Introducing The Little Dodols!!!

My dearest cat Bebel finally gave birth to her second litter last Thursday. I dub these second ones the Little Dodols due to their dark colourings, a mixture of orange tabby and black. There are 6 of them and just like the little lempers, the little dodols made their entrance early in the morning.

Kakak already had an instict Bebel was going to give birth on Wednesday night. She said that Bebel seems restless and out of sort. We put her in the cage but she miawed loudly to be let out. So I let her out but keep the playroom door closed just in case she really did gave birth.

I didn't witness their birth but when I opened my bedroom door the next morning Bebel was already there greeting as if saying, come come see my kittens! So I followed her and bing hey ho... She proudly showed her very newborn kittens, all clean! I knew she a good mother :D so proud of her. Guess where Bebel decide to have the baby? In a room in kakak's doll house! So clever of her, choosing a cosy spot sheltering her little kittens from all sorts.

Obviously I can't let the kittens stay in the dollhouse. So began the task of moving the little dodols to their prepared cage while counting just how many of them are. In my excitement I calculated 6 plus 1 runt making a total of 7. I think I nearly collapsed. But later on the da reaise there were only 6. Still, that's 50% more than the lempers. But there was a runt tha I wasn't sure will survive. The runt is so much more smaller than the sibs. Kakak and I tried to feed him but well, nature says otherwise. The next day Runty lay lifeless and cold. Off we go for impromptu funeral in the garden.

Now there's only 5 healthy little dodols. I hope they will grow cuddle and strong as I need to find home for them.

Evolution of a name

I witnessed this little lemper's birth. The youngest of 4, we called it Stella.

Stella is the quitest little lemper yet also the most headstrong. When the other 3 siblings often fights for Bebel's teat, Stella would be the one already peched, fixedly sucking on Bebel's milk. No hurricane can tear Stella away from the milk. Little wonder then Stella grow to be the fattest, roundest little lemper.

Then, as Stella gets older, we noticed Stella is actually Stello. No wondeeer.... He's big cuz well, males usually are bigger than the females. Stello loves running around at fast speed and he loves chasing his siblings around the house. Unfortunately he's not as nimble as his sisters. More than once we saw him bumped into the wall, the door, or the sofa cuz he couldn't break or turn in time during high speed sister chase. Silly boy!

Stello's black mark covers both his eyes like a mask. Upon examining this, babeh promptly claims that he looks more like a Zorro than a Stello. Kakak likes this so much she added it to name, thus Zorro Stello.

Now, kakak loves all her cats wholeheartedly and often gives them pet names such as Bebel for Bella. For Zorro? He get Joyyo. Strong little Zorro became this spoiled little Joyyo. Oookkk... However, Ade doesn't think that this is an appropriate pet name. He then adopts the more masculine Jokko! It's a good thing no one in our immediately household is called Joko since that's a pretty common male name for Javanese.

So that's the evolution of one little Lemper's name:
Stella - Stello - Zorro - Joyyo - Jokko

I hope this cat don't grow with split personality ;)

Ailurophilia

@rinurbad: ailurophilia = love of cats *lirik Mbak @agatogata, Mbak @rahmadeeyanti, dan Uda @melviyendra. #cinta

One of my favourite book translator send me the above tweet today. So cool to know that there's a term for kitty lovers. I do think 'ailuro' is a strange word, never heard that before. That just prove that you learn something mew, I mean new everyday. Which reminds me, I must grab that kitty pic from Uda Melvi before it is gone.

Bebel's Friends photos

When the Little Lempers were complete

Turns out adding pages and pics are not as easy as I thought. I added a few of my friends kitty pics which can be seen on Bebel's friend page. Please take a look. After all that copy paste the result are still kinda basic. I hope my friends are not too disappointed. Need to add more photos!

Miss Bebel

I thought it's funny how on our recent weekend break my little son proclaims that he wanted to go home because he miss Bebel. It's funny because usually it is his sister that would whine about missing the cats. It's infectious I see.
Truth be told, I miss Bebel and the Little Lempers too. That little blob of fur who likes to run around the house and the slightly bigger blob of grey fur who likes to sleep in front of the bathroom, my bed, and on the sajadah or praying mat as well.
So last night I hug all our cats and an extra long hug for Bebel. Maybe she miss us to because somehow she managed to sneak in and sleep in our room last night. She woke us up in the middle of the night though, most probably nature calls.
Dear darling Bebel... May you live long, healthy and be with us always. Kiss kiss.

Rowdy Merry Lempers

I've forgotten how rowdy and rambunctious kittens can be. Now that the little lempers legs are strong, nary a moment goes by without seeing them running around the house.

Every morning we're now entertained by the sight of Zorro, Lila and Kopeng chasing each other. Sometimes Bebel joins in, trying to catch one of them and givess them a thorough licking. Othertimes Bebel entertained the little Lemperss by letting them chasing her tail - complete with a bored expression on her face.

One time Zorro was chasing Kopeng around when at the last possible moment Kopeng turned left. Alas, poor Zorro, he couldn't brake and run headlong to the closed door! Bong! Did that deter little Zorro? Did he stop chasing Kopeng? Of course not! He paused, reflecting on his kiss with the door, decided that he's ok and resumed running after Kopeng.

