Happy Caturday: feeding temple cats on a cloudy day.

The cloudy sky almost put me off from traveling to the temple to feed those stray cats. Yesterday afternoon a sudden and heavy downpour surprised everyone and changed my plan for the day. So, I was determined to get out and do some walking exercise this afternoon. Yannawa temple is a large temple so I would be walking around for quite a while.

I was glad to see most cats were waiting around the car park. I noticed that I didn’t see the man, who often came here on his old motorbike to feed stray cats, for almost a year. I wondered whether he was still alive or whether he had moved away from this area. Lately, many healthy and active people have fallen sick with heart failure and heart problems. The news about adverse effects of the injections have become more widely known. So, most people decided not to get booster shots. I met several people who resented taking the free injections.

Luckily, stray cats only had the problems of hunger and survival. To my surprise, these cats got infected by the monk and novices, who got fully vaxxed; they shedded the coronavirus stuff around the place. So, all of a sudden all the cats came down with flu and runny noses, watery eyes and sneezing. I had to mix some ivermectin with wet food for these cats. They were mostly recovered within three days. I had to tell the novice to stop cuddling these cats for a few months after his last injection. I even gave the monk some ivermectin just in case someone might need it.

Some cats have become very fond of jumping on cars and enjoying good views from the tops of those cars. I was a bit worried how the owners would react whether they would become hostile to stray cats. I had to bring them down to the ground, but some were quite persistent and jumped back up again. Some young cats behaved as if they were my closest friend, they always ran to greet me. It’s becoming troublesome as done cats were jealous of others who tried to be close to me. I had to mske certain I gsve them equal attention.

Certainly, I had my favourite temple cats in my mind as these cats had very kind and gentle characters. They were lonesome cats who preferred to stay away from other extrovert cats. They wouldn’t have enough food as younger cats were faster in eating their food. One young black cat was chasing a skinny and sick cat yesterday. So, I had to stop him by smacking him on his backside. He could understand my anger; so whenever I gestured my disapproval, he would meekly sit down quietly. I was glad that he could get my message.

I met another lady who came to feed temple cats with her friend. She gave these cats steamed rice mixed with steamed mackerels. These cats were smart, they ate all the fish leaving behind most steamed rice. She told me the Indian looking lady hasn’t been feeding these cats for a week; her father was in hospital. No wonder, these cats looked so enthusiastic when they saw me these past few days. They also looked famished and ate too fast.

These cats would have to be on a compulsory diet until that Indian lady could come back to the temple again. I hoped her father had a speedy recovery. I would pray for her and her family so that things would be back to the usual routine once again. Meanwhile I have to prepare more food cat as they would be losing weights!

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.