2018-04-04 23:12 Living with cats - Each day comes with surprises
Y
Do you have pets? I have two cats, one which I brought from Japan and the other which was adopted from the local animal shelter. Both cats are adults, but they are still playful and active.
Mittan is a female cat. She was a stray cat and I don't know her age. A vet estimated her age and it seems she is around 11 years old.
Midon is a male cat. I don't know when he was born. I think he was also a stray cat.
Mittan is very skillful at opening sliding doors. My house has several sliding doors and as a matter of course, I want to keep them closed. However, for cats, the back space of the doors are unknown and mysterious areas, so they want to go in. They are very curious and are always looking for an opportunity to get in. They seem to know that I don't like them to get inside of the sliding doors. So, what Mittan does is open the sliding doors at midnight.
One night, I got woken up by a strange noise. It sounded like something was being dragged. It started for two or three seconds and stopped, then it started again. My heart started beating because I thought it might be a thief. I opened my eyes a little and looked at the direction of that strange noise. It was midnight and dark, but I could see the sliding door was moving little by little along with a strange noise, but I couldn't see anything. The next moment, I heard something bumping into the door and the door shook a little. I got up slowly and looked at the door. What I saw was Mittan sitting inside of the sliding door!
Since then, she has been trying to open every sliding door in the house. She seemed to enjoy it. Midon cannot open the sliding doors but he learnt that Mittan can open them, so he follows her when he wants to get inside of the door.
I always close the sliding doors and as soon I close them, Mittan opens them at midnight. We repeat this every day. I once used a prop for locking the door, but she scratched the door, so I stopped using it.
It's not only Mittan that surprises me. Midon is very active early in the morning. The day before yesterday, I was woken up by my head and pillow shaking. I was surprised and got up and saw Midon was holding my pillow with his forefeet and kicking it by his rear feet. There are toys made for cats for kicking, and I knew they are sold at pet shops. But why did he use my pillow and why it had to be so early in the morning? I know it's a useless question for cats.
Living with cats comes with each day filled with surprises, fun and a bit of annoyance.
2018-01-20 00:04 My memories of Moko
Y
Yesterday was a very sad day. One of my cats, Moko, died. His age was 15 years old. I had been living with Moko for about 13 years. 13 years ...they were long and happy days.
The first opportunity to see him was on a website for finding foster parents for cats and dogs. I contacted the animal welfare group who had kept Moko and let them know my blog that was mostly written about my cats. Usually, animal welfare groups make sure where an applicant lives because some rented houses don't allow keeping pets, and most groups visit the applicant's house to make sure. They saw my blog and gave me a permission to have Moko.
I talked with a woman who had been keeping Moko. She said that Moko was found on a roadside by a woman who didn't have her own child. She took him to her home and grew him, but she abandoned him after her baby was born and he was taken to the animal welfare. However, same as the other animal welfare groups, the group that accepted Moko had so many cats and dogs. They tried to keep their cats and dogs as much as they could, but it was getting impossible. Therefore, the cats and dogs that had been living there for a long time were chosen and taken to the vet for euthanasia. One day, Moko was chosen. He was taken to the vet, but the vet looked at him and said he had a policy that he will not kill cats and dogs that are young and healthy, and he refused euthanasia. Moko's life was saved. However, the woman who had been keeping Moko had no idea what to do next. She asked her friend and was recommended to upload his photo to one of the famous websites, and then I saw that photo. The woman of the animal welfare group was so glad to know that I applied.
I met her and Moko at Shinjuku Station, one of the busiest stations in Japan. I think Moko was very scared. Then my husband and I took him home, it was spring of 2005.
I named him Moko because he had a gorgeous coat. Moko moko means fluffy in Japanese.
At the time Moko came to our house, we already had two cats, Kuma and Kemeko. At first, Moko was scared but he got used to the other two cats, and especially he liked the older male cat, Kuma. Moko always followed Kuma like a kitten follows its mum. Moko was a big boy and looking at the two cats he was walking along with, I thought Moko looked like a bodyguard of Kuma. However, actually he was a little timid and his personality was far from a bodyguard's one.
Moko was a big cat, so he was strong, and we sometimes had trouble with keeping him steady at the vet when he took a vaccine. The vet said that he might have Maine Coon's DNA because he was quite big. He was very sporty and could jump high. I remember that well, but it feels like a long time ago.
For the past two years, he had been losing his muscles and getting weak. We took him to the specialist, but they couldn't find the reason. Last month, I knew that he would not be able to survive long, so I gave him anything that he wanted to eat. His last was peaceful.
