Of all the pets, I like cat the best. They don't bark. They don't bite children. They may not collect newspapers for you, but I'm talking about a pet here, not a slave.

Cats are very clean. As a matter of fact you don't even have to clean them. They do it themselves. Of course, being as imperfect as human being, they need someone to scrub their back. The only difficulty we face in their case is finding their fur on the couch and the bed. Sometimes you could even find it on your face when you wake up in the morning. Some say it is an allergen, which is not true. It is their dead skin, not the hair, which triggers allergic reaction. Constant washing will get rid of these allergic agents, though the same precautions are not recommended for other agents like insurance and direct sales agents.

These creatures are fragile. Constant watch and care is necessary for their safety and health. There are many magazines and books dedicated to these issues. Anyway, there are always books and magazines for any issues. But one cannot be alert all the time. During my childhood I recall being very close to them and finding them in all sort of trouble. There was once a tabby, which almost drowned itself. Despite the fact that I cannot swim, I got into the water and saved it. It was a heroic feat but my brothers dismissed it saying that water was not deep. Mind you, two feet is deep enough for a cat!

There was another time when I spotted a stray cat - which always comes around our house for food - with a wound on its neck. It looked ordinary at the beginning. As time went by, the wound got bigger and even started to smell. Usually it came first before the cat. So I got into action, which was nothing much except going around and inquiring about it. Finally, I had to approach one Mr. Know-It-All because most of the rest inquired whether I had any other better things to do. The first thing this guy said was, "Mothballs.' I thought he was insulting me. People always come out with new version of profanities. 'Crush them and apply it on the wound,' he said. His friends laughed. I didn't. Not that I took them seriously; its just the considerable size differences between us prevented me to even smile teasingly at that remark. He came closer to me and laid my hand on his shoulder, 'I almost lost my Si-Comel. The mothball saved her.' He was teary eyed. I was sold.

I didn't know that there are people who disliked cats until I met my (ex) fiancée. One-day, she confessed to me that she had bullied a kitten. She was a little girl then. She was told at that time that cats could land on their feet if they fall from a certain height. So, she and her brother grabbed a kitten and experimented on it. The first few drop was all right, but the kitty got tired and sluggish. Finally, it landed on its nose. It bled but it survived. My ex-fiancé's hostility with cat did not end there. She used to shoo away cats in the campus in a rather unfriendly fashion, usually involving her right foot. When asked why, she said, 'They got no other better place to make out, is it?' How can I tell her understand cats complete disregard for privacy? Sometimes I was compelled to report ex-my fiancée to relevant authorities .

Even though I don't have a cat of my own, I do sometimes fantasise myself having one. I am one of those poor souls allergic to their dead skins. Too bad. Sometimes, I used to pick up cats on the street and stroke them. Sometimes they stroke me back, usually with claws.

I feel happy for "Kucing Malaysia", our first national cat, which was developed by Kelab Kucing Malaysia. It adds to the lists of "National firsts". It is yet to be endorsed by FIFe (Federation Internationale Feline), which means there won't be export versions yet. I just am not too sure about all these cross breeding stuffs. You know, its going against the nature and the consequences of the nature getting angry is unthinkable. Watch all those Hollywood disaster movies.

Of recent, I have been plagued by the constant abuse of cats on screen. Take Tom and Jerry, for instance. Why does Tom the cat always end up in misery and Jerry the freakin' rat seems to get all the glory. Perhaps it got something to do with the fact that Tom has low IQ level, but who's counting? How about Sylvester the cat in his never-ending quest to gobble up Tweetie? How many times did he have the damn bird inside his mouth only to have it forced out by that @#$% granny who uses her deadly parasol. I know there would be protests from Tweetie fans out there, but enough is enough. Cats have seen enough of their kind bashed and humiliated in front of the camera. I plead to all cat lovers out there. You got to do something about this atrocity. You can send the complaints to Kelab Kucing Malaysia and the funds to me. Maybe its not our responsibility to correct these injustice. Maybe its because these cats don't have a union of their own or a political party to back them. Poor creatures.