Friday, December 25, 2015

Sweetie's very own enclosure

When we moved to Dehradun, almost three years ago, Sweetie was depressed. So for her 10th birthday, she got her very own terrace enclosure. She doesn't like other cats and no other cat is allowed there. The enclosure is attached to my bedroom, also her exclusive space, and she can go out and come in as she likes.She loves sitting outside, surveying the world beyond, and basking in the sun. But she is not too keen on the monkeys, who sometimes look in!
Some pics below:

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Cat enclosure

The five outside cats, have a room to sleep in when it rains or is too cold or hot, and an outdoor enclosure where they spend the day.
An enclosure like this keeps them safe, at the same time they get to enjoy the outdoors.
Some pictures below:

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Ashi--a little black girl



Ashi was being very affectionate this morning. Her way of being affectionate was to lie on her back, grab my hand with her paws, and give it a few licks. Could she possibly know that it is exactly one year since she came here? I was to keep her for a week or ten days, but here she is still!
She and Nandu are good friends, they are meant to live with the other outside kitties, but come in at times.
Ashi was found as a tiny kitten with her eyes still shut. She was rescued by two young men, engineering college students, who kept her in their hostel and reared her on milk fed through a dropper, and boiled eggs. She survived, but by the time she was two months old, they were not sure how to continue to take care of her. The hostel administration had got to know and wanted her out. They posted her picture on a local website, and got an offer of adoption—-but the person concerned would take her after about ten days. Meanwhile they were leaving for their Divali vacations. I offered her a temporary home. Ashi arrived on the evening of 21 October 2014, on a motorbike! She was held tightly by the young man seated behind, while the other drove the bike. She was shivering, scared and cold, but survived the journey safely, a distance of 15-20 km. Once here, she perked up and settled down for her temporary stay.
But no one adopted her, neither the person who had promised to, nor anyone else. So here she is still.
Ashi is a very friendly cat. She is not shy, and greets everyone, and does not fight with other cats. She doesn’t meow much, and has a very sweet soft voice.
She has some oddities though. Wires and woollens are not safe with her! She neatly chops wires in two, and can’t resist woollens. It takes her just a few unobserved minutes to chew her way through them.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Muffin is missing


Muffin has been gone for more than a month. She was born outside, daughter of Kairi,

granddaughter of Brindle,

and sister of Puffin and Nuffin.
Muffin began living in the outside shelter when her kittens, Mini and Maxi were born, to shelter them from the big tom cat.
She liked to go out every day but would return at night.
A couple of months ago she went away for two weeks, came back and stayed for a week, and then left and didn't return. I am guessing she is okay, as she is a good hunter, but I haven't seen her.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

The cat and the mosquito checker

As everyone in India knows, many people here don't particularly like cats. They are superstitious about them, and keeping cats as pets is a relatively new phenomenon. But just keeping a cat leads to a change in approach of all who come in contact with it. Sweetie met many people who visited my house--friends, electricians, plumbers, and several others. She hissed ferociously at some, scratched one or two, made friends occasionally[very rare--I actually employed a packer because Sweetie went and sat on their representative's lap]and ignored others.
Among the latter was the MCD mosquito checker, who arrives every monsoon in Delhi to check that there are no mosquitoes breeding in the water coolers [there are mosquito courts where one has to pay a fine if they find any!]. After checking, he puts some poisonous stuff in the water.
I wouldn't let him do this to one cooler, as I said my cat may get affected. Cat? He wanted to see it,and I showed him Sweetie asleep on the bed. 'You have a cat on your bed?', he couldn't get over it, but after that used to ask about her whenever he came.
One day the doorbell, rang, and there was S, the mosquito checker. 'You just came a couple of weeks ago', I said. 'It's not about that', he said, 'Have you lost a cat?' 'No', I replied. 'There's one in our office. It won't leave, please come and see', he said. I took a cat carrier with me, and we reached his office, just a two minute walk away. Sure enough, a large orange cat was sitting in a high-walled courtyard, where the workers were eating their home-packed lunch. 'I told them they should not harm it, but should feed it', said S. Orange cat was happily eating all the scraps of food that were being thrown to him. But now S and the others felt I should put him in the carrier and take him home! I tried to explain he wasn't my cat--he would go back to wherever he had come from. 'He can't jump these high walls', said S, so I agreed to take him. The carrier was placed on the ground, tempting food was put into it, and the cat soon put his nose and front paws in. An over-enthusiastic worker then gave him a push from the back. Cat hissed, snarled, turned around and was out of the carrier,still hissing, and as everyone moved back,he gave a smooth leap to the top of the high wall and disappeared. By the time we went out to see where he had gone, there was no sign of him.
I was sure he was okay, but I thought that not only S, but all the workers there, had become a little more cat-friendly.

