Yow Yow

Yow Yow is back. He's eating at Tam's house and from the look of him, he's the father of Tam's sister Snow's kittens.

Although Yow Yow is a big bruiser of a tomcat, those kittens shove him out of the way fearlessly. Mind you, Yow Yow is a bit of a softy with little cats.

Here he is, taking a closer look at the camera. Yow Yow looks like hell but he's being fed properly at Tam's and he also eats round the back of our house with the stray girls.

For more stories about Yow Yow, from his earliest appearance as The Cat With The Dirty Face onwards, check out these links to old posts:

Yow Yow's first appearance, and how he gets his nickname The Cat With The Dirty Face.

The Cat With The Dirty Face Returns

The Dirty Secret....

How the big tom is bullied by the tiny kittens...

How The Cat With The Dirty Face gets a new name.

How Yow Yow's return causes trouble.

How Au is beaten up by Yow Yow

How Yow Yow sneaks up on Target - and gets a big surprise!

Katz Tales is out tomorrow in The Star Weekender so buy it and check it out! Tales columns are not available online - but the book will be out end September. Will keep you posted...

Tam and Target

Tam who lives across the street is Target's best friend (after Au of course!). Tam comes round every morning and evening to call on Target.

They sit and chat, and more often than not Tam comes into our garden to play. Tam lives in our neighbour's porch so he has no grass of his own.

Au lets Tam come in - as long as he's with Target. If Tam tries to come in on his own, Au whaps him with his paw.

Happy Cats on Tuesday! See you Friday?

Hello little grasshopper...

Target is very proud of himself because he brought in a grasshopper.

He rushed into the living room, growling with passion and pride, and nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought he had done something dreadful like catch a bird or mouse.

But Target got himself a crusty grasshopper that looked pretty much indestructible.

Our kitten threw himself on the floor, and put his catch down carefully so he could study it properly.

Target had been so careful that the grasshopper didn't even have a bit of cat drool on him. But our insect visitor was clearly not impressed by being kidnapped.

He stomped off grumpily and made for the plants. He didn't realise there was a window in the way. Target was enjoying watching him so I let the grasshopper climb half way up the window. Then I picked him up and put him in the garden.

Target supervised in case I was clumsy or something. After a successful catch and release, we went to the kitchen and had a treat of liver.

By the way, this is our 350th post! See you all on Tuesday for more Cat Chat. Have a good weekend.

Cats on Tuesday:

The colony of stray cats that live in the back lane have had kittens. Here's one cutie making herself at home in the empty water bowl on our back door step.

We have about 13 strays at the back and until now I haven't been able to do much more than keep them fed and dewormed. I can't afford to have the whole lot injected and spayed. Nor do I have the cages needed to transport them to the vet, or the space to keep the girls for 5 days while they heal.

When we first moved in I called various animal shelters to ask if they would help but none were interested.

Now I have some hope. First, I have a friend with cages who has some space to store the kitties while they recover. Second, another friend is checking out some subsidized operation and inoculation services. And finally, when Katz Tales sells, I should have some extra money in hand. But as royalties are paid a year after publication, this project will have to wait.

In the meantime I've started spaying the street cats who live in the front of our house. Our friend Tam is now inoculated and will be going for his snip in a month's time. His mum and sister Snow are next. I couldn't do them all at once because mum and Snow have had kittens. But in 3 weeks those kittens will be OK and I can do their older female relatives. And then will have to scrape together money to do those 4 kittens. It's never ending!

I wish people would spay their cats and stop dumping their cats!

For more Cats on Tuesday visit Gattina or check the sidebar for the COT menu.

Fat Girl

I have had a tummy bug all week and have been housebound. Target has reacted by becoming the snuggle cat.

He accompanies me on my dashes to the bathroom. Even when he's been roused from a deep, deep sleep in the middle of the night my kitten is there for me without a murmer of complaint - and with a meep of compassion.

Au knows I'm feeling lousy so he lets me cuddle him. A privilege I appreciate. But our senior cat has his limits.

As I haven't been able to get to the market (or the bank or post office for that matter!) we ran out of chicken yesterday. This is Au looking annoyed at the inconvenience I'm causing him.

We can't order him take-out because Au has strong views on what is acceptable. He is not fond of processed chicken meat and he doesn't like chicken that's been dunked in boiling water and then roasted.

