….. they never came back

It has been over a year since my cats Mina and Ramses went missing. Since then I have been in denial mode. I cannot believe they have not come back.

Mina

Mina

Mina was the first to disappear in a year that turned out to be disastrous for my cats. I lost so many of them. The first to go was Toto, then Airawat, then Sandy followed by Peppermint.

Mina was 10 years old and except during those times when she was nursing babies, she would stay outdoors. She would come home only when she was hungry.

Mina was a doughty fighter. When she was a kitten, she almost got killed by stray dogs. My brother saved her from the jaws of death. Another time, she miraculously escaped after the same dogs gave her a hot chase. In the 10 years, she was here, she knew how to steer clear from the most aggressive dogs. She avoided the roads.

In late 2014, I lost three cats after neighbours poisoned them. Mina alone survived. I rushed her to Cessna Lifeline in the nick of time and got her treated.

Mina on my laptop

She had 23 litters in 10 years and was very healthy when she went missing. She had gone missing on earlier occasions too but returned after four or five days.

I keep wondering what happened to Mina. Is she still alive? Hope she is leading a happy life somewhere. Each time, I think of her, I get confused and melancholic.

Ramses

Ramses, was one of Mina’s kittens, from her 21st litter. He was the naughtiest kitten in the litter and had dreamy eyes. He was very vocal too. I could not give him for adoption because he developed respiratory problems in his second month. Many trips to the vet later he was completely cured but too old to be given for adoption. He stayed with us. He was very friendly and a super cute fella. He could reach almost any corner of the house including very high shelves, behind photos and he even managed to perch behind the TV set that was installed very high on the wall.

Ramses on the cat tree

The day he disappeared last November, he was at home all day perched on the cat tree that I had purchased just a month back. In the night, I was watching a FIFA World Cup match. He cuddled up to me and sat on my lap for a very long time. All of a sudden, he started meaowing a lot and dashed outside the window. I called out to him, “No Ramses, don’t go! Come back!” I tried catching him but couldn’t. Ramses would often leave home at night and return by 3 or 4am. He always made noisy entries. I would wake up hearing his meaows. There was never a dull moment with him. He was on fire all the time.

Ramses – the centre of attraction

He could reach any corner of the house

The following morning at 5.30am which is when I feed my cats, there was no sign of Ramses. I started worrying. Ramses had a ravenous appetite and was not the one to miss out on his meals at any cost. Maybe, he had gone in search of a female cat?

There have been stories of tom cats returning home after 3 months and sometimes many years. I prayed that Ramses would return one day. He still hasn’t.

I wonder where Mina and Ramses are. I have prayed for their return and also Peppermint’s. I also combed my neighbourhood and also the nearest fish market. Someone said I might find Peppermint there. She suggested that he must have been abandoned there. Well! There was not a single cat there!

Baby Ramses

Sigh! I miss my babies! Hoping for a miracle!

Obit – Simba

Simba was an outdoor cat who often visited my home for grub. I am not sure whether he was owned by someone. Simba had a weather-beaten look. Clearly, he was not neutered because very often he would turn up with injuries especially on his legs. He was a ginger cat with stripes and very plump. Initially, he would eat from my cats’ plates and flee on seeing me or my parents.

I was not sure how old he was. Due to his constant brawls with other tom cats, Simba had scars galore.

In due course, Simba stopped running away on seeing me or my parents. He would mew and purr loudly. I would even pat him gently and he would acknowledge my gestures of affection.

Simba gradually grew friendlier and would beg us for food. He could not do without a bowl of milk. He would not leave before eating to his heart’s content. He had a gargantuan appetite.

Simba had way too many scars. Because of that, he was anything but photogenic. The only pictures I have of him are the ones I took four years back when he started coming into my courtyard. Most of his visits were at night.

Simba would not come indoors. He preferred the outdoors. He would hang around in the courtyard. His favourite way of greeting us was with a milk beard.

After Peppermint’s and Ramses’ disappearances, Simba gradually started coming inside our home. He would cosy up at a corner and leave after resting for a few hours. This practice continued till mid-March.

Simba then started staying for longer hours and sometimes would confine himself indoors for days together. He became more of an indoor cat. His favourite spot was a doormat.

Of late, he started hopping on to my mother’s bed and cuddle alongside her. My mother’s favourite cat Biscuit who till then would sleep alongside her would get annoyed and leave. Biscuit never liked Simba and would growl at him.

Things took a sad turn when Simba started peeing and pooping on mattresses and bedsheets. In the absence of a washing machine and an ongoing water crisis, I was not able to clean up the messy stuff quickly. The mess also started piling up. In between, my mother had a fall and didn’t tell me. She would keep howling in pain. Repeated visits to the doctor didn’t help.

