I would like to thank these street cats who bring us joys during the time we live in Taimali, Taitung. I was afraid of cats since I was a child. There was no particular experience for disliking cats. The only reason that I can think of is that maybe it was the influence of watching scary cat movies in the childhood. Anyhow, I never image that I can be so close to and know these street cats.
I still remember the first close contact with these street cats. We were surprising to see two young cats staring at us through the screen window from outside. One's eyes looked like exclamation mark. Therefore, we named her Exclamation Mark. The other white male cat was named Little White. They were friendly cats who brought us to the cat world. Now we didn't see them wandered around our neighborhood anymore, but we hope that they are eating well and living happily somewhere else. Exclamation Mark brought one female cat who has the similar color and stripe but in bigger size and better proportion. Therefore, we named her Older Sister or Sis for abbreviation. Sometimes, Exclamation Mark would meow and after we put down the food, she would not eat it but to let her sister eat it. Here I saw their strong sisterhood. Later, we discovered that there were two small cats hiding under our eaves. We were surprised to know that they were Sis's babies since she looked young and skinny. As these two baby cats were more capable of running to escape from incoming dangers, Sis brought them to our front door to eat with other cats. They were small, cute and very easy to get terrified kittens. If our movements or motions were a little bigger or abrupt, they would run to hide in somewhere far away. Street cats in our yard are learning to get used to human beings and on the other hand, we are also learning from them. After knowing them longer, I think that their behaviors are much like children. They will get jealous if you pay more attention on one particular cat. The jealous cat would try to approach you or attempt to swing the tail to touch your legs as they think that the closer distance, the more attention and cares that cat will get. Also, their facial expressions are abundant. Once they are punished because of doing something bad, they would lie down aside, close their eyes tightly and frown. After a while, they would try to approach you and wait for touches. Sometimes we would laugh out loud if we see these facial expressions or motional behaviors. Every morning, my husband enjoys to be surrounded by cats or even to receive cats' morning calls through the window. Smaller cats are responsible for the meowing job. Once they grow older, they would meow less for asking the food. For the older cats, they will look at you then look back at the cat bowls as implying that their bowls are empty and they want some food. Until now, four baby cats are growing up with us. The first two baby cats are Sis's sons. One is named Little Flower who has the similar color and stripes as Sis and the other one is named Little Rice who looks like Little White. The other two baby cats are Yellow White's babies. Yellow White is the other mother cat. The male baby cat is named King who has the similar color and pattern as Yellow White and also is the one who is responsible for the meowing now. King's sister is named Little Boo who is tri-color and a shy lady cat. Each one of them has different characters and personalities.
Sis is like a shrew, easy to be jealous and easy to get angry especially if she is hungry. Other cats are better not to approach her when she is hungry and hasn't be fed yet. Otherwise, she will use claw to strike other cats. One interesting thing about Sis is that she would come to our front door at regular hours. For example, she usually comes around noon and dinner time. We joke that she must have a watch in order to be here on time.
↓Nice looking Sis is like a model in the cat world but with bad temper
Little Rice is a nice looking and handsome male cat who is the king of acting like a spoiled child, big appetite and fast licking speed holder. Little Rice likes to approach and wait for my husband to touch him and he must be the one who is the closest cat around my husband's legs. Sometimes, he would even lie down between my husband's two feet to play with and kick my husband's feet like what he does when he is playing with other cats or even bite my husband's heels. Little Rice is not only the one who loves to act like a spoiled child the most but also is the one who eats the most. Therefore, he has a bigger body size than Little Flower who is from the same birth. As we all know that cats do not like to drink water very much. Therefore, sometimes, my husband would add water in their bowl with dry cat food. Little Rice always is the first one to finish licking water and starts to eat cat food. Therefore, I think that Little Rice has a fast licking speed. However, with so many number one ranking records, he is a coward. As Little Flower and Little Rice were learning to be independent, Little Rice was left alone in our yard at night. He looked terrified and didn't know what to do and where to go. We couldn't find Sis or Little Flower anywhere. Later, when Little Flower appeared in the corner of our yard, Little Rice was happy to follow Little Flower to go other places. Little Rice doesn't have the courage or brave to explore new or exciting environment as Little Flower loves to. Anyhow, Little Rice is the clown in our life.
