt to take turns when playing with Da Bird. Bujang taught him better toilet habits and he used the litter easily.

But now of course he is very finicky and would use my shower to pee if I was too slow with cleaning the litter. "How do YOU like that?" he wanted to show me. He is my champion and would beat any of the kitties up if they so much as scratch me :) (anyone but Bujang). He loves being brushed and would ask me to do this nightly before bed. He has grown very handsome and loves flying after Da Bird. He also loves sitting by the door grills to catch the breeze.

But he was lonely for a friend (then). So I told grandma that it would be nice if we can get Toro a good friend as Bujang and Ms Akira were pals. Grandma agreed and I was asked if I wanted to adopt a ragdoll kitten. But it was not to be as I decided to adopt ... THIS...3 years ago...

A screaming banshee in the guise of a feline....

A 10-year old cat with hardly any teeth and a bad attitude but a heart of gold. I think now, he had decided, in the deep recesses of that awful carpark to adopt me instead :) He had allowed me to clean him up, pick him up and put a red collar on him. He then decided to follow me home. Grandma named him Megat. Then he became Shaolin Megat for his kung-fu prowess and his perchant for boxing the other kitties. After a great deal of socialisation Megat is now no longer as angry and aggressive as before. Even so, Megat has ambitions of being THE BOSS. He has carved out his territory which is near the coffee table and has industriously marked all the chairs and even mats. He allows no one to trespass (except Bujang) and would make a run at them if they try to cross him.

He has gained a lot of confidence and can now sit by himself. He has taken to sitting anywhere that Bujang has vacated fearlessly. He walks in and out of all the rooms in the house and would sit beside grandma with great confidence. He tolerates him weekly sub-q and would sit quietly until the 250 ml is up. He knows instinctively when that is as he would give a soft meow to remind me of that. He is never wrong :) He sits at the vet quietly and allows the technician to draw blood from his fine veins patiently. He has undergone one ultra sound, many urine tests and 3 bouts of Eprex 2000 sessions. He is the very essence of patience and good nature (to humans only).

Then out of the blue when I thought my life would be settled and I would have only 4 cats to love, I got a surprise in the form of THIS...

A loving red kitty with the heart of a lion...

He has the face of an angel and I am glad to say his behaviour is the same. I wanted to call him Rocket but grandma wanted something else, something she could pronounce. So she settled on her favourite celebrity chef Jun Tanaka, who had a TV show on cable. Grandma knew that this ginger kitty would have an unstoppable personality and she was right.

We tried to find him another home. "Somewhere where he coud be an only cat with someone to love him." So we put up his pictures at the vet's office. "He is sooo cute," cooed the vet. "Its a pity I already have a cat, " she continued. We placed an advert in the cws site...surely someone will want him. In the meantime, Tanaka frolicked and played and chased the boys about. He jumped on them and rode them and they allowed him a lot of freedom. At night, he ate his kitten food and I wiped his face before cuddling him (so he could get used to being cuddled)..or so I thought. "Its better if he is affectionate. Affectionate cats don't get thrown out with the tinsel, " I thought. Then someone wrote in and said she would take him. Her cat had died of old age and she would love him and keep him safe. I told grandma this news and grandma said, "How can we let anyone have him now? He is used to us and would get lonely without the boys." And so he stayed with us and to this day, he still tries to jump on the boys and chase Akira about. The boys no longer tolerate his shenanigans as he is now bigger than all of them except for Bujang. He follows repairmen and tries to do his best to help them. He is still playful and affectionate and asks me for scritches before bed.

Although I would dearly love it if the amigos are like THIS....

I know I would still love them to bits even if they are like THIS..

and this...

They are wonderful just the way they are:)