Au Speaks Out: It's My Gotcha Day Tomorrow And Efurrywon Is Celebrating

Dere is no Living in Malaysia post today bekos dere is somefing more important happening: tomorrow is my Gotcha Day. 

you kant tell becos i look so furry handsome but i will be 14 years old.

yes, 14 years ago someone tied a dirty rag and sum plastik bags around me and then threw me owt of a car onto de road.

Dorothy picked me up and she called de survunts who adopted me.

de survunts understand how fortunate dey are to live wif me. dey are planning a special day tomorrow. i know bekos i heard de female and de male talking abowt a special rost chikkun for me. and ham!

actually, de hole world is celebrating my reskew and adoption tomorrow. dey call it May Day but it really is Au’s Day.

i hope all you kats and survunts haf a furry good Au’s Day tomorrow.

PS dese piktshurs of me were made by Ann and Zoey and Maggie at Zoolatry. i like dem furry much

Why Au And Target Don't Have Family

"Why don't you breed your cats? They're famous and their kittens would have great lives."  This is something I hear from strangers who read Katz Tales in The Star on a regular basis. 

The answer is this: last year 1 shelter in our state put down 12,000 animals.  That's just 1 shelter.  It's not counting the other shelters, the council pounds, the small neighbourhood rescue groups and the hundreds of independent rescuers who put sick abandoned animals out of their misery.  Also, that's just in our state.  I'm not counting what's going on in the other states. 12,000 is the tip of the iceberg.

Au and Target are retired gentlemen cats because I don't have the heart to add to this problem.

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd chip all pets, and give discounted neutering/spaying.  Anyone who chose not to neuter would have to pay a whacking great big license fee.  Ideally, I'd try to stop all breeding for 2 or 3 years. 

We've got a buy-and-throw attitude towards pets.  If they were rarer, maybe we'd treat them better.

Au And Target In A Thunderstorm

 Au: dere's thunder so i thought i'd come and hide with you see if you're ok.  

Target: you are sitting on my paw.

 Au: oh oh, dat sounds close!

Target: you are such a scaredy cat.

Au: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Target: that was close.  the bang hurt my ears

Target: relax big brother! come on, I'll clean your neck. you like that.

Target: you know, this is a bigger job than i thought.

Au: keep going fur brain! i'm feeling calmer already.

LIM: Dog Fight

Because about half of the Malaysian population are Muslim, dogs are automatically a race and religion issue.
 
Some counsels have banned dog ownership completely in their areas.  Then there are the press stories about other counsel anti-dog incidents:

There was the time when counsel people shot a pet dog in the owner's garden.  Then there was the therapy dog that was shot.  And the counsel that started a dog killing competition.  And the counsel that strangles dogs rather then euthanising them humanely.  And this is all in the last year, and is only the tip of the iceberg.

Every time one of these stories comes out, there are many Malaysians from all races and religions who protest bitterly. 

In places where counsels are elected, people could vote out people they don't approve of.  But in Malaysia counsel officials are not elected; they are appointed by state officials.  State officials are elected on a 5 year basis.  As such, you can get counsel people who work hard and are in touch with what locals want, or you may get some bum who is in a position of power because he or she pulled some strings.   

Anyhow, the people in my area protested vigorously this week when one of our council people gave a press interview and said that all dogs should be leashed, muzzled and kept out of all public places.  He said he was sending his people around to confiscate any dogs being taken for a walk by their owners without a muzzle and leash.  You can read his statement here.


After a public outcry, our elected official for our area says dogs need not be muzzled, and a government official has said dogs will not be confiscated, although owners of certain banned/restricted breeds will be asked where they got their pets, and monitored to see if they are controlling their dogs properly. 

There is *GASP* a hint that officials may consider a dog-friendly park for the thousands of voters in our area who have pets!!!!!

I'm watching with great interest because this is the sort of issue that really sheds light on how Malaysians get along - or not. 

