Grey, the temple cat came back after disappearing for one month.

One afternoon I was calling for Samsi, my favourite stray cat at the temple, a very skinny kitten squeezed itself through the hole under the metal fence to greet me. It was skinny Grey, the missing kitten whom I thought had been killed by the big truck during the construction. He looked very dreadful and crying like crazy for food. I was so glad to see him again, I gave him extra cat food to make up for all the hardship he had endured for a month. He must have been exploring the abandoned warehouse along the riverside as it was very dark and quiet. Somehow he decided to return to the temple, after all the big trucks had left. But his usual hiding places were all flattened down. Now several stray cats had to sleep in the car park; once I saw Samsi sleeping at the back of a pickup truck among all the tools. Luckily, the truck driver didn’t leave the temple with this cat still sleeping in the truck!

Grey was eating very fast; I gave him extra food to fatten him up after disappearing for one month!
The old male cat turned out to be vet loyal and overly sensitive! Cats have such good memories, this really scared me.

These stray cats have become very tame and they all recognise my voice and the sound of my sandals. I tried to pretend to ignore them and walked away. But some cats just started crying in distress and asked me what’s wrong with me. Their eyes and reactions were like small children being left behind while the car of his parents slowly moved away. I had no idea that cats could be so sensitive and expressive with their eyes. They could speak emotions with their eyes and facial expressions. Sometimes I saw shadows of some of my old relatives on the cats’ faces. The thought startled me and made me treat these cats with more compassion and sympathy.

Tommy, the younger brother of Julia the big sister. Julia is very possessive and smart but she would slap every cat that came too close to her food! At least she didn’t use her claws, just gentle slapping on others’ faces!

After five months of feeding these stray cats, we have become friends and some cats often followed me everywhere in the temple. This small cat, Julia has become very possessive and wouldn’t allow other cats to come near me. This has made things more complicated for me as several cats would be too afraid to eat the food and Julia would eat all the food up! So, I had to plan the feeding logistic to make sure that more timid cats could finish their meals first. But Julia was very smart, she would take a short cut through the construction site and under the fence to the corner where I was feeding other cats.

My favourite cat, Samsi who is very timid and skinny. He used to be one of my soldiers in the past life some two hundreds years ago, I reckon.

Julia, Grey and Tiger have started to follow me around the temple which alarmed me quite a bit. What would happen to them when I had to be away for two or more weeks?! Tiger, the smallest kitten, wanted to follow me all the way out of the temple. So, I had to resort to some tricks and climbed over the bushes to ‘disappear’ from his sight. And there was a sign telling people not to walk on grass! The things I had to do for these stray cats! From confronting hostile temple gate keepers,telling construction workers to feed the cats and climbing over bushes for hiding place. All the monks have become used to seeing me surrounding by almost ten cats! But I couldn’t make them spare some pocket money to feed these cats. Only one monk has been feeding these cats, I would love to meet him one day.

Some cats have been banned from the car park by the mafia cats. One poor cat has to hide in the garden and under the bush.

Some kittens have to live under the building and among pot plants. I had to walk around looking for hungry cats to make sure they had their meal to stay alive.

Gradually, I began to give Thai and English names to these cats. Some cats began to respond to their names. It’s a bit difficult to think of suitable names for older male cats with lots of battle scars. These cats must be over ten years old and looked quite skinny. They let all the younger cats ate first; they would slowly emerge from their hiding places later. I found this behaviour very interesting; they didn’t want to confront younger cats.

The main gathering would take place in the car park. Visitors could go to feed these temple cats in late afternoon.

Sometimes old cats were old enemies and they would start growling in front of me. Luckily I was able to separate these old rivals easily, somehow they were afraid of me. These make cats still felt the need to show that they were still strong and mighty! They reminded of some members of my family. It would be much better if people just don’t have to put on acts just for the appearance of strength and self-confidence. These cats have been very transparent in their feelings and emotions; somehow they couldn’t lie or pretend to be something else.

It’s a nice feeling to be able to gain trust from these cats. Several cats would let me pick them up and played with them. Some are still wary of people and sudden movements would put them on edge. These wild cats had to toughen themselves up living in the car park full of cars and strangers. These are survivor cats with special skills and flexibility to adapt to hostile surroundings. They could survive economic and social upheavals while most people would have a hard time adapting to the sudden changes. These cats taught me so many things and their natural instincts and expressions of emotions made them rather special to me. So, I hope that life would allow me to continue feeding these temple cats as long as I could. Feeding stray cats at the temple has become a routine part of meaningful life for me. Doing some little good karma every week gives me some comfort and confidence that this good karmic vibes would afford me some protection.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.