Thank you, Moko. I really think the days that I spent with you were wonderful.
2017-08-04 09:19 A cat in a jumper
Y (Kuma's owner)
This winter isn't so cold and I don't have much chance to use the wood-burning stove, however one of my cats, Moko-Nyan, is getting old and seems to not tolerate cold weather. I think Moko-Nyan is about 14 years and 6 months old.
He had a beautiful coat when he was young and looked like a pure blood Maine Coon cat. Now, his coat looks thin and looks so cold and I decided to buy a jumper for him. I don't like to dress a cat but I thought that if he was able to be warm wearing a jumper, it must be good.
Long ago, I bought a harness for one of my cats. He got cancer and he loved to walk around the house. He needed to take medication and I didn't want him to go outside alone. Therefore, I bought a harness and put it on him and walked him every day. One day, I put the harness on Moko-Nyan and knew that he didn't care for it at all. So, I thought that he wouldn't care for a jumper as well.
I was not going to dress him in a jumper if he didn't like it, and the result was my expectation was correct. He doesn't care for the jumper at all. I don't know if the jumper has an effect or has no effect. I hope that at least it makes him a little warmer.
The season that he doesn't need a jumper is coming soon.
2017-07-30 03:04 Things don't go the way I expect
Y (Kuma's owner)
Do you have pets? If you do, I'm sure you know what I'm going to write on the blog below now.
I have been keeping cats and I have three cats now. I want them to enjoy their life in my house and I bought cat toys for them. I bought stuffed toys of mice, a long fluffy string, several balls, kick toys and so on. To cut a long story short, I spent money on them and some of it was wasted.
When I began to keep cats, I was unsure if they would enjoy playing with a ball. My impression of playing with a ball is a dog, it wasn't a cat. I found soft balls which were selling as "cats' toys" and I bought some just for a trial. As a result of having bought balls, my cats enjoyed them. Yes, they did but only for a few days. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.
On the other hand, there is a different story about toy balls. Several years ago, my neighbour gave me a small Christmas tree and ornamental balls.
I was happy displaying it in the living room, and what happened was my cats hit the balls with their paws and they were very excited to play with them. The unbelievable thing was they enjoyed Christmas tree balls more than toy balls that were sold as cats' toys. My little Christmas tree was losing balls day by day and became a miserable appearance. I'm very sure that my cats enjoyed Christmas.
I sometimes realize the different ideas of toys between cats and humans. I always try to pick up toys that my cats seem to favour but I'm not succeeding. The toy balls I bought were ignored but they love Christmas tree balls.
A kicking toy hasn't attracted the cats' attention but my husband's sneakers are very popular to play with. One of my cats loves to play with the curtain in the study. Things don't go as expected.
One day, I was searching for a T-shirt on the internet and I found a funny printed T-shirt. One American cartoonist drew pictures of cats. There were two pictures on the T-shirt. The first one indicates that a cat's owner seems to be satisfied buying a cat tree for her cat. The second picture seems to show several hours later after she put the cat tree together, and the cat was having a good time in an empty box that had contained the cat tree. What an irony! But this would happen. I think every cat's owners experience it.
Now I found out that my cats love to play with a ball which I crumple from a newspaper. From my experience of living with cats, I maybe make cheap cats' toys without spending lots of money.
However, the simplest method of getting the right toy is going shopping with a cat. If I could I would like to go shopping with my cats and ask them what toy they want.
2017-06-04 00:08 A Hair-Dresser In My House
Y (Kuma's owner)
Do you have your favorite hairdressing salon where you often go? I used to go to a shop which one of my neighbors managed, but they have moved somewhere and I don't have my favorite hairdressing salon any more. My hair is wavy and it's not easy to handle it and I always don't like my hair style, nor does Midon.
He is the youngest cat and is very active. He always looks for something fun to do. I bought him some toys but he lost interest right away and found something more fun which were not cat's toys. As I wrote before on this blog, he loves playing with paper, like newspapers, paper leaflets and receipts. Therefore, I need to pay attention when I input the data of receipts to the computer otherwise he might tear them out.
One day, my husband was taking a nap on the floor cushion in the living room. The other two old cats were also taking a nap as always but Midon is different, he is young and is full of energy from the top of his head to the point of his tail. Midon was roaming in the house looking for something to entertain him, and the taking nap husband caught his attention. I was watching curiously what would happen. I knew he was going to do something cheeky but couldn't guess precisely what he was going to do.
