If you remember, Weiwen is the young rescuer who rescued and took care of (and did a great job, too) four baby kittens, whom she named Bruce, Donnie, Jet and Jackie. The last I heard from Weiwen, the four kittens were doing very well, and had even recovered from watery poop.
Bruce was the strongest of the four.
Weiwen wrote to me yesterday:
Feeling very upset today so I decided to email you. Last Saturday I finally gave my male kitten up for adoption to someone who contacted me via Petfinder. I told him that I wanted to wait until the kitten was older and weaned before releasing him but the adopter insisted that he was capable and had fed kittens before. After a week of pestering me, I made sure Bruce was well and healthy before driving all the way to the adopter's place in Rawang to give Bruce (the kitten) to him. I noticed he already had a few cats already, the youngest being 6 weeks, another 3 months and another much older cat so I thought Bruce would be in safe hands. For two days I texted the adopter for updates but received no reply.
On Monday night he started smsing me saying that Bruce was not drinking and was getting weak and he didn't know how to get him to drink. I advised him and told him everything I've learned and I told him that if necessary I was willing to drive all the way to Rawang (his place is about 2 and a half hours to and fro from my place), pick up Bruce, send him to the vet and I would take care and nurse Bruce until he was able to take kitten food before handing him back to the adopter. And I would cover all expenses.
But no, he ignores my offers and complains that Bruce bising-bising and tak nak minum. He keeps saying he loves Bruce so much but wants to wait and see. Bruce has been vomiting a few times also according to him. I don't know what to do and worse he asks me why I did not give him all four kittens as shown on my pet profile. He can't even take care of one and he wants four? I made him promise to take Bruce to the vet urgently and he keeps saying he will since yesterday but until now he hasn't. Even right now I'm still texting him and he says he will try to bring Bruce to the vet and update me later. I feel so upset and I wish I didn't give Bruce up so quickly.
What does one do in a situation like this? :(
I advised Weiwen to talk to the adopter and take Bruce back immediately.
And Weiwen tried, but....
I've told him all this every few hours for the past two days cos I almost had a similar experience with one of the other kittens but we managed to save her. But he refuses to let me take bruce back. He even asked when I will return him if I take him. I said when he gets well and I'll wean him first but he refuses cos he thinks its too long! The guy, Hazwan says he's feeling unwell himself and took half day off and he says he will take Bruce to the vet. I've been calling every 20 mins since 1pm but he refuses to pick up my calls yet he can sms me.
I can only send metta and pray right now.
Then I said just go to his place and ask for Bruce back, but....
The last time I went he wouldn't let me into his flat either. I will go later with my fiance cos he might just ignore me if I'm alone. Its so strange that he's asking for advice and complaining but won't take action or let me do something about it. Sigh why are people so selfish.
I thought with a man along, that adopter might relent, but.....
At 2.50am this morning.....
Bruce died 10 minutes before we arrived. We tried to pump glucose into him but it was too late. His condition was so bad I cannot believe the adopter said he was still active last the night before. We cremated his body and did some prayers for him. Its so heartbreaking.
It is completely heartbreaking for me, and I am sure it is, too, for all of us. We share Weiwen's grief and can't even begin to imagine how she must be feeling especially when she put in so much effort to nurse these four kittens through bouts of diarrhoea earlier on.
I needed Weiwen's consent before writing this story, and she has given it to me now:
Hi Kah Yein
I received your sms ya so I checked my email. Thank you so much for your support. I've never been through anything like this before so it came as a shock to me whatmore I loved Bruce so much and I thought I should give him up to care for the weaker ones.
The fact is when we gave him up we made sure he was healthy and with good appetite and in 6 days he died just cos a person had too much ego to accept help. He did apologize but not sure if it will stop him from adopting kittens that are too young in the future,he does hv 4 cats (two of which are kittens). I know he loved and cared for Bruce but I guess what he had was compassion without education. He didn't make effort to find out everything and even after I told him so much he just let it happen.
Yes you can blog about it ya. I spent a few hours just reading your blog the other night and it has enlightened me so much about pets and helped me understand what our kittens might be going through so thank you. People like you are a rare gem.
Anyway got to be strong I still have three more kittens to feed and care for! If you need any pictures you can get them from my blog www.szetooweiwen.meya. Thanks KY!
What can I say - Incredible mental strength from one so young. Yes, we must move on now since Bruce is already gone. But we must move on wiser and more prudently now. I believe all of us can learn a thing or two from Weiwen's experience. For me, Weiwen did everything possible for Bruce, yet, some things are just beyond our control. This is where we need serenity to accept that there are some things we cannot change no matter how hard we try. This is the reality of our earthly life.
Weiwen took these kittens from the street when someone dumped them out. She even took them back for 3 nights hoping the mother-cat would come back, but when the mother did not, Weiwen learnt to nurse them herself and for a first-time rescuer, she did such a marvellous job. She read up everything she could from the internet, she asked for advice, she brought them to our panel vet, but never asked for sponsorship (she paid for everything herself).
And yes, as rescuers, we cannot adopt so many, so the next step would be to get them adopted.
That, for me, is the scariest and hardest part of the journey of rescue and caregiving. You wish you could adopt them all so that you can be sure they are given YOUR best efforts. But this isn't possible, and you'll have to give them up at some point in time.
We can never be sure whether an adopter is responsible. It's purely through observation and our gut feeling that we decide and sometimes, we do get it wrong.
It is heartbreaking that there are such adopters like the one who adopted Bruce. An adopted animal is not a toy or a plaything. It is a life - a very precious one and because animals depend on us for their survival and wellbeing, it becomes a huge responsibility on us to give them our very best.
Like in the case of Zandy (formerly Stuart, if you remember), if we cannot cope, we must ask for help and let someone else take over our pet. We should be very thankful that someone else is willing to provide help. To hold on and not let go is pure foolishness and selfishness.
Looking after a pet is not an attempt to bolster our ego, but some humans use pets for that purpose and this is extremely disappointing.
We can only take comfort in knowing that Bruce is no longer suffering now.
May he be in a better place, free from suffering and free from selfish evil-doers.
His time spent with Weiwen where he was given lots of love would have made a positive and lasting impact in his short life. Maybe Bruce's life as a kitten is meant to be short one and he is off to better shores now.
We share Weiwen's grief, but applaud her for her mental strength and tenacity.
For the sake of sharing and learning, please leave a comment if you have proven tips on how to vet potential adopters and what to do as follow-up after an adoption. In Weiwen's case, I believe she did everything possible. She followed-up and offered help but the adopter wouldn't even let her into his house. I find that completely incomprehensible, but that's what humans are like - we are incomprehensible sometimes.
More Articles By AnimalCare
|
|
Member Login
