Happy Caturday: staying home with orange cat.

I was very happy to spend several days with my orange cat in the countryside. Kwan was very pleased and excited to see me; it took her more than ten minutes to emerge out of her secret hiding place to greet me. The rainy weather has made life a bit difficult for orange cat as the garden and banana groves very soggy. Kwan would usually took her late morning nap in her secret spot in the banana groves. So, she could hide away from other stray cats that visited the house for some food.

This time Kwan seemed to have lost some weights comparing with two weeks ago. She could move around with more agility and less burden of extra weight. My gardener told me that Joan did come stay for two days, then he went back to the neighbours’ house. During my stay, Joan didn’t drop by like last time. I missed him a lot but I had to accept that he had changed a lot emotionally. He seemed to be very attached to his new home and owner. I just had to let go and look after Kwan as best I could.

This time, I was quite troubled by two new stray cats. These were about one year old cat with white coat and patches of black colour. At first I saw the one with long tail, this young make cat was very daring and bold. I found him on the stairs several times at night. He was very quiet and crept upstairs to act like he owned the house. This made it impossible for Kwan to come to my door and ask for help. Kwan just sat about two or three meters away from the bold stray cat. Only when the stray cat tried to get close to her would Kwan started crying for help. Kwan was too considerate as she didn’t want to disturb me at night.

Only three days later did I noticed an identical cat with very short curly tail. My gardener confirmed there were two young stray cats, they were brothers, coming around our house lately. I was quite amazed by these stray cats as they had to walk past wooded areas and fields to reach out house. These stray cats were very adventurous and wild as they could just walk for miles with the risk of encountering poisonous snakes along the way. These wild stray cats behaved like small tigers wandering in forests.

The bigger stray cat sent me a message telling me that he wanted to be petted and looked after by me too. I found him sitting quietly in the garden watching me playing with my orange cat. When I chased him away, he was quite reluctant to move so I had to pretend to be very fierce to frighten him away. He left and complained loudly about being very hurt and disappointed by my severe reactions. I knew if I allowed him to stay, Kwan would be chased by this stray cat as he wanted the whole place to himself! It’s sad that cats were not capable of logical reasoning and keeping their words or agreement. The wild instinct for survival was too strong for me to handle.

Kwan has learned to recognise my voice when I acted aggressively towards intruding cats. She would sit there quietly and calming without being frightened by my aggressive body language towards these stray cats. I would bring Kwan inside the living room after her quiet game of staring and keeping her defensive stance for a few hours without my rescue. I would have her a chance for a nice long nap in secured environment. Then she could relax and sleep undisturbed the whole day.

At night, Kwan was all alone in the garden and she would sit quietly on the stairs or in the table on the ground floor. Her job was to guard the house at night and her instinct became very alert at night. She did a good job of preventing big scorpions and poisonous centipedes from straying into the house. We would find dead scorpions and poisonous centipedes around the garden in the morning. For big snakes, Kwan would warn me that something was wrong with her strange body language. I was glad she didn’t engaged with a big three meter snake I found last month. That big long snake was sleeping in front of the house bathing in morning sunshine.

I have learned to accept that Joan needed to follow his own path in this lifetime. So, I would no longer feel sad or rejected by Joan. I had to make sure Kwan would always be healthy and fit so that she would climb trees and jump to her safety. To my surprise, Kwan has become very much like a small child. My gardener told me Kwan was like a kid and she understood my gardener’s complains that Kwan should go to toilet in the banana groves. I was glad my gardener has become quite fond of orange cat. I have been cycling around the village looking for small kittens, but it seemed few cats could be found around thus village. I wondered where all the cats have gone to.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.