leafty & the kitten

always trust leafty to roll out the welcoming mat for new kittens. he is, however, in danger of being the mat with this one!

fingers crossed

we have had 3 enquiries but no follow ups on the kitten. in the mean time, he is attaching himself to whoever will have him. don't get too comfortable there, boy!

our fren just told us that gremlin has been reclaimed by his family. but what kind of family loses a kitten?!

time of our lives

Leafty is getting on in years. 3 months ago, he developed an alarming head tilt from which the vet wasn't confident he could recover. we were preparing for the worst but he came back strong like a second wave and is now skipping and hopping round the house like he is rediscovering it afresh. he also has a renewed fascination with us cats so the timing cannot be more perfect that we have a new kitten in the house. watching the child and the second child is enough to stir the forgotten adolescence in all of us!

there have been other signs that the family is more than maturing. some of us are quite certainly heading into full retirement. Papa is wheezing, barely perceptibly, but a wheeze nonetheless that wasn't there yesterday. and Bak Bak, the tom that chose to stay, has a full-blown infection from FELV.

so the woman's gentle giant is preparing for the final wind-down, responding enthusiastically with his trademark squeak when nuzzled, rubbed or carried but otherwise hardly stirring from his favourite spot in the laundry basket. he might yet pull a Leafty and surprise us all. whatever happens, we are glad he has been living out the best times of his life here with us. we can't ask for much more than that.

stay strong, Bak Bak!







whatever Leafty is doing, it's working. see the difference between Bak Bak's eyes now and the scary before (below)!

my oh my

there are no pregnant cats in our area so where did this guy come from? the woman went hunting for the incessant meowing downstairs and found this little thing tucked in someone's shoe rack. the family says they have never seen the kitten before so this is a mystery.



yet another for the adoption boards.

in the mean time, that means camping in the utility room until the kitten stops waking the neighbours with its cacophony. he was spitting and hissing at the man and woman at first, then he cried when they went away. contrary little thing. but after a night in a warm spot under the sleeping bag next to the woman, he was finally quite ready to entertain himself and took over the sleeping bag with gusto when the woman left for work.

(update: Socks has been adopted!)

gremlin for adoption

our friend had this little surprise waiting for him at his void deck when he went out for breakfast. the woman is not allowed to look at these pictures too closely or she will become singapore's next hoarder...




please contact us if you are interested to adopt, the kitten is absolutely adorable and more photos can be found here. you can also help us decide what sex it is, the friend can't tell but judging from the photos, the woman's guess is male...

(update: we were told the family that lost him claimed him back...)

nation of tattle-tales

it’s a tough job being a good neighbour. your children should never be too loud or have too much fun, you as an example to them, should never have any fun at all throwing after-10 parties, enjoying loud music, indulging in insect-breeding plants, loving disease-carrying pets, have questionable lifestyles, questionable religious practices, non-singaporean-looking people stick around who speak all sorts of odd languages or show any interest in your neighbour as no one appreciates a busybody. (suck in breathe)

the best neighbours it seems, are working couples who don’t come home till late and have no time for hobbies, TV and sex.

if the town council officers think they are overwhelmed with complaints now, have they thought what it would be like when we do fulfill our national vision of a fertile vibrant diverse 6m-strong melting pot of cultures and lifestyles? If we are a nation of tattle-tales today, i shudder at the hubbub when our precious newborns and esteemed foreign friends take the pledge and become true blue Singaporeans tomorrow.

mr mah, you say you receive 530 complaints on cats every year from the residents. i hate to tell you but things are not likely to get better for either of us. 4.5m people = 530 complaints, 6m people = 706 complaints. 706 complaints, I can see, would be all the more reason you would say your stance is indeed the ideal one. the way i see it, we are looking at a long hard blistering road of discord between cat haters and cat lovers for as long as you are here and i am here. don’t forget, the numbers on my side will swell too.

and so the argument that the number of complaints that TCs receive is a good gauge of public sentiment and apt justification for curbs and restrictions is another fine example of rational reasoning that doesn’t do anyone any good. moreover, the attitude behind it frankly runs counter to the rhetoric about embracing a vibrant diverse gracious society.

for one thing, it tells people they have to be part of the majority or they are a problem. for another, it rewards a lot of people who simply do not make any effort to connect with neighbours who aren’t like them.

perhaps the way forward to resolving neighbourly angst is not to come up with more restricting laws and by-laws but to break this culture of complaints altogether, by helping to bridge differences and build relationships.

if it were deemed perfectly normal that some people keep cats as pets and care for strays, and perfectly understandable that some people fear and dislike cats, then everyone would have no choice but to find a middle ground. if we are to succeed as a model of multi-racial/faith/cultural graciousness to the rest of the world, finding middle ground is precisely what we all need to be good at.