Seeing our senior cat is getting very short-tempered, Tom ran out to buy him some chicken. It's now roasting in the oven.

And this here is our friend Girl. She is a darling but getting rather prosperous around the middle. As such she is the star of this week's Dog Talk column, out tomorrow in the print version of the Malaysian national daily The Star Weekender section. Check it out!

About the Katz Tales book: it is being published by Marshall Cavendish and will be sold in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Hong Kong. I'll give you more details as I get them. Soooooo excited!

Don't Look!

Here's Au having a drink of water from his glass. All I'm going to say is: check out the love handles.....

I'm in the middle of writing a book (Katz Tales the book is coming out soon. Whoopeee!) so I'm keeping it short today. Better post on Friday featuring one of our favourite pals: Girl the dog.

If you are on Facebook, check out my World Literature Quiz?

For more Cats on Tuesday visit Gattina or check the list in the left menu bar.

Au On Top

Au thinks our Beetle is his car. He sits up on the roof like a cat statue, staring out over the neighbourhood.

Because the car puts him right on eye-level with us, Au feels rather powerful. From his lofty spot he inspects everyone who passes by.

And when he's exhausted from lording it over everyone, he stretches out and takes a nap.

Target wants to lie on the top too but Au makes sure his junior colleague keeps to his junior level -
Target is forced to sit on the bonnet.

And as you can see by his face, and those ears that are set back, Our baby cat is not happy about it!

For more Cats On Tuesday visit Gattina. If you like reading, check out my Facebook World Literature Quiz.

Target's Photoshoot

I was trying to take a picture of Target yesterday for the Katz Tales column (the articles I write for The Star, the Malaysian national daily) but our fuzzy has decided that being the star of the picture is dull.

First he tried to help press the button. He as fast as Bruce Lee and I didn't do a slow-mo so he's a bit blurred. But you can see by his serious expression that he really is trying to help.

When I bought this camera, I forgot that I wanted a built -in lens cover. So I got this pesky thing that dangles by a string.

After several attempts to capture Target's handsome profile, I let go of the lens cover. And having that dangling about proved to be another temptation. Here is Target, chewing on it.

There is excellent detail of his white whiskers and in the big pic sizes you can really appreciate the fuzziness of his feet. But it's not exactly brilliant. And I think unpublishable .....

But I did get one that was half way decent. Here he is, posing nicely on the bed cover.

It's not easy to take pics of cats; not even when they're as cute as Target. I mean, look at this effort! Time taken: 35 mins. Picture quality: so-so.

Will try another photoshoot tomorrow. In the meantime, any tips on how to get better pics would be gratefully appreciated...

Apart from trying to take pics of Target, I have been playing on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, check out my World Literature Quiz and tell me what you think. Should I add more questions? Or is 10 enough already?

For more Cats on Tuesday visit Gattina or check the list in the left menu bar.

Greedy Cat Fluff

Au ate his entire chicken leg and thigh within 24 hours. And of course he immediately demanded I go back to the market and get him some more.

We've debated Au's diet at length and have decided the best option for him is to eat commercial cat biscuits and either roast chicken or the equivalent home made food.

We've stopped buying wet cat food for him because he only ever liked two types. One type hasn't been around for the last 3 months and there seems to be no replacement. The other type is available but the manufacturer has changed the mix. Unfortunately this was done without Au's approval. And our cat wants "old and inferior" rather than "new and improved."

So I'm cooking for him every two days or so. Au is very fit, very active and he sparkles in the sun. At his last check up the vet pronounced him 100%. So I guess we're doing the right thing for him.

Interestingly it costs about the same to cook for him as it does to buy wet food. And there's no waste! The only thing is that it is a hassle sometimes. When stocks are low it's inevitably the day I want to stay in bed till 8AM. But the temptation is easy to overcome - when you have a senior cat shouting MEOW in your ear!

For more about Au and Target please remember that Katz Tales is out tomorrow in the print version of the Malaysian national daily, The Star, Weekend section.

The kitty in this week's adoption box is Megeara, pictured here, also known as Spider Cat. She is about 3 years old, a superb climber and expresses her love with lots of head butts and ankle weaving. She has nursed 8 kittens, only one of which was her own! The kittens have all found good homes but somehow Mega hasn’t found her special someone. If you want to adopt this beautiful and affectionate girl contact Alicia at 012 331 3318. For more pictures check here.