Midon got closer to my husband's head and sniffed it and gazed at his hair carefully. He seemed that he didn't like my husband's hairstyle and thought that he had to do something about it. Then, he started licking my husband's hair. The surprising thing was my husband was sleeping deeply and didn't wake up. It was the chance that Midon could arrange the hairstyle as much as he liked. He licked the hair for about 3 minutes and my husband's hair looked like pomaded hair, it was wet with Midon's saliva. He looked very pleased. I was watching it whilst laughing without knowing that Midon's next target was me.
One night, I felt something was touching my head and woke up. Midon was sitting and looking down at me. I had a bad feeling and it was right, he started licking my hair! He grabbed my head with his paws and licked my hair with a firm sense of mission.
"I have to correct her hairstyle!"
I didn't expect Midon's attention to come over to me. However, my hair is longer than my husband's and it seems not easy to lick, therefore most of the time the victim was my husband.
The chances of licking are anytime, Midon noticed that it's a good opportunity when humans are watching TV in the living room. My husband and I watch DVDs of movies often. It's a good way to improve English hearing. When we watch a movie, we sit on the sofa and it has a backrest, as a matter of course. I think you can already imagine what would have happened next.
We paid attention to the movie and didn't notice Midon was coming. He climbed on the backrest and licked my husband's head. My husband said "No, no, no!" but Midon didn't want to stop it. Then, finally Midon was taken from the backrest by force.
Midon seems to be a cat that cannot stand seeing an unstylish hairstyle. I heard that female cats love to lick their coats but male cats are not so enthusiastic at taking care of their coat. I don't know if it's true or not, Midon is a male cat and loves to take care of his coat very much. I see him licking his coat almost every day. When he just came to our house from AWLQ (Animal Welfare League Queensland), if we patted or touched him, he hurriedly licked where we touched as if he was cleaning off dirty things. My husband and I used to say does he think we are dirty, jokingly? In fact, looking at him licking his coat, it seems like he would say "Oops, my coat gets dirty!"
I really appreciate his kindness, but it was actually an unwelcome favor. He still doesn't like our hairstyle and his meddlesome acts seem to continue still more.
2017-05-08 21:59 The Senior cat Mittan
Y (Kuma's owner)
I have three cats and one is a female ginger cat named Mittan. Mittan was a stray cat in Japan and rescued just before euthanasia with her two kittens. People love kittens, they are so cute and lovely. Mitten's kittens were adopted after they were rescued but Mitten had remained. She wasn't a kitten but was very adorable and I and my husband decided to have her at our home.
Nearly eight years have passed since we adopted her. She was young when she came to us, now she is about 10 years old. I sometimes call her Ojochan (young lady) , this is my habit. My husband says she is not young anymore, I know it but I cannot help but call her Ojochan.
So, our ginger lady thinks she is still young too. Usually, commercial cat food packages are printed as Senior Cat food, age 7 plus. Mittan is 10 years old and old enough to be called senior. I give her senior cat food, however she seems not to like it. I don't know how she figures out the difference between cat food for young cats and senior food.
Cats have a keen sense of smell, so that maybe she can smell the differences. My twitter friend suggested me to mix the food, I tried it but rather annoyingly she picked up only the young cat's food and left the senior food. She is pretty good at eliminating food.
The war of wits will be continued.
2017-04-17 21:29 Don't surprise me!
Y (Kuma's owner)
Do you have any pets? I have three cats and each of them have different personalities, just as we do. One of the three cats is a senior ginger cat named Mittan. Usually, ginger cats are male because of some reasons related to DNA (I forget exactly), but Mittan is a female cat.
Having cats at home is fun; they make me laugh, relax, and sometimes they make me feel displeasure at making a mess but they are worth all the hardships. Oh, I forgot to say the other important thing caused by cats. It's astonishment.
If you have a cat, you might know how they act. Their ancestors were nocturnal and they still have the habit of being active at night. So does Mittan. She walks around the house and looks for small lizards and insects during the night. I think she catches cockroaches too. I sometimes see cockroach's legs on the floor, only the legs. No wonder I haven't seen many cockroaches in my house. One day, I mentioned to the vet that Mittan might have eaten cockroaches and I was worried that she might get a disease. The vet said to me if a cat that is a healthy adult, it shouldn't be a problem. What a surprise!