Friday, July 10, 2015

An introduction to cats and cat care


[This is a somewhat basic introduction to keeping a cat, for the many in India who have never kept one and know little about cats. There will be more details in subsequent posts.]

Why adopt a cat?
Cats are fun, cuddly and playful.
They require less care than a dog, but make great companions.
They are very clean and usually don’t need baths—most cats lick themselves clean.
Cat companions are known to reduce stress and high blood pressure. Their purrs have a specific effect, of not only being very soothing, but of healing and strengthening bones! Scientific tests have proved this.

Where do I get a cat?
There are many cat breeds, just as there are breeds of dogs. But please do not buy an expensive Persian or other breed. Adopt a cat or kitten from a shelter, or take in a kitten from your garden, terrace, or anywhere you see one.

About cats
Cat nature
: Cats are shy and sensitive. They do not respond or become friendly immediately, but they will do so gradually. Be very patient and gradually you will be rewarded with a wonderful friend.

Purrs: a cat purrs when it feels comfortable or happy. A purr is a vibratory sound emanating from the throat, and can be soft or loud, depending on the cat. Sweetie purrs so softly I can hardly hear it, sometimes I can only make out she is purring by touching her throat. Minty is rather loud. The loudest cat purr recorded in the world is of a cat named Merlin. He is in the Guinness book of records.

Wagging tail: a cat wags its tail when it is angry. If you see the cat’s tail swishing from side to side, stay away. It may scratch if you approach. However, Minty is different. Her tail wags for no reason at all. I don’t know if there are other cats like her.

Food: Cats need non-vegetarian food. They cannot survive on vegetarian food. They can be fed packaged cat food, or home cooked food. Raw food is sometimes recommended, but in India it is safest to stick to well- cooked or packaged food. Milk is not a good food for cats, but dahi [curd or yoghurt] can be given.
How often should a cat be fed? Sweetie and Minty have their bowls full at all times, with dry cat food. They don’t gobble everything in one go, and nibble at different times. Sweetie likes to eat mainly at night, Minty, morning and evening. The outside lot usually eat everything they are fed immediately. Nandu and Ashi eat the most. They are all fed three times a day, but their last meal is between 4.30 and 6 pm, the next meal early morning.

Cat litter: Cat litter comes in packets, and is made of different substances, including betonite or more eco-friendly material. Fill some in a litter tray or a plastic basin, for the indoor cat’s bathroom. When the cat does something in it, that portion can be removed with a scoop, put in a plastic bag, and thrown away with the garbage. Cat litter is not available in many smaller cities and in other areas, and is also expensive. Alternatives are sand, wood shavings or dust, mud, or newspaper.


Friday, July 3, 2015

Remembering Sweetie’s visit to the vet

I just read an article about a rise in lost cats, because of their carriers breaking. I was reminded of when Sweetie’s carrier broke.
Sweetie is 12 years old, but her last visit to the vet was when she was six. This was in another city, and it was so traumatic [for me at least!] that I decided not to take her again.
The problem was not that Sweetie escaped, but that she refused to get out of her carrier. She retreated to the furthest point, and braced her feet in the corners, so that no one could pull her out. When neither I nor the vet’s assistants could budge her, they decided to unscrew the top of the carrier--but in the process the carrier broke! I had to hang on to her by her fur. We had come in a taxi, and getting her back home in a broken carrier was a real problem. The carrier was somehow tied up in string. Now Sweetie, when she wants can open some carriers, and even chew through them, and is so strong that no one can hold her. Fortunately I managed to get her home safely, and she has never been to the vet again, though one has visited her at home. After that, whenever we had to travel, she was on a harness and in a double carrier, that is, a smaller one inside a larger one. If one breaks or opens, there is a second carrier for safety.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Cat--a poem by Jibananda Das


Again and again through the day
I meet a cat.
In the tree's shade, in the sun, in the crowding brown leaves.
After the success of a few fish bones
Or inside a skeleton of white earth
I find it, as absorbed in the purring
Of its heart as a bee.
Still it sharpens its claws on the gulmohar tree
And follows the sun all day long.

