Stray cats

After visiting my grandpa this morning, we had a leisurely drive around town. We went to my dad's office to feed the cats there, there are a couple of them and my dad has been feeding them out of goodwill since last year. One of the gray cat was very attached to my dad, it would try to sneak into the office while someone is entering to look for my dad there, it's really funny. Sometimes, my dad would work at the workshop dealing with company cars, the gray cat would follow him up and down or go and geh-poh (busybody) with what he's doing.

Yup, that's him and his sister

How pretty they are

Sometimes he would feed stray cats near where he frequently goes, one of our newer kitten- Nini was found in Inanam, she was small, week and ill when my dad found her. He poured some cat food on the ground and the kitten bounded over to eat. After nibbling on 2 kibbles, she plopped down on my dad's feet, that is how Nini came to live with us after that, if my dad did not bring her in, she wouldn't be able to survive another 2 days. At first she couldn't eat much, her body is bony, her ribs protruding through her skin, her paws are skinny like a chicken and she would have diarrhea for days poor thing, we even suspected that she might have suffered some abuse while she walked the streets due to some suspicious signs on her ears and paws. After a few weeks with us, she's showing improvement, currently she's still skinny, still prone to diarrhea, but her cheeks and paws filled out a bit and her belly is round like a tennis ball. It's a funny sight since her belly is bigger than the rest of her body.

There is a Kopitiam (coffeeshop) my dad frequented, there's a handsome white cat who always awaits him. No doubt my dad fed him whenever he was there. The Kopitiam lady boss would tell my dad that 'his' cat was waiting for him in her shop, she seem like a nice lady since she didn't chase the cat out, I couldn't say the same for some other shop owners who are simply horrid to strays, it angers me to think about it. I wished more people would be kinder to animals, especially strays. We could only do as much, however there are too many stray animals still roaming the streets, not even SPCA can save all of them. I also wished people would adopt a pet rather than buying one to help give stray animals a home. Today, the white cat wasn't there, he might have been frightened away by the fire crackers nearby, I hoped he wasn't hurt or anything.

The government should set up more animal shelters throughout the country to take in more stray animals, and giving higher subsidies in spaying/neutering for anyone who wanted to spay/neuter their pets. I would suggest to stop issuing pet store license in order to encourage people to adopt pets instead. Or just impose a law to encourage people to spay/neuter their pets, those who did not wish to spay/neuter must obtain an expensive license and breed their pets responsibly to avoid animals being dumped or abandoned. Higher fines and jail sentence for animal abuse, abandon and dumping should also be implemented. Some people have the perception that spaying/neutering is cruel and inhumane, but think of it, stray overpopulation is a serious matter throughout the world, many animals are euthanized because the shelters cannot afford to keep them. Others are abandoned, suffered from illness and abuse out there, by spaying and neutering our pets, we can prevent more of these cases from happening. Read more on Myths and Facts about Spaying and Neutering.

This is Sylvester

His coat is so shiny and black

This is their mom

Currently her two litters of kittens are living in the office

Spaying or Neutering is actually a simple procedure, all my cats and spayed and neutered and they are able to recover very quickly. I noticed that after they are spayed or neutered, their behavior are more gentle and more manja with humans. I know some people, especially guys, who are very protective of their balls, might think that the male cats will be less like a man after being 'ahem', cats don't actually feel any difference, just that they no longer feel the need to breed. I actually felt the same for my first cat, but he recovered 'like a boss' 2 to 3 days later, females would take a few weeks to heal completely but they will feel only minor discomfort for most of the time after the surgery.

Whoa, I didn't intend this post to be this long, I was just going to mention feeding the stray cats and move on to another topic about food, but somehow it unleashed a motivation in me to blog a lengthy post about social responsibilities on animals. No doubt, I will continue to speak for those who couldn't speak for themselves.