I'm sure Hassan, my very spoiled & much loved cat, would appreciate a teepee of his own. Via Free People.
As the cat of a self-proclaimed craft maven, I'm also pretty sure he'll be miffed to get a hand-knitted, catnip stuffed mouse. Via Mungo & Maud.
Hassan is such a sweetheart (he's great with everyone, other cats & dogs, kids & adults alike) so what better way to dress a gentleman cat than with a bowtie? Via Silly Buddy.
Gosh, 2013 is turning out to be a massively busy year for yours truly. Event styling, graphic designing, floral arranging, impromptu trips, a photo shoot… it's been crazy! I really miss blogging but I'm enjoying working & experiencing new things. How's your 2013 so far, dreamers?
Here are some pictures from my Instagram, have a look see!
Some glimpses from our trip to Mabul & Sipadan.
My new neighbour's 3 adorable kittens & Hassan who's busy inspecting my plants. The kittens come over every other day to play with Hassan & to check out our house.
My new fabric calendar from Lisa Rupp along with a free letterpress print! Love love love.
A fun, cowgirl themed birthday party I helped to decorate.
Loved my makeup from a photoshoot I did for Her World magazine. I look so different!
Flowers for a baby shower I did being inspected for quality control by a curious kitty.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that our cat Hassan doesn’t have a proper bed & these adorable upcycled creations by Miles & Aimee really put me to shame. Turning vintage suitcases, televisions & computer monitors into these awesome little beds, Miles & Aimee’s “army of cats” (as they describe their pets) must be the luckiest little “army”! I want that beige tv for Hassan btw.
First of all, let me wish all my readers Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir & batin and Happy belated 54th Merdeka. This last Ramadhan was a busy one for me & over the week-long holidays I took a nice extended break to recharge my batteries & to catch up with my loved ones over yummy lemang & rendang. I was really looking forward to start blogging & crafting again.
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to kick off my return to blogging with an issue that deeply saddens & infuriates me at the same time. If you’re on Facebook & Twitter, your timeline would’ve been flooded since Sunday with the news of what happened at Petknode, which is a somewhat popular cat boarding center in Damansara Damai. Over 170 cats were rescued in deplorable condition from the center & a bungalow used by the company; the cats were starving, severely dehydrated, filthy & traumatized. About 16 cats & kittens were also found dead, with some so badly decomposed, they were stuck to the floor. There are also an estimated 100 cats still missing that the operators of Petknode are not disclosing. I’m not going through all the details but more info of the story can be found here & here (be warned that there are some very disturbing pictures). You can also do a simple Google search & you’ll get countless hits. On Monday the various animal welfare NGOs teamed up for a press conference at Hotel Armada. I went with some fellow cat avengers I met through Twitter; Aishah (@aimizubouken), Suen (@suzannajuwita) & later on met up with Aida (@aidaazwar). It was very heart warming to walk up to the conference room to see so many animal lovers there & many more arriving by the minute. So much so, that the hotel staff had to open up another room so that everyone could fit in. Even then, there were a lot more people outside. In total, an estimated 400 people showed up; media, affected cat owners, animal rights activists & supporters like me.
With radio personality JFK acting as the emcee, the press conference kicked off with the representative of the group Kucing Terbiar Anjing Jalanan (pictured above, bottom left - receiving a round of applause) telling us what happened on Sunday; how they broke into Petknode with the Police’s permission, the condition of the cats (and one lone puppy) they found & their efforts to get all the cats fostered before owners could step up to claim them. She, along with many of us in the audience, broke down in tears. Picturing cats in tiny cages, stacked on one on top of another in a tiny room with no ventilation, starving, dehydrated, covered in feces & pee, some dead & some on the brink of death… It was very emotional to say the least (click on the video below to get an idea).
Along with representatives from SPCA, PAWS, Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better, My Animal Care Organization, ROAR, Animal Society Penang, Rina Omar & Joe Lee (Klub Kid KL) who were instrumental to getting the info out & support from the public, also spoke up & gave their input. It wasn’t long though before some members of the audience started pinpointing the blame on the bigger organizations like SPCA for not preventing something like this from happening.