Now I see it and then it is gone,
Losing itself somewhere.
On the autumn evening I have watched it play,
Stroking the soft body of the saffron sun
With a white paw. Then it caught
The darkness in paws like small balls
And scattered it all over the earth.

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I have been looking for poems on cats by Indian authors. Jibananda Das was a Bengali poet and writer[1899-1954]. I can't find the translator of the above version, and would appreciate it if someone could tell me.
Another version is below.


All day I inevitably encounter a cat here and there
In the shadow of trees or out in the sun, around
the pile of fallen leaves;
I catch sight of him, deeply engrossed like a bee,
with his own self
Embedded in the skeleton of white soil
Having successfully spotted some bones
of fishes somewhere;
But still, nevertheless, he scratches at the trunk
of the Krishnachura tree
All day he moves about stalking the sun.

Now he shows up here
The next moment he is lost somewhere.
I spot him in the autumn dusk playing around
As if, with his white paws, he is patting the supple body
of the saffron sun;
Then he nets up the tiny balls of darkness with his paw
And spreads them throughout the world.

Translated by Faizul Latif Chowdhury

Friday, June 12, 2015

A cat started the Mahabharata war!


A regional version of the Mahabharata in Kumaon, states that a cat caused the Mahabharata war. According to the story, the Kauravas and Pandavs lived in two adjacent places in Kumaon. The Pandavas had a cat named Lomasha, while the Kauravas had a chicken.
The moved to Hastinapura along with their pets--the Pandavas by this time had children, who were still babies. Lomasha was quite protective of them. One morning the Kauravas’ cock crowed loudly and awakened the little ones, who began to cry. Lomasha ran to protect them and killed the cock. The Kauravas attacked the Pandavas and the great war started!
I found this story in secondary literature--still looking for the original. If a cat was responsible for the beginning of the war, surely cats in India deserve more respect!
All through the Mahabharata the Pandavas are seen to be friendly with animals. Yudhishthira did not abandon his dog on the way to heaven; earlier too they had a dog who barked at Ekalavya. And in the pious cat story narrated earlier, that cat too is elsewhere called Lomasha.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Are cats primarily left-handed?

The link below, from the Guardian archives, suggests that cats use their left paws more than their right! I think most of my cats are ambidextrous. Has anyone noticed which paws they use?

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/11/left-handed-cats-handedness-archive-1955

Sunday, June 7, 2015

My cat companions


Indoor cats:
Sweetie: most precious, beautiful grey and white girl, 12 years old.
Minty: 4 years old, a calico cat who meows a lot and is a bit crazy, but loves to cuddle and sit on my lap.



Outside cats:Muffin: two year old female tabby. She likes to roam and is very good at catching mice, birds, etc. These days she is not keen on roaming, probably scared by a dog next door, and to some extent by Pixie [rescued dog] in the front garden, and by a large tom cat.
Mitzi: one year old female. She wants to come in, but unfortunately gets into terrible fights with Minty. Muffin and Mitzi have the same mother, who stays nearby.
Mini and Maxi: twin boys, 9 months old, sons of Muffin,.
Nandu: black woolly boy, nine months old, but bigger and fatter than all the others. Very good natured and loving, but bullies the other cats.
Ashi: black female, nine months old, loves to play, and to eat. Bites if she gets angry!