Finding cockroaches' legs is not such a big surprise for me, there's more. One night, I was awoken by a squeaking sound, which sounded as though someone was opening a sliding door. The noise was coming from inside of the room where I was sleeping. I thought it might have been a burglar, and I slowly opened my eyes but I couldn't see anything. Then I heard the noise that was similar to something scratching. It sounded familiar.
"Wait, I have heard the same noise. I know this noise!"
I jumped out of bed and I was right! I saw Mittan trying to open the sliding door of the built in closet.
One night before Christmas, I heard a strange noise like something light was rolling across the floor. I could hear that strange sound but nothing else. I didn't want to get up but I had to check what it was. Then I saw that it was Mittan again. She was chasing a Christmas Tree ball excitedly across the living room.
I'm not sure how many times has she has surprised me.
Thank you, Mittan. You stimulate me everyday.
2017-02-22 06:45 Cat Day
Y (Kuma's owner)
The 22nd of February is Cat Day in Japan. Every language has different expressions of animal sounds, for example in Japanese a cat's voice expressing "meow" is "nyan" or "nya." These sounds are similar to the pronunciation of "2 (ni)" in Japanese. You see, the 22nd of February has three 2s, "nyan nyan nyan" (meow meow meow) therefore Japanese cat lovers decided to call it Cat Day.
Cats are common animals in Japan and when I was small people kept cats freely, cats could go outside as they wanted. Nowadays people, especially those who live in big towns, keep cats inside of their houses. According to one of the surveys in 2014, 75% cats are indoor cats in Japan. Personally, my friends who have cats all keep their cats indoors.
I saw the website of many cat shelters when I was looking for a cat in Japan, and I noticed that all shelters required giving cats a vaccination and keeping them inside the house. If there's someone who cannot keep a cat inside the house, shelters don't give cats to them. Commonly, rented houses or apartments are not allowed to keep pets (except small animals and birds), therefore most cat shelters make sure that someone who wants to adopt a cat lives in a pet friendly house or owns a house. Some of the shelters are very careful and they visit the applicant's house to make sure.
I adopted a cat in Australia two years ago. I thought that the shelter was going to ask me if I was able to keep a cat inside of the house but they didn't. It was surprising because I heard that there are many indigenous animals in Australia that are facing danger by cats.
One of my Japanese friends loved cats very much. One day, I went to a mountainous area with her in Japan, which has a variety of birds. A souvenir shop displayed bird's postcards that would be a donation for a wild bird foundation. She said that it's very important to protect those wild birds and I agreed.
However, after that I heard that she was talking about her cat and said proudly "My cat is wild, he is good at catching birds."
What!? She did not notice that she contradicted herself.
I have heard that some people think that cats are mysterious animals, but to me human beings are more mysterious. People say something completely opposite on a different occasion.
Cats and other pets' lives depend on their owner. If they cannot find good people to live with, their life will be miserable. I hope that cats in shelters are able to find good people.
Happy Cat Day!
2016-12-19 06:31 My Cat has a Hobby
Y (Kuma's owner)
Do you think that it is only human beings that have a hobby? As at least I know, one of my cats has a hobby. A hobby that is annoying!
His name is Midon. He loves to tear up advertising, letters, wrapping paper and receipts. It won't be serious issues even if he tears up advertising or wrapping paper, but receipts are different. I have to keep them for at least five years. This is decided by law.
Whatever human beings say, he doesn't care at all. He does what he likes. One day, I was doing bookkeeping and left some receipts on the desk. At the time, I didn't know that Midon loves to bite and tear off papers. I left the desk only for a bit and when I came back I saw him biting a receipt. He was trying to tear the receipt to pieces! I said "No, no!" then I grabbed him and put him onto the floor.
Since that has happened, I have been very careful. Every time I left the desk I made sure that the all the receipts were in a plastic holder.
I don't think it will happen but if the taxation office ask me to show them a receipt, what can I say?
"That receipt was torn to pieces by my cat and I don't have it."
I think it sounds like a lame excuse.
I always scan receipts because the ink on receipts loses its colour little by little and I don't think it would last for five years. This procedure is also effective for a countermeasure to Midon but keeping originals is important too.
Midon is a genius to find papers, therefore I have to put things in order on the desk all the time. Thanks to Midon, my desk became neat and tidy now.
2016-11-11 04:33 Box Lovers
Y (Kuma's owner)
I have three cats, two male and one female cat. They all love boxes. Whatever sizes they are, my cats love them. Sometimes, the box is too small to fit in but they don't hesitate to sit in it. This is a picture of one of my cats, Midon. He loves sleeping in a box.
