Kecik, but with a lot of heart

This is a picture of Kecik staring out into the distance from the balcony. Though you cannot view the expression on her face, I can tell you that she had a faraway look that suggested only one thing- Rindu. And she has had that look reflecting through her yellow cat eyes from the deepest recesses of her fragile heart, for a very long time. Who has she been waiting for? None other than her dearest Andi.

Andi was not her macho bob cat spouse nor was he the 'wham bam thank you ma'am!' father of her kittens. Andi was her tall and lanky (ok lah, boyishly cute too) former owner who saved her from the lonely life of an abandoned cat in an animal shelter, brought her home and loved her to bits. On the day they parted, they had the same sad look on their faces. Although Kecik was more confused than he could be. She remained that way for many weeks.

Kecik has been an emotionally difficult cat code to crack. I'm sure she thinks of her stay here as an abandonment on Andi's part. But the truth, as I have tried to wedge into her little heart-shaped head, is that he had to let her go to pursue a career in the sky (literally). Frankly a place she could not follow. Bringing her along was not an option. So the next best thing was to place her and her kittens here with the almostcrazycatlady me. But she refuses to let go of the idea that Andi is off on a short vacation and will soon take her back to their spacious home without weird old cats around giving her vicious 'i will eat your eyeballs when you go to sleep' looks or obnoxious little boys squeezing her like a rubber ducky. I thought she would gradually come out of it and move on with her life and see that we are not planning to skin her alive but instead offer her a home full of love that even teddy bears would wish themselves to be living creatures to take her place...ok, that's a little creepy. But still. Not that I give myself such high extols but if I were a cat, I'd like to live with me. Just ask Mama Ayeow. You may not wanna ask Pat though, he's still mad at me because I put him on a diet so that he could still use his limbs for another day or two (I know, talk about being ungrateful. It's because of his food limits that he can still RUN FROM ME when I try to get a hug out of him).

Quite honestly I haven't yet had a cat who has refused to be chummy with me. But understandably she was tight with her owner and it is sad to see her pining away for his return. If it weren't for her kids and the ever so attentive Parsi, I suspect that she would've run away. Perhaps she realizes though that the cats in this neighborhood are freakier than me my cats.

However, all is not lost yet and there is good news to report. In the past 2-3 weeks I FINALLY saw some signs of Kecik wiggling out of her seemingly unbreakable iron-clad shell. Surely it was a pleasant surprise for me when she just came to me and decided to be an affectionate ball of blue fur. Suddenly, we were like childhood friends at a slumber party confessing stupid little school girl crushes on that one guy and sharing dreams of one day owning a silver unicorn or at the very least, pierced ears so we could wear chandelier earrings down to our butts (of course at the time we didn't know that they could break your neck from the weight were called chandelier earrings).

I have been trying to "connect" with her for so long, I've nearly given up out of frustration and admittedly have been feeling insulted by her lack of response. This week she's gotten more friendlier with the people of the house. She has also started vocally responding to direct speech. Before this, if we talked to her she would ignore us and buat bodoh even though she's fully aware of the fact that we're talking to her and not to my fairy godmother. But now she mews and has taken to rubbing herself against my legs. She is also a big fan of flopping on the floor and stretching long, expecting a belly rub from her display.

Needless to say, I am thrilled with this improvement and only hope that we can establish a closer bond in time. It's not just for my ego as I have had a good track record with cats (as opposed to humans--really, sometimes I just can't stand people) including feral ones but also because I think it's important for her to feel at home here if she intends to stay.

She still misses you, Andi. And I do believe she'll always have you at the base of her heart. But seriously, if you're going to poop in the litter box that I scoop everyday, I do expect at the very least for you to be seen with me in public and not pretend to be Miss Independant.

Will defend territory with urine and claws

I thought it a little unfair that I would set up a blog JUST for P,B & J. It's as if to love only ONE member of NSYNC rather than ALL the talented boys in which the group consisted of. After all, there were only 3 of them right? Be kind and spread the love!

