we stay on the ground floor, and mom n me are very fond of gardening, so we have a lot of potted plants in our balcony, which are kept in the grill. one day, when i went to water the plants, i was shocked to see a black and white cat sitting inside the grill on our parapet!!!!! it was my first experience with a cat so close! i immediately shooed it out, and to avoid such happenings again, we put a member in our grill so that she could not come in again. we never were into pets at that time, and though we did not hate animals we never loved them or fed them also.
after a few weeks, there was no electricity, and we had to have lunch with open doors. again, we saw that this cat had entered our house!!!!! we sent her out again, but what we did not know was that she was looking for a place to give birth to her kittens, and that she was going to change our lives forver!!!!!!!!!!!
bittu was just a day old when my neighbour spotted him and his 2 siblings, in a corner of our building. since she used to feed their mom, she kept a watch on the kittens, and told me at the end of the day, that his mom has not been nursing the kittens. we decided to wait for a day and watch the kittens. the next day she told me that the cat was injured and would not go near the kittens, so we decided to feed and nurse the kittens and became first time mommies!!!
both of us wanted to help, but didnt know anything about cats except that they drink milk. so we got some warm milk in an ink dropper and started feeding the kittens. they were so fragile and cute, that we were worried that if we hold them a little tightly, they wud die, so we were very careful while handling them. they had also not opened their eyes and were very vulnerable. the kittens were put in a makeshift home that the building kids had made out of discarded chair seats. every child in the building wanted to do something for them and wanted to play with them, but their parents always played spoilsport. after about a week, one of the kittens was missing, so we took extra care of the other two. we got a small sheet of sponge for them to sleep upon, and placed a newspaper with it. we would then place the kittens on the sponge for warmth, and covered them with a cardboard box with cutouts so no one could harm them. we were actually very surprised to see that even without any training given to them, they would always sleep on the sponge and go potty on the newspaper! my neighbour and me shared duties and she took the kittens home in the morning and me in the evenings. it was good fun to watch both of them play and make mischief. but even when they were at home, they did not litter anywhere. we had to provide a newspaper in a corner of the room, and only then they would go potty. even if the paper was in the centre of the room, they would just play with it and not spoil our house.they never ceased to surprise me. they had not opened their eyes for almost 3 weeks, but when we went out with milk, they would just run directly to the person who had the milk bottle! it was amazing to see them grow, but as fate would have it, this happiness did not last long. we were naive and did not have any information how to bring up animal babies, so we never dewormed them nor did we give any vitamins. we just kept feeding them milk with water, and that was our biggest mistake. after two months of taking care of these wonderful babies, one of them died due to worms. the worms had eaten away the internal part of the stomach, n even though the vet gave saline n treated it for almost 3 hours, it did not make it till the next morning.that was the day when my sister went abroad for work and bittu lost his sister. that night bittu came home and changed our lives forever!!!!!
we are gujarati jains, so for us getting anything other than vegetarian food for bittu, was unthinkable. so till bittu was around 9 months old, he was only on rice, dal, cerelac, khichdi, milk, biscuits etc. everthing that a cat is not supposed to have. by this time i did get guidance from ppl around and also took him to a vet. but we were not ready to feed him cat food, as we could not have non-veg at home. things got really bad when bittu became seriously ill, and we had only two options, to get cat food home or let bittu go. after taking care of him for 9 months, i could not let bittu die just because we did not have non-veg food, so finally we got cat food for him. but the damage was done due to our negligence. cats need taurine in their food for good eyesight and liver, but bittu never had it in his food. so he is not able to see properly, and cant digest all cat food. he also became lactose(milk) intolerent. so much so that now even if he smells milk, he vomits. he now stays on royal canine fit 32 or hills pet food, which suit him and he really loves it. we try and pamper him the best way we can, but we can never forgive ourselves for our ignorance for which bittu is paying such a high price.
now more about bittu. even though he dosent see properly, he goes around the house checking each room atleast 5/6 times a day. for him, we dont move the furniture, or else he just goes and bangs against it! he has his own chair kept near the window, where he climbs and informs us that he wants to sit in the window. he did not have a mother to teach him how to jump up, so he can climb only upto seat level, then we have to pick him up and put him wherever he wants to go. he uses the bathroom mori to pee or potty and shouts when his litter tub is not available. he never does anything without informing us. even when he climbs to a new place, he shouts and lets us know about his whereabouts and wants us to check on him, almost like a small child when he feels that he has done something that he would be patted for:) he always needs a pillow to sleep on, and if it is not in its usual place, he will sit there for a minute or so and then shout out loud, asking us to put it in its proper place. the moment the pillow is put, he just puts his head on it like an elderly person, and goes off to sleep:) he also needs a clean bed, or he will not sleep there. his water bowl needs to be washed everyday, or he dosent drink from it. he realises when i m going to give him a bath or give him a deworming dose, and hides below the cot so no one can spot him. also when its hot, mostly during summers, he will sit in front of my dad when he is reading newspaper and look towards the ac:) if my dad dosent notice, he just shouts loudly, and the moment dad gets up, and turns the ac on, he would go on the bed and go to sleep. also if the ac is on the fan has to be off, if dad forgets to switch the fan off, he again shouts and calls attention. these are just few small things, but it really makes me wonder whether we are correct in stating that we are the smartest of all. these animals cant speak, but they have a way of telling us about their needs and they also express their love. we only need to keep our eyes and hearts open to them, only then we will be able to love them, and probably ourselves too.
even though there were many times when our building people objected to us having a cat home, since cats are very inauspicious, it has not deterred us ever. infact i feel that after i got bittu home we have actually started 'living' our lives. we have come close as a family and stay very happy. bittu has also helped me in interacting with our building kids and teaching them that we should not hurt but love our four legged friends. bittu is the star in our building, and all kids come and play with him in the evening, so much so that they sometimes just come to our house when bittu doesnt go out, and play with him.having bittu at home is the best thing to have happened to our family, and i hope that he remains with us forever.
if you have gone through the whole blog, and want to see more of bittu's pics, then click on the link below, and check his latest pics.
