By Eleanor Agulto
So did Cat #10 make an impact in the life of this almost-Crazy Cat Lady?
My involvement in Utak at Pusa, FOCA’s awareness and support building campaign for Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) efforts for UP cats, sprang from my adoption of Lucky. This unwanted feline was at risk of being eliminated because there were too many cats roaming around the campus; too many possible sources of disease, noise, bother and irritation. Cats can multiply amazingly quickly, and the more they increase, they more unwanted they become.
I will not engage in a heated argument defending the importance of cats in maintaining ecological balance. Many who consider them pests won’t listen anyway. FOCA’s solution of TNR for feline overpopulation resonated with me because it’s humane and if done consistently, effective. As a communicator, I felt that I owed it to my dear, sweet Lucky to make people aware that cats like her deserve a chance to live. Manage the cat population in the campus through TNR, and reasonable souls might give them that opportunity. I gave Lucky that chance, and look how much joy she’s giving back to me.
I wish I could say that under my care, it was always smooth sailing for Lucky. But there had been a few bumps along the way, and it was to Lucky’s credit that she got over them.
Her little kitten suddenly got sick and died, and for a while she missed her baby. She was listless and pined for her, but she moved on.
When I put her in my modest cattery, she found herself surrounded by unwelcoming cats. They considered her an upstart and a stranger, and I was sure she got bullied a lot. But it wasn’t long before she won the others, and now they’d huddle together, especially in cold or rainy nights.
I brought her to a fundraising cat picnic in UP Diliman, and for a few anxious moments, I was afraid she would remember where she came from and bolt away in that wide open campus, never to return. But she kept her cool and was in her best behavior. She even donned pretty pet clothes and like a professional cat model, posed regally for pictures.
Her biggest pet peeves, it would seem, are dogs, and I have 10 of them.
But that’s another story.