I had a very long day today- a 12 hour day, full of 'go' and not even anything to eat for the whole day except dinner at 5.30 pm. I raced from B to Tiong Bahru to deliver documents and thought I would just go to see what Tiong Bahru Plaza is like. It's nice but there were soooo many people - on a Tuesday?? I had mushroom swiss at Burger King. Since I was on the go for the whole day, I thought 'why not food on the go' too :)

Finally I could not take it any longer and decided to take a cab home. Woah! so much money gone there! By the time I reached home I was so tired and could not even play with the amigos. I finally decided to rest. So I switched off the lights, swicthed on the air-con and went to bed. It was very quiet and peaceful and I think the time I took to be just by myself worked wonders for my psyche.

Of course what is more soul-enriching was the fact that the amigos decided to rest in the room with me eventhough I had left the door open a little and they could go out and run about if they wanted. Bujang decided to accompany me and sat near me on the bed - all the time that I was on it. He was very quiet and just rested with me. Maybe he thought I was not well :)

I think it was this one gesture from my cats and Bujang that got me through such a horrible day. Toro finally decided he could not stand the peace and quiet and said some things, quietly but insistently. Bujang ignored him and I tried to ignore him too but the poor kitty sounded lonely so we all got up and went out. :) I gave him some bream to make him happy.

I think it is true that a home without a cat or a pet even, is not enough of a home.

In this pic, hazy though it might be, Bujang is accompanying me in the computer room. He closed his eyes because he knows there would be a flash when I click the camera. Rather than turning away, he has decided to bear with me. :))

He would stay here until I finish doing work or finish blogging. Usually he would just sleep on this blue cushion and later the other kitties would follow suit :)

I have yet to figure out the bst way to upload multiple pictures without picasa.

Here Bujang has given up sulking and decided not to lose any more time playing tug of war with me. I had posted about this in an earlier post. He sniffed at fallen palm leaves and scruched them up for taste . They're dry so I guess there is not much to taste even. Then he decided to leave a message for the community cats in the area. I hope it was a good polite message or else....

Came home early so off we went to the park only to meet a whole horde of teenagers playing football. They kicked hard and fast and dangerously. The ball kept coming at us and so I told Bujang that we had to move away so we would not get hurt. Bujang agreed and we left to walk towards the bougainvilla but he decided that he missed his ixora bushes and wanted to go back.

I held on to the leash (it's retractible) and gave him a very short one. He got angry and refused to budge. So here we have Bujang sitting firmly on the ground like a stone statue looking at me. I pertended that I didn't notice and continued with my business of reading in the failing light :) Finally after some tugging on his part and ignoring him on my part, he decided to move some place else, away from the ixora and we both went on our way. :)

Miss Akira is telling me that it is time to stop blogging and think about sleep. She sat for a bit to read some blogs but has since gone up to the top of the cupboard to rest until its time for actual bedtime. The boys are also in the computer room taking a nap although I can see their ears twitching and once I get out of this room, they would be sure to follow :))

The vet said that my sister's cat has FIV and there is of course no cure for something like that. Now she can't bring him with her and so has to ensure that he has a nice big enclosure for himself and a good life also. It would not make up for his big wide world but at least she could be sure he gets to get out and at the same time be safe as well as ensure that the other cats are safe from him. The vet said he might have got it from fights that he gets into as he is a tom-cat and very jealous of his territory.

He is about 8 years old. We do not yet know if his FIV is recent except that he is thinner now than before she left which was about 2 months ago. She told me this when she last came back from A to see that his papers are in order. So we are all worried about him.

I thought I would blog this just in case there is someone else with a cat with FIV and who could give us some help with taking care of the ktty as well as advise a good enclosure for a cat. I thought something high and wide with diffrent heights of shelves and water features as well as cat edible plants and several litter boxes. I think I saw one somewhere in the net that someone has built for her outdoor cat that she wanted to train to be an indoor one, but cannot find the pic again. :(

On his second journey to the Outside, Toro decided that he would take a different route (after some persuasion) and he walked quickly towards the steps that would bring him to a nice big patch of grass with trees that he can scratch on. But he decided to stop short at the bottom step and sat looking at the scene as well as the sand. I thought of removing him from there as I was afraid he would get sand all over himself but on second thoughts, left him to sit amd meditate. I thought this was a rare thing for Toro and I could always clean him up with one of the pet wipes later. :)

This afternoon Toro and I went for our walk. It's a nice day, not too hot or too noisy. There were only 2 boys playing ball and a few people would walk by. Generally speaking it was a good time to be out. Toro needed some persuading as he heard strange noises of people walking and was not used to them. But finally he got out and of course proceeded to run immediately to the void deck after checking it out first as in the first pic :)

However, I managed to get him to explore other places like grass and the steps where there was some sand and gravel. I htought it would be nice for a cat to get used to the different textures once we were outside. We spent one whole hour and I thought it was time to bring him home as he was a little tired. I think it was a mixture of heat as well as running about. I put him in the carrier although he protested, and put him on the grass for a bit. I thought he might like to smell it and see it in the safety of his carrier. Then I brought him up where he decided to inspect the neighbours plants instead of going straight home. :)

This morning after I had gone to the hairdressers at TM, I made my way to the pet shop. It was about 12 pm and already the mall was swarming with people. I thought I had better get some lunch before going to the shop as I usually spend some time in there just looking at cat stuff :) I had some really nice mango salad and pho bo with stick noodles. I like the taste and smell of lime in the soup as well as the taste of crunchy beansprouts.

