Tomcat matata howls the entire night.(Sunday 22-1-2012)

Since his dam matahari has been on heat cat matata started the habit of 'Cat Howling" in the night, intermittently, disturbing our sleep akin to "Dog Howling" at nights.Now Queen cat Matahari is not on "Heat" and normal but matata still hasn't stopped his habit of "Night Howling".Yesterday night was the worst, he yelled almost continuously giving us a sleepless night.He sleeps in the morning and is very normal in his behaviour and food habits, one of the most gluttonous cats i have seen, including the stray street cats in Mumbai city's roads and markets.Now i understand the reason of some cat owners abandoning their cats in "Stray cat shelters" or "Streets" in U.S.a, these cats ultimately either euthanized or if lucky adopted by some other pet lovers.Hope he stops this sudden bad habit and returns to his normal self since i would never like or ever give him to some other cat owner.He is a very handsome specimen of the "Traditional Persian cat Breed" but a total flop as a "Stud cat" for breeding and hence his loud "Cat howling" when his dam matahari is on "Heat".

Queen cat Matahari in "Heat" while Tomcat Matata "Cathowls"- in the night.(Wednesday 18-1-2012)

Its been approx 4 days since Queen cat matahari has been on heat but tomcat matata is totally confused of the situation.Whenever tomcat Matata approaches matahari she chases him away and he is literally terrified of her. At night matata has a tendency to "Cat howl", disturbing our sleep.He normally does this when matahari is on heat, expressing his sexual frustration. a very bizarre cat relationship in my house and a advantage for me as i don't have to be bothered about "Spaying" or "Neutering" my cats since they are incompatible and do not mate.Of course, i have failed in my intention of "IN-BREEDING" them to produce a "Mumbai Persian cat".But the in life, you always win some and lose some and all your ambitions, passions or hobby's always don't materialize.

Tom cat Matata, a total flop as a "STUD CAT"?

Queen cat matahari again showed signs of being in "Heat Distress",absolutely restless, rolling over and continuously wanting to be petted by us, its human care-takers!Strangely, she repulses the advances of matata, chasing him away when he approaches her and he also gets frustrated , showing his resentment by "cat Yovelling" the entire night.The entire Sunday night was a bit sleepless for me as these two cats didn't sleep with matata intermittently yowelling.I don't want to get matahari mated again with another cat as "Monetary Profit" is not my agenda of "Cat Breeding".I was hoping that matahari would mate with her kitten matata in my hope of developing a indigenous local "Mumbai Persian cat" breed, a common method used by "Professional Breeders" to develop a new strain or breed of animals.Have to admit that my dreams of producing a "Mumbai Persian Cat" have flopped and also happy that both matata and his dam matahari get along well, although never mating and provide us ,myself and my hose-keeper Sabina with fun and companionship.

Tomcat Matata given his "De-worming dosage" of- "Plozin".(Friday 13-1-2012).

Gave cat Matata half a tablet of "PLOZIN", a De-worming medicine, same given every three months.Bizarrely, Queen cat matahari has taken total occupation of my "Television Chair" since the New Year(Sunday 1-1-2012) and sleeps on it throughout the day.Just yesterday she left the chair at night sleeping on the sofa, her previous normal couch place in the house.As for tomcat mata, he has taken a liking to his permanent chair in the hall, adjacent to his dam Queen matahari's arm-chair, also my chair!Its hilarious living in the house with my cats.

Tomcat Matata's fur parasites under control.(Saturday- 17-12-2011)

I had been on almost a months holiday away from home during the month of November and my cats matahari and matata were under the care of my house-keeper sabina.Dias.She bathed matata once during my absence with anti-tick shampoo, also removing his knotted fur while bathing him.After i returned home found a few knots on matata's fur and decided to give him a bathe, the only time he allows us to remove his entangled fur knots which are sometimes infested with flea parasites. He is now cured off his flea parasites but has become a horrible glutton having an insatiable appetite for food.He tends to rob food if kept unattended in the kitchen, a habit he didn't exhibit before.He is in perfect health, robust and sturdy only drawback is his tendency to grab unattended food of which we are careful.