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Hug Your Cat Day


Hug Your Cat Day was on 4 June. It is primarily celebrated in North America and Europe. Alternative days for its celebration are 3 May and 30 May. It is meant to remind people of the benefits of living with cats.
Can we start a special ‘hug your cat day’ in India?
Some rules---Do not hug a cat you are not familiar with. Regarding your own cat, you will know whether or not it likes being hugged. Of my two indoor cats, Sweetie has to be in the right mood, Minty loves being hugged. Of the outdoor ones, I can try it with Mitzi for a short time. Nandu loves it, but gets really boisterous.
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A recipe for a special treat of cookies for your cat. [I found it on the internet, but modified it slightly].
Mix mashed sardines with a small amount of milk powder and flour, shape them into balls, flatten, and bake! [This is only for a treat, and not for everyday. More on appropriate food later. ]

Friday, June 5, 2015

Bengal Cat


There are thousands of cats in India who need to be adopted and to find a good home, and it is not advised that anyone buy or search for a breed. Still, I was curious about why a particular breed was known as a Bengal cat. Surely they did not originate in Bengal? I discovered they originate in the US, and are named after the Asian leopard cat, P.b. bengalensis. In the 1920s and 30s there were some hybrids of the leopard cat and a domestic cat, and more in succeeding years, but the breed developed in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, from leopard cats and domestic cats, from the domestication of leopard cats, and from Egyptian Maus. The breed can be long or short-haired, spotted or marbled, in different colours including brown and silver. Long-haired Bengal cats are only recognised as a breed in New Zealand, and are known there as Cashmeres. As Cashmere is an odd British spelling of Kashmir, this name too comes from India.
Some Bengal cats have health problems, including early onset blindness. Hypertropic cardiomyopathy is present in 16.7 %. Once again, it is best not to get a breed. The ordinary short hair cat, is just as beautiful and far more healthy.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Nandu--a black cat

Nandu arrived on the night of 25 October. The bell at the gate rang around 9 pm. When I went out to see who it was, a scrawny black kitten was handed to me over the gate. Dogs were after it, I was told, as I took the little one and brought him inside. Nandu joined two other black kittens who had arrived that week. Why was I being showered with black kittens? I wasn’t sure. I had offered to keep little Ashi for a week--more on her elsewhere. A tiny sick furry was handed over for foster care by the local shelter, but she survived only till the end of the month.
Nandu looked as if he was starving. All his ribs were showing. He was terrified, hissing and spitting. He was put into a carrier, gobbled some Whiskas and drank some water, before I left him for the night. The two others were nearby. In the morning he soon made friends with Ashi and Furry, but was far too rough for Furry. We were all depressed when Furry died on my lap on the 31st--she had eaten a little food the previous night, but of course she was already quite ill, paralysed.
Ashi and Nandu were then inseparable. Nandu had a poor digestion, but just couldn’t stop eating! He was very sick one day, but recovered after a trip to the vet.
Gradually they grew up together, and now they are nine months old. Ashi was bigger to start with, but today Nandu is twice her size. He has developed a raucous male voice too, and bullies Mini and Maxi. I am still looking for a good vet to sterilise them all. From the time they came to me, I have posted their pictures and searched for a home for them, with no luck. Just a few days ago, I met a father and daughter who almost promised to take him--it seemed like a really good home. But just after that a medical emergency in the family, ended the possibility of his adoption.
Nandu is still looking for a good indoor home, preferably along with Ashi. He is shy of strangers, but loves to sit on my lap and be cuddled.

Monday, May 11, 2015

A cat story--from the Mahabharata

Cats don't figure much in India's literature--when they do, the stories about them are often not complimentary. Here is one ancient story--within the text, it was narrated by Duryodhana, who compared Yudhishthira to this cat!

A Pious Cat: A Story from the Mahabharata


Once a cat went to he banks of the river Ganga, and pretended to be an ascetic, engaged in worshipping god. He always had his hands upraised, as devotees do. Gradually the birds came to trust him, and worshipped him. The cat continued with his austerities. Finally even the mice began to believe in him, and came to him asking him to be their protector. The cat agreed, and said he would stay with them as their protector. But as he was very weak from fasting and praying, they should carry him to the river bank every day, so that he could continue his worship.
The mice were quite happy, the cat stayed with them, and a few of them carried him every day to the river bank. Out of sight of the others the cat began to eat them up, and became fat and sleek. The mice realised that something strange was going on. One mouse named Dindika asked the other mice to collect at the river bank. He would come there along with the cat and they would have a showdown. But when the cat reached there, Dindika was not to be seen. Of course, Cat had eaten him on the way!
A few more days passed, and then a very old mouse named Kilika addressed the mice. He said: ‘Our uncle {i.,e., the cat} is not really desirous of earning virtue. He has, like a hypocrite, become our friend, when in reality, he is our enemy. Indeed, the excreta of a creature that lives on fruits and roots, never contains hair or fur, as his does. Then again, while he is growing fat, the numbers of our mice are diminishing. Besides, Dindika has not been seen for the last eight days.’
The mice understood the import of what he said, and they all ran way. The cat got nothing more to eat there, and returned to where he had come from.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Mini and Maxi visit the vet


