Happy Caturday: temple kittens becoming very smart adult cats.

All the stray cats in the temple have got used to the sounds of my footsteps and clanging noises of my bag and keychain. My favourite cat, Samsi seemed to recognise the sound of my car engine and the noise made when closing the car door. After I locked my car door and turned around, I would find Samsi crawling out from under a car waiting for me to feed her. Other cats could recognise my voice, as I was calling Samsi to come closer, these younger cats would stop Samsi at a safe distance.

I have developed a strategic feeding plan, I had to distract these active and younger cats by feeding them cat food topped with some sprinkles of wet food. Then I could give Samsi, who refused to fight with other cats for food and would let other taking her food, a special dish of lots of wet food. Samsi had some difficulty chewing dry food pellets so I gave her extra wet food; I would feed her on top of the car so other cats wouldn’t notice her.

But little by little, these smart young cats started to notice extra feeding station on car roof. They began to jump onto cars and sat on the roof proclaiming some small victories of their new discoveries. I was rather concerned that they might get chased by car’s owners if this carried on as a habit. Car’s owners would be afraid of scratches by cats’ s claws on their cars. So, I had to keep taking them down to the ground. Samsi wouldn’t finish all her food as she was afraid of being attacked by other cats. She would jump down to hide until all the young cats had finished their food. Then she would come out to ask for a second helping. This has become established routine between Samsi and me.

Then, I would walk towards the waterfront to feed another group of stray cats whose hiding places were around the trees and construction site nearby. There were Spotty (with kinky back legs after an accident), Little Tiger (who was starved almost to death by being buried under construction debris) and Blacky (a timid buddy of Little Tiger). A few weeks ago, there was a new orange cat; he was very sweet and gentle. I guessed someone let go of him at the temple during the night; he wouldn’t fight with other cats so he was hiding alone among parked cars. I haven’t seen him during my two last visits so I was a bit concerned about his safety.

Two young kittens had disappeared from among pot plants in front of a Buddhist school building. I did manage to tame them after their mother refused to feed them any longer. Now I really missed them as they were very smart and fast thinking cats. I had to find out some answer to this puzzle, how could two kittens just disappeared without a trace!?

There’s a black dog in that area. Someone fished him out of the river, he was seen swimming helplessly in the strong currents. He was just a puppy then, now he’s a cheeky dog looking after some temple staff’s hut. I caught him stealing all the cat food one day. So, I had to guard those kittens while they were having their food. This black dog didn’t like me much.

A big group of temple cats live around the skinny monk’s quarter. They would be running like wild horses towards me expecting to have some yummy wet food. The monk fed them mostly dry food as he had to feed them once a day everyday, he had limited budget for cat food. I gave them a treat about twice a week so they have become very friendly and allowed me to pick them up.

It’s quite a hectic confusion trying to make sure these cats got their shares of wet food. I often had a headache trying to remember who had just one spoon while some had three spoons already! These cats moved very fast while some were quite aggressive towards their friends. The fastest cat would get more wet food, feeding time was like a fierce competition. They refused to queue up and wait for their turns.

I had to make sure that the oldest white cat (might be almost twelve years old) would get enough wet food as she would stay back and waited to be noticed. She never uttered a sound but her eyes were very expressive and she always reminded me not to forget she’s waiting patiently for her food.

The last group of temple cats to be fed lived at the other side of the temple. So, I had to move my car to the other corner to feed these three cats. The third cat just migrated to the temple a few months ago. The original duos were Julia and Tommy whom I met since they were small kittens. Their mother abandoned them so I started feeding them until they got stronger. Luckily, two temple staff in the area also gave them cat food from time to time.

So, I was glad that they would never be starving when I couldn’t feed them on a regular basis one day. These two sister cats were very sweet and friendly towards me. If I could have some temple cats at my farmhouse, I would choose Samsi, Julia and Tommy. These cats were exceptionally gentle and kind, they were always very calm and never complain about their lives. These temple cats just live in the present and accept reality as given; they accept hunger and infrequent meals depending on their luck.

They showed their gratitude by letting me pet them and pick them up without any resistance. They are somewhat psychic ad they could sense my intention and decided to trust me completely. Feeding these temple cats was very grounding for me and lets me be in touch with other beings. This has led me to meet other people who have been feeding these cats. It was nice to meet people with kindness and compassion for stray cats; my faith in humanity has been restored by encountering these compassionate people.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.