One day, I searched using the keyword "cats" and "boxes" and found very interesting pictures. Someone wondered if a big cat like a lion or tiger loves boxes. The result is they love boxes, there is no difference between lions, tigers, leopards and ordinary cats. It was so funny watching a big lion trying to sit in a box. They are too big and some of them flattened the box but still sit on it.
I thought that ordinary cats love boxes because they are cautious. It seemed the inside of a box means safety. How about lions? I have seen a pride of lions sleeping in a wide grass field. They looked very relaxed. They don't have to be cautious. I wonder why lions love boxes? If I put a big box in a savanna, would they sit inside it?
I remember when I was small I loved to sit inside a box because the view from a box looked different and I could feel extraordinary. I think cats love boxes for different reasons but I have feelings of closeness toward them.
2016-09-18 08:42 Pulling Paper Tissues
Y (Kuma's owner)
Human beings have hobbies. Everybody does. But please don't be convinced that human beings are the only creatures that have hobbies.
I have three cats and one of them is young. His name is Midon. He was named after my husband's favorite novel's main character. He is full of energy and has plenty of time to play. He loves toys and plays a lot. Therefore, he will get tired of toys soon. I think he has been looking for something exciting, and he found one. That was a tissue box.
One day, he pulled a paper tissue from the box. I couldn't understand why but he thought it was lots of fun. Once he found something fun, he would repeat it again and again. Then I noticed that he was playing with paper tissues so excitedly and there were some wrinkled paper tissues on my desk.
Since then, pulling paper tissues is his hobby.
Looking at him playing excitedly is pleasant but I didn't want to waste paper. I had to take measures for it and I turned a tissue box upside down. I hope that he won't find out how to replace a box which is upside down.
I have seen some YouTube videos in which cats are playing with toilet paper. Midon might find toilet paper someday. Maybe it's just a matter of time.
I want him to have fun and a happy life without pulling papers.
2016-07-28 04:03 Buying cat toys is a gamble
Y (Kuma's owner)
If you hear the word "gambling," you would imagine slot machines, card games, horse racing or lottery tickets. Gambling is exciting and, if you are lucky enough, you may win a fortune. I have tried gambling three times. I bought lottery tickets in Australia and Japan. Well, I'm not a millionaire now, which means the tickets I bought were all just pieces of paper.
I read a book written by a mathematician. The author said he calculated the probability of winning by gambling, and he came to the conclusion that gambling has high a probability to lose money. Whatever the advertisements of lottery tickets say, I would not buy one anymore. I trust the mathematician.
However, against my will, I sometimes need to gamble. As you already know by the title of this journal, it's about buying cat toys. I have three cats. They are same as us, you know. Different strokes for different cats. One cat likes to play with a small stuffed animal on the end of a string, and others like the string. I've been living with them for a long time and I know what kind of toys they like, but I still choose toys they don't like by mistake. If I could I go shopping with my cats, I would ask them which toys they want.
One day, I bought toys for my cats. I examined the toys in a pet shop carefully and decided to buy balls. On the way home, I was imagining they would be excited with the new toys. What happened when I gave the toys to them was that the youngest cat played with the toy and two other cats ignored it. The oldest cat looked at me reluctantly and his face seemed to be saying, "This toy is for kittens!" Can you guess who was the most excited about the new toys? It was me.
Several days later, I heard the youngest cat running and chasing something. He seemed very excited. I thought it must be the toy I gave him! I rushed to the next room and I saw that the youngest cat was chasing a small piece of cat litter. My cats use the cat litter made of a kind of clay. He preferred to play with a piece of clay than the cat toys I bought at the pet shop. I was very disappointed.
However, I think I can say that they gave me a hint. I don't have to spend money on cat toys, I can make them. I made a ball of old newspaper and threw it. My cats seemed to like it a little bit. I haven't made a toy that has become a big hit with them yet. It depends on the design and how the toy moves.
The biggest hit in my house were the ornament balls from the Christmas tree. You know, those metallic shiny colourful balls. My cats loved to hit them. Therefore, as soon as I decorated the Christmas tree with beautiful balls, they hit and dropped them. Things didn't go as I had expected.
One of my friends who loves cats said it's good to have something that you cannot control as you want. She said that is what cats are like. Yes, there is some truth in what she says. That's why I love cats.
2016-06-10 04:59 Starting medication again
Y (Kuma's owner)
As I wrote about my oldest cat Moko-Nyan on my blog dated 4th of June, he had recovered from a nasal issue, I thought. However, it was not as easy as I expected. After about 24 hours he took the last tablet, but nasal mucus started coming out from his nose. Oh, no!
