We lost another cat again. And this time Cika was not even a full time cat for us. He was our neighbour’s cat, and he always drop in for hello. A nice long 5 to 10 minutes of patting and a bowl of cat food, with two shakes of a tail, and off he went for stroll into the outdoors.

Cika was Casper best friend. They use to hang out together. Their character was miles apart. Casper was hyperactive and energetic. Able to leap tall walls in a single bounce and catch just about any unfortunate creature that caught his eye. Cika, was a total opposite. He has very warm and homely personality. Very obedient and would seldom overstep his boundary. Lena always wondered whether Cika was a dog pretending to be a cat since he was so well behaved. Like most cats, there was pattern to his comings and goings. Whenever we came back to the house and Cika so happen spotted us while he was lazing around our neighbour’s yard, he would just slowly sashay to our front door and wait for us to open, and then promptly settle on the door rug.

He would patiently wait for us to settle whatever that we needed to do such as bringing in groceries, or putting away our bags and such. If we indeed took too much time doing such things he would get off the rug and meow at us, “Hey enough already. I’m here for my daily rub man!”

Most of the time I would be doing the patting and massage. He would just lie down at the rug while I gave him a nice long pat and rub. He would just sit and purrs happily having got my attention and feeling very good. Sometimes he would just topple over on his side and close his eyes feeling great at having such a good life.

And when enough time was spent patting him, I would place some cat food pallet in his food bowl. Unless he was very hungry he would go to the dish immediately. Most occasions he would just enjoy himself lying on the rug for awhile before proceeding for his meal.

I always tell people that I have a part-time cat whenever friend and visitors drop by the house and saw Cika coming in. A quick pat and rub down, and some food and there went a contented cat.

Sometime in the middle of August, Cika was not well. He was not eating as he should. And just after I’ve returned from my company Taiwan holiday trip, I saw my neighbour walking around searching for Cika. She said that Cika has not returned for a few days and she fears the worst. Though sometimes Cika would roam for a day or so and comes back, but it looks like this time he is gone for good. We kept an eye for the little fella the next few days, but after about a week of vigil, it seems very certain that Cika would not return.

There’s something about this neighbourhood that was not good for cats. I have neighbours whose cats too would disappear. Perhaps there was some kind of trap laid out to booby trap them. Perhaps somebody who didn’t like cats place some poison around because both Casper and Cika had the same symptoms of feeling unwell before they disappeared. Whatever the cause, there went another furry friend.

So, another goodbye dear ‘ol furry little fella. The rug would feel a little empty without you.