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.

More photos