The cat got your tongue?

I recently moved back to my hometown in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. It is definitely very much peaceful here, in the kampung, compared to the city. The only two things I can’t stand about living in a kampung neighbourhood are stray cats and cat lovers. 

My next-door neighbour is a cat lover. Every single day there will be several plastic containers filled with leftovers, scattered around the house. Stray cats from all over the kampung would pay her a visit a couple of times a day to fill their tummy. 

After eating, these cats would normally squeeze themselves into my house, poop in my car porch, play scratch on my dad’s polished car and take a nap on our swing. Once in a while, tired of my neighbours’ leftovers, the strays would sneak into our kitchen, wait for my mum to leave and then steal raw fish left in the sink.

Even worse, a couple of times we’ve caught stray cats walking inside our living room, sitting on our sofa, brushing themselves on our television set and ‘visiting’ my sleeping dad in his bedroom. 

My parents and I have done everything we could to keep the cats away, including fixing nettings on the fences and gates, but these were of no use. The strays always found a way into our homes. 

You may think it’s a small matter, but it is not. My mum has asthma and having cats around triggers her allergic reactions. She ends up wheezing, coughing and experiences shortness of breath.  

But then again, even if no one at home is allergic to cats, having unwanted animals walk into your home, defecate in your personal space and ruin your property can easily trigger anger in anyone with a sane mind. 

And don’t even get me started on all the potential diseases these stray animals carry with them! 

We tried talking to our next-door neighbour, informing her about the problems we were facing due to her stray feeding habits. She listened to us and did nothing about it. In fact, she pointed out that many of our neighbours were doing it too and did not understand why she was singled out. 

Cats in the city 

To be fair, I also had similar problems with stray cats back in Klang Valley. Thank God I was living in a high-rise apartment unit where my personal space was protected from stray invasion.  

However, stray cats were everywhere else. They were in my corridor, parking lot and around the apartment building – all thanks to cat lovers who continuously feed the strays on a daily basis even after being reprimanded by the building management not to do so. 

Things were no different outside the apartment. Cat lovers who happened to be food vendors, restaurant workers, consumers, pedestrians and even homeless people fed strays, attracting not only cats and dogs, but also rodents. 

These people clearly do not bother about the nuisance they are causing others. They pretend that the only thing that matters is keeping the strays alive. This fiction serves mostly to comfort those people responsible for our cat problem in the first place.  

To be honest, I don’t have problems with cats – as long as they are not mine. But I do have problems with stray cats because they behave as if they belong to everyone. Of course, stray animals are not to be blamed for this, it is the people who are responsible. 

I believe domestic animals should have owners and live with their owners - those who don’t should not be treated like pets because they are not. They are pests. 

A humane thing to do

Now, I am no monster. For the record, I have in the past rescued young kittens and provided them with temporary shelter while looking for people who’d take them in permanently. I do my part where I can.

However, I do not feed strays. When I come across stray cats, I ignore them. When they show me their cute face, I ignore them. When they brush my legs, I ignore them. It’s not that difficult to do, really. 

My cat-loving friends often say I have a cold heart. They often lecture me that feeding strays is an act of charity. They say feeding strays will get me closer to God, especially if the cats were hungry.   

I tell them helping the poor with the money spent on feeding the strays is also an act of charity. Sadly, I don’t see many people going all out to help the poor, like they do with the strays. 

But what’s really mind-boggling is the fact that even the poor who are struggling financially are obsessed with feeding stray cats! 

The population of stray cats has exploded in our country, thanks to all these ‘kind’ souls. Everywhere we go, be it food courts, restaurants, markets, shops, schools, bus stations, train stations or even clinics and hospitals, there are stray cats. In the city and the kampung, there are stray cats. You just cannot run away from them. 

I just wish our authorities came up with a solution to fix this problem. I may not like strays, but I do believe there is a solution that does not leave blood on our hands and lets us all sleep well. 

In many cities all over the world, authorities are running trap-neuter-release programmes to deal with stray problems. Caught strays found to be sick and needing medical attention are treated before being released. And the young, healthy ones are placed under adoption in shelters.  

Programmes like these can help us deal with our problems with strays. We may also need more efforts to educate people about their responsibilities towards their own pets and stray animals. While at it, we should introduce spay/neuter laws for those with pets. 

It isn’t rocket science, hence I am left to wonder why our authorities have not taken any good measures to deal with the national stray problem.

Friday sermon about stray cats 

Last week, a mosque in Bukit Mertajam spoke about stray cats in their Friday prayer sermon. Apparently, many cat lovers have been feeding stray cats around the mosque area for years. The management of the mosque was quite lenient about the matter because, well you know, they too thought feeding strays was a humane thing to do. 

Surprisingly, the number of strays around the mosque had increased in the past few weeks. As a result, there were cat poops all over the place. People going for prayers began stepping on them and smudging all over the outdoor tiles at the mosque. And worse, when it rains, the stench becomes unbearable. 

Stray cats have also made the inside of the mosque their home. Oftentimes, these strays found comfort on prayer mats, causing inconvenience, especially to people who were already in the middle of their prayers. 

To address the matter, the sermon reminded the congregation that although feeding strays is a kind and humane thing to do, treating neighbours with respect is no different. It also spoke about the importance of always being mindful of our actions in order not to cause a nuisance to others living around us.

In conclusion, the sermon informed the congregation that they were no longer allowed to feed stray cats around the mosque. 

I must say, it felt great knowing that an establishment like a mosque was finally addressing social issues affecting people’s lives and giving good advice about the matter. However, at the same time, it is quite sad to know that the only time they decided to talk about it was upon experiencing the problems themselves.  

But that is how most things work in our beloved country. Take the millions of potholes on our roads for example. Common folks like you and me endure them every single day but the only time it gets attention from the authorities is when potholes cause people like Khairy Jamaluddin to fall off his bicycle or dent the car rims of the Sultan of Johor. 

And the only time some of these potholes get fixed is when a minister or a politician plans a visit. Or during the election. 

I suppose I should start hoping for strays to invade the privacy of some of these big shots and affect their quality of life before we can see some real measures being taken to address the issue. 

Until then, my family and I (and surely many other Malaysians too) would have to find our own ways of dealing with these pests.  - Mkini

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FA ABDUL is a multi-award-winning playwright and director in the local performing arts scene, a published author, television scriptwriter, media trainer, and mother. Her ultimate mission in life is to live out of a small suitcase.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.