Meanwhile, Simba’s pooping and peeing increased. I though it must be old age. He also started developing pink patches on his body. He also seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Only his appetite remained the same. In fact, his appetite grew.

Around 15 June, Simba suddenly stopped eating like before. There was a noticeable drop in his appetite and he started sleeping more.

Both my mother and Simba were sick. On 16 June, Simba did not eat at all. He looked miserable.

Last picture of Simba taken on 11 June

On 17 June, I planned to take my mother to the doctor again. This was the third visit. Just as we were getting ready to go, Simba who was sleeping let out a scream. I came running towards him only to realise he was dead and had vomitted before he breathed his last. I was too stunned to react.

I had to quickly arrange his burial as I had to take my mother to the doctor. With a heavy heart me and my mother left to see the doctor.

Even as we were leaving, Biscuit who had for the last few days confined himself to the terrace came meowing towards us. Perhaps, he had realised that Simba was gone. I let Biscuit in and we left.

Enroute to the health centre, I kept thinking of Simba and what became of him. His health deteriorated so rapidly. He was so active and full of beans. Death spares no one! I had no time to mourn Simba’s death even.

A humble request!

Hello everyone,

I need funds to keep my cat kingdom going. I have not had a full-time job for more than two years now because of which the going has been hard.

I have started a fundraiser on Milaap. “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean”. Even small contributions will help in a long way.

The following is the link to the fundraiser:

https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-support-for-the-stray-cats?utm_medium=more_share&utm_source=app

Thanks in advance!

Black Friday

I have still not come to terms with the loss of two of my pets Airawat and Sandy both of whom were killed. As if that is not enough, I lost another one.

Peppermint was born a year back. He was born without one eye. I did not put him up for adoption as the chances of a one-eyed kitten getting adopted were slim. Also, finding homes for kittens is as it is very tough. Peppermint was a very sweet kitten and a lapcat. Despite having only one eye he was very active and was all over the house. He sometimes indulged in misadventures because of which he injured his left hind leg twice. His injury came in the way of his mobility. He was unable to run as fast as he used to before.

Peppermint playing mother to Beethoven and Picasso, both rescued kittens

Whenever I noticed him outside my gate, I would carry him inside and chide him. I did not want to risk him getting chased by dogs because he could not run fast and the chances of him getting grievously injured were high. When Peppermint was only 6 months old, he was chased by a killer dog not once but twice. He gave the dog the slip on both occasions.

On Friday, 7 October, my mom and I stepped out in the afternoon as we had to go to the bank. Little did we know of the disaster that would await us.

Peppermint on top of the bookshelf

When I came back home three hours later, I realised something was amiss but never thought much about it. It was only an hour or two later when I had to step out again, that I noticed Peppermint was missing. I asked my mother whether she had seen him after we came back. She replied in the negative.

I headed towards the red storage drum which was his favourite roost. He wasn’t there. I then looked above the bookshelf which was another favourite spot of his. He wasn’t there too. I called out to him and went around my house. There was no response at all. I began panicking and raced up the stairs to the terrace. He wasn’t on the terrace either.

There was only one person who knew that we would be away from home and she also knew approximately how long we would take to come back. I ran up to her and asked her about Peppermint. She said she had no idea although her body language gave a lot of room for suspicion. I gave her a dazed look. “Hey, do not doubt me. I would never harm any cat,” she said looking at me as I gazed at her.

There was nothing much I could do. I felt helpless and returned home. The lady I spoke to (let me call her Lady A) was clearly directly or indirectly involved in Peppermint’s disappearance. He couldn’t run fast and would have easily been caught. There was a likelihood that Lady A would have tipped off someone (let me call him Mister A). Mister A would have got hold of Peppermint and either relocated him or else taken him somewhere and killed him or else thrown him somewhere.

“When you know what kind of a place you are living in and when you know that two of your cats have already been killed, why didn’t you lock Peppermint inside before you left?” said my animal rescuer friend in a reproachful tone. She was right. I never in my wildest thoughts imagined that Peppermint would go missing in my absence. The least I could have done is locked him up inside one of the rooms. It was not a big task. How could I have been so careless! I felt terrible. My negligence led to the loss of Peppermint. In all probability, he is dead now. Given his disability, his chances of survival are zero.

The red storage drum and a spot above the bookshelf are stark reminders that till a few days back my sweet little buddy who was so dear to me used to nap there often.

