By Mariana Burgos
When the pandemic began, I lost my job. We had to tighten our belts to make ends meet. Eventually, we also had to give up our apartment and live in the farm of my in-laws.
My daughter was not happy about our transfer because she loved our apartment even though it was small and simple. She was happy having a space we can call our own, and being near her barkada (close group of friends). With our dog Milky and our cat Whisky, we were happy and content in our small home.
In April last year (2020), we moved to The Land Farm. While moving, we lost Whisky. She did not come back to the apartment two days before we were to move out. We were heartbroken. Many times, I went back to the apartment just to look for her or wait for hours for her to come back but she did not. My daughter and I felt so sad, frustrated and helpless with our loss. I posted in social media about our missing cat and asked our friends in the vicinity of the apartment to inform us immediately in case they would see her. We waited and searched for days, weeks, months, but still, we could not find her. Every day, we prayed to St. Francis to keep her safe and well fed wherever she may be. You might think that we have gotten used to her absence by now but that is far from the truth. It only adds up to the hurt we have been carrying for a long time now (with my husband’s enforced disappearance case). For us, Whisky is family.
Staying in the farm made it a little easier because there is always something we can pick from the garden to eat. It is a good thing that I raised Yumi to eat simple food like boiled talbos ng kamote (sweet potato shoots) with calamansi. Honestly, I was not making enough to be able to have lavish dishes. A treat at Jollibee sometimes was all that I can afford whenever I earned some extra income.
In the farm, we have an old cat named Punky. She had been here for a long time. She was one of the old cats that belonged to my nephew, Jolo, when they used to live here. The pet cats here have some sort of a wild way of living. They are not kept inside the house but are free to roam around the farm. They only enter the house whenever they desired. Most of the time, they are out (in the wild, as they say. LOL!).
One night in May last year, we were about to sleep when we heard a loud thud in our kitchen followed by a loud cry from Punky. When I looked around the area, she was not there. The next morning, we heard her cry in the silong (area under the raised bedroom of the house, the room where Yumi and I sleep). We saw her having some sort of a seizure. It looked really bad and we thought of the worst. We could not get to her easily because the silong was very low and one would have to crawl in to get to the area. After an hour or so, we heard no more of her cries and we could see her being very still. We thought we lost her. My mother-in-law told us to leave the retrieval of Punky’s remains to one of the workers in the farm. They were not able to get her that day. So, she was left lying there until the next day. But that night, while we were praying the rosary, we heard sounds coming from Punky again and were shocked to see that she was still alive! She was growling. This time, we saw her in a different position and it looked like she was trying to find a comfortable position. We thought of a lot of things that could have made her this way. We thought of poisonous reptiles or insects that might have bitten her and put her in this condition. But since it was already late in the evening, we could not get to her. Then, a little while later, we saw her curling up to sleep, still in the silong. So, it gave us some form of relief to see her trying to sleep.
Early morning the next day, Yumi and I planned to rescue her ourselves, and get her from the silong since it looked like she could not move on her own. It was Yumi who, without the slightest hesitation, volunteered to crawl in the silong to get her. We called it “Operation: Punky Rescue!”. It took us more than two hours to get her because she was biting everything that touched her body. Yumi had to wear thick, protective gloves so she would not get bitten by her.
When we finally got her, we cleaned her up and put her in a crib so we could let her drink water and feed her somehow because she had not had anything for two days. Also, Yumi went to examine her to see if she had any signs of bites or other forms of injury. There was none. So, she went to do some research based on the symptoms we saw on Punky. Just so you know why we did not bring her to the vet, it is because we did not have a peso in our pockets at that time to do so. And, it was the peak of the lockdown period. It was extremely difficult to go out. We had to make use of what we had around us to ease whatever pain she was experiencing then.
Punky appeared to be paralyzed on her back legs. She could not get her hind legs to stand up. Yumi’s research led us to the theory that Punky had Saddle Thrombus. According to PDSA Saving Pets, Changing Lives page, “A saddle thrombus is a blood clot that cuts off blood supply to the back legs. The clot forms in the heart, gets pumped into the main artery (the aorta), then travels in the bloodstream until it reaches the junction leading to the arteries in the back legs. It lodges at the junction and cuts off blood supply to the legs. Without blood, the back legs become paralysed and extremely painful. The clot is called a ‘saddle thrombus’ because it sits like a saddle, across the two blood vessels that branch into the back legs.” So, we made some home made dextrose to keep her fed and we made turmeric tea and gave her 3 ml three times a day. Based on our research, turmeric is can be given to cats for pain relief and inflamaation.
According to the Camp Canine website, “Turmeric is most commonly used for its natural anti-inflammatory properties. It is rich in a compound called curcumin, which is found to be more effective than common nonsteroidal anti-inflamatory drugs (NSAIDs). As such, it reduces the risk for inflamatory diseases, helps manage arthritis, and provides general painrelief to both cats and dogs.”
Just after five days, we saw a miracle! We saw Punky stand up on her own! We were overjoyed to see it. She was able to walk on her own again. It also appeared that she felt no pain anymore.
Although she could stand up and walk already, we were still worried since she would not eat solid food. We continued giving her liquid forms of food because we thought she might be having difficulty chewing because she was still very weak. It was no surprise since she went through a lot at her age. She was really old already at that time.
After almost two weeks of intensive care, we woke up one morning to find she has passed away. It was saddening but it also gave us some form of relief to see her finally at rest. We did not really had our hopes high for her because of her old age. But in spite of it, we gave our best in taking care of her, giving her all the comfort we could for her last moments in life. That is the important thing about it.
Having lost Whisky early last year left us a deep wound in our hearts. But then, saving Punky even though she eventually passed away, helped us somehow to process our heartache about missing Whisky. It is just amazing how God helps us heal by putting us in situations that are, sometimes, a little odd at first glance. But He truly never fails us.
About the Author: Mariana Burgos is a freelance artist. She is a solo parent for 14 years now because she is wife to a desaparacido. She and her daughter are animal lovers and are active in advocating not only human rights but the rights of animals as well.