My heart

My friend asked me once, what was the most precious thing i have in my apartment. This was in context of us talking about maids coming into our house once a week to clean the place. I said without hesitation, my two cats. I was afraid that the maid would leave the door open and they would run out and get lost. I was not even worried of the maid stealing material things.

I have a lot of things that are precious in the apartment - but all i could think of is that nothing is more precious than my two naughties. They are irreplaceable.

Growing up, i have always wanted cats. I don't know why i have such a strong fascination with cats. Love their ears, their furry faces, whiskers and the agility of the feline form. Cats are sexy. Or, as said, perhaps i was a cat in my past life.

I lost MeowMeow once 4 years ago. That was when i was still living at my dad's house. Someone knocked him down and he went missing for 1 week. That one week was the worst i have felt in my entire 27 years of existence. I went looking for him every night after work. At that time, I didn't know a car knocked him, i thought maybe he decided to up and go, or worse, someone took him away. It was heart wrenching, like something in me just died. I was an emotional roller coaster and yet had to put on a normal face at work. At night, I would just burst into tears whenever I closed my eyes. I was a total wreck.

The first day after he went missing and I woke up and saw his water and food bowl, I started to cry and I didn't stop until he came back.

I never thought, a four legged animal could have such an impact on me. My husband (then boyfriend) printed a lost and reward poster and we circulated that on the 3rd day. I offered RM1,000. On the 5th day when no one called, I told my husband I was willing to offer RM5000. He said it's just a cat. I don't think he would say that if it was a baby. After the 6th day, my dad told me to get another cat. I said it wouldn't be the same. It's not my Meowz.

When Meowz finally resurfaced (apparently he had been hiding somewhere), we realised he had a broken leg. It was so mangled that the leg was held by just a few tendons. He had only 3 good legs. I held him in my arms all the way to the vet. At that time, all vets were closed but my husband called his dog's vet, who was willing to wait for us. When he saw how bad the leg was, he said he had to amputate it. I just bawled my eyes out and i think the vet got so alarmed that he said he will try to mend the leg.

And he did. It was a painful 6 months process to heal. Meowz spent 3 months in the vet, in a cage and it broke his spirit. He was always a free roamer. I stop by after work almost everyday to stroke him. Everytime i walk thru the doors, his furry face would lit up in recognition. The vet said "u really love your cat". No one probably visits their pet that often, I guess.

So now, Meowz is safe with me, he still has his leg. It was not easy to reattach, so he has this twisted looking leg. But it works fine. He can still jump, chase after me and do all the things he normally does. In short, it is a miracle. God bless the vet for not giving up.

Meowz is my heart. I don't dare to think of the day he would eventually go up to heaven, but he's with me now and that's all that matters. As for the vet, Asokan, he's miracle worker.