My Furry Friends..

It was sometime in the month of March 2011,when a kitten was seen outside my house.A brown kitten..quite the common cat. It sprang inside so fast that my sister thought at first it was a rat. Clearly she hasn't seen one up close.

"Being human", we gave it some milk and biscuits and it licked the bowl dry. We didn't see the kitten for a few days after that day. Then one morning, we saw the kitten again at our doorstep. But this time we knew something was wrong with it. It was obvious that the kitten was in pain. I did what any guy in my position would do. Called up just dial and found a vet who lived quite close to my place.

It was a scary episode which included needles,some yellow medicine and a frightened kitten. Vet advised us to let the kitten rest at home for a few days and then it would be good to go. We never knew anything about cats,let alone knowing its gender. So buying some cat food we prepared ourselves to take care of her(vet told us :P) for two days at the most.Those two days became a week,then a month; which is when my mom realised that Chakku(short for chakkare - darling in Malayalam) was now officially a pet.Our pet. My first pet.

My house experienced a change like never before. There was so much positivity around.We would cry laughing at Chakku's playfulness and all her crazy stunts. When I come back from office, she was my safety net. It felt so good to come back home to a pet. Yes,family too..but pets don't care how dirty your room is :D

On the flipside,my God do cats poop ? When they take a crap,they let the whole neighbourhood know that. We had enough air freshner cans ready just incase of surprise guests. Chakku grew fast..like really fast. We knew it had to do something with her late night escapades with another cat.

October 28th, Chakku delivered three kittens. This time they did look like rats. It was nice to see Chakku take care of her kittens. Every mother cares so much for their children..for the first time I saw that in a cat..or any animal for that matter.  She shifted base regularly. Thanks to a friend, I was prepared for this kind of behavior. The kittens were a pleasure to watch. The house owners didnt approve of the kittens. Apparently one of them left a morning present on the landlord's door mat !

There never was a time when the house was never dull. You'd see them sprint around the house,jump on you and even nibble your fingers. Though I had to watch my step wherever I went, they were so much fun to watch. I tried playing fetch with them. Obviously it didn't work out.

Mom knew that we had to give them away by Jan because of relocation. So we decided to give Chakku and the kittens to a shelter care on Pongal. It was a very sad day and tears were shed. It was a bit far..so visiting often was out of the question. We had no other option because adoption meant splitting all of them and that didn't seem right to my mom or me. When we came back to an empty house, the silence in the stillness was back. We think about them every single day. They gave us so much love and happiness no human could have given. I missed feeding the kittens milk with a syringe and letting them sleep on my lap.
 

 

Yesterday afternoon we got a call from the pet shelter that two of our kittens passed away due to the cold. We were shattered. We felt a bit responsible for their deaths. We wondered what Chakku must be going through..losing her kittens like that. It was horribly painful. Having pets is good..but the emotional baggage which comes with it is very heavy. They easily become a part of your family and love you unconditionally. I made up my mind then that once I've settled in life, I'd surely keep a dog. Having a pet was probably the best thing that happened to me in the past one year. And I miss that feeling.

I miss Chakku and her kittens. I miss my furry friends.