I own a cafe in Damansara Perdana, and there's always been this stray cat hanging around the shop since the first day I took over operations from the cafe's previous owner. We call that cat, an adult female, Scaramouche. She always sleeps outside the cafe and lays claim on the territory... demanding food whenever she's hungry, and trying to sneak in to sleep inside the warmth of the cafe everytime a customer opens the front door.
She gave birth to a kitten on the 26th of September, a few days before Hari Raya. We put up a box for her, and she seemed alright mothering her newborn, so we left her to it.
On Friday the 10th of October, Scaramouche went missing. We didn't see her anywhere, and she didn't even come to claim her lunch and dinner meals as she usually does. Yesterday, whilst it was raining outside, we could hear the crying of her kitten just outside the cafe. So when nightfall came and still there was no sign of Scaramouche running to her baby's aid, I went outside to search for the kitten, whom I found shivering and wet in a drain by the bush to the side of my cafe.
I took the little furball inside, got it dry, and started thinking... what do I do with a baby kitten?! I've had countless cats in my care, but never had to start looking after one without its mom when it's just 2-weeks old. After a bit of Googling (thank god for the Internet and readily-available source of information), I found out that I should not feed the kitten cow's milk, as they're not able to digest it. A quick check at the time told me I still had about 20 minutes before the nearest pet store closed, so I rushed to my car, drove to the store, and managed to run in and make my purchase before the cash registers were closed for the night.
Armed with a kitten bottle feeder and a tub of specially-formulated kitten milk replacement, I headed back to the cafe to the beginning of a new role - surrogate mother to the kitten.
The kitten won't take the bottle at first, I guess it didn't know how to do so. I force fed it some formula still, and decided to take it home with me, knowing that it would mean a sleepless night ahead.
And so, without a proper pet carrier around, my friend Muna suggested that I put the kitten in one of our empty Coca-Cola carton boxes, hence the name Coke popped up. And since the mom and dad (another stray cat who hangs about our cafe alot) are named Scaramouche and Galileo Figaro respectively, I decided to honor the Bohemian Rhapsody-themed family naming convention by adding Fandango as the kitten's second name.
And so, fellow readers... I present to you, Coca Fandango :)
The Coca-Cola carton that became Coke's makeshift home last night :
Feeding Coke at 3am, whilst Tobek (my family cat) looks on
Curious Tobek taking a closer sniff and look, no doubt wondering, "that's not MY offspring, is it??"
Tobek was a good boy the entire night, standing guard and watching everytime I fed Coke, but never making a fuss about it.
So, wish me luck with raising this poor, motherless, furry Coke into a healthy bouncing cat. Will update more as we go along!
1 comment:
Ah, a mother already at such a young age. Good luck bb! Let me know if you need help! Muaks!
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