Pet Blessing

You know you're in a Catholic country when...

Coming up this weekend two places in Metro Manila are offering 'Pet Blessing'. One of these places is actually within walking distance from my condo. When I saw this sign I found myself wondering if my cat, Daphne, would appreciate getting a blessing from a Catholic priest. Although the blessing is happening within walking distance from where we live the act of getting her there isn't the most pleasurable in cat terms. I would have to shove her into a cage (which she hates), carry her outside into the loud traffic (which she hates), and stand up in a line up of dogs (which she hates) to wait for her blessing. That's a lot of effort from both Daphne and me. But then there is also the question of religion. Is Daphne religious? I have no idea. I've never seen her praying. I've never seen her reading a little cat-sized bible. And if Daphne is religious I don't even know what religion she is. I'm not Catholic so maybe Daphne isn't either. But since Aimee is Catholic maybe Daphne has decided to be Catholic as well. Or, maybe, Daphne follows a special cat religion. I think a cat religious bible would be rather short. The first first pages would talk about how Kitty God created Earth and all its comfortable places to nap. This Earth also has an over abundance of delicious kitty meals to eat and beautiful gardens to poop in. Kitty God then created humans to act as the personal slaves for the cats. And that's it; that's the Kitty Bible. I'm sure the kitty clergy originally intended to have more chapters written but since they spent most of their time napping, eating the occasional mouse and getting high off catnip the rest of the kitty bible never got finished.

I like the idea of a pet blessing. It gives pet owners the peace of mind that their pets are being cared for by God as well. Even if you're not Catholic it's an intriguing idea to think that some greater power is keeping your pets safe when you're not around. But shoving my frightened cat into a cage and dragging her down to the Pet Blessing? I don't know ... I doubt my cat would appreciate that. So no pet blessing for Daphne this time. Maybe next time but until then, I have faith that Daphne's own personal Kitty God will keep her safe.

Kitty God blesses you all (maybe not the dogs)...

Tarsier

I spent some time on the Philippine island of Bohol. While there I had the pleasure of finally seeing the Philippine's only species of monkey, the tarsier.

Tarsiers are the world's smallest primates. They have enormous eyes and very long hind limbs. Their feet have extremely elongated tarsus bones, from which the animals get their name. The head and body range from 10 to 15 cm in length, but the hind limbs are about twice this long (including the feet), and they also have a slender tail from 20 to 25 cm long. Their fingers are also elongated, with the third finger being about the same length as the upper arm. Most of the digits have nails, but the second and third toes of the hind feet bear claws instead, which are used for grooming. Tarsiers have very soft, velvety fur, which is generally buff, beige, or ochre in color.

They're cute in a furry alien kind of way. They are nocturnal creatures so I was able to sneak up to them while they were sleeping. They heard me approach, opened their eyes, stared at me for a few seconds, then closed their eyes and ignored me. I've never been ignored by something so small before. Silly monkeys.

Cocks

There are a lot of cocks in the Philippines.
You see cocks in parks.
You see cocks by the side of roads.
You see cocks on people's property.
You see cocks in parking lots.
You see cocks on trucks.
You see cocks on public transportation.
Sometimes you see dirty cocks.
Sometimes the cocks are clean, freshly washed, and shiny.
You see cocks all over.
Sometimes you see cocks hanging out with other cocks.
Sometimes you see cocks hanging out alone.
Sometimes the cocks are tied up.
Sometimes the cocks are free.
Sometimes the cocks are in cages.
So many cocks.
Cocks all over.
You can't go through a day without seeing several cocks.
Cocks cocks cocks.
Why are there so many cocks?
Who owns the cocks?
Sometimes I get the feeling the cocks are staring at me.
Maybe they're spy cocks?
Cocks hired by the Filipino government to watch the Pinoy people.
Big brother cock.
The cocks make me paranoid.

I think all of these cocks are fighting cocks. Cock fighting is legal here in the Philippines so everyone seems to have a trained fighting cock. I don't necessarily agree with this, but you can't deny the fact that legalized cock fighting translates to a country filled with cocks. And they're all angry. Angry pissed off cocks. If the cocks were motivated enough I think due to their great numbers they could take over. A country run by cocks. Imagine that!

Don't touch the cock. It's angry!

Pet Village

A few blogs back I talked about the total lack of cat supplies here in the Philippines. I also mentioned I was interested in going to a market called Tiendesitas. This market, claimed the website, came complete with a pet store section called Pet Village. According to the website, there's 18 pet stores to shop in. EIGHTEEN!! That certainly sounds like the Godfather of all pet shopping centers. I finally got the chance to visit Pet Village. Was it truly the Holy Grail of pet stores and supplies here in the Philippines? Is it really a mecca of everything my kitty needs to keep her well fed and happy in this Country of Dog Lovers? The answer ... no, but it comes pretty damn close. Pet Village is pretty much 18 dog stores with a few cat supplies available in each store. But when you see that all 18 stores sell something different for cats it's almost like getting all your cat supplies in one place. I ended up leaving Tiendesitas/Pet Village with everything I wanted only it took me a long time going from store to store to find it. This is fine by me, I dont mind a little bit of hunting as long as I get my prey ('prey' being little catnip mice, cat vitamins, treats, and kitty shampoo).


