TITAM THE TITAN

I'M NO SMALL PIDDLY POODLE you know. I kill cobras for tea, so there. And, I'm a girl to boot. That makes me a truly modern Milly,don't you think.

Got to be strong cos I'm adopted not like Bonz and Poops, born and bred in the Sanctuary. Mum, she bought me for a few ringgit off the neighbourhood boys who managed to catch me. You know how? Cos I'm far too friendly and in love with humans.

Let me tell you about that cobra-killing incident. You know a cobra don't you. Its a very poisonous snake. The Malays call them ular sendok on account of the way they look when they are ready to strike. Their necks flare out to the sides and it looks like a large serving spoon.

We were in the garden that evening, all four of us dogs, watching Suti, the maid, sweep up the freshly mown grass. She was lucky I was there or who knows what might have happened. Anyway, to cut to the chase, the boys were sissies, but useful. I caught hold of the snake's tail and started flailing it hard. The boys cheered me on by barking and barking. That helped, I think. Probably can't take too much noise the snake because it seemed dazed. I kept attacking it and attacking it but it refused stay down. It's head kept coming back up and its neck well extended as a sign that it was ready to strike but I always got in first. Every time I attacked my heart pounded so hard and yet it felt good. My adrenalin must have been pumping. And after many attacks later it stayed down. Thought it would trick me that clever creature. Unfortunately, I'm no dud so I waited and lo and behold it tried to come up again. I was not about to let that happen and I gave it one hard bite and flailed and flailed it about so hard it almost hurt my neck. Talk about a pain in the neck. And that was that, my duel with the cobra was over and I won.

In the background I heard mum saying something about "poor little snake". God, doesn't she realise I could have gotten killed. This was why when another snake was found coiled around the iron grill of Suti's room I had no stomach to be the Titan again. Made my heart sink that; mum pitying a cobra!!

GINGER: IN MEMORIUM

GORGEOUS GINGER
























Ginger was a beauty with no trace of beast
The world he sees was definitely his feast

Ginger was boss cat, sire and all that
But silly me, I was more blind than a bat
And couldn't see that time was not my doormat

Ginger loved me I know
He slept on my sarong that I wore
and left unwashed for him to snore
on every time he felt that life was such a bore
Ginger was fat, handsome and more

Ginger was my Garfield
But now he is my guru

Ginger taught me to love the day
And not think, "ahh tomorrow it will be okay"
For when he went away
To never say, "Please may I stay
on your bed, just on your duvet"
He left a hole so big in my heart
There is nothing in the world to fill that part

Ginger, I loved you believe you me
And please forgive my stupidity
I am but human begging for your pity
To tell me, "no worries, I love you mummy."

MAYA

LET ME TELL YOU MY STORY...eeeeouw... I am Maya, mother, grandmother and great grandmother and more. Some five years or so ago she brought me home in her little car and I remember poohing on the floor of the back seat because I got nervous. It was a long ride, you know. It probably took a whole cat-day to get to the place in the boondocks...meouw...meouw...that's a big chunk out of my life.

She brought me home because she had 2 boys...eeeouw... Jebat and Ginger. I was supposed to be on loan...eouwrrrr...a long loan period obviously. Now you know why I am mother and all else. What we women have to put up with...eouwrrrrrr. I was about 6 months old then and I fell instantly in love with Jebat...oooooouw. Ginger was good looking, lovely coat and all but he was a bit of a pouf, actually. Jebat was this dashing young all man...ooooouw. My eyes are weepy thinking of him my darling Jebat. We had two litters and he done gone and got himself killed by a lorry speeding down the narrow road in front of the house. These humans. Us animals are not half as uncaring...eouwrrrrrr.

Now, those two brothers. When they fought -- of course, it would be Jebat who starts it -- I would have to break it up. Me, a woman, get in between them. I swear, men are so territorial... and then I would comfort Ginger whom the family loved to bits because he was so good looking and very affectionate with the humans. Not that my Jebat was any less loved cos they noticed when he was not at the dinner that fateful night.

Anyway, other than Jebat my greatest love is milk and butter...eouwwwwwww. My stomach don't take too kindly to milk but what can I say, when you love something you just love. I take being thrown out of the house after a bowl of milk in my stride cos what won't anyone do for love... meouw... meouw... meouw... here she comes. She's a sucker for my purrings... purrrs... purrrrrrrrs. A bit of rubbing her legs....

"Maya behave yourself. Don't get under my feet. Okay, okay, okay...come on, to the kitchen."

Yes! The fridge door...meeeeouwwww...yes, yes, the carton...aeouwww. Excuse me. Toodeloo...

BONZO & POOPS

MEET BONZO AND POOPS, two brothers but from different litters. In this picture taken when they were younger, Bonzo, the older of the two is on the left.

They are both mongrels and Bonzo is obviously has Labrador in him. No matter what they are beautiful boys and very affectionate, even Poops whose eye sight is not too great having suffered from cataracts at a young age. If he barks at you, which he often does until he learnt to properly recognise my body language, it just means you are not moving the way he finds comfortable.

