Ramadan

Our holy month of Ramadan is starting tomorrow. We will be fasting everyday for an entire month. We will be eating in the morning before sunrise and will not be able to eat, drink or have sexual intercourse until after sunset. Growing up, I never understood the true meaning of Ramadan. As an adult, I now look at it on a much deeper level. One of the first things people ask me when I tell them I'm fasting is "Wow. Don't you get hungry? It can't be healthy to eat nothing all day." Yes, I do get hungry. That's natural. But we fast for a much more spiritual reason. Fasting gives us some insight to how some other people around the world live. Many people cannot afford to eat everyday and only eat a few times a week, maybe even less. Fasting teaches us compassion and reminds us that there are people out there who are not as lucky as us. It allows us to understand what they are going through. Furthermore, it makes us grateful for the things that we have. All Muslims are required to fast in the month of Ramadan. However, there are a few exceptions. Children under the age of puberty, pregnant women, breastfeedig women, menstrating women, a traveler, and someone who is ill are excempt from fasting. People traditionally break their fasts with treats such as samosas, dates, fruit salad, milkshakes and such. At the end of the month, we celebrate Eid. In the morning, we go for special Eid prayers at our local mosque which follows with the Eid day festivities. Eid is celebrated with family and friends. People wear nice clothes and often do gift exchange. Sometimes people give children money which is called "Eidi." A part of me is really exciting about fasting and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Happy Ramadan.

Diary of 2 Cats: Kitten Edition (Part 5)

Due to Internet issues, I didn't get the chance to blog too much in the last month. But here I am again. Tiger and Pepper are now living together in mild peace and harmony. We brought them together a little over three weeks ago. Tiger's URI is gone but his eye infection is still there. The vet said it could either just be healing very slowly or it's chronic. He also said, he's been on antibiotics for 2 weeks now so it's probably not contagious to Pepper anymore so we decided to bring them together and just let them deal with each other. As suspected, upon their first official face-to-face meeting, Tiger pounced Pepper from behind and Pepper turned around and body slammed him to the floor. I was worried at first, then I noticed Pepper was holding him down and forcefully licking/grooming him. I read online this is a way for them to put their scent on each other. Not much has changed since. They've learned to co-exist and have the occasional cat fights. And by occasional, I mean several times through out the day. They each take turns body slamming each other at first and it eventually evolves into grooming. Although they don't "cuddle" with one another, they eat next to each other, and they'll sleep next to each other sometimes. Just the other day, They were each sleeping on opposite corners of the bed. Then Tiger got up in the middle of his nap and went to sleep right next to his friend. It was quite sweet. I slowly brought them into one litter box and now they even eat out of the same bowls. We have a water fountain which only Pepper would drink out of at first. Tiger was scared of the moving water and would usually just paw at it and run away, so I would leave out a separate bowl for him. But just last week, he started using the fountain. I even captured a cute video of both of them drinking at the same time. Part of me thinks that Tiger is a little bit of a bully. Pepper wants to play with Tiget but whenever Tiger has a toy in his mouth, he growls and sometimes hisses because he doesn't want to share! I want Pepper was stay active and healthy so I tried to close the door and play with Pepper alone with a string, ball, etc. but he kept running towards the door because he wanted to play with Tiger! There was one time when Pepper was chewing on a rubber ducky (lying down on his back) and as soon as he left it on the ground for a second, Tiger snatched it away and ran off! What a guy! Aside from their brawls, they are getting along and they seem to like each other. I think they are more like brothers. They like each other but have the occasional arguments and misunderstandings.