Post-Kitten-Script

My mother watched a TV programme some time ago about feral cats in Rome. The programme showed how a mother cat lost her kittens and spent a few days looking for them. But after a week, when she came across the kittens again, she did not recognise them any more.

The mother of our kittens (a.k.a MC) was certainly a good mother cat. First, she unerringly knew where a safe haven for her kittens would be. Then, she looked after them even through the bars of the cage we put them in. She made sure that the other strays in our garden did not go near. Whenever we tricked her into entering the cage, she patiently nursed and cleaned them. And when the kittens spent more time in the house, she became more persistent in trying to get inside. But now they are gone, she has (I think) more or less forgotten about them.

Which is, of course, more than we have. Sigh. I do miss the sound of little cat feet. But it is good to feel that they are well loved and taken care of where they are.

The Potato Basket is empty

Smee left our happy little cat family and went home with his new family yesterday. Now, the house feels so empty without any little kittens scurrying around.

Smee's adopters actually met him about 4-5 weeks ago, the same period that Jack Sparrow's adopter came by. But at that time, the kittens were still too young to leave their mother. Then the adopters were going for a dance competition in New York. So they could only pick up Smee after they got back from the event, on 11 Sep. But they came to visit him twice in the interim ... talk about devoted. Oh well, at least I can be confident that my baby kitten is in good hands.

Since Saturday (when his mama went for her op) Smee and his sister, Tiger Lily, had been roaming the house (mama needed their cage). They found a comfortable basket to sleep in - it didn't seem to matter that it was full of potatoes at the time. They also spent the time getting to know our fat boys, Winky and Dinky, much better. Winky and Dinky are probably their uncles, or cousins or whatever. Smee is Dinky's Mini Me, or more accurately, his Mini Smee. They have got the same tabby patches and their faces are exactly alike. Watching the big boys and little kits interact provided endless entertainment. The big boys try to bully the little ones and the little ones fight back or sometimes, run off and hide under the sofa where the big ones can't get them. Then they mistake the big boys for mama cat and try to suckle :-) Today, my big boys appreciate the added attention they've been getting. But I suspect they miss their little siblings, as I do.

Donut know what the fuss is about

Ok, that's a terrible pun, but honestly, I'm not sure that I would queue for hours for this!

The latest food craze (post-bubble tea, post-rotiboys) in Singapore is donuts. The shop that started it all, Donut Factory opened its first branch in Raffles City some time back. I didn't know it existed until I went there for dinner one evening and upon going home (around 9+pm) I was rather surprised to see a queue in front of one small little donut shop. A few days after I heard about this apparently superduper donut shop which had such phenomenal queues everyday, even worse than Lim Chee Guan bak kwa (where the queues are largely confined to the CNY period). It has since opened two more branches in Suntec and Novena Square.

I must admit I am no donut fan. And the idea of queueing for more than 15 minutes for an optional carb is not really appealing to me. But today, I happened to be in Suntec City and realised that the second, short (5 pax) queue was for people who wanted "up to 2 donuts". So I decided to give it a try and after waiting about 5 minutes, purchased the Mint Dark Chocolate and the Apple Cinnamon donuts. The chocolate was still very liquid, so the donut had been freshly made (good) but it rubbed off on the sides of the paper bag I was slinging it around in.

So I got home and we had the donuts for dessert after dinner. The dough was nice - soft, very light and fluffy. So it is really very easy to eat. The toppings were a little on the sweet side (specifically the apple cinnamon) but likely, not as sweet as the jammy ones.

On the whole, these are nice tasty donuts but I would not queue for hours for them. Value my time too much. But definitely, if the queue for "up to 2 donuts" is short, I will quite happily get in line. After all I would like to try the coffee and roasted almond donut too.

Cat Burglar

As per normal, it has been a cat-filled weekend. On Saturday, we took M.C. for her sterilisation operation. It was a just-in-the-nick-of-time appointment, as we caught her copulating with Paddy last Saturday (in between going for M's church wedding in the morning and the dinner in the evening).

Then, yesterday evening, we said goodbye to Tiger Lily. After a number of missed connections, she was adopted by two housemates (females) and has gone to stay with them in their apartment. One of them comes from a cat-owning household and misses having one around. I hope she does ok and is not too lonely away from her brother and two "uncles".

