Hello, Billy?

Teenagers

From patients to fighters

America and I 

Culture and corruption

The cat that loved chicharon

M. L. Tan

Yesterday was World Animal Day (actually the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi), which gives me an excuse to wear my vet hat and do something about pets.

I thought I’d make a pitch for taking in a cat as a pet. For most Filipinos, the cat’s there mainly for pest control but there’s really much more to cats than that. Without requiring as much attention as dogs, cats can keep very good company.

Cats are ideal for city life, especially if all you have is an apartment. The original couch potato if there ever was one, cats are content with a few square meters of space. They’re very clean and will learn, on their own, to use the garden or, indoors, a pan with sand, for their toilet duties.

I love dogs too but sometimes find them too slavish. They follow you all around panting and drooling and whining, a bit too much like men. Cats are so much more independent, which makes them ideal if you’re out of the house most of the day.

Leave the cat in front of a window with a view of the garden or of the street and they’ll sit there for hours, sometimes without moving, watching the world go by. Even without such a window, cats are perfectly happy with simple toys like old tennis balls, crumpled aluminum foil, anything that moves or makes a noise.

Feline independence doesn’t mean cats aren’t affectionate. They can be really carinosa. More than that, many cats are actually quite talkative and cat chatter can be quite engaging. They greet you and will answer back with all kinds of sounds. My parents’ Moning, for example, uses a simple mew to say hello or to just say she’s happy. The mew is transformed into a meow when she’s elated. An inquisitive "Meeowww?" is her way of asking what’s for dinner but a change in tone to "meowww!" is a protest, such as when you startle her. Now if you catch her doing something wrong, she lets out an embarrassed, barely audible "mew mew".

Be careful too because cats love to eavesdrop on humans and if they ever catch you backbiting about them (for example, "Moning needs a bath") and you’ll never hear the end of it – they’ll meowrass you for the rest of the day. (Oops, now I’m worried about this article. Like most cats, Moning loves keyboards, whether on a piano or a computer. I suspect she pretends she’s doing word processing when she’s actually looking for cat chatrooms and checking the stuff I write.)

Anything on the down side with cats? Well there’s cat fur, to which some people have an allergy. If someone in the family has that allergy, or is asthmatic, then a cat can be a problem.

Cats are also a bit more difficult to discipline than dogs. Because they’re so independent and dignified, they’re not about to stoop down to doing silly tricks like rolling over and shaking hands. But yes, they can be taught not to go on your dining table or on a special sofa. You just have to catch them perpetuating the crime. A light tap on the nose, like mother cats do to their kittens, is one way of disciplining them. Or keep a loaded spray bottle on hand and shoot away when you catch them doing a Tarzan on your orchids.

For vegetarians, cats can pose ethical dilemmas because they’re carnivorous and ravenously so. Big Boy, one of my friends’ kittens, goes berserk and begins break-dancing when he hears the crackle of chicharon. Dogs manage quite well as veggies but it doesn’t work out with cats so you’ll just have to compromise, maybe limiting them to fish.

One final drawback: cats reproduce very quickly. While female dogs come into heat only twice a year, cats are ready all year round, ovulating when they have coitus. It’s important then, as an act of social responsibility and for the health of your cat, to have it "fixed". (Like humans, it’s the male or tomcat that’s more problematic since they’re the ones roaming around and impregnating all the neighborhood cats.)

Properly cared for, cats can live many years, up to 20 years or more, with Puskals (pusang kalye or street cats) tending to be sturdier and more long-lived. It’s a long-term commitment, getting a cat, but it can be well worth it. Right, Moning?