Happy Caturday: feeding stray cats at Yannawa Temple again.

As soon as I was back in the city, I knew I had to checkout those stray cats at Yannawa temple as soon as possible. I was concerned whether the other two ladies had been feeding these cats during my absence. I had spoiled these cats by mixing wet food in their dry food biscuits. So, they wouldn’t be too enthusiastic at eating dry biscuits only. Sometimes I had to mix some wet food in these dry biscuits bowls to entice them to eat more. Somehow, they would prefer to go hungry when the food didn’t smell nice. This behaviour puzzled me.

Only those young kittens that were very skinny and hungry would eat the dry biscuits before I had the time to mix in the wet food. These black kittens’ hiding place was near the waterfront which was further away from the car park. That’s probably why visitors couldn’t see them so they would rarely be fed by people. So, I tried to fatten these skinny cats so that they would have sufficient fat reserve to last them several days.

Lately I noticed that previously fat cats seemed to become thinner including those cats being looked after by the skinny monk. I saw all the lights were off in his quarter so I wondered if someone had been ill or in hospital; which could explain why these normally well fed cats seemed to be starving. I told myself to arrive at the temple at unusual time to checkout the situation next time.

My first visit at the temple,after my arrival in the city, was greeted with five hungry cats in the car park. They didn’t look as skinny as other kittens as the kind lady in white car had delivered several bowls of dry biscuits in the corner of the car park. Sometimes I spotted a lady with a bag of rice mixed with pieces of mackerel for feeding these cats around the car park. So, I would give these cats less biscuits as they became quite choosy.

Some stray cats would walk from the north side of the temple to be fed. Two cats in particular were too afraid to come near the car park as the local cat mafia would chase them away. Cats also had skirmishes and fights in the temple. A big elderly black cat was chasing away a young orange cat from the car rooftop while I was dishing out cat food. On the other hand, the black mother cat was still slapping other cats so that they couldn’t come near the food dishes. She would go around tasting very dish. I have been trying to change this mother cat’s aggressive behaviour.

Feeding these cats was just like looking after a nursery full of small kids. They moved so fast and they were very emotional and ready to get upset when the food ran out. I have slowly learned about each cat’s habits and behaviours. I was glad that they felt safe and secure around me; they all allowed me to touch them. Some old cats have emerged from other places to join in our feeding time. These old cats were quite sweet, they would make very tiny meowing sound to request for some food.

So, some of my favourite cats had gone while strange new cats arrived on the scene. I still looked out for my missing cats, hoping they were living with someone not far away. Perhaps they would surprise me one day. But I had my preoccupation with the young black kitten that had survived a car accident, and a white cat with black nose whose right eye has become badly infected.

I was very glad that the black kitten could walk and jump normally with his four legs. But the eye infection of the white kitten seemed to be getting worse during my absence. I was quite shocked to see the worse state of eye infection. It seemed the skinny monk didn’t give him any medication which I had given him for healing sick cats. I did show him a few times how to mix the crushed pill in cat food. He was quite impressed that I could help with healing of sick cats which saved him the vet bills. I had to find out if the white cat got any medicine during last week.

I had no idea whether some problems had cropped up around the monk community. Sometimes unexpected monk politics and emotional struggles could erupt over small issues in which stray cats could become victims. Some monks just didn’t like cats and thought they made the temple messy. So, there were two factions: those who wanted to get rid of these cats and those who wanted to protect stray cats. Luckily the abbot didn’t allow the aggressive faction to do as they pleased.

Sadly, I had been blamed by the negative monk for feeding stray cats, making a mess and encouraging cats to live there. I thought that monk knew that I was informed of being scolded by him in a monk meeting; it’s defamation. That’s probably why he had avoided any confrontation with me. I’d rather wait for the law of karma to run its course. Most communities of monks in big cities had wandered off from the idealistic and spiritual community of serious practitioners in Buddhism.

Some cats were so expressive of their emotions. Some cats could recognise me from fifty meters away and would run to greet me. These cats even complained to me when I gave them less wet food; Jessiga (a white with orange patches) could become very vocal and expressive. I was convinced she was talking to me in ‘words’, not a structured sentence. I should be wary of emotional attachment to these temple cats. It would be very difficult to leave them one day. They have become my special friends as I knew them by habits and emotional expressions. I hope I could continue to feed these cats as long as possible.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.