Little do they know that SPCA & the like are not regulatory bodies nor are they in any position of power to put those to blame (like the Petknode operators) into jail. They COULD however (especially in SPCA’s case) have offered man power & medical assistance or even cages & transportation to move the rescued cats from Petknode which I understand they didn’t do (except My Animal Care) & I find highly perplexing given that they have all of those things at their disposal. Limited though they may be but every little bit helps right? I now understand SPCA is taking a bigger role in the issue by offering legal advice & getting media attention which is an area they excel in but that’s just from my perspective as an outsider.
The press conference was highly charged with emotion with upset cat owners & animal lovers uniting in their anger towards the Petknode operators & lack of support from the authorities namely the police. It ended with the Chairman of SPCA, Christine, calling for all of those at the press conference to go to the police station at Damansara Damai to try to get the police to do something & to help locate the missing 100 cats.
Despite the numbers of people there, including more cat owners affected stepping forward to lodge police reports, the police remained nonchalant. We left feeling disappointed & I for one felt uneasy. Why are the scums of Petknode being (seemingly) protected? And why aren't the police investigating the fraud & theft aspect of the case? A day later I found out that the police had in fact passed the case over to the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) whose main concern are livestock & poultry. Christine of SPCA disclosed that amongst the countless animal cruelty cases that DVS handles throughout the many years they were established, only ONE handful have ever made it to court & only in ONE case was a man convicted & he only paid a paltry sum & spent ONE night in jail. Where’s the justice in that??
All in all, I am angry. After the press conference, I took a step back from the drama unfolding on twitter to quell my anger, but oh it’s still there alright. The more I think of the operators of Petknode’s greed & neglect plus the nonchalant stance taken by the authorities, the more anger I feel. Malaysians are not uneducated. Malaysians are not barbarians. Yet why does our government let people like these scums of Petknode get away with such blatant cruelty?? Over 170 cats were found starved with another 100 still missing & countless cat owners who were cheated into believing that their cats would be in safe hands… Even if you are not an animal lover, I’m sure you can see the injustice in this.
I for one will not rest until I see justice served to the operators of Petknode. The fine for animal cruelty is a laughable RM200 but Christine suggested if we could push for RM200 PER CAT, then justice would be rightly served. An estimated 300 cats are said to have been in Petknode’s care during the Raya break so RM200 x 300 would equal RM60,000 but I say the scums should also serve time for at least a year at the very minimum for not only animal cruelty, but for fraud & theft. With that, I am going to write in to the Department of Veterinary Services, Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (to shut down Petknode), my local MP (Member of Parliament), the Prime Minister of Malaysia & anyone else I can think of. If you too are outraged & want your voice to be heard, here are the addresses:
Dato' Dr Abd. Aziz Jamaluddin Ketua Pengarah, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan, Wisma Tani, Blok Podium, Lot 4G1, Presint 4, Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan, 62630 Putrajaya. Tel (main): 603-8870 1000 Fax: 603-88701792 Mobile: sms him at 0195136055
Tuan Haji Syed Abd. Malik Bin Syed A. Hamid Al Jafree Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya Jalan Yong Shook Lin 46675 Petaling Jaya Selangor Darul Ehsan Tel : 03-79563544 Faks : 03-79581494
Here’s a list of all the MP’s addresses (look for your area & click to get the info)
YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak Office of the Prime Minister Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan 62502 Putrajaya MALAYSIA Tel: 603 – 8888 8000 Fax: 603 – 8888 3444
YABhg Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan 62502 Putrajaya MALAYSIA
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan 62502 Putrajaya MALAYSIA
Let's flood their mailboxes! Let's give voice to the voiceless! If you can think of another way, a more EFFECTIVE way, please leave a comment. My cat Hassan & all the other animals out there thank you.
Warning: Long post ahead! I seem to have a knack of finding ways to keep myself extremely busy. Here’s what has been keeping away from the blog the last couple of days...
I first heard a little pup cry for the first time last Friday. At first I thought one of my neighbor’s must’ve gotten a new puppy so I didn’t think much of it & then the weekend rolled in with the string of bazaars & I forgot all about the pup.