I asked the vet and he started medication for Moko-Nyan again.
The first time when my husband and I gave him a tablet, we both had not a lot of experience of giving a tablet to a cat. So I bought a special tool that looks like a pair of scissors. On the tip of the scissors, there is a rubber part to hold a tablet. When we give him a tablet, we have to drop one as deep as possible into the mouth, otherwise he tries to spit the tablet out.
As we have given him a tablet many times, we have got a new idea. We prepare a small amount of tin food before we give him a tablet. Just after we drop a tablet into his mouth, I hold out some tin food in front of him. Before we did not use this method, he sometimes paid attention to the tablet in his mouth and tried to spit it out. If there is food, his attention goes to the food and he swallows a tablet with food. Since we have used this method, we have never failed giving him a tablet.
I hope his nose will be better soon.
2016-06-04 05:20 The last day of medication
Y (Kuma's owner)
Our oldest cat, Moko-Nyan had been having a nose problem for a long time. The vet took his nasal mucus for examination and found out that there were two kinds of bacterias in his nasal cavity. I have written about this detailed story on my blog dated 23rd May.
He has been taking a tablet a day for over one month and today is the last day of medication. In fact, his nasal mucus stopped about two weeks ago, but we have been giving him an antibiotic tablet as the vet advised otherwise antibiotic-resistant bacteria might occur.
Since his nasal mucus has stopped, he seems to be in good health. I saw him playing with toys! I haven't seen him playing with toys for long time. It was really surprising!
Now, he has a kidney issue. His kidneys are not perfect but not so serious yet. I give him some kidney diet food everyday and he seems to like it.
His age is nearly 70 years of age in human age. It is not surprising if he has got some health issues. Moko-Nyan, please live long. Let's live long together!
2016-06-01 10:32 My beloved Kemeko
Y (Kuma's owner)
I've written about the three cats that I have now, but I haven't written about two cats that already passed away. I think I'm going write about a cat named Kemeko that passed away from cancer in 2012.
Kemeko was a female cat. I called her Kemekeme. She was a stray cat. When she was weak and fell down on a street, a high school student found her and took her to the vet. I heard that Kemekeme was almost skeletal. After she was rescued, she put on weight and became a healthy cat. A high school student saved her life.
One of her characteristics was a deep attachment to food. I think that that is because she was starved for a long time.
She was a very friendly and amiable cat. Every time someone visited our house, she rushed to the front door. She was talkative and loved to meet new people.
Her hobbies were licking humans and other cats. Honestly, it was a bit annoying to be licked for a long time. She used to lick other cats' heads too long, and she made them look as if they had set their heads with a pomade. My friend's husband liked her and always put her on his knees. He didn't care about being licked, so she could lick him as much as she wanted.
When we moved from Japan to Australia, we had to send our cats to the quarantine shelter. They stayed there for one month to check their condition.
One day, my husband and I went to the quarantine office in Sydney to meet our cats. It was a big facility and we were looking for our cats. Then I heard a familiar meow. It was Kemekeme. She found us before we found her. We both cried for joy. Kemekeme and the other three cats looked fine. After two or three weeks after the meeting, they came to our house.
Kemekeme looked happy in our house. She got along well with the other cats. As usual, she licked the other cats' heads and ate a lot of Aussie cat food. She liked to watch colourful Aussie birds from the balcony. Maybe she wanted to catch them.
Unfortunately, the happy days didn't last long. One day, she stopped eating. That was unbelievable. The cat that loved eating lost her passion to eat. I had a bad feeling. We took her to the local vet and the vet recommended that we take her to the specialist. She passed away when she was in the specialist hospital on 22nd of September, 2012.
I became lonely as there was nobody here to annoy me. Nobody came to the front door when I got home. She was an ordinary cat but a special one to me. Even if I have chance to have a new female cat, I wouldn't use the name Kemeko. This name is only for her.
2016-05-23 04:09 Moko's nose
Y (Kuma's owner)
I have an old cat named Moko-Nyan. Moko means fluffy in Japanese, and he is a long-hair cat. Nyan is the same as meow, the sound a cat makes. I don't know his age exactly because he was an abandoned cat, but the vet estimated his age looking at his teeth and said he is approximately 13 years old. He is a big boy and he might be a mixture of domestic cat and Main Coon cat.
One day I noticed that his nose was running. I thought he would be good soon but he wasn't. Every time he ate food, he had to look down a little and his nasal mucus came out and it annoyed him very much.
