Mis Gatos

My cats. While I have often talked about Lupo, my adorable boy, I haven't introduced you properly to my cats, Toffee and Sai-loh. Jac asked me if I had cats and that has prompted this post. So, without further ado, let me introduce mis gatos:

Toffee

Also known as 'no-fang cat' as he has lost all his teeth. Nothing to do with lack of care from our point of view, when I adopted him from the shelter in Hong Kong he was about three years old and his previous owner (who called him 'Lucky') hadn't properly treated a tooth infection and the vet told me that in time, his teeth would all break off at the gumline. And so they have, but he manages still to eat his hard food using only his gums.

Toffee is particularly close to Lupo and can often be found with his entire head buried deep into Lupo's ears, giving them a good clean out. I can only imagine what that raspy tongue feels like on such a sensitive area, but I've yet to hear a complaint!

He's an incredibly soft, gentle boy. I had him for about a year before I got his brother, again from the shelter. The vet warned me that we'd need to introduce them slowly, perhaps keep a door between them for a day or two. Yeah, right. In walks Sai-loh and before we know it, Toffee has him asleep in his arms in his bed. It was as though they were brothers, they just took to each other from the first minute.

Sai-loh

Sai-loh means little brother in Cantonese. So named when I saw how Toffee took to him. His nickname is 'psycho sai' as he still has that cat thing going on of a mad half-hour every night running like crazy around the apartment He uses the living room for his 'wall-of-death' impersonation, literally running around the room approximately mid-way from floor to ceiling. His original name was 'Bess' when I adopted him and I had to point out to the vet that ummmm I think he's a boy not a girl. At which point he was snatched back and they wouldn't give him to me until they'd relieved him of his sperm sacks!

Sai-loh was fresh off the streets when I got him, at about a year old. Every night, he'd seek out the highest spot in the bedroom and sleep there. His street instincts were, and are, very strong, even though he did settle in so well as a domesticated cat. To this day he will not drink standing water, it has to be running out of the tap.

He's a bit of a daredevil. When I was in Hong Kong, he found his way out onto the washing line on the 34th floor, which is basically a frame extending outwards from the building wall, within which are four nylon lines. He was at the outermost point doing a balancing act on two of the lines. I managed to persuade him to return to safe ground without incident. In Tenerife, however, he fell five storeys from the apartment I was renting then. I ran downstairs expecting to find a splattered cat, only to be greeted by miaows and leg rubs.

I took them both with me when I moved to Tenerife. NOT a journey I'd put any animal through again, hence they stay with my sister instead of returning here with me. It was a journey of over 30 hours (via Frankfurt) and approximately 20 hours of that was spent in a cargo hold.