However, on Sunday after coming home from my last bazaar for the week at KLPac, I heard the cry again. This time the cry was incessant, at a very high, desperate pitch & being a sucker for animals, I decided to find out where the cry was coming from. So at around 6 in the evening, I took a walk around my condo & identified that the cry was coming from the jungle behind my condo, right up a steep embankment & behind the property fencing. I know there’s a pack of stray dogs that call the jungle home so I figured the pup was probably left alone by its mum to go scavenging for food.
I woke up with a start at 10 in the morning to the sound of the pup crying. Without really thinking it through, I grabbed some kibble, put on my hiking shoes, some mosquito repellant & hiked up the embankment, following the cries. Lo & behold, I found a wee little brown pup with a droopy face & large sad blue eyes right behind the property fencing! He wriggled excitedly & gobbled up the kibble I offered while making these adorable grunting sounds & nuzzling my hand every now & then as if to make sure I was still there. By then, my heart was a puddle of goo. Here are two (rather awful) videos I took while trying to balance on a precariously situated ledge of the embankment.
After taking the videos above, I was torn up on what to do with this pup. He looked quite well taken care of, clean & plump, albeit scared & lonely. I hated the thought of taking the puppy away from its mother but if I left it there & if it survived (this is the jungle mind you), it’ll grow up to be a stray like the rest of the pack. But if I do take it, I personally can not care for it with two dogs & a cat of my own. 3 dogs together in an apartment would be madness. What to do, what to do?
While holding on for dear life on the embankment, I first called my vet, Dr. Jonathan of Ara Animal Center & then Edea, a fellow animal lover & friend. Both speculated that the pup could possibly be abandoned as it’s all alone & it’s weird that the mother would leave it for such long extended hours. Dr Jonathan especially impressed on me that it’d be shame that the pup should grow up to be a stray if left there. After a bit of thought while watching the pup fall asleep, I decided to leave it there for the time being while I figured out what to do.
And so I scooted down the embankment & started tweeting like crazy about the pup, hoping to garner some interest. Before long, word about the pup had spread thanks to all the awesome animal lovers who follow me. It gave me heart that a good, loving home could be found with such an outpouring of support. Around the same time, I heard it start crying again, pulling on my heartstrings. So once again, I hiked up the embankment. This time, I brought my backpack with me & after wriggling the tiny pup through the fencing, I gave him his first cuddle & kiss then gently placed him in my backpack so that I’d have my hands free to climb down the embankment. The pup didn’t even make a sound & once I reached the bottom, I found him sleeping soundly with his little butt in the plastic bowl I had brought with me for his food! After taking a minute to gush over his cuteness, I took him to Dr Jonathan the vet.
Happily, Dr Jonathan gave the pup a clean bill of health. As he’s too small for a vaccination, he was given a dose of deworming medicine, then I took him home, fed him some puppy formula, cuddled him some more (couldn’t stop cuddling him actually) & he fell asleep in my arms. Sigh, as if my heart wasn’t already a puddle of goo! By this time I settled on a name for him too; Mowgli after the boy in The Jungle Book. Thought it was a perfect name for a jungle pup.
The rest of the day & night was spent keeping the pup comfortable & well fed while tweeting & frantically looking for a home for him. Little did I know that my tweets were being read & spread across Twitter & Facebook, and thanks to all the kind souls who took interest, Mowgli had a home by the following day. Here’s Peng (the lovely lady on the right) with her sister & adorable neighbor who’s holding Mowgli.
Happily, Peng lives in my neighborhood & has a comfortable home with a large compound & 2 sweet-tempered dogs of her own so Mowgli will never be lonely. I’ve also been made God Mum to Mowgli & given the privilege to visit him anytime. After dropping off the last of Mowgli’s things, I had a good cry & moped around. I really didn’t know I would be so attached to the little guy. Even now when I type this, I feel like tearing up till I remember that Mowgli is just around the corner being cuddled, cared for & loved. What more could I ask? Thank you Peng for opening up your heart & home to a little jungle pup.
P/S: A big THANK YOU to everyone who retweeted & made Facebook posts about Mowgli & also to Ilani of Tongue In Chic who told Peng about Mowgli in the first place. It makes me so happy to know that there are folks out there who care.
