Oops, silly me....Ginger is male (and already neutered too)!

A reader from the blog wrote to say she would like to adopt Rosie. I thought that would be a wonderful idea so that Rosie would finally have a home, but to be fair, I needed the feeder's consent since he had been looking after Rosie even before I moved here. My other worry is, Rosie might run away and try to come back here.

Sometimes, it's not that the new owner isn't providing enough. The owner may be doing everything possible to give the cat a happy life, but the cat just wants to be somewhere else.

Anyway, this morning I went out to feed my outside clan and luckily, the feeder's wife came over to chit-chat. I told her that someone is interested in adopting Rosie, so would that be okay?  She told me quite a number of people have indicated that they wanted to adopt Rosie, but her worry is Rosie is so happy living in the community, she might not be happy elsewhere. Moreover, Rosie is so close to her brother so it won't be fair separating them.

Brother??

Rosie has a brother? Who?

"There!!  This one.", she said, and pointed at......Ginger!

Ha ha....Ginger is male???

"Yes, he is male, and already neutered, but your vet forgot to notch the ear." she said.  (Ginger was neutered under our sponsorship, and yes, for males, the vet sometimes forget to notch the ear, as in Bosco's case.)

Oopsies....silly me. I'm completely hopeless at telling the gender of a cat and I normally don't like to simply violate the cat's dignity by examining his or her privates unless I see a need to. And anyway, even if I did, I'm just hopeless at telling the gender (due to lack of experience!).

So, yay! Ginger is NOT pregnant! Ginger is male and already neutered, so my worries are over! And Ginger is such good friends with Mr G, so they must be bosom buddies, I guess.

(I found this: http://myanimalcare.org/2011/09/26/a-male-cat-neutered-francis-tze/ - Ginger was neutered last year!)

We got talking and Mukda (the feeder's wife) told me some background about the cat community here. Apparently, Rosie and Ginger's mother lives down the road and is STILL producing. Guess who is one of her later children?

BOSCO!

Oh I see...so Bosco is Rosie and Ginger's half-brother, so to speak.

Oh my....isn't it a small world after all?

And Bosco's mother is very evasive so Mukda and Francis have not been able to catch her for spaying. Now, she has just  given birth again. Let's try and catch her this round, I said.

And Mukda told me that many ladies who live here do not like animals. They keep complaining that she and her husband should not feed the cats at the pavilion. Oh well, so what's new? We will always have such people in every neighbourhood. That's the reality of life....we live amongst such people and we try our best to find peace.

Mukda said Francis is so concerned about the cats that when they go away overseas, he would always be worrying about the cats and if they would have food. I assured her he would just have to let me know, and I would gladly do the breakfast rounds every morning while they are away. Francis not only feeds at the pavilion but also along the streets whenever he meets any cat on his morning walk. Again, some neighbours don't like it and they criticise.

Well, I have been feeding the outside clan at the culvert these days and many walkers pass by. So far, nobody has said anything but some have given me "looks".

Oh well...as a friend told me, "What people do or say to you is their karma, how you react is your karma." So, be wise and choose your reaction. Or better still, don't even react (Tiger's wisdom) and there will be no stress.

I asked Mukda if Bosco goes for breakfast at the pavilion, and she says no. Bosco and Raven are too afraid because the elder cats will chase them.

No wonder...that's why these two came to me, I suppose.

As we talked, Ginger and Rosie finished their food and went off for a sibling-stroll.

Snow White came by and was greeted by Bosco. Now, I'm not sure if Snow White is also male! Mukda says she has not seen Snow White before.

 The feisty Raven.

Mukda says she has seen Raven and there is another black and yellow bigger kitten who goes around with Raven. Maybe a half-sibling too?

 Are you male or female, Snow White?

 Rosie on a neighbour's car. You can't stop a cat...they just love high places.

 Yes, Mukda is probably right.

This is Rosie's home and she is happy here. No doubt it isn't 100% safe, but we've noticed she has "places" to go to from mid-morning until evening. Maybe some other houses welcome her too since she is so well-behaved?

As a cat, would you prefer to live freely enjoying nature or would you prefer to live in a house? We'll never know, because we are not cats, and each cat comes with his or her own personality and preferences too, just as humans do. Some like the outdoors, some indoors.

Humans can do as much research as they wish...the bottom line is, we are still not cats and we will never know what a cats wants for sure.

So, we only have our gut feeling to rely on, and we'll just have to do the best we can for them.

  Hey, MR Ginger!!

The best news for today for me is that Ginger is a neutered male (and not pregnant!!).