My kittens made me Bersih!

Last night I had an uncontrollable urge to clean my apartment. Every inch of the floor where my feet treaded upon felt disgustingly sticky and dirty.

Over the course of the week, my home had been taken over by two little creatures. Not rats, not bangsats, not corrupt politicians. But kittens. Two little rescued kittens, both different in age, size and temperament, my husband and I had just adopted.

Since the bigger of the two kittens was being horrendously mean towards the meek and far smaller runt, the first two days of them in their new house sent us humans into full parental mode.

Being the strong willed and opinionated kitty that she is, she had already claimed our apartment as her territory and treated my husband and I as well as the runt as the newcomers. It was the rest of us who had to prove to her that we are worthy of her trust and love.

Now, not only were we dealing with a kitty that refused to accept the rest of her new family, my husband and I were also parenting such young kittens for the first time in our lives. Having toyed with, decided and then backed off from adopting furbabies multiple times within the past few years, the reality of parenting not one but two kittens came crashing the moment we sat in the car with our new additions to the family.

The smaller fella, while afraid of people initially, quickly warmed up to us and within a few hours was purring away nestled on my shoulder. But luck would have it that a mere hour into stepping into our apartment, the little one went into a sneezing fit which sent his tiny body convulsing scarily.

We did not let the runt out of our sight those two days. Each sneezing fit would send us (re: me) into a fit of googling. Over the two days, I had diagnosed him with upper respiratory infection, pneumonia, and asthma.

What with the big girl hissing and clawing at him, and him refusing to eat those two days, I stayed up all night just to make sure he makes it through the night.

He did survive, which was great because it was not like me staying up would have made any difference other than a frantic call to 999 and bringing down the entire apartment complex with my screams. I have quite the flair for drama.

My husband, being the brilliant anti-social introvert cooked up a social reengineering plan to get the two kittens bonding as a family.  So we moved the little one’s litter box, food and drink bowls, newly claimed and marked cubbyhole and his blanket into our bedroom. That was his kingdom.

The bigger one was allowed to roam freely in the open areas of the apartment. Over the next few days, we reintroduced them for a few hours per day until there was no more hissing or attacks.

In as much as I am glad that the experiment worked, the smells and messes the kittens make are not easy to accept. The smell that assail my nostrils when I open my front door is ridiculous. Despite the closed litter box coupled with anti-odour, deodorizing kitty litter, the odour of cat poop pretty much singes the hair in my nostrils.

Every night saw me frantically vacuuming the rooms the kittens have been in, wiping up poop stains from the floor when one of them has an accident and begging my husband to clean up the litter box even though he had already done it in the morning.

The first week was hardly over but I was already feeling overwhelmed. Not only did I feel like the kittens have taken over my home, I also felt that they have hijacked my life. I was sleeping lesser hours, spending much of my after-work hours supervising kittens and going through the days with sudden bursts of phantom cat poop smell assailing me.

Yet, after scrubbing down my apartment last night, all my frustrations and doubts I have been experiencing since adopting these two furballs just melted away. The little fella creeped up to my shoulder and was rubbing his cheek against mine while purring so loudly. As he began to knead my shoulder, the big kitten came to my feet and flopped down, giving my feet the same treatment the small fella was giving to my head and shoulder.

Yes they are messy, stinky and a handful, but they also pushed me to clean my apartment like I had never before and then reward me with so much love and attention.

Of course me going cleaning-crazy is not part of some kitty conspiracy for a minty fresh home, but knowing that cats are the most intelligent beings and are as scheming as they come, I do believe my kittens plotted to make me Bersih! – August 30, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.