Junior, Dino and Cik Tom
 

Having pets can be very therapeutic

Having pets can be very therapeutic

Having pets can be very therapeutic

Cats not only recognize their owners’ scent, voice and footsteps, but also the sound of your car
 
"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose"
Garrison Keillor
 
There are many quotes on animals that we’ve heard in the past. One of my favourites is “Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions and they pass no criticism” - George Eliot from Mr Gilfil’s Love Story.

This is so true. Having pets can be very therapeutic. I had three cats, yes, had: we lost two of them last year.

First there was Tompok, a tabby cat that we affectionately called Cik Tom because of her spots. She actually came with the house so to speak, so we didn’t have the heart to chase her away. She was as toilet-trained as they come, had beautiful soft fur and was never a fuss. So, I wondered who had thrown this enchanting creature away.

Like all cats, Cik Tom enjoyed ‘going out’ and would only come back after office hours when I got home. Normally I don’t worry about the cats as they’re pretty independent creatures that don’t need tending too. I, for one, would not centre my life around them, no matter how much I love them.

But one day, Cik Tom came back late at night, limping, and without fur on her right side! She had apparently agitated someone and as a result, this someone had poured hot water over her! She was in such bad shape. I didn’t even know how to hold her. Her mews were heart-rending, she was obviously in great pain.

I nursed her back to health. She only let me tend to her, even the kids couldn’t get close as she would show her claws, which was most unlike her. Cik Tom lived with us for 13 years. Then one day last year, she just didn’t come home. Some people say cats don’t die in front of their owners because they didn’t want their owners to be sad.

But this was not true for Dino. We got Dino during the last World Cup. In the true spirit of the game, we named him Ronaldinho, after the famous Brazilian football player. Dino looked like Garfield, only he was in black and grey stripes, and was a handful to take care of.

I had my share of broken casserole dishes when he pounced on my kitchen counter looking for food. I had another share of broken plates when he felt he wanted to sit on my kitchen table and conveniently pushed the ‘tudung saji’ with all the contents under it to make space for himself.

He was also very playful and used to take swipes at our legs when we passed by to put the clothes out to dry, or when I was cooking in the kitchen.

As a result, we ended up with scratches like nobody’s business. Everybody loved Dino except Cik Tom of course. They were arch rivals. Whenever Dino went close, Cik Tom would spit fiercely and claw. In the end, Dino just gave up trying to be friends.

Dino grew horizontally and vertically. He was more than four kilos before he died.

Being male and all, Dino was very territorial. He used to “spray” the doors, the sofa and anything and everything else during the mating season. So much trouble! He always ended up sleeping outside because of this and also because he seemingly enjoyed these escapades outdoors with the other neighbourhood felines.

But on his more sober days, he was most affectionate. He would just plop onto my lap and sleep to his heart’s content. Nothing would wake him up except when the kids call him for ‘makan’, well... almost nothing!

Cats not only recognize their owners’ scent, voice and footsteps, but also the sound of their car. Dino would run from God knows where and race me home. Day by day he seemed to gallop from further distances. Then one day, he didn’t come back. After what happened to Cik Tom, I was worried.

This fat cat was missing. He came back starving and bedraggled after six days. He had practically dragged himself home. From where, we didn’t know and couldn’t fathom. But he was very sick, and had lost a considerable amount of weight. He was not the Dino we all knew.

He refused to eat, drank a bit of milk and just slept. Since he came back at night, the plan was to take him to the vet first thing the next morning. But that was not to be. I heard him mewing under my bed as I was about to perform my morning prayers. I thought I would pray first and tend to him later...

By the time I had finished praying and looked for him, he was already dead. It was a sad day for all of us. We cried. My youngest kept asking him to ‘wake up’. The kids cried all the way to school and I, all the way to the office. I left my Dino for my hubby to bury as I couldn’t do it.

That was the day I couldn’t lecture. I was too overcome by sadness. I went to class and just wrote notes on the board. My students commented that my spelling was a bit ‘off’. Oh, yes,  I was a bit ‘off’!

So after Cik Tom’s and Dino’s demises, we silently agreed not to have anymore cats. But then there was Junior. Junior was a cat that used to frequent my neighbour’s house. But time and time again, he would hop over to our house because there was food for Cik Tom and Dino.

He was exactly the same colour as Dino but smaller and younger, hence the name ‘Junior’, a name given to him by my eldest daughter. If Dino was stout and short, Junior was lean and long. When he stretched, he was about two feet long.

Seeing that Dino and Junior got along, we just let them be friends. But we never really considered him ours, since the neighbour was still feeding him. But whenever we opened our door in the morning to go to work, he just welcomed himself in. Junior was also around the day Dino died.

Have you ever heard the expression: cats do not answer to their master’s call? They just give you this look as if to say, ‘Take a message and I’ll get back to you later’.

Well, that is exactly what Junior is all about. He gives you this look, ignores you and walks away. But he does answer to “Hey, handsome cat”. He’ll give you this sheepish look and go back to sleep.

The best thing I love about Junior is when I do my marking at night. Normally, I’ll be on a big throw cushion on the floor with my assignments scattered in front of me. Junior will just come and plunk himself on the assignments, cleaning himself.

After pushing him away a couple of times, he still comes back to the page that I’m marking. I scratch his neck and he purrs loudly. I give him a kiss on his flat head and he wakes up and licks my nose and chin. I push him away with one last attempt, he stretches and places himself on the same page and looks at me upside down.

Maybe it’s his way of saying, ‘that’s enough marking for tonight, time to rest’. So I clear the assignments and pack my things, only to find one of his whiskers on the page. Great, now I have cat DNA all over my assignments. Thanks, Junior...
 
Last updated: 22 December 2009
     
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