I took him to the local vet and he got an injection for cat flu. Cat flu is a common disease and the vet and I thought he had got it. However, he hadn't recovered and I took him to the vet again. The vet gave him another medicine but it didn't work at all.
Therefore, the vet recommended taking a blood test. The result of the blood test indicated that he might have some parasitic worms. That was very surprising because he is an indoor cat. He has never been outside. I got three tablets of parasitic worms and gave them to him. The blood test also indicated that his kidney condition was not perfect. This is a condition that is common among old cats so I decided to give him kidney diet food. Luckily, his kidney condition was not serious, and the vet said that I don't have to give him diet food every meal.
It was good that we could find out his kidney problems, but this is not the reason that his nose was running. There's something that caused it. The next step was a nasal mucus test. The vet took his nasal mucus and sent it to the specialist's laboratory. The specialist did a bacteria culture and made sure what Moko had in his nasal cavity. Then, we finally found the cause! There were two kinds of bacterium in Moko's nasal cavity; Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus sciuri. I was told before that there was a possibility that he had cancer, but there was no cancer cell found. I was so relieved.
It's much easier to treat him if we knew the cause. The vet gave me some antibiotic tablets that work for these bacterium. He has been taking these tablets for about a few weeks. His nose condition is now pretty good. I haven't seen him with a running nose for nearly two weeks. Finally, it stopped! It stopped but he has to finish all the tablets that we've got because they are antibiotics. He will be finished his medication in the first week of June.
I'm so happy Moko is getting better and I'm very appreciative of the vet.
Thank you, John!
2016-04-16 20:02 The monster in my house
Kuma the Cat
We cats know a secret of our house. Believe or not, there is a monster in our house.
It's usually in the storage area under the stairs. I guess the storage is a nest. It looks similar to an Opabinia. Do you know what an Opabinia is? They were creatures that lived in the Cambrian sea. At first, I thought that the monster was a mutant of the Opabinia, but it lives in the storage without any water, so the possibility of it being an Opabinia is low. It's difficult to define the type of creature that has never been found, isn't it? I can understand how biologists experience difficulties.
The monster comes out of the storage on a regular basis. I think it comes out to find food. It has three legs and Opabinias had five eyes. Coincidentally, both of them have an odd number of body parts. Then, I recalled a book that I had read long ago. The ancient creatures were born underwater and they expanded the habitat from sea to land. I reconsidered that the monster might be an evolved descendant of the Opabinia. If my guess is correct, I have to write an essay and contribute an article to Nature, meow.
The other features are its roar and long tail. It roars so badly and loudly while eating. It has a big body but eats tiny little things on the floor. It's not surprising if it eats something small, because the biggest mammal, the Blue Whale, eats tiny krills.
The tail of the monster is narrow as a cord. The tip of the tail has three stingers like a scorpion. Aha, it must be poisonous. We cats have to be very careful when it comes out of the storage nest.
The monster seems to be attracted to our humans. It always walks with a human like a dog. Unlike its appears, it may be lonely.
My cat family, Mittan and Midon are frightened and have never ever got close to the monster. I think that the monster just pretends to be strong, but there's nothing to be afraid of.
All right, I am going to be a friend of the monster. If we could get along well, it won't prick me with its stingers, and I can check what kind of creature it is.
Now, what should I do first to become a friend? Maybe I should find out its name. This is a basic courtesy, you know? Hey, human. What is the full name of that monster? What? You must know the monster! That red noisy one that always sleeps in the storage area under the stairs. What? O.K.
I'm going to be friends with the Vacuum Cleaner, meow.
2016-04-06 04:24 Midon
Y (Kuma's owner)
Today, I'll write about our youngest cat, Midon.
My husband and I visited Animal Welfare League Queensland (AWLQ) in May 2015. Before we visited there, we looked at the website of AWLQ and checked the details of all the cats. The most important thing that we had to check was the personality of the cats. We wanted to adopt a friendly cat, a cat-friendly cat, because we already had two cats. If they were not able to get along with the new cat, we couldn't adopt a new one. Just imagine if you have to live with someone you don't like. It must be awful. I think cats are the same.
I found a young cat named Homer. On the website, there was a special "Friendly" sign on Homer's photo. I thought this was the cat for us.
Homer was sleeping when we arrived at the shelter. He looked bigger than I had imagined, and he had slightly sharp eyes. Honestly, there were lots of pretty cats. I looked around all the cats and wavered a little. I told myself that Homer was the best cat. Just in case, I made sure that if Homer couldn't get along with our other cats, I would be able to return Homer to the shelter. After filling out some documents, we brought Homer to our home.