Au Speaks Out: I Went To De Vet And Survived!

dis morning de survunt scooped me up and put in me de travel bocks.  she is furry sneaky.

i punished her by shouting all de way to de vet.  but when i got there i was furry good.

de vet admired me a lot.  he petted me furry respectfully and gave some good kompliments.  yes, dr tan knows a superior kat when he sees one!


i furry graciously let him examine me.  i've put on 300 grams since our last visit.  and my fur and eyes and heart and efurry thing is wonderful.  i knew dis of course.  anyone can see how wonderful i am.

i will always be FIV positive but dis retromad1 medisin i am taking means i am furry well all de time.  dr tan says i am so well dat i only need to take my retromad1 once a day now.  

now i think of it, he also said i haf to eat my own weight in rost chikkun efurry day.  really, he did.  would i lie to you?

just delivur it to my sekret space.  i'm hiding on de recycling stack  wif survunts as sneaky as mine, it's de only sensibul thing to do.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: 5 More Minutes, OK?

5 More Minutes, OK?

Make it 10!

Do I Smell Rost Chikkun?

LIM: Race And Religion, Please!

Malaysians are obsessed with race and religion.  This is because of the New Economic Policy that practices positive discrimination in favour of Malays.

The NEP comes into all sorts of things from getting a discount on your home to whether you can apply for a government contract. 

As a result, every form you get in Malaysia has a slot for Race and Religion.

When the government asks, I have to fill that bit in, but when cable TV, supermarket, and other companies demand to know I get snippy. 

Many Malaysians also abhor the demands to know your R&R.  My friends tell me they leave those bits blank or cross them out. 

I get creative.

Depending on the mood I am in, I am Celtic, Saxon, Frank, Scots and occasionally Anglo-Viking.

I have been a Wodan worshiper, a devotee of Bastet, but my favourite faith is courtesy of T-man: pedestrian.

In case you're curious, I have also been educated at Wallamaloo, Oxbridge, and Peterhead (a prison near Aberdeen).  

I quite like forms now...

Wordless Wednesday: Cat Snooperviser At Work

Keeping control of bills by lying on them, and snoozing on the F1 button in case de survunt needs help. 

LIM: Huh? What?

I went to the 7-11 next to Kusar pub the other night, and I wasn't really concentrating on the matter at hand.  Yes, blame the vodka.

Anyway, my mind registered that the sales girl was wearing a tudong (headscarf worn by Muslim women) so without thinking I spoke in my horrible Bahasa (Malay for "language").

Me: Satu paket Pall Mall hijau, sila (a packet of green Pall Mall,please) 
Her: Eh?
Me: Pall Mall hijau.
Her: Ah?
Me: Bisa bebahasa Melayu? (do you speak Malay?) Satu paket Pall Mall hijau, sila!

Big mistake!

I learned my bahasa in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia are very similar as they both come from a dialect spoken in east Sumatra.  But there are some nasty differences.

For example, in Bahasa Indonesia you have:
bisa   - "can"
boleh - "may"
harus - "must" as in the sense of a religious obligation
mesti - "must"

In Bahasa Malaysia you just use boleh.   I should have said, "Boleh bebahasa Melayu?"

Affronted by my question, my tudong girl whips back in very nice English, "You should not learn from your maid!"  She assumes that I am one of the millions of people in Malaysia who have a cheap 24/7 maid from our neighbour.

"I learned my Bahasa in Jakarta," I say loftily.  "And I forgot that Malay is much simpler than Indonesian.  No bisa, harus and mesti here.  Just Malaysia boleh!"

Malaysians tend to consider themselves far superior to their neighbours and for a second there is total silence.  Thing is, I know this girl, and she has a good sense of humour.

Slowly she deciphers my shocking accent, and recognises that the implied insult to the national language is balanced by acknowledgement of the popular national catchphrase, Malaysia boleh!
 Caught out, she falls over laughing and calls her friend over to tell her what I said.

