Despite their silly antics, Milos and Pepper were great pets and are irreplaceable, writes Aiman Ahmad Anuar.
I REMEMBER as children, most of my friends and I had a desperate need to own a pet. The need was so strong that we begged our parents on a regular basis, hoping to wear them down and get them to agree to our seemingly harmless request. There was just something amazing about being able to own “own” your own little friend and show it off to everyone in your neighbourhood. Of course, we didn’t actually understand the kind of responsibility it entailed, all we knew was that “Lightning” or “Bulls Eye” would have made a cool name for a cat.
And I did get a cat. Eventually. Actually, my twin brother and I got two kittens when we were 12. Ironically, it was my parents who brought them into our homes. After years of saying “no”, they failed to factor in how big their hearts could get when faced with cute baby animals in need.
My mother named the first kitten Milos. She had spotted him in a store window and couldn’t help herself. So she called my brother and me up, and made us promise to take care of him. We agreed, vowing wholeheartedly to do so. The second kitten, which ended up with the name Pepper, appeared in our lives because she was stuck in a drain; my father saved her after hearing her cries in a rainstorm.
Both kittens were adorable but looked extremely different. Milos was a cream-coloured kitten that was as fluffy as a Persian but had a long nose, thanks to his mixed parentage. Pepper was a grey, stripey, kitten with a bent tail and a penchant for sleeping on her back instead of her belly.
While people will tell you that most cats are aloof creatures that spend most of their time bossing their owners around, our cats were very different. Almost like dogs, they would wake us up in the morning by scratching on our doors, begging for food at the table and following us around the house to get patted. They were great pets and we had them both for 13 and 14 years, respectively.
DUMB AS A ROCK
As much as we loved our cats, there was something we could never quite get over. Both of them were, quite literally, dumb as a rock. You might think it is a little cruel of me to be talking about my beloved deceased animal companions this way but it is the truth.
Milos was the kind of cat that regularly fell into our pond because he played with his own reflection and Pepper had a habit of biting hard inanimate objects. She was already toothless by the time she reached age 10. Both cats often got themselves into trouble because they were, quite simply, rather silly animals.
Once, we came home and heard meowing echoing from our guest bedroom. As we got closer, the meows grew more panicky and we could hear scratches. We could hear little thumps as well. By this point I was convinced it was the ghost of a cat but my brother summed it up perfectly when he said: “One of the dummies must have gotten stuck in something”. And true enough, it was Pepper. She had stuck her head in a vase and was rolling around the floor trying to get out. It’s no surprise we had found her stuck in a drain because the poor thing had a habit of crawling into small spaces.
We spent years trying to figure out why our cats were the way they were. But the only conclusion we had was that they
were both devoid of any kind of feline instincts. Milos was a pet store cat, so he didn’t really get the chance to learn how to be a proper cat from his mother. Pepper clearly had issues because, despite being a stray, she couldn’t have survived 10 minutes outside.
Both of them were also terrible hunters. In some countries, you’re not allowed to leave your cats outside at night because they have a nasty habit of hunting endangered birds. These countries wouldn’t have been worried about our cats though. Milos was regularly chased away by sparrows and mice, while Pepper was scared of insects.
QUIET HOUSECATS
As they aged, their silly little antics decreased. It wasn’t because they were growing any wiser. It was because they grew more tired. It was sad to see them grow old because instead of spending their days falling into ponds and being chased away by bugs, they just started to sit around the house.
By this time, my nephews had been born, so Milos and Pepper were no longer the only apples of our eyes. But they didn’t mind. We didn’t mind either because while we still loved them; my nephews’ silliness greatly outweighed theirs and required our constant attention.
Life moved on and they were happy just being quiet housecats. They grew sicker too and eventually, the veterinarian just kept telling us there was nothing much he could do for them — they were just getting older. So we ensured that they were made as comfortable as possible.
Milos left us when I was 25 and Pepper, a year later. We think she couldn’t bear hanging around without him to anchor her. She left almost exactly a year after he did.
As children, we could never really fathom what having a pet is like. They are not playthings, they are just like people with their own personalities and idiosyncrasies. They also have funny ways of working themselves into your heart. Eventually they become family, and you miss them when they’re gone and don’t ever want to replace them because you know the next pet you have won’t be the same.
They would probably be a little smarter though.