Finally, this morning, we were awakened by the sound of the burglar alarm going off. Or at least, I was awakened by it, ran down the stairs and turned off the alarm. Which, I was told, is not the right thing to do as what if there had been a burglar? Anyway, there were some tense moments as we regrouped in my parents' bedroom, just below mine. We checked the time - it was 5.30am. Outside, the newspaper chap was delivering TODAY. Our neighbour was wandering around her front garden. Armed with a small little clothes hanging aide, my father went down the stairs. I followed him with the alarm trigger in my hand. (Ok next time I will bring down a golf club or two.) We had only walked a few steps down the stairs when we saw the miscreant who had triggered the alarm. His little white face peered up at us as he lay on the carpet, somewhat startled by all the fuss. Somehow, Dinky had sneaked into the house whilst my father was doing some midnight chore at the back of the house (don't ask, don't ask).

Thus we started the day.

Davy's Adopted!

Well, another kitten has been adopted. The day after we said good-bye to Jack Sparrow, a new potential adopter came to see Davy. Her old cat, a 10 year old Persian died recently and so they are looking for another kitten to replace him. She just fell in love with him and picked him up the next day. So now we are left with just Tiger Lily and Smee.

In a sense it is a good thing because the cage is getting a little small for 4 growing kittens. Now there is more space for Tiger Lily and Smee. And it is a lot easier to put things in the cage and take them out without having to prevent four little kittens from rushing out. We can also allow them to run around the living room in the evenings - a lot easier to keep one's eyes on two rather than four. But I do miss my dear Davy. He was such a sweet natured kitten.

The challenge now is to get Tiger Lily adopted. She was actually reserved early on but her adopter has now broken her toe and can't take in a kitten at the moment. Smee has been adopted, just that his adopters can't pick him up until after their overseas trip. They are however positively smitten with him. They have visited him to see how he is doing and take photos of him each time. Love cat lovers!

Then there were three...

Well, Jack Sparrow has been adopted and left with his adopter today. That's why he gets a big huge collage of his best shots. Why does this sound like some version of a Next Top Kitten Model reality show? Except the one who gets adopted first, wins?

It is not an easy process, putting up kittens for adoption. First, finding the appropriate channels and advertising, then getting in touch with and assessing the potential adopters who approached me, then wondering when and whether they are going to revert - can't really say that the kitten is adopted until it is!

Jack Sparrow's adopter has another cat, Chocolate, who is about 8 years old. He lives in a house with a big garden for kittens to run around in. Jackie looked comfortable and at ease in his big hands. So I feel comfortable too. Only thing is, he came just as we finished bathing all the kittens. One after another, Tiger Lily, Davy and finally Smee did their big business in a corner of the kitchen/in their yellow market basket. Jack did not. So I just hope he did not do it on the way home...

Little Pieces of Heart (2)

Sigh, the little kittens are indeed stealing little pieces of my heart away. They are now about six weeks old and their baby blue eyes are now turning colour and will probably end up a light, clear green like their mother's. I suspect that one of the last few unsterilised males, Paddy, is their father as he too has a bit of a patch over one eye. Indeed, Paddy is a most appropriate pirate king. He saunters around the front yard as though he owns it and mews commandingly for attention and food.

The adoption process has gone fairly well with two kittens positively spoken for, another almost confirmed and someone coming to view the last. They should be picking up the kittens weekend after next - i.e. when we estimate the little pirates to be 8 weeks old.

They have grown considerably - so we have started letting them run in the kitchen every night. They were a bit nervous at first, and still take time to warm up but after that it is go go GO! Full of energy, they play their own version of 'kitten tag' where everyone is the catcher at the same time. They skitter and scamper all over the kitchen floor, weaving their way through chair legs and human legs alike. They hide behind the rubbish bin, and pounce on whichever little kitten next comes by. They can keep going for ages - should have called them the "Energiser Kittens" rather than the pirates. The photos here are of them in a less frentic mood, taken after they were fed and sleeping off their meal during the warmth of the afternoon. To see little pirates in action, check out the videos on my Multiply site (see sidebar for the link).

I must admit, I will miss them when they are gone. But they are still tonnes of work. One of them left a series of little deposits in the corner of the kitchen just now and we had to clean up after. Sigh.