4 Kittens For Adoption (Khadijah Shaari�s)

I am in a serious predicament and I would like to confide in you. �If you feel I have a case, please share it with our neighbours for their consideration and contemplation.

This morning four little kittens were dumped in front of my house. �Obviously they were left there conveniently for me to find them when I leave my house to go to the padang to practise chikung, like I always do (almost) every morning. The neighbour who dumped them there definitely had the welfare of the kittens in mind because they know Yeong and I would not turn any cat away. He/she must have been observing us for the past 24 years that we have been residing here and come to the conclusion that we love cats. �Therefore we would take them (the kittens) in, no matter what. �We would not ignore them and walk away, leaving them by the roadside (like he/she did), without thinking a little further that the kittens might wander onto the road and get killed by a passing car. �Actually he/she was right – I did not ignore them and walked away. Instead, I woke up my husband, and together we brought the kittens into our house.

Today’s incident is not an isolated case. �This has happened to us many times before. �We have 15 cats at the moment and some of them came to be ours via a similar route. �We accepted them into our lives as we consider them our “rezeki”. �However, of late my health has not been at the optimum and my doctors attributed it to allergens that I am exposed to, namely dust and animal dander particularly from cats. �Logically I should be getting rid of the cats, or at least reduce their number, but for us that is not an option. �Moreover there is still the question of my allergy to dust. �Do I then move away from this neighbourhood where every other house is undergoing some sort of renovation or repair work and churning up dirt at some time or other…But then this is of no concern to my neighbours. �This is my problem, not theirs.

What I am trying to say here is that perhaps the neighbour who dumped the kittens on me did not know about my health issue. If he/she knew that I am now an asthmatic and that additional cats would burden my immune system further, surely he/she would not have left the kittens in front of my house. �If he/she knew that in February this year I had a serious asthma attack and as a result was hospitalized for five days, perhaps out of consideration for the welfare of another human being, he/she would not have dumped the four kittens on me. �If that neighbour knew that I am still suffering from breathing problems, perhaps he/she would have thought at least twice before deciding to do the kittens a favour.

Back to the matter of the four little kittens – they are so tiny, barely one month old. �I bought powdered milk from the pet shop and tried to feed them today, without much success. �They are still hungry and crying for their mother. At this point how I wish that kind neighbour had included the mother cat in the package. �It would have been a kinder option. �I would have returned the mother cat to him/her once the kittens are old enough. �Or, if the cat is a stray, I would take her to the vet to be neutered once the kittens are weaned.

At this point I would like to inform you that I wish to continue to support the “Save the Animals” project started by our former neighbour, Dr Chan Kah Yein. �Her society undertakes to subsidise anyone who sends a stray for neutering. Admittedly I have not been contributing much lately due to ill health but I hope to make an effort to do so as soon as I am able.

Here I would like to request for assistance from you, even though I know you are already inundated with RA problems. �How do I get this message across to our neighbourhood? How do I get everyone to be aware that we can do something about the strays in the neighbourhood. I am willing to help, at least with the stray cats. �How do I get people to come forward to help me.

Thank you for caring.

Salam,

Khadijah