Homeless but not friendless (The Electric New Paper)
By Joanna Hughes,15 June 2005
THE first time I saw the heavily muscled street cat with the huge, splash-shaped scar on his side, I chased him off with a horse whip.
He had turned an innocent frolic in the alley outside my house into a scene right out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Two pampered, naive house cats out for an airing went flying by the window, followed closely by 10kg of snarling tom.
The tom, though, had picked my alley as the new home for himself and his extended family – wife, son (definitely), another son (paternity in doubt) and daughter. I clutched my tender tabbies – no Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat they – but no amount of whip-waving was going to dislodge this grizzled survivor.
One rainy night, I saw the tom and No 1 Son under a small overhang. Nothing is more miserable than a cat in the rain. Pity stirred, I produced some cat biscuits and a beautiful relationship was born.
Pops, as he shortly became known, responded to food, warily at first, but then confidently enough for me to nab him and take him to be neutered.
As he lay unconscious, I got a good look at him. Imagine Morpheus from The Matrix as a cat, with scars that told a story of inhumane treatment – and survival.
‘He must be really strong to have survived the hot oil or water that scalded his side,’ the vet said.
Pops’ wife took longer to catch, long enough for her to produce two litters. But Pops turned from being the terror of the neighbourhood to a kindly cat ‘uncle’.
Propping his great bulk against the wall of a nearby restaurant, he greets all admirers. Tourists pose with him for pictures. And I would preach to any who would listen that the humane treatment of animals includes neutering them.
I have neutered more than 16 cats since 2003. They are clean, and eat and drink from bowls, and use a litter box.
In my neighbourhood, the dirtiest creatures are those with two legs, who leave stuff from soiled diapers to drink packets on the covers of rubbish bins.
Our little colony is proof that neutering cats and returning them to their environment works.
Following Sars, the Government has backed away from its support of programmes to return neutered cats to their old haunts.
The Cat Welfare Society (www.catwelfare.org) has alternatives for those who find cats a nuisance and to explain that the neutered cats you know are much better than the toms and yowling females you don’t, but it’s been an uphill slog. If a neutered cat – you can tell from the clipped ear – is captured by AVA, it will be destroyed unless it is bailed out by an ‘owner’.
Unfortunately, no-one owns these cats. In the meantime, we can give them a chance at survival. These cats may not have homes, but they have our hearts. And if you’ve ever seen their eyes, you know they are grateful.
The writer is a media consultant
