MELAKA: The sight of stray cats meowing and begging for food from people eating out is a common sight.
Some people look at them as dirty, parasite-infested, disease-carrying animals and kick them out of their way without mercy.
However, has anyone of us ever realised that we human beings are the ones who have made these majestic creatures that way?
Once considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians, these days felines have been demoted to pest status and strays are being euthanised due to the people’s ignorance of these animals’ dignified nature. Surprisingly, the culprits include people who call themselves cat lovers.
I’ve been an ailurophile (cat lover) all my life and will continue to be one until I take my last breath. Currently, I own a pair of three-year-old traditional Persian cats named Baymax and Angela that I have learned to take care of properly.
While my ailurophile friends and I keep improving our knowledge so that we can take better care of our cats, there are people out there who claim to be cat lovers but choose to put their cats up for adoption due to ‘overpopulation’ or have them euthanised if they have health problems.
You can come across such people on social media, especially Facebook, where they post their own theories in the cat lovers’ page justifying their actions.
My family and I have been raising Baymax and Angela since they were two-month-old kittens. While we have taken care of domestic breeds before, Baymax and Angela are the first purebred cats that we have ever owned. It was also the first time we were taking care of kittens. Hence, we had to learn to take care of them properly.
My parents had raised four generations of Persian cats because they loved the animals’ lovable and gentle nature.
My mother was holding Baymax and Angela in her hands when my wife, children and I saw the kittens for the first time. Immediately, we fell in love with them.
However, spending hundreds or thousands of ringgit on a purebred cat without having any experience raising and taking care of them can be disastrous because each cat has its own character and needs. The Persian and Ragdoll breeds are mild-mannered and good with children but they need constant attention. The Bengal breed is more active and tends to be independent and even a little ‘wild’.
If you want to keep a cat as a pet, I strongly recommend that you adopt one at the nearest animal shelter. This is because most animals at such shelters end up being euthanised if no one adopts them.
I see people going for the Munchkin breed because these cats look cute with their short legs. However, Munchkins are very active and energetic.
The first thing you must do after adopting a cat is to take it to a veterinarian for a health check and to get it vaccinated against dangerous diseases like feline leukaemia and rabies, the latter being harmful to humans as well. Regardless of whether your pet is a purebred or domestic breed, you still need to take them to the vet.
I spend hundreds of ringgit at private veterinary clinics on Baymax and Angela’s health checks, vaccinations and supplements. You can get it done more cheaply at the government veterinary services clinic or at clinics run by animal welfare societies.
In Melaka, the government veterinary clinics are open from 9am to 4pm on weekdays you can also get microchip identifications for your pets there.
My cat Baymax has been a healthy boy since it was a kitten, but nowadays I have to keep him on a strict diet to make sure he is not overweight.
Angela, on the other hand, was malnourished when she was a kitten as she was bullied by her sibling during meal times. Fortunately, we were able to nurse Angela to good health after giving her the food and supplements recommended by our veterinarian.
I don’t wish to share what kind of food or supplements I gave Angela because different cats have different needs. So, if you want to improve your pet’s health, consult a veterinarian for advice.
There’s a common misconception that you can feed your cats with leftovers. This is totally wrong. Cats have special nutritional needs and the food that humans consume like pasteurised milk, bread, cake, pasta and chocolate can be harmful to the felines.
Again, the Internet and social media offer all kinds of information on the subject of health and cats. When your cat faces a health issue, don’t just google the symptoms and make your own conclusions. Take it to a veterinarian for an examination.
On the question of how many cats to keep as pets, after thinking about it thoroughly, I decided to keep only two because I live in a terraced house. I also keep my cats indoors as I don’t want them to disturb my neighbours or defecate on their yards.
As for the subject of neutering or spaying one’s pet, I share the stand taken by animal welfare groups. Neutering/Spaying is necessary to prevent overpopulation.
However, some so-called ailurophiles are totally against neutering/spaying cats as they claim that it will have a negative impact on the animals’ health. Such claims are plain hogwash. It is due to people with such misconceptions that so many cats have been demoted to being pests on our streets these days.
Just imagine if my two cats had not been sterilised. Depending on its breed, a cat can have a litter of two to five kittens each time it gives birth. Since, on an average, a cat can give birth 10 times in its lifetime, I could end up with 20 to 50 cats! Where will all these extra cats go?
According to the United States-based animal welfare organisation, American Humane, 71 per cent of cats that enter shelters are euthanised, while only 24 per cent are adopted.
Another issue that frequently crops up for discussion among ailurophiles is how to domesticate their pets and prevent them from running away. My answer is this: treat them as a family member.
When Angela was a kitten, she used to run away and hide in a dark place whenever she saw people. I have read that unlike dogs that view humans as their masters, cats looked at us as members of their family.
After getting some advice from my veterinarian and fellow ailurophiles, I started treating Angela as a family member, feeding her from my palm and giving her gentle rubs which she really loved.
She slowly transformed from a shy and fearful kitten to a friendly pet, playing cheerfully with Baymax and my children, as well as my wife, who Angela is especially fond of.
Angela and Baymax did run away from home two or three times in the past but they came back after a day. The veterinarian said it was normal for cats to want to explore their neighbourhood and usually when they were over and done with it, they would go home to their loved ones.
For me, getting a cat as a pet is a responsibility. In fact, getting a pet is like having a child. You have to take good care of them and you have to stick with them for the rest of their lives. Yes, it is a new family member you are getting when you decide to bring home a cat. — Bernama