Tomcat matata given his second bathe within 3 days for- "Flea Infestation Prevention".(Sunday 23-10-2011).

Housekeeper Sabina.Dias gave both the cats,queen cat Matahari and tomcat matata a bathe together as they have a tendency to quarrel if bathed separately.Matahari is very well behaved with a good temperament and hence after the bathe i used the "Hair-Dryer" on her wet fur. She did have fleas which were not visible although she did have the habit of scratching and licking her fur.Hope she remains free of fleas after this shampoo bathe and fur drying.
As for matata, he is a very restive and scared cat by temperament and hence i couldn't use the "Hair-Dryer" on him.This is his second shampoo bathe in 3 days,and hope the fleas have been exterminated although they do relapse after a period of time. we have a small gallery potted garden which is definitely the source of the fleas since both the cats are "Indoor Cats".
Henceforth will give both the cats a "Anti-Flea Shampoo Bathe" at least once a month to control the flea menace.

Matata had a severe infestation of "Flea nests" which formed- hard "Fur Balls" on his coat.(Thursday 20-10-2011)

Finally decided to give matata a bathe and later trim his puzzling fur-ball knots.I gave him a bathe and used "Bay-O-Pet Shampoo" having 0.1% of propoxur, manufactured by Bayer-Pet care for protection against fleas for both, cats and dogs.To my utter disgust and surprise i found dark insects coming out of his fur on rinsing the shampoo, a real surprise to me. I thought that matata's "Fur Ball mats" were due to some moisture absorption and common on long furred cats, little realizing that these "Fur-ball mats" were actually 'Egg-Nests" of fleas on his body.Mata is physically in perfect health and fat unlike normal flea stricken animals which usually become thin due to the parasites, hence i couldn't detect the same and mistook his "FUR-MATTING" as something due to improper brushing.After giving him a bathe i later trimmed away the "Fur-Matted Knots" and tried using a hair-dryer for drying his fur. He was mortally afraid of the hair-dryer sound as well as the hot-air and hence avoided the same.He seems alright and hope the fleas are eradicated, a utter surprise to me since he is not an "Outdoors cat". I presume he got the flea infestation from our house potted garden plants. Strangely, his dam matahari seems free from any flea infestation, her fur absolutely normal and healthy looking in appearance.
Hope other cat owners benefit from this personal experience of mine of parasite fleas on cats.

Matata's fur has a tendency to matt into thich fur-balls

Matata has rough and coarse fur , brownish in colour unlike his dam matahari who has soft silky pashmina type fur and is white in colour, the typical "Doll-Faced Persian cat". Matata's fur has a tendency to matt into thick fur balls, especially on his under-belly.I still don't know the reasons for the same although he is groomed frequently, the same as his dam matahari.Its become a big problem for me to maintain his fur coat in prime condition as i have to trim the matted fur balls, a dangerous procedure as the chances of hurting his delicate skin while trimming are high. The matted fur balls cause no harm to his physical well-being but do hurt him while combing or trying to clip away the same.

How to train your cat.Understanding "CAT PSYCHOLOGY". Tomcat- Matata's behaviour improves.(Thursday 6-10-2011)

In my previous diary entry have mentioned the abrupt change in matata's "TOILET HABITS".He continuously passed his stools in the house gallery, something he had never done before.
I decided to change the gallery furniture location, covering his "Shitting spot" with a chair since cats mark their spots by urine scent.Since the time of covering the spot of his gallery shitting hide-out with the cane -chair matata has stopped defecating in the gallery and goes to his usual spot in the bathroom. Also seems that both the cats were suffering from mild diarrhea,which could be one of the reasons for tomcat matata's strange change in defecating behaviour.When sick, cats deviate from their normal behaviour.
As of today he has returned to his normal habit of defecating in the bathroom as does queen cat matahari and both the cats are passing normal "Hard stools" and not "Diarrhea stools".
I have left the chair in the same position in the gallery, a change of the gallery decor due to matata.
My case presents a successful rehabilitation of an erring cat mending its behaviour due to right training methods and understanding of "CAT PSYCHOLOGY".
Any other owner would have got berserk with this behaviour of matata and in worst cases would have even got rid of him as is the case with numerous cats that are given to "Cat shelters" or abandoned on streets.
I am very happy that my training of matata has been successful and a guidance for other cat owners having problematic cats or finding suddebn changes in the behaviour of their pet cats.
Don't give up hopes on your cat if it misbehaves, try to correct its bad behaviour akin to a human child as our cats are our non-human children.

