Random thoughts.
Adoption is no harder than cruising around a morning market, selecting a stray cat, pick him up and off you go. But should you?
First thing, I never had an animal that wasnt a stray. The trouble with strays is that you dont know their personalities or condition and so right off you need a trip to a vet for checkup and shots. Ive picked up very ill animals and nursed them back to good health.
Im referring to anything except dogs. Id never take a stray dog because many are vicious, extremely ill and with rabies and the rest of it. Ive been bitten by street dogs and while I feel sorry for them, I dont want one. A neighbor feeds stray dogs which attracts more and pretty soon you have packs of wild dogs on your streets and you cant walk or ride a bike. Another distant neighbor takes in stray birds and soon the pretty sound of a few birds becomes a deafening sound that you hate.
For a single cat, though, its easy and you only have to decide male or female and inside or outside cat. For the sake of health and easiest care, id recommend a female-inside cat. Males are aggressive and want to be out at night, they will scratch at the door until you let them out. Then they come home in the morning with new bleeding wounds from fights. Plus fleas. Females are gentle and perfectly happy as homebodies. If you get fleas in the house you'll be bitten a lot and find its hard to get rid of them, plus the constant flea baths for the cat. So if you decide an inside cat, it has to stay inside.
Cats need daily brushing and attention and toys and food and a litterbox. Contrary to the absurd premise in the first post, NO animal makes a good traveling companion. Really, you are going to take your animal in the car to Thailand or the airplane to Singapore? Really, you think you are going to do this?? Of course you wont, so that brings up the next problem which is that when you go away, who is going to take care of the animal? What if your neighbor declines, you'd have to board the animal at high cost---fine, if you have the cash! By the way, about cat care, do NOT give the cat a weekly bath, they take care of themselves UNLIKE a dog which does need a bath because they cannot/dont lick themselves clean. Soap messes up the skin of cats, just leave them alone but DO brush them often so that they reduce development of hairballs which they will cough up all over the place.
I dont have any animals these days. They are a huge responsibility and cost, and you cant simply leave them for many days if you are going on a trip. It all seems so easy on the first day and pretty soon the work sets in and then you wonder what you are doing. How do people think strays became strays? Because they got dumped on the street by owners who changed their minds and thats cruel.
Should you buy an animal from a shop? Sure you can, prices are high, guarantees are low. RM2000 for something and it dies in six months? Who pays? The shop will blame you and like everything else in Asia, money only flows one way--to the seller. If you want to buy a "bred" animal, find, visit and research professional breeders and buy directly from them, not a shop which often loves to sell but doesnt know much about animals.
If you live in a house, you can have anything. In a condo or apt, a cat is practical but expect rules against large dogs and monkeys and snakes. Some people like hamsters and rabbits but they stink up the place. A bird is easy to keep but cant cuddle with you on the bed at night or leap onto the table and jump all over the keyboard when you are typing a CV you have to send five minutes from now.
Vets. There are more fake vets in Malaysia than real vets and this is a major problem. They have fake certs and can easily kill your pet due to poor knowledge. You have to research and find out who is the real and properly trained vet.
Food. For some reason, pet food is very expensive in Malaysia and its not even very nutritious. Best if you look for lists and recipes for fresh, good food and prepare it yourself. Cats love liver, boiled kidneys and fresh fish. Some people only give their animals dry pellet food and it will keep the animal living but not thriving. Its like a person only eating white rice as a permanent diet. Not good.
Too, there is the depressing problem of the pet leaving you suddenly one day, and that they get sick and die. Personally, because love is so strong, my heart cant take it anymore. Its too hard to put a pet down or have it get out from the house and never come back. It just kills you and you never forget it. Does this mean you shouldnt have a pet? NO, it just means think it over, your time, ability, methods and money. Just think first.
Driving in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur's neighbourhoods
Internships in Malaysia
Buying property in Kuala Lumpur
Phones and Internet in Malaysia
Expat death in Malaysia
Moving with your pet to Malaysia
The Malaysian lifestyle