I've been blessed with the company of my 6 family cats for a very long time now. So long that they're now eligible for various types of discounts because they're elderly and will likely pronounce fff as ppp like a great number of golden age folks do (because teeth don't last forever). But they truly are preciously golden =) My Mama Ayeow has been with me since I was 13 and is still gratefully going strong. She's 11 years old this year. Because of her the rest exist with the exemption of Kiki, who was my very first rescued cat off the streets from 9 years ago. The sisters, Sakura and Angie are the same age as well and their antisocial aunt Mimi is 10. I honestly never would've thought that Mimi would come this far as she was always a little too timid and too skinny and have had countless bouts of illnesses along the years. I'm hoping that she has many more moons to see. She looks so fragile these days. Parsi is the youngest at 8. The same age as my brother Syafiq. Though the baby of the family, he's almost always as grumpy as a man forced to skip lunch. A very fat man. When he's in this mood (which is 23 hours of the 24 in a day) Parsi will scratch and refuse to love you and will also attempt to bite your finger even though he's already missing incisors and perhaps some molars too. He will have a change of heart though, if you have a can of catfood.

I love these cats like Joan Rivers loves plastic surgery. And she'll keep going till she wins her battle against gravity. Perhaps she is the ONLY one who isn't about recycling these days. Did I mention I believe she's not biodegradable? But at least she believes in animal rights and she is sometimes funny.

=) But I digress, here's in honor of my favorable furry heart-clinchers. May they live long and happy with me ...if not for me!

Wall Worthy

A little like peering into a just-done nursery for a coming newborn =p 

What can I say? I can dig 'slap you silly' CUTE. 

These are the same pictures I posted on the side last week except that these are the original copies. It looked too messy with the borders and you couldn't see the details as the images were automatically made to fit on the small side space (in which blogger had to shrink). Better to see their faces in these.  

Look what the cat dragged in...

Want to do lunch after this?

Got fleas?

The former owner of P, B & J bought Frontline Flea Spray for them and gave it to me just in case the jumpers attack. So far, they're still parasite free. The thing is that I prefer to use the Spot-on medication instead because the cats will go ape-shit if I try to spray anything on them. Because of that I'm selling this off and putting the money into the kitty fund. This is BRAND NEW and I have never opened or used it. The price is RM37.00 but I'm selling it for RM35.



I also have one pipette of Advantage. This one was a leftover from a box I bought for my cats a few months back. And I haven't had to reapply since to any one of my cats which I find rather amazing. That was the first time I tried Advantage. Before this I used Frontline Spot-On and after about 1-2 months I had to reapply because the fleas would be back. Advantage however seemed to have proven itself better. All my cats are still flea-free after about 6 months! I'm NOT kidding or giving you a sales pitch. It's a true account of my personal experience with the product. Trust me, flea control is highly important to me not only for the health of my cats but also for myself. When they had fleas, I HAD FLEAS. My legs were speckled like a leopard and it WASN'T pretty. I bought this for rm14 each. I'm letting it go for rm10.

BUT there's a downside to this product. 2 of my cats had a bad reaction to it. They started drooling and foaming at the mouth after I applied it on. It only lasted a little while with one of them, but my other cat, Kiki, was spitting out saliva on and off for two days. Apart from that she didn't have any other adverse reactions and it still worked at killing the fleas. I suppose it was not as compatible with her than the other 5 cats because they were fine with the medication. So, it should depend on the cat. I've read that other cat owners have experienced the same thing with the cats when they applied any type/brand of flea control medication. It spooked me out nonetheless and I've decided not to use it on her again. Not that I have to because she is STILL flea-free and so are ALL my other cats. So it is a good product. Actually, it's effing AMAZING.

So, if anyone is interested in the Frontline Spray or the Advantage feel free to email me at curlywiseone@gmail.com. Yes, you can try your luck and negotiate the price with me as well so long as you're reasonable AND NOT demanding. Thank you. Oh, and COD only preferably around Kajang-Bangi area.

Acana Prairie Feast

I'm starting my cats on a new diet for the second time in 2 months. The Vetmaster that we bought for them last month wasn't a hoot with most of my cats esp Sakura. But they don't really have a choice but to eat it because we bought the BIGGEST pack. I decided I'd mix it with this.