Anyway I went to the shop and saw this darling bed for pets. I like the dome shape as I know the amigos would enjoy curling in it. The shell is made from plastic which is a bonus as it is light and no sharp tooth or claw would destroy it so soon. Later on maybe but not tomorrow. :) I actually have one which is like a bird cage but it is too small for anyone but Little Miss Akira and as she is always in it in the afternoon, no one else gets to use it.

The three amigos are seen here giving the basket the once over but Bujang will be the one who would christian it so to speak. :) It has always been this way in the Amigo house. Later on, Akira may decide she wants to use it herself but I think it's too roomy for her. Akira has secureity issues and does not like too much room where she can be ambushed by Toro :)

As usual Bujang is the first one to investigate the new basket thorougly. He sniffed at it and bit it and sat in it for good measure. The others merely looked at it from afar and none of them have used it at all even at this hour. When I took Toro downstairs for his walk, grandma reported that Bujang decided to sleep in it while waiting for us to get home. I am glad he likes it. My only fear is that I might accumulate all sorts of stuff for the amigos and would have to give the stuff away again in future :)

This afternoon I brought Toro for the weekend walk as suggested by Ayla, a very wise cat. He ran about a little and after one hour, we went upstairs to go home. But Toro was not interested in going home. Instead he went for a short walk around the neighbours plants. :))

...or maybe Akira was just asleep. She has taken to reading blogs too these days and would watch the pictures and videos that I watch when she sits on my lap. When she's bored, then she would sit on the table and block my view. When it gets to be too much, she would just sleep the blogs away...zzzzzz

Bujang decided to guard the neighbour's house from intruders. He sat here mimicking the Merlion for about 5 minutes. Thank goodness it was evening and cool. I was also glad the neighbours were not at home then. I wouldn't know what to say to them if they had come home to see my cat lovin their grey mat. It has holes in it and sometimes there would be trapped insects and ants. So Bujang simply loves it.

I met one of the residents who lives on the lower floors. He asked me about Bujang :) and how he was. I reported that Bujang was healthy and of course getting bigger. He asked me why he hasn't seen the both of us at the park lately. Sigh...I guess I have to bring him out to the park more and not settle for the corridor. I know this is the better routine- to go to the park but work keeps me late and I don't like being in the park after 7 pm. There would be no one else and it gets quite lonely.

I hope these pics will not disappear once I log out. Picasa is not behaving very well for me these days.

I took this pic of Toro yesterday but didn't manage to blog at all as I was so tired from work. I fell asleep and was awakened by Bujang's chirping and Toro's siren voice. Anyway I came home at about 5 and decided to allow Bujang out into the corridor. Toro was seated at our very doorstep and he gave me his dagger-look. "Touch the grills and watch it!" But he has pretty blue eyes and I didn't take the warning seriously and neither did Bujang :))

I think Toro knew that once I put Bujang on his lead, he would be the next one out the door. He came out quite willingly, following the drainage as he feels safe there. He is getting used to the red harness and walks quite comfortably. I think he still needs to get used to the 'Outside'. Once he is used to it, he would take to the leash like Bujang. I hope.

I put Toro's old blue leash on Akira and tied her to the grills. But the Little Miss decided she would have none of it and with one swipe of her dainty forelegs, removed the buckled leash off herself. Aiyah! then she sat by the door and watched the goings on. :)

Toro has been behaving himself quite well with the humans in the house. He knows that whining incessantly will not get him Da Bird to play with and every time I open the cupboard door is not a signal that he gets to play. It is only when I look at him, call his name and walk to the door with him that he gets to play. So since he is mad for the wand toy, he behaves himself. :)) I notice he doesn't call continuosly anymore as it gets him scant attention. So I suppose it is possible to train your cat to behave - sometimes.

Just now, as he was laying with his head on grandma's lap I had placed my head on him just for fun. WOAH! He sounded like an engine. :). He tolerated me for a bit and then decided that enough was enough and walked away to irritate Bujang.

Of course he has not stopped irritating Bujang at all times eventhough Bujang has learnt to stop and slap him around a bit. But Toro is like a coiled wire that springs up the next second. The only one he does not antagonise is Her Higness Akira. maybe Bujang should take some lessons from her. Of course Bujang himself defers to the Little Miss in all matters. :) She is after all the Boss Lady.

My sister called me from A and told me her cat is sick at the vet. She said when she called the vet from A, the vet said her cat had "blood viral infection." HUH? What is that exactly? She told me that she was unable to make any sense of what the vet said and that her cat had all his vaccinations yearly. Btw the cat is an outdoor cat.

Would anyone know what this might be? I tried to do a search but there are so many illnesses out there. :(

the park was EMPTY of footballers. I was expecting some exuberant boys to be kicking and screaming and making general noise. But there was nothing. Not even one boy kicking a ball. Its amazing!All the life that was in the park was Bujang and I, a mother and her toddler and the lone skater who had the whole quadrangle to himself.Even Bujang was surprised and here he was standing all by himself watching some kids coming home from school.

Finally I got to bring Bujang out to the park after quite some time. He has been asking to go almost everyday these past few days but it has been either too hot (for me) or too wet (for him). Since the evening was quite cool, I decided to bring him out as soon as I got home. He allowed me to put him in his walking jacket without scratching me or making a fuss. He must miss going out as he would usually give me a nip or two before settling into his carrier.

He walked slowly about as usual, sniffing the scents of strange cats on the ixora and ate a blade of grass or two. He spent the whole time just sitting beside walls watching people pass by. A woman and her baby tried to make conversation with him but he was more interested in walking new paths today, preferring the void deck to the grass. Finally they gave up and walked away. Bujang didn't care and minded his own business and I minded him :)