Fat Cat Diary

SATURDAY 10PM

Monty was involved in a scuffle with this orange cat last week. The orange cat was a stray and my guess was that he was the taiko of the neighbourhood. Monty was of course twice his size. I always feel pity for these cats....they have to scrounge for food and drink whatever water there is available and this includes lopak2 air or some small puddle left by the rain. In the garden, we have a water lily pot that’s quite low. Sometimes i see stray cats stopping by to have a drink. Once in a while i check the pot that the water level is not too low for the cats to bend over. Anyway, back to Monty, the maid broke the scuffle and carried him home. I think he would have lost the fight anyway. He scurried off upstairs, didn’t even come down for his daily treat of the day which is ‘ikan tongkol rebus’. Despite my calling out o him, he didn’t show his face at all. I found him on my bed looking so sorry..i checked him for any wounds, found none and i’m sure his ego was more bruised than anything physical.

Anyway, three days ago, during his evening manja session i discovered that his left ear was fully of dark waxy deposits indicative of ear mites. He has never had them before but Melly does all the time hence the ear mite medication is always available at no.31. I had no problem cleaning his ears, first using cotton wool and bud with few drops of little D’s baby oil and then the ear drops. Then yesterday i noticed that at the back of that particular ear, he has some sort of swelling, i couldn’t find any cut..it must be that the inside of his ear is itchy and he has scratched much too hard. I applied minyak gamat, all the time assuring him that i won’t put any pressure on it..(aiya! Macam dia faham kan??). This evening i saw that it’s looking quite ‘ripe’ like it’s about to burst anytime. So, the mighty Monty shall be going to the vet tomorrow...and you know what this means??? He’s going to pee in his pants, again. There goes my appointment at the hairdresser’s tomorrow. I was thinking of cutting my mane (yes, i look like the male lion. I was thinking of having it cut into a fashionable bob and having it henna-ed at the same time. I want to look presentable during my confinement since there will surely be visitors..taknak le nampak cam nenek lemper pulak. What’s with the henna??? I am sprouting some grey hairs, and i blame it on my genes from the maternal side)..and i have a wedding to go to also trow.

Melly is frequenting the litter box more often than i’d like her to. I have been keeping tabs on her..i’m worried that the cystitis is coming back. If so, this must be the 4th recurrence already and something really needs to be done. I am getting quite dissatisfied that the vets kept prescribing one course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, one after another and the problem doesn’t seem to go away. All three cats are having the ‘urinary tract friendly’ diet now. I shall give it another few days and see if she’s really having problems or she just likes the litter that they’re using now..she’s been known to be weird about this. The online company that i normally order cat stuff from has run out of the usual crystal litter. We had to resort to buying cheapo ones from the supermarket, you know the normal back to basics sand litter and i think the cats enjoy this more. Probably because it reminds them of the dirt and sand from outdoors.

I’m glad that at least one feline baby is not having any problem at the moment. Ugi has finally let go of all claims on the sofa. She has decided that the rattan chair with its plush cushion would do just as well and the plus point is that she doesn’t need to get into confrontations with her human slaves at anytime. The only drawback is that i’d find some signs on the back of the chair and cushion where the little imp has been sharpening her nails. The only thing for lesser beings like us to do is just to take a deep breath and console oneself that it’s the price we cat lovers have to pay for their company (although Mr Gig’s solution would be “tinggalkan je kat pasar!”). I keep telling myself that they will pass that stage soon. I still think that they’re kids...i’m disillusioned...Melly’s 4 and Ugi’s gonna be 2 soon. They are hardly kittens anymore. I have tried disciplining Melly, but being the ‘princess’ that she is, she wouldn’t do as she’s told. I have no problem with Monty at all, i only need to say a stern ‘No’ to him. Well, Ugi does whatever she sees the mum does. And this includes sharpening their nails at the back of the sofa, carpet and between the two of them, they manage to turn the sheer curtains into shreds. The rattan dining chairs that we ordered from Bali will be here soon. The two cats will have a gala time. Tell me how i can protect all 8 chairs other than “tinggalkan je kat pasar”!

Monday 10.30am

Monty peed in his pants even before i started off the car engine to go to the vet yesterday. Getting him into the cat carrier was no easy task, furthermore, with Melly interfering and trying to get into the carrier herself. She has this thing about car rides. She likes putting her face at the wind screen and explore the interior and finally she’d settle down on the lap of whoever’s driving putting her face as close as possible to the aircond outlet. MG used to take her along to the vet even though it was Monty’s turn just because she didn’t want to be left out. Obviously the practise had to stop when they both grew too big to be accommodated together in the carrier.

Anyway, the vet checked him over and suspected that he had an abscess originating from all the scratching he did himself because of the ear mites. While he was under anaesthesia, the vet incised the swelling put a drainage tube there to drain the remaining pus. His shoulder and up to his ear was bandaged up which made him look like a cyborg cat or something out of starship troopers. Poor boy was feeling sorry for himself more than anything else. What with Melly hissing and nipping at his tail and Ugi didn’t want to be within 5 feet from him All night he was within a few feet from me and when I looked up he’d give me this pitiful miaow probably telling me how every part of his body ached or that the bandage was far too tight or made him look funny.

For those who are not familiar with cats or their antics, let me tell you that they can be the biggest con artists of all time. Yesterday, when we got back from the wedding, the maid told me how Monty pleaded with her to be let out into the garden even though he wasn’t even walking proper at that time from the side effects of the anaesthesia! I can’t recall the times he has pretended and looked for me upstairs and complained that the maid has not fed him his ikan tongkol for the day. And Melly, who always pretends as if MG has not walked her out in the morning on weekends by the way she pressed her face on the back door and refused to budge or make way for her human slaves to pass through.