It's fun to have a giggle but there's one problem: from now on she's going to speak nothing but Malay to me, and I bet she'll correct my accent too!

Au's Rat

I got up this morning and found Au at the bottom of the stairs.  He led me to a dead rat, sat down and gave me a look that said, "For you!" 

I gave suitable words of praise, petted him (a sneaky way to check he didn't have any bites) and then let him lead me to the kitchen for an extra big breakfast.

Yesterday the outside feral cats in the back lane gave me a rat too.  You'd think it was my birthday or something, and I am grateful for the kind thoughts, but I'm hoping that's the end of this hunting streak for a while.

We haven't had rats in years because our old kitty Scoop was the world's best rat hunter.  Even now that he has been gone for over 3 years, the rat population still hasn't recovered.  However, we have construction at the end of our road, and I suspect these new marks were flushed out from their homes there.   

These poor murine souls come in through a drain pipe, and don't realise they've entered the Death Zone.

I feel a bit sorry for them, but the upside is that it proves that Au is definitely feeling good.  He's also smug as can be.  Just look at our urban hunter's grin here.

In case you're wondering, Target missed it all as he was having a long lie.  And I bet that if Boris knew, he would be kicking himself at missing all this excitement!

COT Updates On Au And Boris

Boris' mum and dad have written to say that Boris enjoyed his drive to JB, met with his sister whom he likes - but she hissed at him!  And then went off to growl at a cat who was walking in Boris' garden.  So it sounds like he's all happy with his old family in his new home.

Here is a pic of us before he left.  Its' not a great picture because T-man always has trouble with the camera and Boris got bored of waiting and wriggled.  I'll ask his mum and dad to send a pic of them with Boris and his sister Kuning.

Au is still super skinny but he is full of energy.  He's also eating like a pig in fur.  That cat food he liked that came as a free sample with a 3.5KG bag of biscuits is now being sold by the box.  Au has eaten his way through 12 packs of 85g each since Thursday. 

I think we'll go and see the RetroMAD1 vet on Saturday, just for a checkup.  Au is fine, but a regular checkup can't hurt.  Although I don't think Au would share my feelings, so I won't tell him until we're well on our way to the vet.  Hehehe, yes, I have learned sneaky from him.

For more cats, check out Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Boris' Family Turned Up!

You're not going to believe this, but Boris' real family turned up.

Yesterday, Boris appeared in Katz Tales, my column in The Star Weekender. The morning I checked my email and got this message. (I've shortened it a bit)

I was quite shocked to see the articles you have put up on Boris. Me & my wife smile since we saw it. I can 85% say this is the cat which we have raised.

He was born on Jan 2007.
 
We called him 'Puteh'
 
We had he & his sister (which we called "Kuning). Even though his color is not 'white' but we choose that name to differentiate he with the sister.
 
He have a birthmark on the nose.
 
He love to sleep on his back with all four legs in the air
 
If you look at his belly, he got a birth defect. You have to find for it, it is kind a like an 'opening' with the size of 10cents coin. It's a sensitive area.

Kuning was spayed, but Boris disappeared just before they could take him to the vet. They searched for him but couldn't find him.

To make thing worse, few weeks after that we had to moved to JB (Note: a city 500 km south from here). So we thought, there are no more fate between us & Boris even though in our heart we still kept thinking one day, may god give us the chance to meet him.

Until TODAY. Miracle happen.

I really really really hope you can contact me today or tomorrow. I am in KL now (today &  tomorro).

Azzam & Kelly

Isn't it a miracle? Azzam and Kelly just happened to be back in this area for a wedding, and they happened to read the paper, and see his picture.

We've just had a joyful reunion, and Boris has gone back with his family to JB.

Here are the baby pictures Azzam sent me yesterday of Boris and Boris with his sister.

I'm so glad Boris is back where he should be, but boy am I going to miss him!

Target

Target is getting everything he wants. I fear I am spoiling him, but really, could you resist this look?