Suzy with one of her kittens. — Photos: Shivani Ram
Do you have an interesting story about your pet that you would like to share with readers? We’d love to hear from you. Tell us in 600-900 words, with 3-4 photos (in JPEG format, file size about 1MB, captioned). There is no payment for stories, and we reserve the right to edit all submissions. Send your story to: lifestyle@thestar.com.my with the subject "My Pet Story".
We were not a cat family. We preferred caring for dogs, and never regretted this love for them. Their loyalty and devotion to us humans was something that made us so.
Then, something happened that changed all this. Halfway through the pandemic, the rats started coming and became rampant, maybe because of the leftover dog food in the dog’s kennel.
They became bolder and bolder, and I watched helplessly as they ran across the compound of our house.
The pest control team came when called, left rat poison at strategic spots, and told us to call them if rats were found dead. A few died in the ceiling, and pest control came in to remove them. They came twice but did not want to come again the third time it happened.
At one point, we had to call a contractor to come and clean up the ceiling. I remembered the story of the pied piper who went to help the villagers in Hamelin, and hoped the situation would not come to that.
The pied piper came in the form of two cats.
The situation left us with no other alternative but to bring them in. We brought in one, a male. Then, some time later, a female cat made her appearance and came to stay.
We were not particularly fond of cats, I must confess. But then, necessity had a way of changing all this.
For a while, the cats were kept confined most of the time. Then slowly, we began to let them loose, and they would return, and we knew they were familiar with us and knew home ground.
I named them Suzy and Pussy. Pussy was very friendly with our dog Coco, and every night, he would keep her company and they would both keep guard, like two sentinels at their posts.
Pussy with Coco the dog in happier times.
Soon, we began to notice that Suzy was growing in size. At first, we thought she was just eating too much, and putting on weight. Soon it dawned on us that Suzy may be expecting, and sure enough one day I found her searching for a place to deliver. I prepared a basket and lay some old cloth on it so that she would be comfortable.
That night I heard some cries of a cat but did not realise it was Suzy.
The next morning, I was greeted with a surprise. Suzy had had five little kittens – two orange in colour, two black, and one black with greyish white stripes, like Pussy.
Now, I had to make the new arrivals comfortable, laying more cloth for Suzy to lie on.
I separated Pussy, who now had his own litter box and home.
Some time after the birth of the kittens, however, Pussy passed away. He had not returned the previous night after his usual rounds in the neighbourhood.
I waited for his return, as he would always come back, but this time, I found him lying still, in the compound of our house.
He must have eaten something poisonous, I thought, as I could not find any other sign of injury on him. With a heavy heart, I watched as he was laid to rest. He was buried under a blossoming tree, just outside our house.
Suzy, meanwhile, was actively caring for her young ones.
One day, when I went out to let her roam around for a while, I saw her kittens missing... then a few faint meows led me to them. Suzy had carried them and put them away from my sight, safely on my window sill!
This happened again a few times. She would carry them and place them in spots she fancied, which she thought were safe for her kittens. I soon found myself looking after them, keeping them as comfortable as I could.
At first, the kittens used to walk around slowly with an awkward gait, unable to keep themselves steady yet eager to explore the world around them.
Every day, I watched them grow bigger and stronger, and how they played with one another. It was like watching an animated Disney cartoon come to life.
Now the time had come for them to go out into the world. I had asked around for anyone who wanted to rear kittens. Surprisingly, three of them had someone asking for them, for the same reason I had brought in Suzy and Pussy. I prepared to send them to their new owners, who are now caring lovingly for them. They had found new homes.
Suzy still has two of her kittens with her, so she is still happy although she may have missed the other three. Then, I realised that Suzy had to be spayed soon, so I contacted a veterinarian who agreed to do the job. However, he requested that she be sent to his house, where another doctor would be present and together they would be doing the job. They had to spay a few cats that day.
I was not free that morning but arrangements were made for Suzy to be transported there. Later in the day, my nephew’s wife came back. I went out to get Suzy, but she told me that Suzy had escaped after she regained consciousness.
I was aghast, and I wanted to go back there to look for her, before she could wander too far off. Taking my nephew’s son with me, I went back again to that area and we scouted the neighbourhood for her, but to no avail.
Returning home that day, I slept that night with a prayer that Suzy be found the next day. I was sad to think of her, lost and lonely, just after an operation had been performed on her, and at a time when she needed to be cared for.
The next morning, the doctor called me to say that they had left some of the biscuits I had sent for her, outside the garden shed of their house, and it had been eaten. Feeling hopeful, I set out again to his house, taking whatever I needed to bring her back.
It was all quiet in the shed – the doctor and his wife had not seen any movement there the night before.
I called out to Suzy from outside, and she responded with a few mews. She came out of hiding on seeing me, and all I could do was grab her and put her into a cardboard box. As I chided her for running away the day before, she listened quietly, with eyes closed.
We took her back after collecting the antibiotic tablets from the doctor, who was happy on seeing her safe and sound.
On reaching home, her two kittens pounced on her, so happy they were to see her, but I had to carry Suzy away, in case they scratched the stitches on her side. We kept her kittens away from her, to give her time to recover fully.
Meanwhile, little Chinni and Minnie are growing into little inquisitive kittens, daily venturing out to explore the garden. They are still not allowed to go far from the patio of our house.
Suzy has recovered fully now. She is happy just playing with her kittens.
One morning, I saw her in a crouched position behind the flower pots, as if ready to pounce on something.
I watched for a while, but she just pounced on her little ones; she was playing “peek a boo” with them. She is a doting mother and still plays with them in this way.
Suzy is a laidback mother. She is not a stalker like Pussy was. I hope either Chinni or Minnie would grow up to be hunter cats like their father had been. But Suzy is allowed to walk through the house, and she often does, looking for me. Her mere presence is enough to keep the rats away.