↓Handsome Little Rice is the clown in our daily life
On the contrary, Little Flower has more prudent and courage personalities. And of course, inherited from Sis, Little Flower is also a good looking cat. When my husband is putting the cat foods in each bowl, Little Flower would sit in front of the bowl quietly waiting for his share unlike Little Rice and King who are furiously turning around near my husband's legs. Also, when the other cat is eating Little Flower's share, he would let that cat eats and find a space to gently use his claw to grasp the cat food out. He has such a nice temper and behavior like a gentleman. However, he has curious personality. Whenever there are unknown sounds occurred, Little Flower would run to that direction and stand on the stone gate as to see what happens in the neighborhood. Little Flower has the courage to explore unknown or new environment unlike Little Rice would only stay in our yard. When Little Flower was still small, my husband even saw Little Flower wandering in the bushes near the beach. Furthermore, Little Flower has small appetite. Most of time, there will be cat food left in his bowl when every cat has the same amount of share. At that time my husband will use his hands to feed Little Flower one cat food at a time. Sometimes, Little Flower can then eat even the same quantity as he eats by himself. I guess that Little Flower just wants to act like a spoiled child but due to the gentleman behavior that he can not do what Little Rice has done. I think that Little Flower is afraid to get humiliated.
↓Nice looking Little Flower is the gentleman among these street cats
The two mother cats, Sis and Yellow White don't get alone well. Maybe it's because two female cats can not live peacefully in one area. In the beginning, both of them like to yell at each other and in the motion of ready to fight. At that time, my husband would stop them. Now, sometimes, we can even see them sleeping side by side. How amazing this peaceful thing happens. Anyhow, Yellow White is not a lovely cat. She likes to grasp foods, not waiting for her share. If there are not much cat food left in her bowl, she will not eat it but waiting for more to be added or try to eat other cats' shares. No matter how many times Yellow White has been punished, she still keeps her bad habits. Unfortunately, her son (King) and daughter (Little Boo) also have some of her bad habits. However, it seems that male cats in the neighborhood like her. Regardless Little White, Little Rice, or even Little Flower, all of the male cats have good relationships with her. I think that she must be good in socialization in the cat world.
↓Yellow White is good in socializing with male cats in our neighborhood
Besides Little Rice is our clown, King is the other one. I think that King is the comedian in the cat world. My husband likes to call King's name and sometimes he would answer with "huh?" especially when he is half sleep. Whenever my husband is playing with King while King is on the paper box, he would play madly and sometimes would even fall down the paper box. He is such a careless cat. Also, I think that King is watching Little Rice and copying those spoiled behaviors. It's really funny to watch these two cats competing for my husband's cares and touches. At first, I think that Little Rice is a lazy cat. However, later, I notice that King is even lazier than Little Rice. King doesn't like to lick his own fur but to let his sister Little Boo to help. King seems to enjoy it and sometimes he would even turn his body to the other side in order for Little Boo to lick his other side more easily. Also, King has a bad habit which is the same as Yellow White. He thinks that other cats have better cat food. After he tastes the cat food in his own bowl, he would try to eat cat food from other cats' bowls. Of course, they are all eating the same cat food. There is no special treatment for any particular cat. Anyhow, we will see King and Yellow White kept switching position to eat other's cat food in those two bowls.
↓King's behaviors are like the comedian in the cat world
Little Boo is a stubborn and shy tri-color lady cat. She wants to have closer contact with us like what Little Rice and King have but she is unable to discard her shyness and free herself. Instead, she keeps looking at us and once we move closer to her, she will escape. We can only touch her when she is eating or half sleep. However, she is a nice behavior cat who will wait for my husband to put down her bowl and call her name. Then she will come forward to eat her share. The most amazing thing that we saw is that sometimes she will stand really straight while she is sleeping. Of course, her body is swinging backward and forward. It must be very uncomfortable to sleep while standing straight up. Anyhow, we didn't see this kind of behavior on other cats.
↓Little Boo is the shy lady cat
After spending longer time with street cat, we think that cats will understand human being's verbal words. When Little Rice and Little Flower were still small, Sis didn't bring them to our front door. At that time, we told Sis that "No babies, no food!". Later, Sis would come back with baby cats. That was really amazing. Therefore, we start to talk to and treat them as they understand human words. I have nice experiences with these street cats. I definitely will miss the touches of their soft coat especially during cold weather days. It feels like hand warmer, very comfortable to hold in hands. I will miss these street cats in Taimali and hope that they will still live happily in the future.
