Cats don't have 9 lives

I used to have a cat in 1987. He was probably abandoned by his mum, wandered aimlessly around and landed outside my house.

I wasn’t aware that I was allergic to cats then. Being a major Garfield fan at that time, I thought having a cat would be great fun. So I took him in.

Initially, I thought he was a female, being so “meowie” and small. A couple of days later my mum’s friend came by, and was playing with him, and she said, “This cat is a boy-lah!! See his birdie!!!”

Dang! Okay, so I’m a bit batty. But his weenie was so tiny. Now you know why they say “SIZE MATTERS”.

So I changed his name from Stasia (short form Anastasia) to Shosta (taken from Shostakovich). And from that day onwards I learnt that cats are just too difficult to train, and they make me sneeze till I can challenge Rudolph for the head reindeer post.

Anyway, I got tired of Shosta after a while, and I think he of me. Because I can’t stand pets that don’t come when I call, and I wouldn’t let him into the house. But he stayed on. Who wouldn’t when there’s ample of food to eat.

A year later, I left for Singapore for my studies. My father had retired and was back in Melaka after being stationed in Kluang for more than 10 years (I think).

Shosta and my dad loved each other. Everytime my dad took a nap on the deckchair, Shosta would climb onto his chest and nap there along with him. When he calls, Shosta would go to him. When he holds Shosta and says “bite nose”, Shosta would give him a little nip on the nose. Maybe they were lovers in their past life.

Shosta didn’t have a long life. He used to go out god knows where, and would come back dirty and messy and wet. One fine day, he came back with a high fever and was dehydrated. My father brought him to the vet, and he was kept there for 2 days, but didn’t survive. He was about 4 years old.

From there on, my parents had a succession of other cats, and all of them seemed to last no longer than 2 years. Maybe Shosta left a curse. Now my brother has brought back a cat whom he calls Mr. Eek. Let’s see how long he lasts.