Waiting For Minnie And Trixie, And A Reflection On One-Street CNRM

I bought a small bag of Iskhan kibble because I figured it would be more practical to leave a bowl of kibble outside the gate for Minnie and Trixie. Kibble won’t spoil as fast as raw food.

So I waited this morning while I did my taiji in the porch. Trixie did not turn up and neither did Minnie. I got a little worried and texted a neighbour to ask if he had seen Minnie the day before. He answered in the affirmative that he just spotted Minnie last night when he was throwing out his garbage. Okay, that’s good. At least I know Minnie is safe. I’ve seen Minnie since months back when she walked along the road clutching her kittens in her mouth, probably transferring them to a new “nest”. I’ve always thought she stays in the house down the road but the neighbour says he thinks she is homeless. 

I got my kibble and bowls all ready.

When Ginger, Tabs and Heidi heard the sound of kibble (I opened the bag in the porch, not inside the house), they went berserk! It’s been 6 months since they ever ate a single pellet of kibble. We switched to raw food on 27th September 2019. Of course they still like kibble. Which child does not like Twisties, right?

But no, I did not give them any.

Ginger: I want!!!!

Ginger, Heidi and Tabs (in unison): WE WANT KIBBLE, WE WANT KIBBLE!!

No, I did not succumb to that.

I placed a bowl of kibble out, shook the kibble jar, but Trixie and Minnie did not come. I must have waited in the porch for more than an hour or so.

Then, someone else came. It was Gingertom. According to the neighbour, Gingertom is the culprit who sows his wild oats; he comes from the back street. This is my first time spotting Gingertom.

No, he isn’t as big as our Ginger. But he has got character. He stopped about 3 metres away from the kibble bowl, and stared at me. I invited him to eat, but he decided to play it safe and go off.

Next, came Bushy White. Hah! The naughty fellow who had attacked Ginger a few times. Ginger’s nemesis! Every time Ginger escaped, he would end up fighting with Bushy White and I would have to take Ginger to the vet for a course of antibiotics for bite wounds. Then, Bushy White would “disappear” for a month before he appears again, taunting Ginger and challenging him to yet another duel.

So, Bushy White walked right in front of our gate and bypassed the bowl of kibble, totally uninterested.

Wow….proud, aren’t we?

Finally, I decided I should keep the kibble since it looked like Minnie and Trixie were not going to turn up. But I was a bit worried in case they had no food, so I called our Chief of Security. He patrols around the neighbourhood and monitors every single road. He knows which cat belongs to which house.

He came by on his motorbike. I asked if there might be any cat who has no food during this MCO. He smiled and said, “Tak ada, madam. Semua ada makanan, semua ada rumah.” (Trans: None, madam. All of them have food, they all have homes.)

I asked about Minnie and he said not to worry, Minnie lives in the house down the road. There are no homeless cats in our neighbourhood, he said.

What a relief! This means that my initial CNRM when I moved here worked. I got as many cats as I could neutered (Rosie, Ginger, Daffodil, Mr Quack, Willy, Timmy, Vincent, Zurik), got Raven adopted (later, Mickey too), we adopted Heidi. Bosco met with a sad and untimely death. Later, we adopted Rosie, Ginger, Daffodil, Timmy, Vincent and Zurik. Mr Quack was rehomed. Willy went back to his own home. Timmy went missing.

When our community cats were patrolling our street, I know no new cats came in at all. Who would dare? We had Heidi, Vincent, Zurik and Ginger guarding up and down the road, on our stretch.

Now, despite having brought in our community cats for their safety since they are aging, I thought new homeless cats would appear, but looks like there is none.

One-Street CNRM works.

It did too, in our old neighbourhood when the Cow Clan (plus Indy) guarded our entire street, from alley to alley. And it does too now, in this neighbourhood.

So, yes, it works. But please….again, I’m playing my old broken tape recorder here, please keep the colony small and manageable so that

1  You can afford to feed all of them for life.

2  You can afford to give all of them medical treatment when needed.

3  You don’t tax yourself too much, stress yourself out or end up with fatigue and emotional distress.

4  You can bring them all inside for their safety when need be (as in the present unprecedented MCO).

Charitable organisations might not be there all the time to assist, so it’s good to either be independent or have a contingency plan for emergencies so that our animals will always be cared for, as far as we can.

While globalisation is a good thing, the Covid19 pandemic is now teaching us that localisation is important too.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2020/04/04/waiting-for-minnie-and-t..

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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