By the time we reached the address sent to us, it was almost noon. The sun shone brightly that day, and it’s hot everywhere especially this summer, but that rather secluded strip of housing were surrounded by big trees, so along the slow wind and the serenity around, it’s kind of nice.

There was a tiny girl peeking from behind the opening of the garage in that fenceless house. I thought I’d asked her, but she ran inside before I made my first step. So I called instead.

I didn’t know who to call, really, I only know her Instagram username as I learned about her story through its messaging system. She found a box of abandoned baby kittens on her way home from campus, and with the help of her friend was caring for the babies. As her studies become increasingly demanding, she was struggling with bottle feeding six babies once every hour. Before she lost the war, especially because she has no knowledge about caring for cats, she sought help.

I really don’t need extra six babies; but looking around, the extra six babies (and their college student surrogate) really need me.

No one answered the call, but a petite young woman, who looked very similar to the one who peeked on us earlier, came from the front door with a clean box of dirty, hungry, desperate babies.

Well, at least she tried to keep the babies clean, looking at the pile of dirty and smelly boxes at the corner of the garbage.

It was brief, sort of. She came down on me with barrage of questions, out of pure curiosity about the welfare of the cats and how she managed thus far, and I answered whichever question I managed to catch.

And then, we bade farewell to each other, I picked up the babies, and she ran into the house.

Oh well.

But, putting on my helmet, a tiny hand tapped on Sheilla’s shoulder, and as we turned around, the girl we just saw pushed two bank notes into her hand, turned around, and went back running inside, wiping her tears.

We looked at each other – Sheilla and I. It was a little bit of a comic story we read in our teen years, but we smile regardless. There is still hope on humanity, and our respect toward the college girl only grows. She did her best for the babies, now the baton passed to us.

It was clear to us by the scream and screech of the babies all the way home, down to our living room, and as they scrambled like an army of the undead into our kitchen, that they have been on their own for so long, despite the best effort by the college student lady to catch up on their behalf.

It was unclear to us whether it was pure magic, miracle, twilight zone, or heaven when Igor started putting them together, and lay down beside them, letting them nurse on him. We are not mistaken. That cat was Igor, and as the name suggested, and the two bells he always had, is male.

The kittens fell silent for a few minutes; but failing to get what they so sorely missed (from their own mother) they went back scrambling and screaming.

Like a genie from the lamp, we got three bottles ready; but still it was unclear to us the magic of it all, when we found Penny collected the babies one after another into an empty container we reserved for them, and let them nurse from her. Penny is young, and she was spayed before she came into heat.

The kittens fell silent for longer time; thus we didn’t waste any time to start picking them up and bottle feed them, putting them back to Penny’s side as they slowly fell into slumber, for the first time feeling the warmth of a mother.

In the next days, until they start to wean and learn to eat by themselves, it takes a village. Igor, Penny, Flash, Mama Pearl, The old lady from the slum, Mama White… took turns lying on their sides and lend the babies their lives, their licks, their love.

Then comes the pang of reality. The toll of being dumped, the toll of being under nourished for so long, the toll of having to claw back into life too early, too far.

One by one the babies perished. Sickness, weakness, but the village goes on.

Like hope stayed in Pandora’s box, one remain, and Emmy is getting stronger, although slowly. She is the smallest, and weakest, and prone to all sort of sickness.She is also the loudest, the most demanding, and the most relentless of more than 25 kittens (less than 2 months) crowding our house.

But the village goes on, and so do we. Whenever Emmy chased one of us with her nasty screams, we will put down everything, pull our blendered food, and give her as much food as we want; or whatever she wants, really. From pats to hugs, to piggy back ride to cradle to the rest of the world. In the day, at night, during breaks, even when we sleep.

Tomorrow, Emmy will be six weeks old. She looks like she is still four weeks baby cat, but she has the love of the whole village, and the whole village goes on.

One evening we told the village as they finished their dinner, that the whole village has us two.

We two hope Emmy and her village has you too.

~ Josie

paypal.me/whiskerssyndicate

We are kicking off this year’s Catober Fest with a matching challenge, and I am kicking off the matching challenge with the plight of this kitten.

There was no Sunday for us. Donations had run dry – there are barely anything coming in. Sheilla and I have to scramble back into the job market to sweep anything that fall into our feet just to keep the kibbles in the bowl.

On our way to work, we saw a small cat limping into a garage selling snacks and drinks, meowing silently to two women who chatted merrily with all abandon.

We don’t have enough money to buy the next sack of cat food so we thought we’d just give him our Whiskas. I walked back and lift him up to move him to shaded area to give him food and water, when I felt something running on my palm.

The baby I was carrying is about 3 months in age and he has thumb size hole on his chest. There was another wound nearby, with traces of infection and inflammation.

We don’t have the means to keep him, but we also don’t have the heart to leave him.

So comes the routine. We turn back home, each called our employers that we will be late, but offer assurance that we will finish our work on time.

We clean the wounds and apply first aid. The hole on his chest is 1.5 cm (about half inch) deep so it should require surgery, but it was Sunday; the clinics are closed.

