I am a Cat-a-holic

I am a dog person. I, honestly, had no affection to cats whatsoever. I used to shoo them away when I would see them. Our household always had dogs.

Then came, this cat.

I kept hearing this meowing sound and found him in our backyard, alone. No mom, no other kittens - just this little baby cat. Now, I've seen other stray kittens before around our house and yard. But unfortunately, the kittens would always die. And it would be heartbreaking, even if I wasn't a cat person.

So, I was determined that this time, this kitten wouldn't die. Now, we had an inside dog, so I was worried that our dog would kill this kitten the moment I brought it in. So, I placed the kitten in this big box, outside the house. I was pretty confident, though, that no other animal would take it. And I was probably hoping that the mother would take it.

Since I had no experience in kitten care, I did many things wrong. One was that I fed him milk (yes, cow's milk). I mean he would drink it, so I thought it was okay. I also fed him some kibbles (I fed a stray cat from our yard). Thankfully, I searched good ole' Youtube on how to care for kittens and I learned a lot! I immediately brought him to the vet the next day, as I got worried that he wasn't pooping, despite eating the kibbles. Thankfully, he was okay. No infections whatsoever. He wasn't pooping just because he wasn't eating too much. The vet recommended that I fed him some wet cat food and give him some laxatives, just in case he was constipated.

At this point, I haven't even named him, one, because I didn't know if he was a girl or a boy. Second, I didn't want to get attached. My plan was to set him free into the wild once he was old enough to do so. Little did I know this would never happen. I think this is how you end up with many cats. You take them in thinking you will soon set them free, only for that to never happen.

Before my next trip to the vet, I named him "Lucky". First, because he was a male ("lalaki" in Filipino), and that he was lucky that I have rescued him. I learned that cats were so different from dogs. Like when a cat wags its tail, it means it doesn't like what you're doing. For dogs, it means they like you. And that cats need play time. Otherwise, they will end up biting and scratching you just to release their built up energy. This is what Lucky did for the first few months! He would run and run, and scratch and scratch, and bite and bite. I bought him toys to keep him entertained. I learned that you put them in a routine: play, eat, groom, sleep (Thanks, Jackson Galaxy!) I watched a lot of "My Cat from Hell" because of this little one.

I then started calling him "Lucky Boy", and sang Britney Spears' song "Lucky" to him. The "Lucky Boy" somehow evolved to "Moi Moi", and that is what he responds to now.

Fast forward, a few months later, I'd find myself caring for 11 cats. I'll share their story in another post, but for now, hello my little Moi Moi!