This story was originally written for Pawjourr’s #WhatsYourReality campaign. Linked [here]. It has since been edited prior to uploading.
Original story belongs to Bella of @loudtwinklebaby.
Have you ever thought about owning 10 cats, all of which are of different breeds, in the house?
Some common questions we always get include: Will they quarrel among themselves? How does it affect the house odour?
These are the most challenging part for pet owners who are new and inexperienced in handling house animals. Most cat owners in Singapore adopt 2 to 3 cats per house which are already considered difficult to manage. Many find it hard to juggle time for themselves as well as the cats.
For us, we never thought of owning such a big cat family. Rather, it all started when our very first cat encountered a terrible accident and died. For that, we could not forgive ourselves. At a first glance, owning a cat might appear all cute and cuddly. However, from our experience as the Twinkle Furmilies, we have grown to understand that there is more to it than just taking care of a cuddly little furry. The most challenging part as a cat owner is that we cannot control them like how we want to control a hooman. They are just unpredictable.
Managing their Behaviours
As cat parents, we would likely understand the characteristics of our own cats in terms of their food, behaviour and affections towards others. They would fight and could possibly tear the house mercilessly down through their combined paw force. I can recall countless broken vases, destroyed sofas and incessant scratches on the wall which really tested our patience. We had to face that every single day and it eventually became a routine that we had to deal with.
During the day, it is rare to see them active as they usually sleep in their comfortable areas and never wake up till the sunset. Once they do, they will start their ferocious engines and run around the house as though they are Olympic competitors. During the night, they will begin to hunt, and that is when you will see countless cockroaches and lizards who have lost their heads, tails and even half their bodies. Honestly, that is how we saved our money from buying insecticide spray. Due to the cats’ activity, our house has the best pest control service. Definitely an advantage to having cats in the house!
However, having cats at home also requires a lot of responsibility. We need to put aside a lot of things such as their expenses for needs such as food, hospital bills and as well catering to their environment. Among the Twinkle Babies, Mutiara (Persian) is the pickiest, prompting us to call her ‘The Selfish Queen”.
She is adorable yet requires a lot of high maintenance due to her behaviour (not her breed!). We spend about $40+ for her dry food alone. This is excluding expenses for her treats and wet food. Plus, Mutiara never shares. If she has to, she will not eat for several days after.
Moreover, we also need to prepare medical bills for Elysya(DSH) the “Sensitive Skin Queen”. All of her shampoos are prescribed specially by the vet which can cost us upwards of $300+. This can include prescribed lotions, sensitive powders etc.
Facing Exhaustion
Raising 10 cats could be very exhausting.
Especially so if we happen to be rushing to finish work and the Twinkle Babies decided to be busy in their litter box one-by-one. It could take up to15-20 minutes before the last kitty finishes their business so we might find ourselves waiting in front of the litter box just to clean up their mess and clean them up.
“Cat Jealousy”
It may sound ridiculous but cats do have strong feelings especially if they are aware of a newcomer around them. Feelings of being ignored and insecurity can be shown. They might express this by biting, or sometimes even ignore you. Some might not even eat for several days. Our advice is to not worry! No matter how much they sulk amongst themselves, their only weakness is food especially treats.
Having said that– They might quarrel, growl at each other non-stop, but in nature, they actually have this soft instinct of loving each other. Some might think that animals have no sense especially in terms of looking out for one another and we totally disagree! Despite all the hard times endured when we are trying to get them to bond for the first time whenever one of them is in trouble, the others will automatically try to help and save them.
It truly touches our hearts to see that they care for each other no matter the breed differences. Despite the common belief that different breeds are not suitable to be together, we think it simply means that takes a lot of time and patience to bond them together.
In conclusion, we faced many hard times but never once did we think that they are a burden to us. For us, they are our family and even though it might take up a lot of our energy and finances, they are also the one who brightens up our day.
Twinkle loves you,
