Cuddly Pussy

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?
I've been to London to look at the queen.
Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.
~Nursery Rhyme

I like furry pets, cats and dogs especially. Like the stereotypical lot, I have always considered cats as gentle princesses blasé to the world outside and dogs as playful companions loyal to their owners.

But odd though it sounds, it never crossed my mind to own a pet. Rearing a cuddly cat or dog is undoubtedly a great idea but when it comes to feeding them or cleaning their poo… No way! Do you think I have nothing better to do? Unless you have a pet who doesn’t eat or pee or poo, then I might reconsider…

Of course, there is always an alternative, provided that you have a neighbour who rears a cat and is kind enough to let you play with her anytime you want. The neighbour pays for the cat food and the vet bills, takes care of the cleaning jobs while you on the other hand, get to spend time with the pet without enslaving yourself.

And I’m one of those privileged persons.

I have a Malay neighbour living opposite my house. Like most typical Malays (I guess it runs in the genes), they are fond of cats. A few years back, they managed to a female Persian and crossbred it with some lucky local cat. Then, about two months later, the kittens were delivered to the house by the stocks.

How many kittens exactly were there I could not remember. But I recall that a couple of them were given off to friends and relatives, leaving only two with them. The elder one is an orange tom cat, Ciku, and the youngest of the litter is a female kitten with gray patches, Kitty.

While Ciku is an active kitten who got along easily with strangers, Kitty was exactly the opposite. Shy as was her nature, she hid behind her mother when we tried to stroke her soft fur. Naturally, we bonded easily with Ciku.

Cats do not like to be confined in the house all the time. So, Ciku was allowed to roam outside the house whenever he felt like it. One day – perhaps Ciku was paying too much attention to another female cat on the opposite side than the ongoing traffic – he was killed while crossing the road. There goes the myth about cats having nine lives.

We thought Ciku’s death was going to be an irreplaceable loss. But little did we expect Kitty to outgrow from her shy nature and constantly wheedles for attention. Stroke her under the chin and she’ll purr in satisfaction. She earned our affection with little effort.

Ironically, Kitty doesn’t show much interest in other tom cats even though for a cat her age, you’d be expecting her to bring her boyfriend home to meet the parents. I guess her owner forsaw that and neutered her long ago.

Sometimes, I feel so sorry for those tom cats that tried to woo her. There was once a white cat who remembered wrongly Kitty’s house address (she gave her the wrong one purposely, perchance), came over to our house and “meowed” some love serenade in front of the door. Despite showing him to the right unit, he refused to leave, mistaking me as some over-protective parent who bars his daughter from meeting boys. Heck! I’m not Kitty’s owner in the first place!

However, that poor, confused cat is not Kitty’s only suitor. There are many more besides him. One of them, I believe, regularly pee in another neighbour’s flowerbox downstairs, warning off other potential suitors.

Some cats are not so fortunate, unluckily. There had been several occassions when Kitty did not hesitate to engage in a cat fight with those tom cats that tried to make harsh sexual advance. Let’s just say that they ended up quite disgracefully.

On the other hand, Kitty has her elegant side too. Most of all, she carries herself with a poise full of dignity, ever so sexy and always remaining alert to her surroundings, except when she’s just returned from her late night venture and drops into a deep slumber in the balcony. Yes, Garfield is not the only lazy cat.

People say that cats live somewhere between our world and the other world. They can just stare out of the window as if pondering on some deep philosophical problem. Nevertheless, they do not seem to have any concept of time; they idle their time from the past to the present, and from the present to the future.

Sigh, how fast the little one grows! It was as if yesterday when she first opened those adorable little eyes that melts the heart–the way all kittens do. Now, she has matured into an elegant princess but Kitty shall always remain as the cute kitten I first met.