The other day I dropped by my next door neighbour’s house to see whether Joan was around. I shouted his name a few minutes but there was no response from upstairs. The orange cat might have gone hunting in the fields so I continued my conversation with the lady of the house. She was thinking of having some big branches of two trees trimmed to let in some more light. I was recommending the young man who did lots of trimming in my garden when my neighbour heard a cat’s meowing.
So, Joan was sleeping upstairs under an old table. He has become a lazy cat; he should have responded to my calling earlier. He was surprised to see me making loud noises in ‘his’ new house. I asked him to come downstairs but he was a bit reluctant. So, I had to ask the lady to close her gate after I chased the brown dog outside. This brown dog belonged to the house further down the dirt road. He’s a nice and friendly dog but he liked to chase cats. I did see Joan running away to hide upstairs when the brown dog entered my neighbour’s house.
It seemed the lady wasn’t aware of the fact that she shouldn’t leave the gate opened as that dog has realised that an orange cat has moved into this house. Joan came downstairs after he felt safe from that dog. Then I could massage his back and talk to my old cat. He trally needed a good combing as his fur wasn’t well groomed. The lady didn’t touch him or caress him as she’s allergy to cat’s fur. Joan seemed to have put on weights as I could hardly carry him on my shoulder.
I wanted to take him home for a few hours to play with his sister. But he wouldn’t let me carry him towards the front gate. He would jump down on the ground. Perhaps he was wary of that brown dog outside along the dirt road. Next time I would have to bring a basket with a secured lid to carry him home for a day. I wanted to know if he still could recognise Kwan and vice versa. It would be nice if Joan could decide to drop by my house once a week.
These days, Kwan seemed a bit lonely and rather sad sometimes. I had to keep her company during the day as she tended to hover around my chair. Sometimes she spent too much time inside the house that I had to persuade her to go into the garden. When I did my walking meditation in the front yard at night, Kwan would rush to join me and started grooming herself. The two orange cats used to routinely groom themselves in the front yard during the night. They felt secured as I was walking around while they could groom themselves and have a nice view of the front gate. A few stray dogs could be seen passing by along the dirt road at night.
I had some strange feeling that Joan was going to leave me several weeks ago. At first I thought he would wander off and get killed by stray dogs. So, I has been taking lots of photos of Joan and Kwan together. I told myself that these cats might not always be together, something unexpected might happen. It turned out that Joan disappeared for two weeks only to be found at my neighbour’s house. I did bring him home once but the next dsy he went back to the Thai house. He wouldn’t tell me his reason for his migration.
I had to accept the new reality and hoped that Kwan would be able to adapt to new situation. She has been so dependent on Joan for security and reassurance. This has been quite hard on Kwan during the first few weeks as she had to spend the night on her own around the garden. She would sleep inside the house till early hours then asked to be let outside. These orange cats became very alert and active during the night. My neighbour was very pleased with Joan as he had caught several field mice around the house.
My gardener wouldn’t play with cats as she preferred dogs. So, Kwan couldn’t approach her for some back massage. But she would be regularly fed and Kwan tended to eat a lot when she’s on her own. I did manage to put Kwan on a diet last time and she looked much healthier. I was glad to see her running very fast when I chased her around the garden. I still couldn’t decide how to get a new kitten to be Kwan’s new friend. It might not work as I expected. There are some young cats at the temple which I’d like to bring home. But I’m afraid that they wouldn’t survive life in the countryside. So, I just waited for some signs or some strange thing to happen which would change the situation. Meanwhile I hoped that Kwan would grow stronger emotionally and become more independent.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.