All 6 Kids Showered Today

Gave all cats a bath today. Becks, normally the one to groom everyone else, received special attention from Mikan and Princey when she entered the room again, all damped after her shower. The 2 boys followed her all the way to the bed and sat beside her, helping to dry her coat. I sat and watched the three of them for a long time, drying each other and themselves. Such an amusing and comforting sight.

Mikan and Cutie were surprisingly calm during the bath, purring loudly as I massaged the the soap in. Later, Mikan tried to wriggle out of my grasp (in vain of course) while I was drying him. In his frustration, gave such a dramatic and audible sigh into my face that I laughed and the naughty almost got away.

Nutty Cutie was not quite cat-like after her bath, instead of drying herself (she refused help from everyone except mommy), she went around rubbing her cheeks against everything in sight, worried that the soap had masked her scent on all of HER things.

Shi was in rage. She hated the smell of soap on the others and, heavens forbid, on herself. How she growled when I soaped and rinsed her - Twice! She hissed at everyone when I let her back into the room when she was done. I tried redeeming myself by giving her extra bit of brushing and cookies while she was nestled in her cage licking herself dry. Last I checked, she was catching some shut-eye by the window.

Maggie kept coming over to ask for more brushing when he was already all dry and fluffy. There can never be enough of brushing in this house. :)

Relaxed Day at the Cat Shelter

Finally had some time to help out at the cat shelter today.

People just keep sending cats and kittens in, some even crazy enough to think that the perfect life for a cat is in a 2' metal cage with food and water supplied for its remaining years. Imagine this: one moment you are prancing happily along the beach, enjoying the odd Ikan Kuning tossed your way and suddenly, someone picked you up by the scruff of your neck, stuffed you into a dark container and transported you to an airconditioned cell while serving you mashed premium food and filtered water everyday. You stay crouched at a corner for days, whatever happened to the fish bones and the cool seabreeze?

I can't see why a little island off the coast of Singapore cannot be a better place than a metal cage.

It is unfortunate that the adults on the island are regularly rounded up to be brought to the mainland to be put to sleep. With a proper sterilising program put in place, and understanding from the authorities, these cats and kittens will have much better lives there. I wouldn't worry about the cats going extinct on that little island even with active sterilisation - some residents are bound to hoard a breeding female or two for themselves. Especially when this feline group seems to produce a really pretty Siamese for every 10 midnight-black kittens.

We still have a long way to go, I just hope we have enough passionate people to go the mile.