Cats: Our Extended Family

I just realised I haven't blogged about our cats lately. They've been getting along just fine although they didn't relish boarding at the Animal Hospital while we were away during Chinese New Year. Still, they took it like the neutered male adult cats that they are and whined and mewed all the way home when we fetched them.

Today I saw Harun playing with something in the garden. It didn't look like any toy we made or bought for him. Upon closer inspection, I realised it was a little bird. Not bad, I thought, not bad at all. And just yesterday I saw him jumping about in the garden and later he brought a grasshopper over to me. He and Thomas were playing with it until they got distracted by the real food I put out for them. Quite the hunter is our Harun.

Thomas is, well, Thomas and we love him for his calm and collected nature (read: lazy bugger). Always happy to finish up the food that Harun leaves behind and usually content to cheer Harun on when he's hunting something. Kinda like a "I'm behind you all the way, Harun!" type of cheer.

Having said that, Thomas is the craftier one. He has managed to get into the house by pushing his head against the mosquito screen on the window and then jumping down onto the floor. What's funny is that as soon as he's on the floor, he walks straight to the front door and waits there for someone to let him out.

Yes, I know, we used to think same thing too: What did he come in for?

We figure he does that when he's really, really hungry and is trying to get our attention. Lately, Harun has learnt to do the same. Except Harun is more adventurous. He would run up the stairs, come back down and explore the kitchen and the maid's room before he gets shooed out.

They still let the stray tomcats eat their food, though. We have 2 regular strays coming over for their so-called free lunch - Gordon and Percy (yes, our family likes Thomas the Tank Engine!). So far Gordon has not let us get near enough to him but Percy has let Daddy stroke him a few times before. He must have been really hungry then.

Gobble, gobble, gobble. I don't care if the neighbourhood cats laugh at me for letting you stroke me, I'm hungry dammit! Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Speaking of hungry, both Harun and Thomas have been eating a lot lately. It seems like Daddy and I are feeding them many times a day. And each time they 'complain' to us they're hungry, it's barely 2 hours from their last feeding. It's almost like having a newborn baby around.


Then there's Ant J's cat called Rabbit. Here he is in his full pear-shaped pose. He's also a very manja cat, considering his male. Neutered too, of course, but still, male cats are usually not as manja. Whenever the boys are over at Nenek's house, Rabbit knows better than to hang around. Once he sees us, he bolts! He only comes back if he's hungry. And even then he walks really, really cautiously - "maybe if I tiptoe quietly those little terrors won't see me" - and when he finally makes it past us he sprints to the kitchen.

Ah, cats - they're great for lowering your blood pressure!