Obit – Sandy

Sandy

On the night following Ganesh Chaturthi, I fed my cats Sandy, Roller and Ramses at 3am before I went to sleep. When I woke up around 5.30 am, I thought I heard someone breathe painfully. When I opened the door, I could not figure out where the moan came from. I combed the area but did not notice anything amiss. It was still dark. I never thought much about the moan and went back inside my house.

I ventured outside again at 6am. To my shock, there was a lot of blood and gore within my compound. Thinking my cats had killed a rat or bird, I cleaned up all the mess. There was blood on the staircase too and the window projections and a large triangular patch of blood on the wall. Surprisingly, there was a lot of blood. Just outside the compound, I noticed pieces of intestine.

The scene was scary. I then kept wondering if dogs had killed any of the cats. However, there was no blood on the road. Also, there was no injured or dead cat around. I again combed my house and the terrace. I spotted all my cats except Sandy. Sandy is a sterilised female cat who is mostly outdoors. At times, she does not come home for one or two days.

When Sandy did not come back home even after two days, I began to worry. I spoke to the BBMP workers and came to know that a cat had died on the day I found the blood and gore in my compound and she had been called to dispose of the body. The body was given to her all wrapped up so she could not help me with more details. Could that have been Sandy? The next day, she told me that the body in question was of a ginger cat. It had been found on the parallel road and she even mentioned the spot; it was just behind my house. After collating all the information, I believe that the blood and gore that I cleaned up was actually that of Sandy. Her body had been disposed off secretly. Someone had entered my compound between 3 and 4.30 am and killed her. The moan that I heard was hers and by the time I came out of my home, the intruder/killer whisked her body away. I don’t want to get into more graphic details but I have strong reasons to believe that my cat was killed by one or more neighbours. I confronted a few and found their behavior very suspicious.

I unknowingly destroyed the crime scene. It is useless trying to get justice for Sandy without any tangible proofs. Even her body had been removed.

Earlier, in August, on the night following Varalakshmi Puja, another cat, Airawat, was killed. Her body was found very far away from my house. I came to know about Airawat again from the BBMP workers. I was not at home then as my mother was in the hospital. At that time, I thought Airawat was killed by dogs. Now, I think she too was killed by humans. The killers had made the best out of my absence. And both the killings took place on festival nights. A killer or killers are on the prowl.

Sandy when she was little

Both Airawat and Sandy were very healthy and lost their lives in a horrible way. The two were very friendly. Airawat was a lap cat. Losing them is like losing two friends. I lost two friends in one month.
A canvas bag that I had picked up from a jute shop with cartoons of a calico cat reminds me of Airawat and her cute antics. The cat on the bag looks so similar to her.

Obit – Airawat

Airawat

i have been shuttling between home and hospital for the last one week. My mother was down with dengue. And I am feeling mighty depressed. My cats are a disturbed lot. They are not used to seeing me away from home on long spells like this one. The last time I saw my rescued cat Airawat was on Friday morning, 5 August. The following few days, I never got to see her when I dropped in on those fleeting visits. Yesterday, when one of the BBMP workers dropped in home at 1pm, I was taken aback. I wondered what she was doing at 1pm at my gate when she actually should be at home. I grabbed my mobile and opening my pictures’ gallery ram towards her. “Amma, this cat of mine is not to be seen. Have you seen her anywhere?”, I said showing her Airawat’s picture. She gave me a sad look “Amma, that is why I came here. She got killed by dogs almost 4-5 days back,” I was stumped and gave her a dazed look. “What!! Are you sure?” “Yes, I have always seen this cat at your gate. I cannot be wrong.” I was completely devastated. Why? She was so full of life when I left home on Friday. I found the news hard to digest. Just a year back, Airawat was abandoned at my gate and in a complete mess. Her vertebrae were fractured. She had made a miraculous recovery in another 6 months and ran like Ussain Bolt. How did she ever lose her life? This was a great shock coming as it was when I was emotionally down.

My mom is in hospital and I am unable to get her discharged. The cheque which should have seen her out of hospital is stuck in NAL thanks to numerous holidays. All my efforts to get hold of it have come to naught. The same hands which once made some of the most delectable food for me are a network of nerves and veins running criss-cross in a most haphazard way. I long for all those delicacies which have now disappeared from her mind’s bank.

Why did my brother have to go so early? If it weren’t for his untimely death, my mom would have been back home many days back. And why am I so unlucky with jobs? I have always struggled with my career and still struggling. And why is fate teasing me like this?

As I lie in bed, trying to grab a few winks of sleep, I realise I cannot. Haunting visages of my brother, father, all my dead pets Airawat, Asterix, Boxy, Rolly, Blackie, Toto and ….. keep circling me as if to tell me about the times that once were.