It was bad in term of timing because the wounds are close to the heart. It can be good because the cat seems to be in good health otherwise. It’s Sunday, so we have time to find money to provide veterinary treatment he needs. We make him comfortable away from other cats, give him food and water, and answer to the call of our duty.

One hour late for work pushes the rest of the day’s schedule back. We arrived late at night to find baby cats slipping inside his crate and surround him with their fluffy warmth. Nearby two mothers were standing by.

How many humans would do the same to their own kind, the way the cats did to theirs? We know full well cats can be ignorant but in time of needs, we don’t even need to ask.

On Monday the vet saw the wounds and clean budding necrosis, but the wounds are still inflamed, so we have to bring the swelling down first before further steps can be taken.

It was bad in term of timing, and it’s annoying because we all want the cat fixed as soon as possible, but it can be good, because we have time to bring up his physical condition, and also a chance to seek help in funding his surgery.

Despite the pain he has to endure, the kitten goes on to seek help; to keep on living. Can we please give him a chance?

~ Josie

paypal.me/whiskerssyndicate

It’s such a glad moment when the local water pump is finally fixed. Yesterday the community leaders made a trial run, and the load of the pump will be increased to accommodate all residents until it reach full capacity again the beginning of next week.

While water is now as abundant as before, the quality is still below standard. It is yellowish and unclear. We are glad that we can mop the floor, wash the dishes and towels (and clothing) and clean the litter boxes with it, but we still have to buy clean water for cooking and drinking.

We have a clean water crisis since last Friday.
The pump that provides water to our area was broken, and the community authorities are working their hardest to fix it as soon as possible, but for the time being, we have to buy water. Nobody can guarantee when the pump will be back running.

We are still in a hangover. The day we lost Ditto, the day after when we took him to be buried, the day after when we come to pass the wet mound where we laid him to rest, and the day after, and after and after, somehow looked all the same.

We moved on. We still have Bumpy, we still have twenty bottle babies who will be first to lose the battle, we have to find a way to keep the shelter living. I had to go back to the job market, and grab as many chances as I can.

Every day is a different story, but when we cook for the cats and see his empty bowl it feels the same, when we spread linen and towel where he used to roll it feels the same, when I took his little blue shirt, it feels the same.

Going to Deliso’s colony at midnight, it feels different.

We called her Cinderella (she is in the first picture) because she only shows up if we arrived at midnight. She came out of nowhere, and disappeared after eating, back to nowhere.

We noticed that at one point she became pregnant, and we noticed that for quite some days now, although she always chased her food, she would stop right in front of it, sit down and stare.

We changed the food, we give her plates (instead of cans), we gave her steamed tuna, we gave her shreds, we gave her minced. She stopped right in front of it, sit down and stare.

At the moment she allowed us to touch her, we hold her, and we took her home. She panicked and agitated , but we need to get her to see the vet.

So today too, is a different story. We let her into the carrier, walked out, looked to the new grave where Ditto was laid, just a few meters away.

A white and yellow cat ran into our front yard, with fear burning in her eyes, trying to save herself from Malaya who chased like a raging hell behind her.

We didn’t know what was going on, but I suspended Malaya in her chase, and Sheilla got the cat.

We noticed she had these weird bumps (plural) on her lower belly. We noticed there are only a few ten Dollars left in our wallets; we noticed none of us would get paid until the end of the month.

We noticed that chance comes just once in a lifetime, so we took another carrier and brought her along.

She had a very bad hernia. One large rupture on the left, the other one on the right side.
She has to have a surgery, or her life is on the line.

We told the vets we do not have the money, but if they will give us some space, we’ll figure some way out.

When the surgery started, one of the junior vet called us, and told us that she is pregnant; that they haven’t done anything, and that if we choose to keep the baby, they will cancel the surgery.

Surely, all life matters, and she has four; but almost all of her gut went through the hole and wound around her reproductive organs. So if we choose to keep the babies, and they somehow got tangled, or if the hernia is getting worse because the baby is growing bigger, all life will be lost.

We took the hard decision once more, and have her lose four babies, rather than everyone go down.

It was a difficult surgery. For five hours the vets have done their best to de-tangle her organs and manage to close one side of the rupture. However, she has been in sedation for too long, so they have no choice but to end the surgery, and pray that the cat will be cared for enough, so that the current surgery heals within one month and the second surgery will be performed to make the stray cat great again.

As we watch her came back to consciousness, as we watch her try to stand, as we watch her slowly sink in to her new home, we noticed that we have been given a new chance.

We know the world goes round slower these days. We know everybody has to work harder, we know everybody has less nowadays. We are the same; but even though each of us gives less, if more of us give, we might have this chance. Even though each of us gives only little, if more of us give, we might have her chance. The chance she tried to hold, running with fire in her eyes, to the house of a stranger. The life this stray cat tried to keep, by giving her hope to those who care.

Let us not lose this chance.If you can please help her by donating, please do so now. If not, please share her plea. Big or small, no kindness is ever wasted.

Please let her live.

~ Josie

paypal.me/whiskerssyndicate