Happy Caturday: more abandoned kittens at the temple.

Time flew by so fast, those temple kittens I have been feeding since six months ago, have grown much bigger. The black kitten that got badly injured by a vehicle could now walk on four legs. The back leg still looked wobbly when he walked or jumped on steps. His brother lost one eye when he was a kitten. There were three kittens that were secretly abandoned at the temple.

One tiny kitten was very sick and he didn’t make it. I could help the one with bad eyes infection and high fever just in time. But he wouldn’t allow me to touch him and he hid away for days. I had to put medicine in his wet food to heal him from the eye infection and fever. So, I could only save one of his eyes.

The other kitten got his back injured three months ago. Luckily he allowed me to touch him so I could give him some healing and fed him till he put on some weights. He was getting skinny and malnourished as he couldn’t walk for almost three weeks. I was so glad to see him very alert and lively with lots of optimistic energy. These two siblings were very closed to each other. So, I hope they would be healthy and safe together.

They were chaperoned by an older black kitten who has become a young adult cat this year. I told him to look after the two abandoned kittens; he did a good job. He allowed these kittens to eat his food. And he would wait to be the last to be fed by me. These cats showed me how sensitive and kind abandoned cats could be. They were very good nature and could understand people’s intentions.

All other cats have grown bigger and longer. The small orange cat has become an adult cat, but he always behaved like a small kid towards me. He’s very smart but rather choosy at food; he was spoiled as a kitten so he expected wet food only!

The black and white cat was very gentle and quiet as she got older. She would sneak in quietly to ask for food; she’s a loner and stayed away from other cats. She had lost several kilos during the past few months. The lady who used to feed her often had stopped coming to the temple for almost six months. I wondered what had happened to this kind lady.

My old favourite cats: Little Tiger and Spotty, never returned from their mysterious disappearances. I presumed they were killed during the construction as they liked to hide under piles of earth and construction debris. I still looked out for them, I missed them a lot. They were such sweet and compassionate cats.

The skinny monk had rescued four more kittens and a mother cat that were dumped in the runbish bin. So, I asked an old friend, whom I used to make lots of money from crypto investment for her, to donate some money for buying wet food. I told her about the extra burden on the skinny monk; so I got four boxes of wet food to donate. He was much relieved that he had enough wet food to feed ten small kittens in his care. I gave him two boxes after the New Year. Two boxes would be donated during the Chinese New Year festivity.

It’s always much easier to ask for help on others’ behalf, especially abandoned or sick kittens. It cost less money and involved less complication in helping these cats and humble monk. I bought some lottery tickets hoping to get some rewards for getting more wet food and special snacks for myself. I dared not check whether I was lucky or not. I knew I had no special attraction with lucky numbers; my luck belonged to another invisible category altogether. So, I wasn’t complaining if I didn’t get any lottery prizes.

There’s no such thing as free lunch and “easy come, easy go”! I would rather have something more valuable and long lasting in its benefits which couldn’t be bought. So, I had chosen the hard option as always. Things would have been less complicated if I chose the path of money. There’s something about these cats at the temple; they were definitely very different from other stray cats I had encountered. I knew they used to be people or soldiers in their past lives.

They were loyal soldiers willing to give their lives for their masters. They were very polite and obedient, even the aggressive abandoned mother cat now listened to my order. Some cats were definitely ex-soldiers who used to guard my camp in battle fields. I used to have dreams about battle fields and life around old palaces. I was probably a high ranking commander with lots of soldiers.

That’s why I could naturally handle a sword when I was a kid, to the surprise of my uncle. Those were bloody days of fighting in battle fields and night time spying on enemies. I was glad that I became a simple human with understanding of cats and dogs, including snakes. So, I hope that some of my good karma from my past lives would support my good efforts in this lifetime. I hoped to be able to feed these temple cats for years to come.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.