Audrey Hepburn is my ultimate style icon. She’s classy yet eccentric & when I read that she had a pet dear she named Pippin, or Ip for short, I just fell in love with her a whole lot more.
For those of you who regularly visit this little ol' abode of mine on the www would know, I always try to keep it happy-clappy here. However, there comes a time when certain things can not be ignored. I am on a few animal welfare mailing list & today I received quite a number of emails uncovering MORE appalling conditions of the Klang Municipal Dog Pound. In the past I have refrained posting anything upsetting because like I said, I wanted to keep this space a positive one so please forgive me as I'm about to rock your boat if you are not already aware of this particular situation. I'll let the pictures do the talking...
Pitiful suffering
The dogs are kept in overcrowded pens with the little food provided splashed all over the floor. Most of the dogs will not get to eat & will eventually starve.
These poor pups are too scared to even move & are most probably bullied.
A mother dog protecting her babies. This photo really had me crying.
Some the dogs that were taken in are obviously someone's pet. This guy in the front even had a collar on! The dog catchers are paid an incentive which has resulted in them going out to catch dogs at all times of the day. Apparently their favorite time is about 6 or 6 pm when pet owners come back from work & release their dogs to ease themselves. Sneaky buggers!
This is the man responsible for the carnage. Shame on him!
More pictures & info at Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better. I urge you to click on the link to get a better idea of what sort of cruelty our government is getting away with. It is truly appalling & we really need to do something about it. Apparently the Klang Municipal Council’s dog catching unit is going on a rampage as the dog catchers have been given incentives for every dog caught which has resulted in them going out to catch dogs at all times of the day regardless if they are strays or someone's pet! What if it was your dog caught & put through this hell?
And so, if you are appalled as I am, please forward this to all your animal-loving friends & heck, to anyone you know who has a heart to alert them of this atrocity being propagated by the government that WE the rakyat have chosen. Remember, only WE the rakyat can give them a swift kick in the ass for being such numbnuts!
Please, from the goodness of your heart, email the government reps & bodies below with this email prepared by Ms Davina Goh to voice out your concern (or in my case, anger!). Remember now folks, all you have to do is click on the link above, copy + paste the email & send it to the email addresses below (The emails are that of the Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, the state executive councillors, Klang Municipal Council officials as well as the Klang MP Charles Santiago). Let's flood their inboxes & make them sit up & take notice!
Last Saturday the boyfriend asked me out of the blue, "hey, you wanna go hiking at Bukit Tabur with the buddies tomorrow?" Being an adventurous person (although quite unfit as am also a certified couch potato), I said yes without much thought & preparation even though I didn't even know where Bukit Tabur was much less ever hiked before (turns out it's in Melawati which is where I went to primary school!). I've done some trekking so I thought it couldn't be much different, right? Wrong. Folks, if you've never gone on a proper hike before (I don't consider going up 8 flights of stairs hiking anymore) please for the love of God don't start with Bukit Tabur like I did! I am very proud of myself for having conquered the hike but after doing a bit more research past my first cursory Google search on the night of the hike, I wouldn't have done it without building up my stamina & experience. I mean seriously, would you do it after reading an article titled Ill Fated Hill?
Luckily I went with a few experienced hikers so I was in relatively good hands although the rugged terrain really put a strain on my soft, pampered & grossly unprepared body. Needless to say, I was at the back of the pack & the nails on my two big toes are turning an interesting shade of purple from wearing too-tight shoes on the hike (I wore my scuba booties because I read on one site that rubber shoes like my booties have excellent grip which would be perfect for rock climbing. Dumb move).
Now don't get me wrong. Parts of the hike were highly enjoyable & the views were spectacular but you need to be prepared for the rugged terrain of sharp rock formations, very steep & unforgiving climbs & drops, balancing on thin ridges & some rock climbing with a potential 30m - 100m fall. If you have a fear of heights, you can just forget it altogether.
Here are some pictures from our hike...
We started out quite late at 8:20am so the mist was beginning to clear up over the Klang Gates Dam. This shot was taken at our first proper pit stop.