Owning cats or a "Cattery" is a major- responsibilty.(Saturday 1-10-2011)

Cat matata has suddenly in the last two months occasionally taken to defecating outside the "Bathroom" his normal toilet. His new place is the house gallery garden and he has consecutively defecated for two days in succession(Friday/Saturday).I feel something might be wrong with him since he is passing loose motions of late, could be an excess of rice in his diet of rice/minced meat.As a "Stud cat" he is a total flop and has put off my plans of breeding a localized Persian cat by 'inbreeding" the dam to the son.He is an excellent specimen of the "Traditional(Doll faced)Persian breed" also having the rare brown colour.I had "Big Plans" of inbreeding matahari to matata and forming a new indigenous bred Persian cat acclimatised to Mumbai's humid climate, "THE MUMBAI PERSIAN CAT".I even wrote about the same on "Pictures of cats " blogs hosted by Mr Michael.Broad from London. As they say, "Never count your chickens before they hatch" and hence i am saddled with a pair of cats incompatible of mating with each other.Otherwise, tomcat matata is the most loving cat i have owned, a little non-human child in behavior, mischievous and loves to eat, a glutton like his dam matahari.
As a animal lover i have tolerated the behavioral shortcomings of my cats, especially matata, but manny cat owners aren't so magnanimous.Manny badly behaved cats or useless stud cats are normally given to shelter homes in "First world Country's" where if no one adopts them within a stipulated amount of days they are then euthanized.In U.S.A cats are euthanized as much as rats in cat shelters, same applies to other country's where feral or stray cats are considered pests.
Just because of my cats i have to have someone at home while away to look after them, the same being done by Sabina my house-keeper.What i am trying to depict is the responsibility of pet owners once they own a pet. Owning a pet, is a life-time commitment for any responsible owner and hence always take into considerations the maintenance problems involved before buying or acquiring a pet.Never ever abandon a pet mid-way ,akin to discarded clothes or toys as they get emotionally attached to their human owners.I have observed these facts through ownership of both dogs and cats in my house-hold, including my oldest living pet, Alexandrine parakeet "Mittoo".
Ultimately, maintenance of cats matata is akin to owning a "white elephant", extremely difficult although i could earn an income by breeding queen cat matahari. As a responsible cat owner i don't want to randomly breed matahari just to make a few thousand rupees as there are no "REGISTERED CAT CLUBS " in India unlike "Pedigreed Dog Clubs".Rather keep her as a normal pet than a "Cattery cat" since randomly breeding her would have no value on improvement of the "Doll-Faced Persian Breed" since her progeny would have no "Cat Pedigree certificates".My main idea was to produce a indigenous "Mumbai Persian cat" by inbreeding dam and son which has flopped and has hence put an end to my ambitions of breeding a new breed of Persian cats.Thankfully for my cats i am reasonably well-off, being a bachelor,hence able to maintain them without any source of income from them!My pets provide me with happiness and are my non-human children and that compensates for the lack of any monetary gains by owning them.Thanks to my cats i have been a prolific blogger, contributing interesting topics on cat maintenance and behaviour.My articles have helped in a small way in raising some money for welfare of cats, including 'Catster Diary" as the advertisements accompanying my blogs indicate.Hence, although i don't personally gain monetarily from my cat ownership, at least my cats have been instrumental in helping the social cause of other less privileged and abandoned cats by raising "Charity Money".This is my way of social welfare, although its linked more to animal welfare.Regarding human welfare, as a bachelor having no heirs, definitely, a bulk of my estate would go to some human cause once i am dead.In life,"You always win some and lose some".