Beautiful Sunday: good and bad news about stray cats at the temple.

The last weekend has started with very delightful news about the black cat with a big open wound which seemed to have improved drastically. I went to Yannawa temple to feed those lovely but skinny stray cats in late afternoon, I avoided being in hot sunshine. Many people had suffered and some allegedly died from heat stroke! I was glad that there were fresh strong breezes at the temple.

I fed three cats at the car park as they emerged from their hidings as soon as I parked my car. They could recognised the sound of the car engine. There used to be more than ten cats hiding in the car park. Nowadays there were less than five cats around. I was anxious to get to the pier area as I wanted to check out on the black cat with big open wound two weeks ago. The small black kitten with one yellow eye ran to greet me as usual. He has become very friendly and trusting towards me. His older brother was probably drown by that crazy lady three months ago; about ten kittens had disappeared into the river. I still felt the pain of the deaths of over twenty cats by this crazy person. I tried not to lash out in anger though at times I would like to punish her; but it would only create more troubles for the remaining cats. Hopefully, her bad karma would find her and make her pay her debts in the near future.

There were only four to five cats left around the pier. The black cat with a four inch open wound has much improved and the wound has almost healed. I was glad she had no added infection. She has become very tame and sweet towards me. The black and white cat was the oldest cat in this area. She was so timid that she has to hide under the bush in the corner of the pier. I had to walk around and call her name so she would come out to eat. She has lost over two to three kilos over the year.

The other two ladies who used to feed her had disappeared through Covid jab repercussions. The young man (with fish stall) would feed stray cats sometimes. This old cat would eat very slowly and would finish any left overs in other dishes. The young kitten was used to being spoiled by me, I gave him lots of wet food when he was ill. So he would beg for extra wet food. The other two black cats were much older, one was a male cat who was a loner with a few scars on his face. Recently there’s a young mother cat joined this group. I couldn’t find our where she hid her kittens. So, I had to give her more food to fatten her up a bit.

By the time I went to feed other cats living around the skinny monk’s quarter, half the wet food was already gone. I had to ration the wet food to satisfy ten more cats at least. I searched for the orange cat with four kittens. Two days ago, I found her in very bad shape. She looked sick with mud under her body and she refused any food. I had to climb the gate to reach her as she wouldn’t move at all. It seemed she had suffered from high impact ti her body, she wouldn’t allow her kitten to touch her body. She growled whenever I tried to touch her body; it seemed she was in much pain.

I thought the crazy woman could have smashed the orange cat on the cement railing and tried to drown her. (That’s why her body was covered in black mud). But she wouldn’t let the cat live once she got the cat by the river. I couldn’t find any answers to my questions: why the mother cat got injured and in such great pain that she refused to move. I had to approach the elderly monk to get the key to open the gate for me so I could carry the injured cat for a quick wash. I didn’t want her to much all the dirty mud on her body.

Fortunately the monk was kind and responsive. I carried the mother cat by pinching her neck and back to the nearest wash basin. The tap water was very warm because of the hot weather. She was growling all the time and wanted to bite me when the pain was too much. I told her not to bite and she obeyed me. I had to dry her wet busy with lots of tissues. As I dabbed the tissues under her belly, she was in a lot of pain. It seemed her internal organs suffered from some impact; there’s blood seeping through her nipples. I was so worried about her health and her four small kittens. I decided to place her under the row of pot plants so that she could hide in safety and stay away from her kittens for a day.

I fed some cats that came to check out all the noises the mother cats made while I tried to dry her wet body. I was very afraid she would die like the other cat last month. I didn’t like the look on her face, she looked very sad and helpless. I searched for the skinny monk who could probably tell me what had happened to the poor mother cat. I told him my prognosis of the symptoms which indicated lots of pain from being smashed or hit by some hard object. Then he told me she was probably crushed by a car in the yard. He said there were almost ten cars parking in front of the abbot’s office.

These stray cats loved to sleep under parked cars for safety. The mother cat was used to sleeping under the green Mercedes which parked for days on the same spot. But these visitors’ cars came for a day for the meeting. The mother cat might have been smelling under the wheel of a car. She just didn’t have any warnings that the car was about to move. It must have been quite a shock to the sleeping mother cat. The driver couldn’t even hear the cat crying out of pain. I resented the new abbot as he had changed the surroundings of the temple by cutting all the tall trees and turning small grass areas into cement paths. Many big pot plants were also removed. Stray cats couldn’t find any green bushes to play around and to do their toilets. Close areas with pot plants was turned into more parking space.

The skinny monk told me if the car was crushed by the car, she wouldn’t survive more than two days. I gave the injured cat some wet food, she was able to take three spoonful and I also gave her some medicine. I told the monk who used to feed this cat and her kittens what had happened and to watch out for her. After I fed all the cats around his front yard, I asked for details about the death of the mother cat.

He told me that the monk who used to feed her requested for his help. He was asked to bring the mother cat to the vet. But the vet couldn’t do much as her internal organs were in a mess, she was about to die with lots of pain. So, the skinny monk didn’t allow the vet to resuscitate the cat. I was shocked and in pain as this was my favorite cat. She was always very sweet and timid; she would keep to herself. But she would run to greet me whenever I called for her.

I was mad at the car driver; why he didn’t make sure there was no cats sleeping under his car. The abbot shouldn’t have turned this quiet yard into a car park. I could have said rude words to these people as I was hurt and very mad at their rotten brain cells. Some people just couldn’t think and had no common sense. I was lost for words about the details of her death. Luckily, the other monk agreed to take four kittens up to the building so they could be properly looked after. These cute kittens were about four weeks’ old so it would be much safer to live inside the building until they were much older.

I left the skinny monk with a hold in my heart. I wished I could have done more for the mother cat; she was in a lot of pain but she still allowed me to shower her and carry her around the yard. The cat had lots of patience and stamina for bearing infinite pain all over her body. The four kittens had no idea what had happened to their mother. I bought a box of kitten food to offer the kind monk who adopted these kittens. So I had been feeling low during these last few days for no reason until I heard about the death of the orange mother cat. I prayed for her peaceful transition to another dimension. I would always miss her sweet nature and gentleness towards me.

Wishing you peace, good heath and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.