Introducing a new cat to your house

We picked up Pearl the day after meeting Yati and her amazing Api-Api and Jebat Arjuna. Initially, I wanted to forget about Pearl (and the deposit) after seeing a show quality cat but upon seeing her again, I couldn't do it. I could not leave her there sharing a small cage fit for one. Oh dear! So we paid the balance and brought her home.

Upon reaching home, I placed Pearl in her carrier on the table in my bedroom next to where I had placed the two boys (in the family area). I had read from the internet that you need to introduced new cats slowly, ie not to just put them together but to isolate them first. So my intention was to place her cage in my bedroom for about a week before introducing her to the two boys.

Boboy checking out Pearl

Imagine my surprise, even while I was setting up her cage, the first thing Dusky did was to quickly enter my room, give the carrier a cursory sniff, then sniffed out Pearl and that was that. He then happily left my room (no signs of aggressive behaviour). I took out my phone but could not take any photos as the phone decided to go west and had to do a reset to reactive the phone. :(

Boboy did the same thing but he first sat in front of the carrier and looked at Pearl. Then the customary sniffing session and then it was back to business of playing with Dusky. Pearl just sat there, like the Princess that she is, and lapped up all the attention. And she was purring, the naughty girl!

Maybe it was because she was a girl and was in the carrier, thus presenting no threat to the two boys. But then again, she was on an elevated position. Hmmmm......

Anyway, in view that I had already spend beyond my budget on the kittens, that night I had decided with much regret to inform Yati that I will not be getting Api-Api after all. :(( :(( :((

Hmmm..hello, my name is Pearl.

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My first cat fair & exhibition

Today will always be remembered as the first time I attended a cat fair and exhibition, the MCC's Fun SHow at Kelana Mall. Ok so it is not very big, organised by the Malaysian Cat Club but it was very exciting for me as I get to see some really nice cats.

I had arranged with a local breeder named Yati to meet her to check out a seven months old male maine coon she wanted to sell. I was given Yati's number by one of the local breeders, Ejay of Rizcoon. Luckily, Yati did not mind some idiot calling her in the middle of the night asking whether she has any coons for sale. :)

But oh boy, her cat was absolutely adorable! Yati was kind enough to let us hold the boy nicknamed Api-api in view of his colour, red. OMG he is soooo big! She also brought along an adult male maine coon just for comparison - Jebat Arjuna (another heart breaker!). I told her I will have to think about it as he is rather expensive and beyond my budget. :(

Happy daze........

Handsome Api-Api

Majestic Jebat Arjuna

Sara & Liza with Api-Api

He is soooo adorable!

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And Pearl makes three ....

The more I read about cats especially maine coons, the more I felt that I wanted to venture further into this world and try my hands at becoming a breeder. So it was off to another round of visiting the petshops and calling up or sending emails to various catteries in KL/Selangor.

Ok I hear you, NEVER BUY PUREBREED CATS from petshops but if the local breeders are not answering your calls or responding to your emails, what do you do? I confess that I am a very impatient person, when I want something, it is NOW and not LATER. So what happened next was entirely my fault so be it.

Finally, on 19 February 2011, I managed to find a petshop that have two pure bred female maine coon kitten (of breeding quality and intact) and a male maine coon kitten for sale. At that time, I had already found out that local breeders prefer to keep the female kittens and only sell the male kittens and that most local breeders do not sell intact kittens. So when the shopkeeper told me he had two intact female kittens, I immediately asked to see them.

Pearl in front, Amber in the background

The first time I saw Pearl and Amber, I was struck by how Amber looks so elegant with her white ruff and her brown coat. Pearl was much thinner (more like lithe) and had silver, white and brown coat. I wanted Amber but when the shopkeeper opened the cage, Pearl was the one excitedly greeting me, Amber scrambled as far away as she could. When I picked her up, she snuggled against me and I was struck by how cute her overall face was - absolutely cute, foxy like. And she was purring and meowing at the same time. Or maybe like me, she is a talkative kitten. He he he, you've guessed it, I am dead.

The shopkeeper told me that all three kittens (the two girls and boy) were from the same litter but Pearl was the only one who had the case of fungus when she was a baby hence that is why she is smaller that the rest. She also had a scrawny looking tail which I was told will fill up a bit when she grows older. Hmmm, little did I know that it will take a miracle for that to happen!

Before I left the shop, I placed a deposit for her as I did not bring enough cash for her. The shopkeeper said that he will arrange for the necessary registration papers (with TICA) and that she has already been vaccinated from the necessary evil. I saw the registration slip that he showed me but since I didn't know how an actual TICA registration slip looked like, I could not comment whether it is genuine.

Okay, I know the warning bells were there - fungus, smallest in the litter, scrawny tail but look at her, she's sooo adorable! :) :) :)). Despite the warning bells, we picked her up on 27/02/11.

He he he, imagine, I only started learning about cats from 5/2/2011 and boy, do I have a long, long way to go!

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Celebrating Boboy's 5 months old

Yes I may not be a pure maine coon but I have the look :))

Make sure you get a good shot of me!

I am bored, when's my turn?

Let's play football!

Oooh, there's two of them!

I am tired, can I rest a while?

It's MY 5 months birthday so the toy is MINE!

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And what about Ting Ting?

The first time Ting Ting came to our house after the two boys arrived, she was really, REALLY not pleased! After entering the house, she became skittish. She could smell the two boys but they were kept upstairs. She stayed only long enough to be cuddled, have her dinner and bolted as fast as she could. After that, her visits became more and more infrequent until she totally stopped. I was very sad and had wished for a happier ending but she refused to make friends with the boys. :((

My last few photos of Ting Ting at my house:

A forlorn looking Ting Ting

What's that!

