To many in the family, Olaf is considered a bashful kitty who frightens easily. He goes berserk at the sound of a hairdryer and scoots when he spots a guest in the house.
“He’s super introverted because he grew up mostly inside the house, due to the pandemic lockdown,” Nurul Aina Tajaharis, 26, told FMT Lifestyle about the little stray kitten she picked up one rainy day four years ago.
All the same, they’ve also learnt not to underestimate the fluff ball. As timid as he may be around humans, he is lion-hearted when it comes to neighbourhood cats who encroach into his territory.
Unfortunately, this has meant that he’s been in quite a number of fights, limping home like a wounded soldier and requiring urgent medical attention.
When he’s not engaged in hand-to-hand battle outside, Olaf likes to engage in passive lizard-watching inside.
Although the lizards climbing the walls and walking the ceilings amaze him no end, “he has never managed to catch one,” Aina said, with some hint of relief in her voice.
On some days when he’s particularly bored with life, he gets the “zoomies”. That’s when you’ll find him frantically sprinting around the house, mewing at the top of his lungs as if chased by an invisible fiend.
He also uses this particular meow to summon his humans to feed him. “Each of us has a different work schedule, so he tricks us into giving him food, sometimes up to five times a day!” she said, shaking her head.
He has a weakness for chicken in all its culinary forms – steamed, roasted, stir-fried, deep-fried, poached – you get the idea! But if there’s no chicken to be found, he will lap up anything you place in front of him although with noticeably less enthusiasm.
“He’s not picky and eats almost everything,” Aina said of her greedy kitty.
After a day of cat-fighting, lizard-watching and chicken-eating, the tired Olaf likes to grab some shut-eye.
Aina’s office chair or the sofa are often his favourite snoozing spots but on particularly hot and humid days, you’ll find him shamelessly lying on his back on the marble floor, all legs up in the air, exposing his fluffy belly as he cools down.
The only health problem Olaf has is constipation. And sometimes when he’s in pain because of it, he flies into a panic. Aina recalled one occasion when he ran out of the house, ducking into a drain in his anxiety.
It was a particularly harrowing experience as Aina had to call officers of the civil defence team (JPAM) to help rescue him.
Lesson learnt, Aina ensures Olaf eats the right kind of food now with more fibre in it. “Of course, this food is more expensive,” she said, laughing, knowing full well that Olaf is certainly worth it.
