Episode 217 - Pet vs. Working Cat

When I was small, my family used to keep cats to fix the rats problem.

They were working cats and they were allowed to go outside the house whenever they liked.

We fed the cats with fish and rice. At that time, the fish hawkers sold some low end fishes at discounted price. The fishes were fried in the wok until they were completely dried and broken down into small pieces. The dried pieces were then mixed with rice to feed the cats.

As the cats lived freely, some time they just did not come back after wandering outside at night and we had to get new cats to fill the vacancy in the team.

Sometimes the female cats had babies and we had to distribute the kittens to our neighbours.

The past experience in keeping working cats would not, however, assist us in keeping a pet cat.

There is no rat for it to catch so we have to give it some toys to do exercise instead.

We have to erect fences at our windows to avoid the cat from jumping out (at 50+ floors!).

We have to teach the cat to be careful with the loose objects in the flat. Our souvenirs are in danger!

The cat now eats pallets. How strange!

We also need to use cat sands (which absorb smells) for the cat's toilet.

What a difference!