Exactly, an year ago, we were forced to adopt two kittens that were abandoned by the roadside. Although we asked around, no one was willing to adopt them.
So they came to live with us. We had to give a little extra care in the beginning to help them adjust to their life without a mother.
They had a strong will to live. It helped that they had each other. Soon they were feeding normally.
There was plenty of love in our home coming from humans, dogs and other cats. The kittens grew up happy despite not having their biological mother around.
Our female dog Lea took a liking to the kittens and soon took over the role of "mother". We were relieved. It was endearing to watch Lea clean them, play with them and watch them as they slept. Time and time again, we felt that the saying "He's/ She's worse than an animal" was an unfair one - for animals. Animals on many occasions display similar altruism as (altruistic) humans do.
To a certain extent, the cats probably thought they were dogs too. For example, while cats have a habit of covering up their poo, these kittens never covered up - because their dog guardians didn't.
Grandma Kitty (in the center) once reached her limit of patience seeing that the dog mother was not doing a proper job of bringing up two young cats. So she also took turns in cleaning the kittens and teaching them to hunt.
Today, a mother lost a child. She's devastated for the moment, but we hope she'll heal in time and come back to her usual self. More than the grief of losing the cat, we are more saddened to see how the grief not only affects us, but our other pets too.
Today, a sibling bond was broken too. The black and white cat, who we call "Chuti Kitty" (meaning little kitty), will never have her playmate and companion again. She still appears confused over the loss.
Animals feel, like us. They develop attachments, like us. They feel fear and they feel pain, also like us.
As with any death, we begin to wonder if we could have done anything better.
With humans, we wonder if we could have treated the person better while they were alive. Maybe we didn't appreciate them enough. Maybe we should have said we loved them more times than we did. Maybe we should have forgiven the small shortcomings and let go of the grudges, because in the end it doesn't make sense to hold on to those. Maybe we regret the hurtful words we used on them.
Similar thoughts crossed our mind too. Should we have not scolded her as much as we did? Should we have given her more food when she demanded extra food? Should we have kept her indoors on the night she was hit by a vehicle outside our gate? Could someone have saved her in the dead of the night when Lea barked frantically? We don't know if any of that could have changed the outcome.
Rest in peace (Dec 2016 - Jan 2018)
Preeny, you will be missed by everyone at home. In the short time we had you, you brought us much joy and many memories.
Once again, we wowed not to take in any more new pets.
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