After 2 Years & 4 Cats!

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. -- Helen Keller

Almost 2 years has flown by since I first fell in love with 'cats'. Time has indeed passed quickly! 2 years and 4 cats! I just thought to pen down my heartfelt feelings about these adorable creatures after these while.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my blog, I was born the dog-lover as I had a pet dog since I was born for some years. Of course, I still love puppies and dogs. I still do yearn to own one but probably when I'm in a better financial situation than now. Dogs need plenty of quality time for attention and walks plus tons of moo-lah in maintaining them! I'm getting there soon! :)
I've heard of cats - Persians and such, being the kinda creatures which dislikes petting and too much attention. I always had the impression that cats only want to be served and pampered. That was my pre-conceived ideas of ALL cats! And boy, was I so wrong!! I own 4 awesome DSH (Domestic Short Hair) cats and I know now, cats were nothing I imagined them to be!
After Slurpee and Cherry came into my life, I began to learn tons about cats, observing and taking care of them. They indeed are so much more lovable than I even thought! All the more when Cookie was born and Pepper was found a short time later, my lessons on cats grew. I'm so thankful for not missing out these beautiful moments in life.

• LESSON #1

Cats are indeed grateful creatures. Cherry would rub her head against our legs whenever we give her food before devouring them - her grateful gesture. Slurpee would not waste one bit of food. If it falls from her plate, she would use her paw, pull it towards her and eat it up.

• LESSON #2

Cats DO love pampering and to snuggle close to you! All our four beauties enjoy us carrying them and being stoked and petted. But that is only when they fully trust you and are entirely familiar with you.

• LESSON #3

Cats can be trained! My Mom proved to me that anyone at all can be taught. My Mom started off with training Slurpee to do stuff like 'turning over', 'shaking hands', 'play & catch' and 'eat' successfully. Then My Dad began to train Cherry to 'turn over', 'come', 'sit' and many more. I tried training Cookie and now she's a real darling! Now Pepper is in the training process.
Though being the only cat who roams around freely, Cherry is the most obedient of them all. You'll have to see to believe!

• LESSON #4

Cats are extremely intelligent. As for this, it varies in each cat.
Slurpee is an alert cat with the knowledge of every new object around her. She always rushed to it to check it out.
As for Cherry, she understands our words just too well. Sometimes I feel she's so human!
Cookie knows when we are going to take her back to her cage, she would run to a corner and hide. Cookie would mew or cry until she gets what she wants. Mischievous but her demands are always reasonable so we give in :)
As for Pepper, she knows exactly when to cry what. Meaning, when we're applying cream or medication for her, she would cry out "Awww!" and when I'm giving her the oral Cod Liver Oil she would promptly shake her head and say "Nooo!" Not kidding! Hear to believe! ;)

I'll continue to update this section when I do recall other lessons I've learnt :)

It's a bump! No. It's ring-worms!

We found a bleeding wound on Pepper's forehead on 7 August 2008. Actually, Ye En who was over at my house noticed the 'injury' on Pepper's forehead (between her right ear and eye: the size of a 50-cent coin). It was bleeding at that moment and I had not much time to be with her (and also thinking it was an injury due to her running and falling moments), I dabbed off the blood and applied Body Shop Butter on it.

Days later, the bleeding stopped but I continued to apply iodine and gave her Seven Seas Cod Liver Oil orally everyday. Thank God I did! But the wounds did not seem to heal neither did the fur at that spot seem to regrow :(

Then, on 19 August 2008, while carrying Pepper as usual, I suddenly noticed a similar looking wound on her left paw! This one was much smaller (about the circumference of a straw) and one of her fingers were almost eaten up! Mortified was I! Although she lives with Cookie, I knew very well that Cookie had nothing to do with this. Immediately I called up our vet, described everything and he asked me to take her in for consultation. That was when we finally knew it was RING-WORMS attacking our baby! I was totally disappointed with myself for not taking Pepper to the vet any earlier!

Ringworm is an annoying, highly contagious fungal disorder that is curable. The problem with this disorder is that there are 35 different species of ringworm that can affect cats, dogs and be transmitted to humans as well. (Source: http://rubyglen.com/pets/ringworm.htm)

Pepper and Cookie had to be separated due to the infection being contagious. It was indeed a very difficult time for Cookie, Pepper and us as well; to see both of them suffer alone (esp. Cookie being terrified being alone).
The vet prescribed an anti-fungal gel to be applied once a day and anti-fungal shampoo to be applied for 10 minutes before washing it off every few days.

Pepper took the treatment very badly as the lotion smears her skin due to alcohol content and she hates being wet (which cat likes being wet anyway?)
All of us took turns taking care of her and it sure paid off! Today Pepper officially recovered! How do we know? My Dad bought the Wood Lamp to check out her wounds for the worms and when we used it to check her wounds this morning, it was all clear! Thank you, Jesus! :)

Notice the improvement at that spot? :)

After showering Cookie and Pepper today, we put them back together again! And you should see how crazily happy they are together now. I'm bliss. *phewww*

Their Homes.

This was then.
(Slurpee's far behind, Cherry's on top (of Slurpee's home - unseen), Cookie's left and Pepper's right.)

Slurpee was the only cat in our home for quite some months. Although Cherry came along later on, she refused to be housed with us, in spite of many attempts of invitations.

Cherry simply enjoyed freedom but she never failed to come home everyday for her meals and inside our home to spend some time with us. Yes, Cherry's the sweetest among the lot! :)
Slurpee somehow connected to my Dad so she officially belongs to my Dad now. During the Hari Raya holidays in 2006, my dad worked on building up a home exclusively for Slurpee with my Mom being the architect.
As for Cherry, we placed a basket with comfy rugs on Slurpee's palace together with Cherry's food and water bowls. Cherry sleeps there every night.

As for Cookie and Pepper, they initially lived in individual little cages until we decided to get a tall and big cage for the both of them.

Cookie fooling around in her old home.

Now both Cookie and Pepper enjoys each other's company and sometimes even sleep ON each other! See below!

Loving - are they not? :)

This is now.
(Slurpee's on left, Cherry's on top, Cookie's & Pepper's on right)