Bonzo is a "looking-for-affection" kind of dog. Eats too much which is bad for him. What he does is he polishes off after everyone and often before some have had their fill. So, we try to stop him from overeating by rebuking him. That will in return bring on the "pitiful welfare" look, replete with baleful eyes and my heart melts but for his sake I have to be firm. He is the boss, Bonzo. Unlike poops he does not socialise very much with the cats. Rather he graces the community with his presence and by tolerance expects respect.

Poops, on the other hand, is a cat lover. Sometimes I think he thinks he is one of them. Very often, one of the cats will come to him to be licked and he obliges. His very good friend used to be Pretty, a friendly girl and younger sister to Puteh. She used to introduce her kitten early to Poops and the other dogs so that they become very protective of her and her babies. Now, one quirky thing about poops is that he loves little kittens and if you are not vigilant he'll steal one and run off with it in his mouth. No, he does not harm them. He just wants to hold them. When he cannot do this he loves nudging them whenever their paws or tail spills out of the cage and all this done with great tenderness.

The brothers are strange in that there is much rivalry between them. However, when fear takes over they will be very close as during a storm when they huddled together even while growling at each other. You should meet them.

PUTEH

PUTEH IS THE BEAUTIFUL ONE. Blue eyes, long haired and sometimes more white than at other times -- no dumb blonde mind -- she is Tompok's mum. A bit of an aristocat, she tends to keep aloof of the others. Currently, she has turned the rather large shed at the back of the house into her home which she shares with her daughter Coochie-cooch, Cooch for short because she was a very cute baby.

Back to Puteh. She came from her mum's first litter of three. Her two brothers. LJ short for Little Jebat because he had his father, Jebat's colour, a lovely seemingly stripy grey but when looked at closely are spots, not too small and close together and Baby, a long-haired Siamese with a very dark face, tail, ears and paws.

Puteh herself looked more like a seal pup then a kitten when she was small. Fur snow white with a hint of the dark grey markings that got clearer as she grew. A little nervy, she was nevertheless keen on a good brush. The only time she relaxed was when she is being bushed.

Puteh had four litters in all. The first three were all single kitten litters. Tompok was her first born. Then she had two more very much her lookalike but neither survived for long, one succumbing to illness and the other when our dog, Dixie, decided to be vicious. (In the early days, my first dog Dixie tended to get irritated with the kittens, but she is now an amiable old lady and leave the cats well alone.) Puteh's last litter, before we decided to spay her, included Cooch and her three brothers Clogs, Mooshie and a beautiful black and white called Schmoo. Mooshie had a strange dusky brown and white coat with markings that almost matched Schmoo's.

Third generation mine as she is, I love her dearly.

TOMPOK

MY LOVELY TOMPOK is a quiet cat. Very shy, communicates more with her eyes then her voice, she is Flip's mother. Born on 8th October 2002, she was herself a single kitten litter. I remember her birth date because she was born almost to the day of my son's return from many years away in London.

She is fourth generation mine. Born and bred where we live, she is close to me because she was one of the earlier ones and is the daughter of my favourite cat. Although she does not look anything like her mum, she behaves very much like her mum. The patches of ginger in her coat gives it the special effect of light and dark, which makes her a very attractive cat.

I think, if she had been human, she would be a very smart lady indeed. Serious and very intelligent, she would make a great scientist because despite her beauty she is too shy to want the limelight. But I imagine she has this great voice, more in the Edith Piaf ilk.

FLIP

THIS HERE IS FLIP. He is fifth generation mine. His mum is Tompok. She is beautiful, not terribly long-haired with a mix of muddy colours. But Flip, her son, is white with black spots, not unlike a Fresian cow.

Flip is very special by Malaysian standards. He was born on 31st August 2003, which makes him a Merdeka baby. Unfortunately, he is lovely to look at but impossible to cuddle although, having said that, he was my baby because when Tompok was tired of nursing him and needed a break, he would sleep on my bed with me.

Why did I call him Flip? There's a very good reason for that. You see, he was the only surviving kitten of a litter that got quite twisted up at birth and he seemed to me slow in walking. His hind legs just would not bend and he was moving about as if they were flippers hence, his name, FLIP.

So, I took it upon me to give him some physical therapy. I would bend the joints of his legs and teach him how to lift himself with them. Soon enough he was walking and he was a cute little kitten. However, being a single kitten litter Flip, like other children, became spoilt. He had his mother's total attention and I acted as nanny. He has grown up to be quite a tom cat, in the nicest way possible. Recently he had a kitten. I know this because he was very attentive towards the baby, Safari. Taught the little tyke how to be the man and that is what Flip his. Today he is this very intelligent cat. Walks around on the roof of our house and all round the house and I don't think he ever leaves our property.

Some months back he had a cyst grow on his face. There was no way he wanted to be taken to the vet. When we tried to put him into the cat basket he was very angry. We had to leave him alone but we made sure to observe him closely. That observation revealed a character that is always in total control. When the cyst burst he was very careful to keep it clean. He stayed dry and out of everyone's way, always nursing the wound carefully. We were so amazed at how quickly he healed himself.

And, the nicest thing about Flip is he meows back when I greet him and he smacks me if I am careless, like letting the lid of the food container fall on him even after I have said sorry. So there you have it, my amazing Flip.