Last December, our first kitten, Sasha, left us to cross the rainbow bridge. My daughter was devastated, she cried herself to sleep for so many nights. I, too, am in so much pain I couldn't get myself to talk about what happened, even up to now. I guess the only good thing that came out of the situation was that my 6 year old daughter learned how to handle grief and I learned how to deal with the pain that my daughter felt.
We thought we would never want to have pets anymore. The pain of losing them is just too much. But life has a different plan. A friend of mine messaged me that her mama cat gave birth and she needs to give away the kittens. Simultaneously, another friend messaged me that their neighborhood cat also gave birth. The kittens will be brought somewhere far because they did not want more cats in the neighborhood. Well, there was one person in their neighborhood wanted to keep them but most of the people there wanted the kittens gone. Their plan was to have them sent out far far away into the city and leave them there to fend for themselves. I cannot fathom how these people sleep at night!
The choice was obvious, we knew it in our hearts that we need to help those kittens. I immediately told that other friend to try and stall the people from doing their evil plan. I will pick them up and will take care of them myself. She put them in a box and we picked them up the following day. My daughter was ecstatic when she found out we were picking up the kittens. Although she kept saying they will never replace Sasha because there will always be a special place in her heart for her beloved kitten.
It was when we got home that I realized that I will need to take care of not one, buttl two little kittens. They were 4 weeks old back then. I can remember how tiny they were, they could each fit in the palm of my hand. Their meows and purrs are so cute! It was heartbreaking to see them somehow try to look for ways to go out at first. I guess they were not used to the new surroundings yet. It took them a while to realize that they are safe in their new home.
They've outgrown their crochet kitty beds, they're now fighting over this bigger one, they always end up sleeping beside each other anyway.
I crocheted beds for them. One for each but they sometimes would sleep on me, Tatay, or my daughter. Once they see me settle in the rocking chair, they would fight against each other to figure out who gets the 'bed'.
As they grow, we slowly see the differences of their cat personality. Kalinga is the sweet and playful one while Hiraya is full of mischief. Hiraya is especially sweet to me, Kalinga is more clingy to Tatay but both kittens seem to adore Aya. Their feeding style is also different. Kalinga or Kali as we fondly call her favors a scheduled feeding time. She gobbles up all her food right away. Hiraya or Raya on the other hand likes free-feeding more. She tend to get hungry frequently but eats very little at a time.
The kitty CCTV is always on the lookout.
They just turned 7 months last June 1st. Kali grew a lot bigger than Raya. Her heat cycle also started but Raya still shows no signs yet. I guess Kali just have more obvious signs like peeing everywhere and meowing weirdly as if in pain. She's scheduled to be spayed soon. We plan on having it done one before the other so that we will be able to give full attention to them after the procedure.
Enjoying their little pouch.
Our kittens are rescue PusPins, not like those expensive cats you buy on pet shops. They give us immeasurable joy all day long. (At night they just bother us in our sleep coz they're nocturnal. Lol) My husband works the night shift at home and he said these two keep him awake throughout the shift. LOL! They're not those show cats you see on TV but they add life (and beautiful chaos) in our life.
This is my entry to the ASEAN Hive Community Challenge Animal Photography.
