Names
Those of you who remember the saga of Chime and her various offspring may be interested in the latest developments. A year ago last May, Chime brought a kitten to our door. Literally:
This cat got named Tsilu, and grew up to replace Leopard once he struck out on his own on the hillside to find a good female to settle down with and raise a family. Once Leopard moved on, Tsilu grew up as the Only Child for many months.
Then the siblings arrived. In early July I visited the statue of Padmasambhava, and after a cup of chai one of the construction workers led me down into the basement room, where Chime’s latest litter resided. At the time the kittens were only five days old, and Chime was still nursing them. I eyed them dubiously. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that the life expectancy of a baby anything in Rewalsar is kind of dicey. I told the workers that if the kittens were still alive in three weeks, I would take them.
Time passed. Then one day a friend from the construction site turned up, with too little kittens in tow. The younguns were frightened by the trip up the hill, dusty from living in a construction area, and full of fleas from their feral mother. Chinta and I set to work cleaning them up, and three days later we had kittens that were actually presentable for the camera.
First up: Pixit. A mighty but playful adventuress who thinks nothing of satisfying her curiousity come what may.
She also quickly figured an escape route out of the little kitty house she and her brother were stashed in.
Next: Dixit. His name in Hindi means “scholar,” and he earned it by being the shyer, more reticent of the two. Like his continually bad-tempered mother, Dixit often has a grumpy, and seems to be of two minds as to whether to share.
They’re wonderful. Bet you have the cat food production down to an art at this point!
Comment by Sylvia | July 31, 2009
Awwww.
Comment by Emily | August 7, 2009
Oh Pul-Leeeese. Havn’t you heard of spay and nuetering domesticated animals so that they don’t have tp suffer the tortured lives of continual breeding and fight for survival?????
I live on a farm where irresponsible humans think they can drop cast off cats they no longer wish to be responsible for off, mainly because these idiots didn’t have their animals nuetered, so when they arrive here they are always visibly pregnant. I disabled, on social security, and luckily have a humane vet who assist me in getting each cat neutered, including the new kittens, and finds RESPONSIBLE HOMES for these poor things. Cats are not wild. Cats are not toys or objects of amusement when they are having litter after litter. GET RESPONSIBLE PLEASE!!!!
Comment by Elizabeth | August 30, 2009
Hi there Elizabeth, and welcome to Blog-o-licious!
Somehow I get the impression that you haven’t read the previous entries about animals in this blog.
I certainly have heard of spay/neuter, but currently live in a rural part of India where most people have not. I once lived in Guerneville, California for a while, a place notorious for its large population of vacation-abandoned pets.
In Rewalsar, the idea of pet ownership is still very new to most people. Indians (especially if very traditional Hindu Brahmins) are not used to the idea of animals who can stay inside the house with them, and if vegetarian don’t understand feline diet needs. The Tibetans here are more used to keeping cats and dogs around, but are opposed to spay/neuter for religious reasons.
Two years ago we had a disasterous attempt at a spay/neuter program in Rewalsar. I wrote about that here and here. The operations had a mortality rate of somewhere around 50%. After that, many folks here believed spay/neuter was some cruel and unusual execution method. It took me all that time to talk people around to trying the program again.
In March, a good friend of mine, Dr. Mel Vassey (of the blog Cabezalana) came out here on his own initiative with the support of the government Veterinary Office in Mandi. He brought his own surgical tools, was not paid, in fact contributed money towards sedatives and vaccines, and worked for two weeks performing spays/neuters in Rewalsar and the larger town of Sarkhaghat. All of the operations were successful, and we lost no animals to complications.
I am currently working on a two new spay/neuter programs for Rewalsar. One is a follow-up to the original dog and cat program we held in March. The second, which will be much bigger, involves a similar program for the local monkey population. Perhaps your vet would like to help with these efforts, either with time or donations of supplies. If he or she would like more details, please have him or her contact me directly at nyondo[at]customjuju.com .
Nyondo
Comment by admin | August 31, 2009