Post a Comment On: Occasional Ramblings

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Originally uploaded by bratkun.

Brat, our cute and loveable Persian cat, died of pneumonia last December 14 after staying at an animal hospital for 2 days. He will surely be missed most especially by my brother who was his constant companion for almost 10 years. My brother and I enjoyed his company on our drive to our hometown. We left him with our parents since we were taking the plane going back. He was almost a part of our family and it's not the same without him around. My parents buried him beside a mulberry tree at the back of our house.
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One thing that was unusual about Brat is that he is afraid to go out into wide open spaces. He's so used to living inside the house that when we tried bringing him out to the lawn he climbed on top of my brother (claws clinging to his clothes) and perched on top of his shoulders glaring at him reproachfully.

My brother once made a comment that probably Brat doesn't even know that he's a cat. He lived with humans all his life and aside from a brief period where he ran away from home when they were in Japan (coming home days later dirty and disheveled), he never had another cat for a companion much less a mate (well a lot could have happened in those few days, who knows right?). So it may very well be that he died a virgin cat. hehe. I remember when he visited a few months ago a neighbor of mine, who owns a cute gray female Persian cat, introduced Coco (the gray cat) to Brat. Brat and Coco both scampered away from each other and they hid inside our respective apartments. Hehe. The funniest thing about Brat is that sometimes when my brother is asleep, he would sneak to his bed and position himself on my brother's arm and... *snicker* hehe... get ready for this... hump his arm! Hahaha I would burst out laughing and my brother would wake up (presumably due to the weird sensation in his arm) and scold Brat away.

All things considered I think he lived a good life. He stayed in Japan during his early years and then transferred to our province for another few years in our parents house. He even had his own room there with his litter on one side and his constant supply of cat food on the other with the occasional tuna treat. He uses all our furnitures as scratching posts and amuses himself with chasing lizards. He then lived next in my brother's condo unit all the way up in the 28th floor. He probably spent the whole day looking out the window contemplating the ant-sized people walking below. When my sister and her family relocated abroad, Brat and my brother moved in with me (I only live there during weekends). I remember that I would sometime pester him when he's just lazing on the sofa or the coffee table by tickling him on the tufts of fur in-between his paws. He would initially playfully swat my hand away and if I continue he would let out some more claw and hiss at me at the same time. That's the signal that he means business and I had the scratch marks on my hands to prove that too. *ouch* He would then just stare at me for a few seconds then go someplace else to take a nap. I only lived with him for a short time and yet I miss him whenever I go home. I could just imagine how much so for my brother who was his constant companion most of his life. While I was writing this, my brother sent me an SMS message telling me he dreamt about Brat going home and very hungry. Weird coincidence huh?

View more of Brat's pictures on his online photo album Page#1 and Page#2. Farewell Brat, it was a pleasure knowing you. We will definitely miss you.