The first time our female cat, Mittan, met Homer, she threatened him. She was very angry. Our other cat, Moko, was cautious. Homer wasn't welcomed. However, the three of them had dinner in the same room together that night. It was a good sign.
We gave him a new name, Midon. This is the name of my husband's favorite hero of a science fiction novel. Midon is a very cheerful boy and quite friendly. He loves other cats and humans. He was so excited to play with the new toys that the senior cats are tired of. Sometimes, he was too excited and scolded by the other cats. Midon loved to play with Moko's fluffy tail and that caused some trouble. In the first month of Midon's arrival, Moko got angry at him frequently. I was very worried about it.
After one month or more, something that I never thought would happen. Mittan and Midon started chasing one another. Mittan is not young, but Midon's presence made her young and active.
The other cat, Moko doesn't much care about Midon now, but Midon loves to sleep with Moko. And now Moko allows him to sleep beside him. And Midon has stopped playing with Moko's tail. He finally realised that it's not a toy. It's autumn now. It will be getting colder and I think Midon is going to stay close to Moko.
Well, I think we made a good decision. The "Friendly" sign was right. Midon is a cute and friendly young boy. I thank whoever it was that put the "Friendly" sign on Midon.
2016-03-30 01:23 Mittan
Y (Kuma's owner)
Today, I will write about Mittan, our female ginger cat.
Mittan was a stray cat. She is a small cat and has a bent short tail and short legs. Her coat is a bit longer than ordinary cats. Her coat on her tummy almost reaches the floor and it makes her legs look shorter than they are.
When she is running, she looks like a cartoon character of fast forwarded films. Her short legs make her look funny. I like to watch her running. Someone said that she must be a Munchkin cat, but I don't think she is. Her legs are shorter than normal cats, and longer than Munchkin cats.
People who know about cats well think that Mittan is a male cat, because most ginger cats are male. I don't remember the scientific reason, but it is related to DNA.
Her favorite things are playing with a ball and chasing small insects. Sometimes, I hear the noise of a ball rolling on the floor in the middle of the night. The first time I heard that noise, I was very scared. I thought somebody had sneaked into my house.
For her unfortunately, she is an indoor cat, so she doesn't have much chance to see insects. Actually, I don't want her to catch insects, except mosquitoes and flies. There are lots of mosquitoes around here and I want her to catch them. If she catches mosquitoes, it would be a big help but she doesn't.
"Common, Mittan! Why don't you catch the mosquitoes?"
Cats are cats, they don't care what we say.
She has a special ability for opening sliding doors. When I was at home alone, I heard the noise of the sliding door on the upper floor being opened. It made me really surprised and I thought somebody had come into my house again. I wonder how many times she has scared me.
She has scared me a lot, although she is easily scared. She is very timid, and she doesn't like anyone who she is not familiar with. And of course, she doesn't like the vet or vacuum cleaners.
She had a vaccination last month, so she won't have to see the vet for at least one year. I think she is happy now.
According to Japanese legend or rumour, a cat that has a bent tail brings luck. I usually don't believe in legends but O.K. I will. I'll hope that she will bring luck someday.
2016-03-22 03:52 Moko-Nyan
Y (Kuma's owner)
I'm going to introduce Moko today. He is our oldest cat. He was adopted from a volunteer who rescues abandoned cats. He came to our house in 2005. At the time, he was approximately 3 years old. Actually, nobody knows his real age. He is a big boy and looks like Maine Coon.
When he was young, he was very timid and didn't like anyone he had never met. He always followed one of our cats, Kuma, like a kitten. We used to said that Kuma seemed to have a big bodyguard.
The most terrifying thing for him was a vacuum cleaner. Every time he encountered the vacuum cleaner he ran away or climbed somewhere higher than it.
One day, I was cleaning with the vacuum cleaner and I was getting closer to the cats. There were three cats and two of them didn't care for the vacuum cleaner. Moko was nervous and tried to escape where he was. But he noticed that the other two cats weren't scared. He looked at the two cats and stopped running. Since then, he's been getting used to the vacuum cleaner little by little.
Furthermore, he got used to unfamiliar people. We had visitors sometimes and he met many people, I guess that opportunity made him changed.
He is 13 years old now. He has got some issues with his nose and he is under treatment by the vet. I hope he is able to have a happy life as long as he can.
