Farewell Maal, Welcome Back Nabira!

The Final Farewell
On 1st Muharram in Year 2006, on a day known as Maal Hijrah, JF2 found 2 little kittens, not more than five days old, crawling at the pavement in front of the house. "Ma, Pa, look I found two little kittens, can we keep them?", asked JF2. Looking at the helpless kittens with the mother nowhere to be found, we decided to provide a shelter for the two kittens.

They were named Maal dan Higgy, taking the occasion of the day that we found them, Maal Hijrah. So since then, they have been part of the "household", fed and taken care of by the best of our ability.

Though they are not "bred pets" but rather of "stray cats", the attention and care (which include medical care) given to them was at par to those accorded to Persians or other exotic breeds.

Higgy however left us during last year's Raya holidays while in a boarding facility, leaving Maal alone. But Maal was never really alone as he regularly received visitors from other stray cats in their attempts to share Maal's food.

There is one particular orange cat that Maal would always avoid contact. Perhaps the orange cat was rather aggressive. But he got along well with the others, he will let the "gang" consume his food without ever exerting any territorial dominion over his supposedly home.

However, suddenly, out of the blue, he started to loose appetite and within a day got dehydrated and just lying helplessly last Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Mrs. J brought him over to the neighbourhood's veterinary clinic for medical attention and he was subsequently warded for observation.

Come Thursday, he actually showed a remarkable improvement. He looked healthier but he doesn't seem to be able to move anything other than his head.

And come Friday, the veterinarian confirmed that Maal's brain was infected causing him unable to control his body movements other than the head.

Due to this, he is no longer able to eat or drink on his own. In short, Maal is now paralysed. Maal is now a vegetable!

On the veterinarian's recommendation, it was then decided that the most humane act is to end his suffering by putting him to a permanent sleep.

Maal's Final Resting Place
So today, after all the family members (except for JF1 who is spending the weekend at his hostel)bid farewell, Maal was put to sleep at exactly 11.00 a.m.

He was then laid to rest under a shady tree opposite the house.

At long last, she's back!
Such a sad day indeed, losing a pet, though came by uninvited but had surely brought colour to the house.

The low spirit of the day got uplifted when Nabira, who was "hospitalised" for more than 2 months was brought back home. The car now look brand new and I would say that the workshop had indeed done a splendid job in repairing the damages "she" incurred from the traffic accident that occurred on 4th July.

I have three months to check and see of anything not right with the car and hopefully, there would not be any. The rear sensor was conspicuously missing and the workshop has asked me to send the car back anytime for them to reinstall the rear sensor device which they had accidentally "forgotten" to install.

So we now look forward for happier times ahead, starting with the fast approaching Hari Raya holidays as we will be on our "balik kampung" journey to the northern states of Penang and Kedah.

Till then "Selamat Berpuasa" and if this is not too early, "Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri".

Jasni AJ