This window display looks impressive but it's 100% pure dog products (unless I wanted to put one of those leashes on my cat)
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At Pet Village they also sell a wide variety of depressed looking new best friends. Yes, that's a cat in the same display cage as a dog. Seeing this kind of enhances my belief that Filipinos treat cats like another breed of dog.

Tropical Downpour

You would think since I came from a rainy place like Vancouver I would be prepared for the rains in the Philippines. Although it rains quite frequently in Vancouver it's nothing like the rains here. In Vancouver you can wake up in the morning, look out the window and get a sense of what the weather will be like throughout the day. Here it's different. Today I woke up, looked out the window and saw hot and bright sunshine. On seeing the beautiful weather I decided to grab a book and head down to the garden for a read.



Within five minutes I opened the door leading to the garden and saw this. The rains here don't last long but when they fall, they fall fast and hard. In most cases due to proper drainage the water disappears as fast as it fell. But sometimes...










..especially down some city streets the water just collects and causes flooding. The water on this roadway was close to three inches deep. Once we reached the end it got deeper and we were forced to drive elsewhere.

I can tell that flooding is a way of life here since many of the street vendors continued selling their food even though they were standing in three inches of water. Did they have customers? Yes, they did! Three inches of dirty rain water and the customers still wanted to buy snacks. Amazing!


With the rainy season comes the snails. And boy are they huge! The snails they have here put the French escargots to shame. To get a sense of the size of this snail go look in the mirror and imagine a snail slithering across your forehead. That's a big snail right? Well yes, it is. But keep in mind that this Buddha's head is TWICE the size of an adult human's head. THAT'S A BLOODY BIG SNAIL!!




This snail requested that I add him to the blog as well.

Damn Filipino snails, such attention grabbers (but awesome singers)!

Cats

Cats, you see them everywhere here. I've seen them along roadsides, on sidewalks, in driveways, in parking lots, even along an airplane runway. They're all over the place. With the huge population of cats in the Philippines you would think it would be easy to find pet food shops that sell things for cats. You would think... Well, no, it's not so easy. You see, the Philippines is a country of dog owners. I get the sense that cats are seen as vermin. I suppose it's easy to understand this mindset since all the cats you see all over the place are stray cats. They're small, dirty, and sickly looking. Dogs are respected, cats are ignored. So imagine Aimee and I arriving in the Philippines with our cat. I planned ahead before we even left Canada. We shipped over a box filled with her food (at least a six month supply), litterbox and some litter. Unfortunately, the litterbox got cracked in transport so we were forced to search for a new one. It took two days and at least 4 pet food stores to locate one. I find it interesting that they use the term "Pet Food Store" when it's 98% dog supplies. The other 2% is fish supplies, rodent supplies, rooster supplies (see the Cock Shampoo blog), and cat supplies. Thankfully we located a place that sells litter - at least litter - so we're set in the cat toilet department. I heard of a place that has 18 pet stores side by side. I haven't been there yet but I'm hoping this will be a one stop shopping paradise for cat supplies. I am a little concerned though; of the 18 stores, 4 have the names "Doggie's Den", "Doggie Land", "Dog in the City" and "K-9 Couture". I hope the rest of the stores are not so dog-centered as well.

A week ago Aimee and I noticed Daphne was starting to lose some fur from her head. We called a vet - one that was recommended to us from a fellow cat lover. When I look Daphne there the first thing I noticed once I entered the clinic was the overpowering smell of dog pee. The second thing I noticed were the dog photos and dog products decorating the room. There was absolutely no cat paraphernalia what's so ever. So even a vet that's respected in the cat community has no interest in cats. The vet gave Daphne a physical and discovered she was losing her hair due to a skin fungus. It makes her skin dry and itchy, she scratches and the fur comes off. Sounds simple enough. The part that I found odd is the medication given for the skin: sulfur cream that happens to be toxic. Hello! TOXIC! Cats bath themselves with their tongues, am I the only one that thinks this medication isn't quite right? It wasn't even sulfur cream made for pets; it's human grade. Basically they're treating my cat like a little human. So after worrying about applying this cream onto Daphne I decided to get a second opinion. Today I had a vet visit the house who has an office close to where we live. Aimee and I met this vet during our two days of litter searching. We saw her office and decided to go in looking for cat products. Her office, like the other vet I went to, was well stocked with dog photos and products. No cat products. I was worried about this at first but after I watched her dealing with Daphne I noticed she really did know how to deal with cats. She prescribed a non-toxic cream made specially for dogs and cats and even requested Daphne wear a hood to keep her from bathing herself and licking off the cream for three days. So now Daphne looks like a flower pot. :) At least she's a flower pot with good medical advice!

