Tito Red spent three days in Vets in Practice animal hospital in Mandaluyong City, a few blocks away from the shop where a friend gets her weight loss vitamins. We took him there last Friday for neutering and asked for a two-day confinement while we were busy with house-transfers. Last Sunday, he was vaccinated with anti-rabies shot and given boosters. He was also given a tranquilizer pill to calm him down for the long ride from the hospital all the way to Cavite.
It was his first time to receive treatments since we got him five years ago. We were compelled to give him that since we’re transferring to a gated community and we don’t want him to populate the new neighborhood with kitties. Tingting, his best buddy for 3 years, was given to the care of a family friend.
Tito Red’s neutering and vaccination at Vets in Practice cost me around P3,500. Not bad for a first-timer who will soon grow into an orange tabby cat. His attending doctors and handlers were good and pleasant, and they do really care about the animals brought to them for medical care.
We have just moved in to our new home 3 days ago. And everything seemed perfectly normal with a lot of work going on, fixing and changing things and cleaning up the entire place. But not until work ceased, had enough rest and enjoyed a couple of hours staring at the downcast sky that boredom struck the hardest. The first person I saw this morning was the garbage collector, then the village security. I have spent the most part of the day just getting something done to keep me going.
I couldn’t wait to go out to work tomorrow and be in the city once more with all noise, smog and yes, more people.
It would take me some time to get adjusted to this type of environment. All my life, I grew up in the crowded cities, lived in densely populated villages and thrived inside rented rooms sharing the use of the toilet with other roomies. I was used to the kind of neighbourhood made alive by cranky old men, gossiping housewives, alcoholic husbands, street children, taho vendors, the smell of pandesal in the morning and the weekly karaoke. None of them seemed to worry about getting foods that burn fat, or fixing those holes on the roof. Everyone could easily adjust to change and move on. It wasn’t easy dealing with various characters but you learn from connecting with them than those empty pink walls.
Tito Red: An example of an adorable lazy domestic shorthair
Last month, I visited a vet to check on their prices and services and she asked me about Tito Red’s breed. I told her that he is the usual plain house cat I picked up from the street. Someone who literally has no breeding, a “pusakal”. When he was little, he’d usually jump on the bed and sleep there or make his bed on top of the television set, rides on his huge plate during meal time, clings to a
pull up bar and let out an angry growl when hungry. It took a while for Tito Red to be re-educated. Apparently, he’s got manners now.
I learned that Tito Red has a breed which is that of a domestic shorthair cat. Domestic shorthair cats were used before to help eradicate rat infestation in the English colonies, so I assume that Tito Red’s ancestors were of English lineage. Royalties (hehe). A domestic shorthair’s look also varies, depends on where on earth they live. American and European cats have a stocky built, while their tropical counterparts (like Tito Red) are thinner and lighter.
Domestic shorthairs, or the typical everyday cat, account for almost ninety percent of all cat breeds. Obviously they breed triplets or quadruplets every 3-4 months. Neutering or spraying is a solution to having unwanted kitties.
It was his first time to receive treatments since we got him five years ago. We were compelled to give him that since we’re transferring to a gated community and we don’t want him to populate the new neighborhood with kitties. Tingting, his best buddy for 3 years, was given to the care of a family friend.
