2014 – The Year of the Horse

Pip and Maxi were settling in nicely, enjoying their new condo that overlooked the busy streets of Makati. I noticed that since the condo arrived, they didn’t come for a cuddle much any more. I would sit in my bare lounge room in the evening and they’d be snuggled up in the condo and I would think ‘Geez! I got you kitties for companionship!’. My former kitty in Sydney would cuddle every evening – I’d be stuck on the sofa needing a drink, the TV remote, a pee, my phone etc but wouldn’t move so as not to disturb him. So I was a little bit put out that I was so neglected by my new friends.

While I was having these thoughts, I was contacted by a volunteer with CARA, the shelter that Pip had come from, and asked if I could foster a little kitten that had been found on the street. A New Zealand chap – Chris – was crossing a street on 31st January, just ahead of a big storm, and there was a tiny white kitten all alone. It was covered in dirt and fleas, so he scooped it up and took it home. It turned out to be a little girl and Chris fortunately had a lot of experience with cats so he bathed her, fed her and picked all the fleas off. He travelled extensively for work so couldn’t keep her. Oh – and he named her…. In honour of Chinese New Year, the holiday on which he found her, he named her Horse.

The next day I met Chris at a coffee shop across the road from my apartment, and he handed her over in a paper shopping bag. Horse was set up in my guest bathroom. She was the tiniest kitten I had ever handled, and while quite sweet in her own way, white kittens were not really my favourite. I love all cats, but my heart had been stolen years before by black cats and gingers. This little white baby would get lots of love and good quality food from me, and then I’d find her a new home. I took lots of photos and set up a foster kitten account on FlickR so that I would be able to market her properly when she was old enough. I was very dedicated.

She was so white she practically fluoresced and while she had a scrawny little tail, she wasn’t exactly thin – she had an enormous tummy! She went to the vet for worm treatments and the vet was similarly alarmed by the size of her tummy. Over the course of a few weeks, I would visit the vet many times, because I became increasingly concerned she would break one of her little legs carrying the weight of that tummy around! At the time of writing, she’s had her tummy x-rayed twice and had 2 ultrasounds. Poor little lass is just built that way.

I spent as much time as I could in the bathroom with Horse, but I live in a tropical country and it was HOT in there! I was supposed to keep her quarantined for 2 weeks but after 10 days I just couldn’t take it any more. I felt bad that she was spending time alone in the bathroom, so she started coming out when Pip and Max were in their room, and then they were slowly introduced.

Pip, sweet little friend of the world, had a few tentative swats at her, but was just keen to make friends. Maxi took an instant dislike to Horse and hissed whenever she came close. As she was just 5 weeks old, she spent a lot of time on my lap. She played with the dangling cords on my tops and pants, she washed herself (it took a long time for her to figure that out!) and she snoozed. She liked to climb up onto my left shoulder and snuggle her face into my hair and purr in my ear. The first time she did it, I wasn’t sure what she was doing and tried to move her, and she hissed and growled at me! Despite my protestations that she was a foster, my friends and Instagram followers were convinced I would keep her. But three cats? Surely I couldn’t. Three’s too many, surely! Surely?

She was such a sweet, affectionate little girl. When I walked, she would dance around my feet, making little twirls and skipping across my path. She never meowed with her mouth open, just made lots of trills and sing-song purrs. She didn’t have blue eyes, they were jet black. It didn’t matter which way I looked at them or how the light was shining – there was no colour at all, just deep black. I just couldn’t bring myself to call such a little beauty “Horse” – it was so ill-suited to her. So I started to think about what I might call her, which I think was when the decision to keep her was really made. I was sad for all the little kittens on the street – she was so small and sweet – I wished every kitty could find a home and not be abandoned on the big scary streets. I googled and researched and decided to call her Asha, which is sanskrit for “wish” or “hope”. It was also the name of a charity I was involved with in India.

So that was it. Asha was here to stay. There was just one problem. Pip and Maxi were so much bigger than her, she had no-one to play with……