Konnichiwa Hivers! A blessed Sunday to all of you! It's your one and only ridgette again, and for today, I'm going to introduce to you all my ever-grumpy yet clingy cat, Minggay. Like any other ginger cat, Minggay is quite eccentric and funny. He eats, he sleeps, he roams, and he glares, but those things are not what only describe Minggay. There is more to him, so join me as we unravel our feisty ginger cat.
Ready?
The Coming
It's been almost five years since Minggay came into our lives. Actually, they are three kittens who were given to us last summer in 2019, but unfortunately, his sister died in the jaws of Brownie, our very own dog. We really thought that he would just cuddle the small kitten when he approached them, but moments later, he bit the neck of one of our kittens. It was too late when we were able to retrieve the kitten from him. I really cried back then because, even in such a short time, I really got attached to that kitten. Not wanting for two to also die in the jaws of our dog, my father decided to dump them in the grassland far from our house.
Me and my sister objected to that, but later on we were persuaded by my father to just follow his decision. We can't really watch and guard them the whole day because we also have classes, so we thought that it would be better for them to live away from us than to follow the fate of their sister. We dumped them in the grassland, and for days I really couldn't stop thinking about them. I'm really worried about them, but I have no choice. Days later, a miracle happened, for one of the two kittens came back to our house, and it's the ginger cat!
Why Minggay?
Actually, Minggay is a name for a female cat, and I know you're wondering why we called him Minggay despite the fact that he's a male cat. Well, it was really a mistake because we all thought that he was a female cat. I think it took us more than a year to discover that he's really a male. So why more than a year? Well, in our defense, his balls were small, and we didn't notice it because of his long tail.
We just became curious then because we were wondering why he didn't get pregnant when he was almost two years old, and that's where we noticed his balls. Through that discovery, we also realized the reason why he frequently went out of our house when he was six months old. Further, Minggay really looks like a female cat because he has these cute eyes and feminine cat features, so we really thought that he was a female cat, which turned out to be wrong. I guess we're prejudiced on that part, but of 'course, no matter what Minggay is, he's still our Minggay, and we're really happy to have him.
More Minggay Facts
Although Minggay looks grumpy most of the time, there are really times that he looks cute (especially when he sleeps, haha). Minggay is feisty (I think that's a given for all of the cats), yet he is really clingy. He often rubbed his head against my legs, and he let me rub his head and belly. Also, Minggay was really playful back then. He often climbs on our roof as well as our neighbor's roof, and that somehow earns him some injuries.
There's one time he came back home limping and with wounds. He really looked pitiful at that time because he really looked like he was in great pain. One of our neighbors thought that he's an ungo (ungo is our local term for shape shifter), which is one of the known folklore creatures here in our province. It's actually a ridiculous reason to stab our Minggay, but we can't really blame them because they grow up believing that such creatures exist. Anyway, after that day, we ensured that he wouldn't go to the neighborhood during the night.
Aside from his endearing character traits, there's still another side of him that we discovered as he grew up, and it's his territorial nature. When he was young, Minggay never really showed a violent nature (and that's one of the reasons why we thought he was a female cat), but later on, as he became bigger, he somehow changed. I don't know if it's appropriate to call it a change (or was it his nature to be violent in the first place?), but there are really changes in his behavior, and that change became too apparent at a certain night. It was the 1st of November at that time, and we were busy tidying our house and preparing food for the coming of the dead (that is our tradition during the 1st of November because we believe that the spirit of our dead loved ones will visit our house and eat the food we offer them; that's why we really prepare for their coming). Anyway, we're almost done preparing everything when our Minggay arrived, but he's not alone.
He's clutching something through his jaws, and when we approached him, it was a bloodied kitten. We were horrified because the kitten looked dead, and after Minggay put it down under our bed (I still don't know why he put it there) and left, we immediately inspected the kitten. It was indeed dead! Moments later, he came back again with another bloodied kitten! We were horrified and scared because it's the first time Minggay looked so distracted and distraught. He never even responded when we called him. When he came again with another bloodied kitten in our house, my mother thought that maybe there's an evil spirit inside him, so she immediately ordered my younger sister to get the holy water. She sprayed it on Minggay, and of course, Minggay didn't like water, so he ran with the bloodied kitten in his jaws. Minggay didn't come back until it's morning.
The morning came, and the first thing we noticed was the foul smell emanating from our shoe rack. It turned out that under our shoe rack, a dead kitten was placed there. Also, we found out that there's another dead kitten under the old, discarded open shelf outside our house. We were really confused about why Minggay acted that way. That's the first time he acted so violently, and hopefully the last. He was really fine after that night, and honestly, it was really just us who became wary of his presence after that. Until now, I still can't forget what happened that night, but like I said, Minggay is Minggay no matter who he is, and we didn't regret having him in our lives.
Minggay isn't just a pet; he's more like a family member now. I know lately he is agitated because my sister adopted new kittens, but we really tried to make him feel that he would not be replaced. Minggay is really irreplaceable because, for me, he's one of a kind. He was able to survive and come back to us, and that's something not all cats can do. I know that he's getting older because, unlike before, when he was usually active, now he mostly sleeps inside our house. I am really afraid of the day that he will leave us because I know that I will not be ready. Minggay already has a special place in my heart because he's the first cat I witnessed growing up, and I know he will be the first feisty ginger cat that we all love.
That's all for now, Hivers! I'm hoping that I will be able to feature Minggay again in my future blogs. See you then!