My cat Mimi has been on her own special Orijen kibbles also known as the 'Mengada Old Cat Wants Expensive Super Premium Food' diet. With ikan rebus on the side every night-- but this is only because she needs to take some meds and would not eat it any other way. Not to mention she also gets charity pieces from my dad's special ikan bakar diet, no salt no nothing. Just grilled fish meat and need I add it's also expensive sea fish. She carefully positions herself atop the dining chair next to my dad and plays her puppy eyes. Every time she succeeds. But that's not the point. Occasionally, I'd mix some of Mimi's Orijen with the Vetmaster for the other cats so that they'd find it more appetizing. Or they'd eat Mimi's remnants in her food bowl once she ambles away. Usually she leaves more than half of it because she's THAT kinda cat. Given how I kesian, I decided to get them Acana from the lovely Kak Leotazz at cari.com.my forum who buys it from her supplier at a reasonable price. Acana is almost the same as Orijen. What I like most is that both are grain-free food and made from the same grade of meat fit for human consumption. The only difference is that Acana's protein percentage is 10% less than Orijen.

I'll have you know Acana smells GOoOooOd. Like chocolate. Seriously. So I'm going to mix that in with Vetmaster so they'd be happier. Then, I'll go eat everything in the fridge to try to forget how EXPENSIVE it is to keep these furkids happy. By the way, we have two refrigerators.

Toys

Why chickens hate evolution that disallowed them the ability to fly.

I don't really indulge in buying toys for the cats because a) they cost as much as my eyeballs and b) they don't last more than 5 minutes. Not to mention that almost anything and everything you already have in the house could be a cat toy because they're not very picky when it comes to destroying human property. For example, here's Peekaboo reaching for ANYTHING that he could get his paw on underneath the fridge. He even found himself a piece of broken glass in which he played with like a man in love with himself his PS2.

And down here is Jess with a fallen soldier who has been lying in peace under that fridge...until THEY found him.

I just couldn't resist though when I found a pack of cat toys going for a very cheap price. 2 squeaky mice and a bouncing ball for just about 3 bucks AND there was a discount on top of that. As predicted though, 5 minutes after I initiated play with the brand new toys they were reduced to trash. Actually 1 mouse was badly injured while the other one went missing along with the bouncing ball and THAT was the fault of my brothers. Apparently cat toys are also attractive to little boys in need of friends their own age. Or sleeping pills. KIDDING! Had to add the obvious because you never know if someone reading this might actually believe that I ONLY say what I mean and am nothing but a stern bullshit-less individual. In which case, we should set up a date and you could arrange a job for me- maybe yours. I am SO trustworthy and don't know the meaning of procrastination.

The squeaky mice turned out to not only be a source of joy for the kittens but a great way to make my cat Kiki (the one in the first picture) jump backwards and lose her bladder. Throw it at her and she'll run like you just released a hand grenade her way. It also works like a bell. I squeeze it, it squeaks and not a second later, the kittens come running to my feet. I wonder if it'll work on my future husband. I bought 3 more, all in green to keep for when I get married because we keep on losing them and before this I had one in gray (in which I named Misery) and it disappeared even before a paw touched it and has not been located since. Green stands out more thus easier to find and IS supposed to be good for the eyes.

They're all called Peace the Green Mouse. Clearly they wear their battle scars like it's fashion =p

This is Shero the Sheep. It is not a cat toy but Peekaboo took the liberty to do as he pleased with it and so he herded it... but of course.
When he's in the mood for that you can find Peekaboo transporting the woolly thing in his mouth from on the bed to under the table. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

I use my mom's plastic flowers as a cat teaser. If I were to buy a plastic stick with some feathers taped to the end it'd have cost me rm10. This only cost me my mother's love.
Actually, the vase that they were arranged in was already broken by the cats and of course I was not the one to command them to do so. *SHRUG* Cats are just gracefully clumsy. So a lot of my mother's plastic flowers have parted from their bouquet arrangements and so I took these to play with the cats. They go MAD over it. Especially Ben.

Bottom line--cats will play with anything. Even your heart. So get creative and save money.

Update: And guess what Peekaboo swiped out from under the fridge? Misery! The mystery has been solved and the missing has been found.