‘I plan to get the cats sterilised.’
‘Why are you doing that? Cats can take care of themselves.
Just leave them in the forest.’ This is the usual comment one gets in India, particularly in smaller cities where keeping cats as pets, is yet to catch on.

After asking all round I zero in on the vet everyone says is the best surgeon in the city. In a phone call he assures me that he has sterilised a large number of cats, most of them brought to him from a nearby American school. In a visit, he says the same. The costs too are reasonable, and Mini and Maxi, two 9-month old males, get an appointment for Friday morning. I begin with the males as a test, as I know it is a simpler procedure.

Mini and Maxi spend the night indoors for the first time. They can have dinner, but no food after that, and no water after 5 am. At 4.30 am I check on them, and find them snuggled together, asleep in an open cat carrier. I shut it so that they cannot eat or drink anything. Later I put them in a large cage with newspaper, in case they want to do anything. Can’t let them out, or I may not be able to catch them again. At 9.45, they are back in the carrier, and with them on the backseat of the car, we set off for the vet. I have with me a Feliway spray, a cat toy, and a towel to help hold them.
Minty, on her first trip in a car, howled like a banshee and threw herself on all sides of the carrier in an attempt to escape. I expected the same from Mini and Maxi, but there was just one small miaow, even though it was hot in the car, and they hadn’t even had water. After a one-hour drive we reached the vet’s office--though nothing much was happening there, we had to wait another half-hour, in the waiting room. A Rottweiller and a dachshund looked in.
Then, says the vet, bring in one of the cats. ‘I have to bring both into a closed space first’, I explain. ‘I can’t open the carrier here.’ ‘Okay’, he says. I take the carrier in, but there is nowhere to put it. I need it on a table, so that I can safely open it, and bring one cat out, and catch it in the towel. I am also about to ask for a harness, as I have been to a vet in another city, where collars and leashes are immediately put on the cat when it emerges from the carrier. I don’t see the assistant with anything in his hand, but before I can say anything, he puts the carrier on the floor and opens it. Mini is out! And there is no closed space. As the assistant dives to catch him, he jumps up, and over the partition. There are three small rooms enclosed by these partitions, and terrified Mini jumps into the next one. The vet immediately says, ‘I can’t operate on this type of a cat. Please take it home.’
But the problem is to catch Mini. As two vets assistants chase her, he gets even more terrified, and the vet gets more and more cross. I remember the Feliway, which the vet has never heard of, but he grabs the bottle and sprays half of it towards Mini, by then hiding on a high shelf behind packets of food. Mini moves from there and the vet starts throwing things at him! The assistant brings another small cage and I put some Whiskas jelly in it to tempt him down, but he is too terrified. The assistant climbs after him, the vet throws things at him to stop him crossing the partition, and Mini drops--I try catching him but all claws are out, but as he dives behind some packages I get him by the tail--one assistant gets a scratch on the hand, the other, wearing gloves, shoves snarling Mini into the cage, and we manage to shut it. I have to pay for the cage and the Whiskas, and then we go home. But not before the vet has said that cats are not worth keeping. They don’t listen to anyone and bite the hand that feeds it, etc. I try to explain that Mini is only terrified, and that cats are very loving, but give up. We reach home--released, Mini rushes into the storeroom where he generally sleeps along with the other outside cats, and disappears among the boxes. He doesn’t emerge for the next two hours. Maxi meanwhile has never got out of his carrier, and saunters out, not much bothered.
I should have perhaps had them on harnesses to start with, but it was difficult enough to get them both in the carrier, and I thought the vet would know what to do.
How do I ever get them sterilised?