In Case Your Rooster Gets Dirty...

I was at a grocery store the other day and I decided to see what selection of petfood they had for our cat. I found this:



This has got to be the single most funny thing I've seen in a long time!

The Kenniverse is Pinoy: The Beginning

On July 31st, 2007, we left Vancouver for our new home in Manila, Philippines. We took Philippine Airlines which is a straight 12 hour flight. Our travel companions consisted of Aimee's brother, his wife, and their 3 month old baby. An additional travel companion which unfortunately was only allowed to travel in the plane's cargo hold was our cat Daphne. I'm sure most of you have been on airplanes before so this blog is more about Daphne's experiences than ours. Our flight was essentially like any other flight: uncomfortable seats, badly prepared food... but I'm sure Daphne's flight was quite different. Aimee and I hired a company called World Wide Animal Travel. They specialize in shipping animals around the world. They helped us with the import requirements, the medical requirements and basically anything needed to transport Daphne from Vancouver to Manila. The day we left the country our flight wasn't until 11:30 at night. We dropped Daphne off at World Wide Animal Travel (conveniently located by the Vancouver International Airport) at 3pm for some last minute medical check ups required for transport. World Wide Animal Travel (WWAT) placed her into a travel crate, slapped on some 'Live Animal' and 'This Way Up' stickers on the crate, taped on some identification paperwork and she was all set to travel. Aimee and I left WWAT and headed home to do some last minute packing and preparing for our flight. Evening came and we headed for the airport. It was odd feeling stepping on the plane this time. Every plane ride for me in the past was filled with excitement at the prospect of having an awesome holiday filled with new exciting experiences. Although my thoughts were filled with the excitement our new life in the Philippines will bring I couldn't help thinking about the family and friends I was leaving behind. Not to mention I know exactly what to expect from my Vancouver life on a daily basis. The Philippines is a different country, a different world with different ways of dealing with the day to day life. I was about to be a stranger in a strange land and no amount of excitement for my new life could overshadow the fact that deep down, I was terrified. But this is where my Father-like instincts click in: although I had my own fears, I decided to put them on hold and think about my poor kitty in the cargo hold.

Let's go forward in time by 12 hours ... the plane lands in Manila.

When we left WWAT they told us the process of picking up Daphne from cargo would be an easy one. We were told, "once you arrive go to quarantine, show them her cargo claim number and they will give her to you”. Sounds easy right? Well, it wasn’t that easy … not even close. We walked over to the quarantine booth and were told the paperwork we were given to collect Daphne wasn’t original and only the original paperwork was accepted. The silly thing is the original paperwork was taped to Daphne’s crate so how were we suppose to get the original paperwork from Daphne when were weren’t allowed to pick her up? We were told she was probably still being held in Philippine Airlines cargo building which was actually … get this … outside the airport. So we hopped in the car and drove there. On arrival to cargo we were told only one person could enter the building at a time. We figured it was best that Aimee be the one since she understood the language. She entered the building and I sat and waited. The person at cargo said we didn't have all the required paperwork yet (different paperwork than first requested by quarantine) so Aimee had to walk back to Terminal 2 which is the Arrivals section and had to buy a gate pass, fill it up, take it to quarantine (remember we were told to leave the airport and go to cargo … now they were telling Aimee to go back. You can’t enter the airport unless you have a valid plane ticket. Since Aimee didn’t have a valid ticket seeing as our flight was in the PAST she was force to buy a gate pass), pay taxes on Daphne (the paperwork counter and payment counters are side by side so just picture Aimee side stepping between the two of them several times do get all the required paperwork and fees paid), then head back to cargo where they further asked her to pay handling charges before they release Daphne to us. They said it would have been easier for us if we just checked Daphne in as luggage. Easy enough to say but luggage isn't temperature or oxygen controlled. So clearing her out was actually a terrible experience. Obviously all this stress was effecting Aimee more than me. I was sitting in a car with aircon waiting for her. The worse part Aimee said is she could see Daphne's cage in the distance and wasn't allowed to see her until all this political nonsense was dealt with. From what Aimee tells me the airline placed Daphne's cage with all the other cargo things - therefore boxes - while a forklift drove by crashing and smashing into things. Daphne was certainly freaked out and when Aimee asked if someone could place Daphne in a quieter area they refused to. Finally Aimee had Daphne and brought her to the car. She was freaked out obviously but within a few days she was eating, drinking and purring like normal.

Luggage: check
Cat: check
New life officially starts … wait for it … NOW!

Next stop, getting my immigrant residency card…