I found Lotto when I went to LTO to renew my car registration. Today, I went to Makati's civil registry office to get requirements for our upcoming civil marriage - and there I found another kitten in dire need of help.
It was a very hot afternoon when Mark and I decided to just walk home from Makati city hall instead of taking a jeepney (my car was coded so I couldn't drive). The traffic was pretty bad and we'd rather walk than to sit, get bored and smell diesel fumes and road dirt while we wait the jeepney to move. I honestly don't enjoy long walks under the sun specially on streets that aren't really pedestrian friendly. We passed by a pile of dried branches and leave trimmed from a tree and saw an orange kitten lying lifeless beside it. I was horrified thinking that someone must have just thrown this poor kitten's body on the pavement. I stopped to check it out and said "OMG". For a moment, I really thought it was dead because it didn't move. Then I noticed that it is still breathing. We immediately picked it up and offered dry cat food we always carry around in our bags. Apparently, the kitten was exhausted from heat that it could hardly move. It was malnourished, dehydrated, and like most stray kittens, it has a heavy eye discharge that's a symptom of a respiratory infection. The kitten is about a month old. We knew that even if we leave food and go, the kitten will eventually die. As always, we couldn't turn our backs and leave it. Call me crazy, but I just can't leave a poor helpless creature like that, knowing that I have the power to save it. So since we weren't prepared for this, all we got was a little green grocery bag. We immediately put him in it and rushed to the Animal House, a veterinary clinic about a kilometer away from where we found it. It must be traumatic for him to be put in a bag but we have no choice. I can't just carry him with my hands because I was scared that he might jump off out of panic from hearing the cars in that busy street.
He's been cleaned, and currently in medication staying in our flat but separated from our four naughty cats. He's still weak but is eating. We will put him up for adoption once he's strong and recovered. We are hoping to find him a loving home that will treat him well soon.
Some of my friends make fun of me as "a crazy cat lady". I don't really mind because I'm not that crazy :P. I just have the heart to care for these helpless creatures, as I would care for helpless starving children victimized by poverty. The only difference is that there are enough people who helps out people - but very little number of people who acts on their compassion for animals.
In my older post, I mentioned that I wasn't an animal person. Not that I don't like them, but I just wasn't raised knowing their values as human companions. But after we got Nishi, everything changed. So why do we keep on rescuing these helpless creatures? Why do we waste time on feeding the strays almost every night in the small park in our village? Why do we throw time and money spaying/neutering stray animals we find? Is it just self-gratification?
People look at me weird when they see me pick up a ran over cat that's still fighting to live, or when we feed strays out of the blue. They give us a weird look when we take time to stop and pick up a cat that's just waiting to get hit by car on a curb. I sometimes get weird looks from other patients in a vet clinic holding their pure bred dogs and cats, while I carry a dirty little stray kitten on my lap. I've been judged by the looks of pet owners a lot of times, but I couldn't care less. Oh well, they can give me their best weird looks on their faces and I won't give a shit.
The thing is, I still believe, that an act of kindness can change things - no matter how hypocritical, discriminating and judgmental the people are around you. I have this faith that if I demonstrate an act of compassion and kindness, if people can see the sincerity of my actions, it could change someone's heart and mind. It has happened to me. I want to believe that there are still plenty of good people in the world. So I won't give up, for as long as Mark and I are able to do these things.
I consider myself very blessed with a lot of good things in life. And for that, I want to pay it forward by being a blessing to others too - not just to my fellow human beings, but to other creatures living in this world we share.
Dramatic, but a good thought to think about this lenten season.
Freddie is now happily adopted :)
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