Ah kittens. How wonderful life is with little kitties in our household :)

Scratching Session

I saw Bebel asleep on my bed, I thought, how cute! And I proceed to take a photo of her with my bb. I forgot her sixth sense when it come to camera. She immediately raise her head, with eyes still closed, and nudge my hand. Uh oh, this can only mean one thing: scratch me!

So I scratch her head, then under her chin, behind her left ear, behind her right ear, repeat with the other hand. This whole routine reminds me of my dad. After dinner while we're watching tv he'll often ask me or mom, whoever is closest at the time, to scratch his back. Difference is my dad would say directions saying left, right, up left a bit or further right whereas Bebel would just move her head indicating the areas she wanted to be scratched. Funny how my dad and my cat can be so similar :D

And what does Bebel do after this extra long scratching session that utilise both hands? She streched, clean herself a little bit, looks at me as if saying, good job human. Then promptly jumps down from the bed and walks out the room.

Oh Bebel, you silly grey cat :p

Afternoon Nap

The Little Lempers are usually a rowdy bunch. They run, they jump, they poke and fight each other. If Bebel feels up to it, she'll join in the fun, playing with the kittens swatting her tail as Zorro tries to bit it. All in all they're an entertaining bunch, livening up our mornings and nights. That is until yesterday...

I went home in the afternoon after my book club meeting. The house is empty since the kids were away with their practices. Bebel was fast asleep under the dining table, Zorro and Lila were also on their favourite spot, the computer table, so the house was quiet until I spot a lone kitten in the corner... Yep, Nina is still awake and unsure what to do. Her face was so funny I couldn't help but laugh. She held this sad and forlorn expression, she kept shooting glances at her mom and sibs as if hoping they will be awake. I asked her why isn't she napping? She just gave this look saying, can't you see I'm clearly not tired? She tried to prove it by playing on her own but her efforts were pretty pathetic, not as energetic as usual. I was thoroughly amused. So I said, mommy is gonna change now, you can play in my room if you like. She declined. Well, suit yourself.

I went into my room, get changed, returned some phone calls, take my own sweet time tidying up stuff then I went back out to get a drink. What do I see? It seems Nina has given up all hope of playing on her own and decided to join her sibling on the table trying to get a nap too. My my, they really are like little human children... my silly little Lempers :D

Cat Phobia?

A friend of mine told me that she visited the site but couldn't read through because she's afraid of cats. Oh no? Why? How come? Cats are such cute creatures, how can anyone be scared of them? Of their pictures no less :( I mean I understand if you don't like cats, I used to not like dogs but even during the time I hate them -back when I was small I was minding my own business biking along the neighbourhood when some unruly dogs came out barking and chaing me for a while- I'm not afraid of their pics, just the actual barking four-legged thing.

So sorry to hear that my friend. I guess you just have to wait for my other blog to be set up since I'm dedicating this one to Bebel, the Little Lempers, and their friends.

Bebel at the Vet

The last time Bebel went to the vet was during her pregnancy. I was in denial about something is cooking in her oven so I went just to make sure she's fine. Now, Bebel has been to the vet before and usually she's a trooper. She so calm that her vet, vet Nia, just adores her. However, this time vet Nia was taking care of some dogs so long story short Bebel was quite unhappy and she nearly bit vet Nia's hand!

But, that was then, and this is now, over 2 months has passed and naturally I was hoping Bebel would be ok in the vet this time. Boy was I wrong!!! Bebel was as stressed as ever! She didn't want to come out of her basket, her body stiffened, she growls and hiss whenever we tried to comfort her and at one point her hair actually stand on her back. Uh oh, not good. So not good sign.

Vet Nia finally gives up after several unsuccessful attempt to hold Bebel. We scheduled for a home visit instead. Vet Nia thinks Bebel would be calmer in her own home and less likely to be hostile. So we'll just have to wait for that. I hope this approach would work because Bebel really need to see the vet few more time in her lifetime. She needs to be sterilised and get vaccinated so she'll be a happy, healthy cat.

However, the visit to the Vet this afternoon wasn't a complete failure. The Little Lempers responded well to vet Nia and her assistant. They let them take their temperature and being checked. All the sexes are now confirmed, no need to change name anymore. Unless Kakak gets bored and decided another round of name change is needed.

I'm very proud of the Little Lempers. Bebel? well... it saddens me because I really like the vet. She's my cousin and she truly loves cat so I know she'll do what's best for the cats. Hopefully Bebel will come around and be calm to the vet like when she 's a kitten. In the mean time, I'm holding my breath until vet Nia comes. Please please let Bebel be just fat instead of cooking another batch in the oven.

PS: if you live around South Jakarta and is in need of a vet for your pet please check-out vet Nia. She's really cool and honest. I love her and not just because she's family but because she truly passionate about her job. Go, you'll love her I'm sure :)

Test

Test mail... Does it works???

New Year New Direction ;)

At the risk of sounding like a gleek, I decided to switch the direction of this blog. Before I was focusing on weight loss but that soon get boring hence the very long blog archive list. So now, why not write about something that really interest me? Someone once said if you do something with love it won't feel like work. Thus, this will be about things I love and passionate about. I think the new title and blurb explains it all :)