Many people tend to think that stray cats are dirty and fierce. But, that is not entirely true. Stray cats are fierce and "wild" because they have gone through many bad experiences that makes them distrust humans. Why would a cat attack a human unless we provoke or intrude into their territory?
Many people would complain to the Town Council but what they do not know is how the cats are treated behind the scenes. Many cat lovers would know that calling them is not the best solution. Cats are naturally territorial and it is their hormones that cause them to be noisy and fierce. This can be settled by sterilizing them. Why sterilize? It stops them from looking for mates, preventing unwanted kittens, which is what caused by the males calling out to the females.
I have made friends with many stray cats in my neighborhood as well as in other places. Some are always angry and fierce but once you break down their barrier of fear, getting them to trust you is like an accomplishment of a lifetime!
I would like to introduce a big bully, we at Sports school named : Tiger.
He came in unsterilized and uncouth, trying to woo our little girl, Ruby. Her brothers naturally came to her defense and he created many problems between the kitty family in sports school. He would hiss and arch his back when we came too near. He even scratched me on the hand before. Well, you can say he had permanently left mark on me and my friends. Nevertheless, we found that there was no reason to chase him out or even try to make him leave. He was the first adult cat that the 4 cats in sport school had seen besides their mother. We felt like he could make a good protector and guardian of the kittens.
Hence, we continued to feed the cats and him while slowly integrating him into their family. With much patience, I slowly gained his confidence and trust till one fine day, I tried my luck in giving him a scratch on his head. It was like "heaven" realizing that he had allowed me to touch him without biting me back or running away. He took awhile to let other feeders touch him and it kinda made me quite happy for that period of time. We gathered he must have been kicked at and hurt by a human hence, his distrust for us. He stayed awhile before he disappeared one day. We were all saddened by the disappearance but we hoped he was doing all right where ever he is.
Another cat i would like to introduce to you all is my neighborhood cat called Tippy. I found him wandering about my block and decided to buy some food back for him. At first, my mum was reluctant to help me when I went to school so Tippy tend to only get food at night. He was only a kitten probably around 10months old when i found him. Now, he has grown into a big muscular boy with a "girlfriend" which I found out only yesterday when I came back from school.
Well, don't worry that they will be making babies or anything like that as Tippy and his "mate" are sterilized and from my guess, Tippy was left at the foot of the block by someone staying within the block. He was very friendly with humans and was fast in approaching me. He followed me and my mum everywhere. We had many complaints from the residents saying that the cats were dirty and leaving their waste everywhere. (Which, by the way is SO untrue as any cat lover would know that cats LOVE cleanliness.)
Tippy looks something like this cat above.
**Just for the record, cats have a natural instinct to cover their business with soil, hence, you tend to see them scratching in the soil. (covering their poop, you see?) When they finish eating, they ALWAYS clean their mouths and their fur. They like things to be neat, you see. My cat is one of the fussiest I know. **
Well, those people were scared of cats so they felt like they had to get rid of them. One of them actually confronted my mum about feeding the cats, (and my mum, should not be confronted, EVER.) and all he got was a huge scolding of being heartless. She told him "Did the cats do anything to you? Have you ever gotten scratched by them? Why should I stop feeding him? He has a right to live as well! There are many people in the block that welcomed the cats here so why can't you?"
Fierce eh? He didn't know what to say or do so he walked away. What my mum said was true. Tippy was loved. Many of them saw me feeding and playing with him. Children came up to him and he was always so patient with them. (He would vent his irritation at me later, but I understood as long as he didn't do it to the kids. He didn't do much harm, just a little tap on my hand.) There was a family on the 2nd floor who would leave out water and dry food for him outside their door. Tippy was well taken care of.
Just an update on Tinkie: He recently got some lice on his fur so the video is me and my dad bathing him with medical soap to kill them. Tinkie didnt like it but he doesn't over-react as much as some cats... Sorry about the shaky-ness. I wasn't looking through my phone.
Thats all for this post! I hope you guys enjoyed my third post on stray cats. I'll post up pictures of Tippy soon!
*References to Tippy's pictures: http://croydonanimalsamaritans.co.uk/images/pagemaster/Grey_tabby.JPG
Xoxo,
Noreen
No comments:
Post a Comment