Gosh, we had her only for like 5 mths and this is how she disappears. My only fear is that she is shivering and cold and broken somewhere on a ledge of the building 24 floors down. The only way she could disappear from the house was through a window as all the doors were locked. And our windows overlooked a 24-floor drop onto the laundry people sun outside the flat.
She had been doing well, eating real good, sometimes attacking our stash of walnut bread or scavenging the bin for morsels or catwalking her way across my desk to sniff at the potential food in my hand. Whether it was actually food or not, she figured those were good ways to get our attention, either by sauntering in menacingly and heading straight to the source of her interest (at which Nat or I usually grab her and plonk her somewhere else in the room) or she climbs up to your lap and goes her full body length, stretching to peer into your cup or have a nip at the yogurt. Anything that had a plastic crumpling sound was potentially edible. Anything tt had a paper crumbling sound was a potential play thing/food. When she got out of hand like overturn the entire wok of bread onto the floor for ants to eat, Nat really smacked her. But her butt was so cute you just wanted to pick her up and squish her... eeek!
Before we went overseas to Thailand last Tues, 7 sept, she had nails that would leave holes and lacerations and swells on us. It was probably the dirt under there and Nat couldn't be bothered to trim them 'cos Mittens struggled a lot. She was one frisky cat. With those nails she even made tears in the sofas, worse than Midnight who shortens his nails on the wooden basket. Bathe her and she'd claw you. Press the twice broken tip of her tail and she'd claw you. Let Nat put her on your back and she'd really claw you. We punished each other by throwing Mittens or putting her on each others' backs. Ouch. But after Takara Pets owner trimmed her nails (and cleaned her ears, yay) she was ever so cute and sparkling clean and smelled of Indian dust whn I collected her on 10 sept. But her lack of claws made her stumble once whn she catwalked the bedroom sill. And the second time she failed she was gone.
I tot she'd never grow up, but i saw thr was no rush 'cos she was only 5 mths old and despite her scrawniness and thin legs and big protruding tummy (the skin was so flabby it was hanging below her stomach) she made a cool Bucky cat. Minus the sarcasm. And hey, she could stand up on her hind legs imitating a meerkat. It's usually cute, so I would grab her upper legs and with her butt in my other hand, I make her sorta' "stand" in my hand looking like a black and white meerkat.
When I first saw her, she was on the bus bench looking so oblivious to everyone around her. It was the rush hour and buses were filing in and out and people were streaming around and there the lil' kitty sat, all curled up and quietly sleeping on the corner of the bench. Many of the adults dared not sit near her. She was just the size of my palm and I swooned over her the moment I laid eyes on her. But I was caught between messing with nature and just bringing her from her natural habitat under my wing where I couldn't really give her warmth and she might die (the neighbour near the lift lobby kept a 1/2 yr old kitty but she died under his lousy care). Ajmal said her mum could be nearby so I should leave her. I had called him to ask at what age do kittens open their eyes 'cos she kept hers closed a lot. But she had a good body of fur though thin and wispy, so she wasn't too young. And I had to rush to school. I left her at a bench whr the elderly hang out and rushed off. I told Nat to see if she was still ard the blk and to pick her up and bring her home 'cos tt would mean her mum wasn't nearby.
Now we had 2 monochrome cats and tt needed some getting used to. When Nat brought Mittens in, Midnight started snarling at her. Until he saw tt it was a she, and she was small. I knew they would get along. The only prob was Mittens kept biting and punching him in the face, or maybe just batting his nose with her claws extended. If he got too close, usually just for a sniff of her butt, she would turn and crouch and claw his paws, then he would be subdued and retreat. Sometimes they would even go wrestling and tumbling on the floor until Midnight hisses and runs from her. Thn she'd chase him for sport. After mths, their roughage became more silent and violent tt I would worry if someone would get hurt. Midnight really does hurt her sometimes with his fat heavy bulk and I spank them when I catch who started it. Of I would break up the fights. Recently, she would attack him less rigorously but he would still whine as much, probably out of boredom frm playing with Mittens.
Aside from getting used to their daily play-fighting, Mittens really took advantage of her small frame and thin but muscular legs (you could see the small muscles rippling under tt skin). And after hving seen her amazing feats of window treading and grille climbing, I stupidly thn started paying attn to tt and decided we would hv to keep the windows closed a lot of the time. If she's nt asleep, she'll be attempting the catwalk. She sorta improvised it frm a tree to step ladder sorta climb. Over time she got faster and was able to manoeuvre her way to the curtain rails frm the tight spaces in the grilles, and frm thr make a victorious leap with all the glory of 4 dusty paws sailing thru the air and cleaning off neatly on my pillow. The dust stains, and in no time, the top of the windows are clean. She did tt at certain times. 1) When I am abt to curl up in bed, she would be all left out and rattles her way up to access my bed. 2) When she feels she has to wake me in the morning for breakfast, but Nat took to feeding them at 7ams so I didn't hv to starve them while I slept in. 3) When she just wants to wake me up. Initially I didn't close the windows so I would leap right out of bed to haul her back in. After tt, she just jumps onto me and bites my fingers with her itty-bitty teeth. her mountain climbing skill was a cool factor of ten I ever saw in a cat. I tot she might make a gd mountain climber and could accompany me on the Mt. Kinabalu hike in the future. She would probably be f
The opening of the fridge door meant time to explore the interior of the lower shelves. Any opening of the storeroom door meant time to go into the wild mazes of the junk and dig deep for treasure/food. The baking of something was potential food; the washing of utensils or raw things was potential food; the putting of laundry outside was potential food; the small movement in my swivel chair was "What is she doing? I'll crack an eye open just to see..."; the unnecessary lumbering to and fro the house meant "she's up to something, it must be lotsa food!"; the walking towards the kitchen meant food 'cos tts whr Nat and I feed them and Mittens would race ahead of me everytime I step out the bedroom door... I get really frightened I would trod on her 'cos she weaves very closely to your legs and in the 1st mth we trod on her a lot. Poor thing. The weird thing is despite her lil' idiosyncrasies and the will to be out of this world, she nvr rly mewed or whined for food, only attn, except the once or twice whn Midnight was whining also for food did she join in a little, giving soft and short miaos. They were usu sharp and shrill.
She's really sensitive to motion and is very curious to know what you're up to that she hung ard me a lot whn I was cramming for exams the last 3 wks and while doing nth during the YOG hols too. So the last 5 weeks b4 she fell, we really grew nearer and I
It's tragic. Just like tt. Poof. A close companion of mine who became even closer still when the exams came up. I still miss her. I cry my eyes out thinking how dreadfully she went. The best house cat in the world is no more!
