How to Love a Cat.

So you consider yourself an animal lover. It’s time you think again.
The occasional purring of the kittens had us peep behind the dense bushes as we first came to know about their arrival in our courtyard. There were five of them. Eyes closed, all were bundled on top of each other that kept them cozy. They were so tiny that they could easily fit into the palms of my hands. Their walnut sized tummies rose up and down while they were slumbered under the upturned plastic pot.
‘Won’t the pot fall on them?’ he asked as the cold winds blew.
‘It won’t,’ I said wondering if it might fall by any chance.
‘We should bring a jute bag and put there in the corner,’ he said as he pointed to the place under the concrete roof of the building. ‘Plus, they’d stay dry.’
‘How are they supposed to know that we’ve kept a rug that would keep them dry?’ said Rushabh, our nephew who had made this makeshift shelter using the plastic pot for the erstwhile set of kittens that had arrived at the peak of the monsoon spell.
Soon a couple of rugs were arranged and containers filled with diluted milk were kept in order to direct them towards the shelter. Next morning, all of the kittens were found snuggled into each other on the jute rug.
The mother cat stayed away from her babies most of the time and only came to feed them. Sometimes she vanished for a couple of hours. At times, she sat at a distance from them so the kittens wouldn’t go near to her and trouble her. If any one of them tried to get too close to her, she growled.
‘How can she leave them alone?’ he asked.
‘She too needs some space,’ I said.
After a few days, the cat and the kittens shifted to a new place in the house. It happened to be the most safest and most loved places of all; the porch in the backyard. The porch was more frequented by cats and birds and less by humans. In summers, it was the coolest and the airiest place. In monsoons, it was the driest open space.
The kittens now jumped and moved around. There wasn’t any rug to keep them warm instead there were chairs. They could climb up the chair. Since there was ample of space (four chairs), mother cat wasn’t bothered by her babies. Once I found all six of them on one chair. Too much love!
One of the kittens went missing in the afternoon. She wasn’t spotted till late night. Sidd once told me that mother cat ate her own kitten in his office. We were worried if this cat did the same.
It didn’t stop raining and it had become difficult for the cat to find food. Milk certainly wasn’t enough. She had five babies to feed. Next day, he brought non-vegetarian cat food at home. Bringing non-vegetarian food at our home was a big deal.
‘It’s better to feed her. At least she won’t end up eating one of the kittens,’ he said.
He poured it in the bowl and kept on the porch. The kittens were the first ones to dig in followed by the mother cat. He refilled it the second time. The fifth kitten appeared from the bushes!
‘She didn’t eat her!’ he told me excitedly.
They had almost become our pets. He checked on them early morning and made sure they were fed on time. When she purred he guessed she asked for food. Most of the time, he was right. But Sidd’s dedication and affection towards the cat and the kittens grew day by day more than anyone had expected. I never knew the kittens would melt his heart the way it did mine.
‘You never took care of me the way you’re caring for these kittens,’ my mother in law said to her son. I agreed. Even I couldn’t stop being jealous of the cat. Our family never owned pets so taking care of them like your own child seemed absurd. After all, it was only a cat.
But it wasn’t just his attachment towards them; it was madness, everyone thought.
He’d ask all the visitors and everyone in the family to shut the gate of the house. He’d ask them again and again until it was a natural behaviour to do so. He’d ask them to tell their friends to shut it. Everyone was irritated and he was shouted at. He felt bad but he continued saying the same thing over and again. Because the last time the kittens were attacked by the street dogs the gate was left open. The dogs came through the gate and tiptoed in the dead of the night when everyone was asleep and took them away one by one.
But I guess madness is what all it takes to make things happen. No one knew this side of him. I wondered if he did. I saw my younger self in him who used to go extra mile to save these vulnerable beings.
‘You never know when one develops affection for anything in life,’ said my sister over phone.
On the morning of Diwali, we found one of the kittens lying at one place, unable to move and unwilling to eat or drink. Being the most revered festival in India, no animal clinic was open. While he googled if any of the pet clinics was open, I was more concerned about wearing the saree the right way. He had nailed it. One of the vets was willing to come at our place to treat the kitten.
‘Get your pets groomed from the comfort of your couch!’ he read out from their website. It sounded silly and we wondered if they’d be able to help the poor kitten in anyway. They were willing to come but not before late afternoon. We waited. The kitten lied at one place while her siblings jumped on her. We shooed the rest of them away. We spilled little water and milk near her tiny mouth so she might lick it. But she didn’t.
Two vets arrived at three in the afternoon.
‘Happy Diwali!’ They wished us. We greeted them back.
‘I think both her shoulders are dislocated. But it’s not a fracture,’ one of them said as he pressed on the injured spot. The kitten shrieked. He flashed his broad smile. He gave the medicines, fed her and asked us to admit her to the clinic.
I called up ResQ, a charitable trust who treated injured animals. They were open for next one hour.
All three of us, Sidd, Dad and me were on our way to the rescue centre in our traditional Diwali clothes with kitten wrapped in towel in a shoebox.
ResQ was one hour away from our house and it was located on top of a small hill. We walked down hundred metres to get inside the centre. From outside, one could hear the barking of dogs. The reception was a small area. There was a cat loitering around while a dog whose one leg was missing was lying on the cushion. There were photos of donkey, dogs, and cats, cow on the pin board that were up for adoption.
There was one more visitor apart from us who had come to admit a street dog. The vet named ‘Joseph’ came immediately and we gave the history. After a while he informed us that the kitten had been bitten by a male cat and hadn’t fallen from some tree or wall. She was in trauma and was critical.
‘Come and check on her after three days,’ he said.
‘She’ll be fine. Right?’ he asked.
‘Can’t say. If her spinal cord is injured then she might not survive.’
We left her and returned home with little hope.
We visited the rescue centre after three days to check on the kitten personally. She was in a small cage. She purred and walked around as we stood before her.
‘She’s recovering.’ the vet informed.
After a week, we brought her back. She moved around but with not so much swiftness as her siblings. She was weaker than the others but she was just as playful and energetic as others. She was a survivor in a real sense.
The cats had changed our evening routine. After dinner, when all we did was to stay glued to mobile phone or TV, we watched them play as he asked endless questions to me and I was always happy to answer all of them.
Why does she arch her back when we’re around or why would she stop purring as soon as we’ve given her milk and food? I couldn’t explain that because I had only known dogs. We didn’t have any cats in our neighbourhood. Why didn’t the cat ever let me pat her head or allow me to give her a stroke? Dogs were the friendlier beings who’d get all over you even if you haven’t fed them once. We have been feeding them for almost a fortnight but they were always hiding and keeping distance.
It was time we YouTubed to understand the furry feline’s behaviour.
Last night the most unexpected thing happened. Just when we were to switch off the lights of our room, we heard a screech. We went down and checked on the cat. She was lying on the rug along with her kittens and was wide-awake. She looked into his eyes but didn’t purr. She was full. He roamed around for a while to check if there wasn’t any male cat lurking around. The mother cat followed and so did her kittens. Her tail was straight up and curled at the end. She wasn’t feeling threatened and was at ease. She circled him as he stood still at one place in his shorts. She rubbed her side against his leg. He got goose bumps. She liked him! According to cat experts when a cat rubs herself against you she considers you her companion. Thereafter, she continued to follow him. He won the heart of a cat! First time ever.