A spot of relatively easy rock climbing. Cheh wah! Now I can action lah :P
The view of the Klang Gate Dam a little higher up & proof that my boyfriend can actually smile!
Trying to be the Tugu Negara at our last pit stop before reaching the peak. You can see that I'm burning under the sun as my sun block wore off about an hour ago.
Only known as the Second Rope on the trail, this is the steepest climb with no visible place for you to land and if you slip or let go of the rope, the fall is 100m down. Roger here makes it look so easy. Do not be fooled.
I'm laughing at something my boyfriend was saying to me as he took this shot while I climb up this approximately 20m high rock formation although I really should've been concentrating on my footing! Oh, and you see that back pack I'm wearing? I've had it for over 10 years now & it's been all over the world with me. That's EastPak for you folks.
Now one hike up Bukit Tabur does not make me an expert so I highly recommend you read all of these sites that I'm linking below before you attempt it.
The Crystal Ridge is an excellent blog that documents everything you need to know about Bukit Tabur is a must read! They even have a Facebook group that I just joined.
If you're determined to go on the Bukit Tabur hike after reading all the posts above, please say hi to two very special dogs that you'll meet up on the hike for me. I personally spent some time with the brown female dog known to some as Ah Wong (but christened Toughie by Roger) as she followed me up till the First Rope after I gave her some water & she was excellent company when I was separated from my group for awhile. I also gave her my nasi lemak as I waited for my turn on the rope & the next time I go, I'm bringing some proper dog food (although I think she enjoyed the sambal). The other black & white dog I saw at the foot of Bukit Tabur but I'm sure is just as tame & sweet as Toughie.
What's so special about these dogs you ask? Well folks, they can hike, trek, jump rocks & have been known to alert hikers of snakes! Amazing I tell ya. So remember k? Be kind to them as you should be towards all animals. And bring some dog food while you're at it!
All in all, I really enjoyed challenging myself on Bukit Tabur. Would I do it again? Definitely! But first, I'm going to jog more often & try some other tamer hikes before I tempt fate again. Right now, I'm going to book myself a nice massage session & then later see the doctor about my darn purple toenails (read the second paragraph above).
Happy trails folks!
P/S: I wanted to add that the hikers I met on Bukit Tabur were super friendly & extremely helpful. The trail was packed with people on Sunday & from what I've read that is usually the case on weekends. Do give way to those coming down the trail & if you're tired make sure you give way to others to overtake you too. Oh and don't forget to say hi or smile to your fellow adventurer :)
Since my last post of dogs with accessories got a fair bit of response from some of you here & on FaceBook (my posts here are RSS'd to my notes there), thought I'd share another adorable find. Everyone, meet Winston the jewelry wearing pup. Winston, meet everyone.
Ok, I admit it, I find these kind of things adorable & highly entertaining. I could've watched this video over & over again but only stopped after the 11th time. Yeah, seriously.
P/S: I loved it when the puppy suddenly stopped & seemed to contemplate it's adorableness.... I want a puppy now!
I know most of you must have already heard this song by Estrella but I just wanted to share it with you here anyways. It's a fixture on my playlist & never fails to get me bopping my head. So perfect for the weekend don't ya think? Have a great one folks!
If you've had to deal with cleaning a stinky pet bed, I'm sure you're gonna be as excited as I was when I first saw this great idea on MadeByGirl. Here's an excerpt I took off MadeByGirl:
"Molly Mutt is way more than just a dog bed company, they have made a revolutionary dog duvet & stuff sack that defines green living for your pet. These duvets are a great way to keep old stuff/clothing/towels/cushions from ending up in landfills (Roughly 8% of all landfill mass is textiles), while giving your pup a cool & clean place to sleep!"
How cool is this idea? And for you crafty mavens out there, you can even make it yourself with the DIY Kit by Molly Mutt! I'm loving this ingenious idea more and more.
My favorite notebook of all time. A special edition Little Prince Moleskiene.
Finally made the trip down to I Love Snackfood & was duly blown away. Super love!
My tea time snack: a tiny Passionfruit Meringue tart from Petit Sucre at Isetan KLCC
A week never goes by without a shot of my furbaby, Hassan.