Adopted Mum, where's my dinner please?

Last cuddle

Goodbye........ :((

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First visit to the vet

On the second day, we noticed that Boboy was looking a bit peaky and his nose was no longer red. He was also sneezing. We quickly brought him to the vet. In the car, he was looking so lost and scared in the carrier, poor baby!

Boboy resting on the bed

Luckily, it was only a minor cold brought about due to the stress of new environment. (For a new comer, that was a revelation ie cats can be stressed. I thought that, compared to us, their lives are stress free! :)). The vet also demonstrated how to give the oral medication to the cat. Hmmm, that was easy! (so I thought).

Anyway, I learned the hard way that:

• They know exectly when you are going to give them medicine - it's as though they have some sixth sense
• They can trick you into thinking that they have swallowed the pills, only to find it a few minutes later on their ruff
• Since they KNOW that they are dealing with a beginner, they will definitely give you the run for your money!

Here's a link to a very good guide on how to give oral medication to cats : http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/cat_meds.aspx

Despite reading about how to give oral medications or watching the various on-line videos or being shown how to do it by my fellow cat lovers, I have yet to master the art of giving medication. So I hope my kittens never need to take any medication! HELP! :))

BTW it still takes two of us to do it, me to hold on to the cat and one of my daughters to give them the medication. On average, one pill takes around 5 to 10 minutes before the cat finally swallows it. Poor babies!

Kittens at play

Boboy : Hei Dusky look, I've managed to get my collar off!

Dusky : I know that you are bigger than me but I want it!

Dusky : Ha ha ha, it's mine, it's mine!

Boboy : The collar is MINE! Give it back please.

Boboy : Sniff, if you want it sooo badly, you can have it!

Boboy : Mummy I don't want to play with Dusky anymore, he took my collar!

Mummy, there's another cat here!

Buddies after an exhausting day!

More photos of kittens at play

Taking Boboy and Dusky home

At the Petstore

Hmmm, I wonder what's in the box.

Hello human, who are you? I have just had a bath and I feel really fresh

What is all the fuss about? Look at me, I am coolllllll 

Liza trying her hand in carrying Boboy

The shopkeeper showing Sara how to put on Boboy's collar

Err, can you let me go please? Err...

Caught you!

Sorry kids, the shop had only the medium sized carrier. NM, mummy will get a bigger carrier soon.

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My first purchase ...

Ting Ting having a quick nap

By early February 2011, I was starting to feel that there's something missing. Ting Ting was a regular in our house, there are days whereby it seems she never left but it wasn't the same, she belongs to my neighbour. Before Ting Ting, I only know a few species of cats - the Persians, the Bengals, the Sphinx plus the mixed species (he he he, that's as far as I know). When I met Ting Ting and showed the photos to some of my cat loving friends, they all thought that she was a mixed Birman. So I looked up the Birmans and decided I wouldn't mind having one of my own.

So on that fateful Saturday 5 February, me and my daughter Sara went to the pet shop behind my house, just to check out what they have. I have already decided that I wanted a fully potty trained Birman kitten around four months. They had 4 display glass cages, two on top, two at the bottom. I saw my first live Bengal (white with black stripes) in one of the display cages. Wow he was a beauty but I knew he wasn't for me as I wanted a "not so wild" cat. Then I saw this black and white cat with a bushy tail sitting in the next cage. He has a cute face with a red nose - woweee, fell in love with red nose immediately. Below him, there was a totally grey cat and a ginger coloured cat whilst in the fourth cage there were three small kittens.

Boboy sniffing out the hamster's cage

When I asked the shopkeeper, she said that the black and white cat is a maine coon mixed with persian. (What's a maine coon cat? I asked myself). Then she asked whether I wanted to see and hold the cat. I said yes! So her husband brought out the cat whom she called Boboy. The first thing that struck me was, this is a five months old cat? He looks a bit big. The shopkeeper explained that the maine coon is a large cat so he has inherited some of the genes but he will not be as big as a pure maine coon.

Excuse me human, can you please get the top open?

Boboy was very active, he couldn't keep still for very long, especially when he got to the fish aquarium situated on the floor. The shopkeeper told me that he will actually try and put his paws into the hole at the top of the aquarium.

My daughter and me took turns holding Boboy, he was so well behaved, he actually sat there and only squirmed after 5 minutes of handling. He looked at us with that big brown/yellow eyes and that pink nose, I knew I was a goner.

I asked how much does he cost. Gulp, I decided he wasn't for me. So we spend the rest of day and the next day looking at other pet shops for a kitten. That was a waste of time - please be reminded not to go cat-shopping during the Chinese New Year holiday weekend!

Sara and Boboy

At the same time, I was also busy surfing the internet for a mixed birman kitten but to no avail. Finally, after much thought and consideration, we decided to return to the first shop on Sunday afternoon and brought along my husband (who is also another non-lover of cats but he had already fallen under Ting Ting's spell so it was easy to persuade him to come along). After another round of play with Boboy, we finally gave in and decided to bring him home.

Little Dusky

Soon after signing the necessary papers and paying for the cat, the shopkeeper offered us another cat to adopt, a four months old persian mixed with local cat. She put the grey coloured kitten in my arms, and I fell in love again even though he doesn't have a tail (yes, no tail!). We named him Dusky. Later, we found out that he is actually a blue and white mackerel tabby.

After that, it was a hectic afternoon of getting a cage, a carrier, food (kibbles - what's that my mind whispered), toys, litter tray, litter sand etc. We left the two kittens to have their "spa" before picking them up later in the evening.

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