Caturday at the temple: feeding temple cats and one cat was in a bad shape.

During the last ten days, I had to postponed my schedule to visit the temple a few times. The sudden downpour of heavy rain made it impossible to feed temple cats. In fact I was caught in rain twice while feeding these cats; I and temple cats all ran for covers. Temple cats were very smart, as soon as the drizzle got thicker, they all disappeared. I was left to collect all food dishes and pack up all alone.

I have now become convinced that some temple cats could recognise the sound of the engine of my car and the colour of my car. I tried to hide my car in the car park and stayed quiet for a few minutes. But at least two cats would be meowing around my car complaining about being very hungry. Some preciously unfriendly cats have now become very affectionate and tame. They knew that they had to wait for me to organise the dishes. It took me a few minutes to have six dishes filled with biscuits and wet food.

In the past they would happily ate the dry biscuits. Since I began to add wet food in the biscuits, these cats would sniff the biscuits and just waited for me to dish out the wet food. Temple cats have become choosy and developed a taste for good food. The other lady in white car left several bowls of biscuits in the car park once a fortnight. These bowls were not very popular with these cats. But I have seen the black dog ate these dry biscuits. Later I saw that dog took my food dish away hoping to eati some cat food. No wonder I kept losing my plastic food dishes in the past. Now I had to watch out for the black dog and frightened him away from temple cats.

I had to accept that a kitten and her mother had gone without a trace. I was anxious to know what had happened but no one could give me an answer. It’s very likely that the kitten might have hide in one of the parked car and was gone with the visitors’ car. The mother cat looked very skinny and rather sick so she might have gone into hiding and died in her sleep. More adult cats seemed to have disappeared while there were more young kittens around the skinny monk’s lodging.

I had to order more wet food for very young kittens as their mothers seemed to have left them to fend for themselves. The three kittens in black and white coats were very jumpy and timid. It took me two months to get them to feel more secured to be within my arm’s reach. Their older brothers have become very friendly after almost a year of feeding them. Only two cats from the original family of five kittens were still living under the building.

The mother cat seemed to know me very well as I have been feeding her over two years. She has become pregnant again so she always asked me for more food. The skinny monk tended to look after those cats that lived in his building and those kittens that were abandoned by people at night. So, he fed almost fifteen cats around his place. So, I would give more food to those cats living in the car park and by the pier.

Last week I noticed a very old orange cat with a big open wound around his neck. I was quite shocked by the torn skin hanging around his neck exposing bloody skin inside. It was very bad, I wonder how he got such a serious injury. He came towards me quietly and made a little meow sound to attract my attract my attention. I didn’t notice him at first as he was very quiet and came latest for dinner. Perhaps he was trying to avoid other big cats. He looked quite painful and sad. I gave him as much food as possible.

I still didn’t know if he was in a big fight with other make cat. But other make cats didn’t have any fighting wounds. It must have been a long and fierce battle for a car to receive such a big open wound. I guessed he was in hiding for several days as he had a big bleeding wound and in lots of pain. That’s why he looked very skinny and poorly. I crushed some tablets for his infection and sprinkled it on his food. He wouldn’t allow anyone to touch him.

Yesterday, I asked the skinny monk if it’s possible to get this injured cat to see the vet. It seemed impossible as he’s very fierce and untamed, the monk could never touch him. I prepared some powdered medicine to sprinkle on his open wound. I was glad he turned up after disappearing for five days. He looked quite skinny, losing almost four or five kilos. He used to be a very big cat; I called him ‘Big Orange’. I had to feed him four times to satisfy his hunger. Luckily I could distract his attention and get some medicine on his wound. He didn’t hiss at me and I could touch his head lightly.

I was at my wit’s end about Big Orange. But he seems to be in no pain with the big open wound on his neck. The dry hanging skin was getting dirty and hardened. I wished I could have the right instruments to cut off the dead skin and put more medication on his wound. But he wouldn’t allow me to put him on his side and let me do my job. The skinny monk gave him extra food and told me he has been praying for this cat. He said this cat knew I has arrived so he came out to ask for food. It’s very sad to see helpless cat with such serious injury and we couldn’t do much about it. I hope that he would recovered gradually. I would try to clean the area around his wound next time, hoping that he wouldn’t attack me.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.