Rani's new home

Today I said goodbye to Rani. I found her a home or a home found her I should say! A 7 year girl has been asking her mother for a cat for a while and particularly wanted a kitten, but when her mother saw that Rani was a very small cat, she thought that might be the solution!

I dropped Rani off at her new home today. It was hard to say goodbye and I still miss her now, but I know that she will have a good life with her new family. She now has 3 children to pay attention to her and as soon as she and the dog get adjusted she'll have a whole new house to explore!

I was a little worried about how she would react with such a busy and loud household, but she didn't seem bothered at the least. She just went about exploring her new home and didn't pay attention to the littlest child screaming in her face! I think that is a good sign!! She is such a social little thing, that I think she will fit right in that household. She can rest and relax during the day and then play all evening with the children.

I believe that her new name is Crystal. I think it fits - she is a queen and a gem and a crystal! She is one lucky Mumbai street cat - lucky she found the right person's door in such a big and not so pet friendly city!

Meow Mumbai's first success story! (i've had other adoptions before, but this is the first under the banner of Meow Mumbai.)

Update on Rani - the cat who needs a home!

Rani, as named by my friend, has come home from surgery and is recovering nicely. She did very well last night and has been a total angel all day today.

The large carrier that I use from the vet's office was taken, so she had a makeshift bed on the bathroom floor. I was a little worried since I don't fully know her temperment, but she was great. She was already up and walking around this morning, using the liter box and ready to eat some wet food.

I have posted posters around the vets and pet shops and posted to all the listserves that I know of, but haven't had any responses yet :(

Please help find Rani a home!!!

Cat for Adoption

I think I am known as the Angel for Cats in this neighborhood.. somehow they have a way of finding me, even on the 9th floor! Today a wee cat was dropped at my doorstep, the doorbell was rang and the person disappeared. As I opened the door I saw a full grown, but very small cat staring up at me.

It is lucky for her that she was brought to my house - she needs immediate surgery as she has deceased babies still in her womb. She will be having surgery today (Sat Sept 22) as well as getting spayed.

She is a lovable little thing. The vet says she is full grown, but due to having kittens at such a young age she has remained quite small. In the meantime, she has been named Rani (Queen).

You would never be able to tell she is a stray as she immediately let me pick her up, rub her belly and of course put her in the basket for the vet visit! She is currently staying in my bathroom as I have two other cats. I cannot keep her as my partner says I am at my limit!

I will be getting her spayed, but would love to find a home for her as she has a great temperment and would be great as a pet. If I do not find her a home before she recovers from the surgery, she will have to go back outside on the mean streets of Mumbai!

Please take a look at the flyer and please pass it on to anyone that you think might be able to take her in.

Also, if you are originally from the US, Canada or mainland Europe, it is quite easy to take a pet back with you, so that shouldn't be a concern.

Xena the warrior princess

I had been feeding a lovely white cat downstairs from my building for at least a year or so. She was super friendly and half the time wasn't even interested in eating - she was more interested in getting petted and feeling loved.

Anytime I would whistle she would come running from where ever she was. Sometimes it would take her a few minutes, sometimes she was right there!

I think most of the watchmen and lower class people who worked in the building or came selling fruits, fish, etc also loved her as she was so sweet.

After quite some time of feeding her I finally decided to name her something.. Xena came to mind as she had outlived all of the other cats in the building and it seemed fitting!

But one day I found that she had a large wound on her side. And she was fully pregnant! I wasn't sure how she would take to me taking her to the vet, but she didn't fight too much when I put her in the basket for her first ever vet trip.

The vet gave me some ointment for her and said most likely we'd need to do surgery.. if I was up for it. However I was about to go out of town for work for a week and couldn't do it then. I had to hope for the best and rely on my friends to look after her.

My partner and 2 friends made daily visits to her and put the ointment on her side until I could get back into town.

Finally I was back and it seemed that Xena was about to pop. I was then even more worried as I was sure that she would damage the wound even more going through the birth. The doc said it was a bit riskier with her being so pregnant, but they were willing to do it.

I loved Xena to death so I was a basket case waiting to hear word from her surgery. Apparently she was due to give birth in only a few days as the kittens were fully formed and breathing on their own. But they were not able to survive too long.

Turns out that Xena had been shot with a pellet gun!! I cannot understand the cruelty that some people have in their hearts. Who could do this to this lovely sweet cat? Lucky for her, I noticed her injury and was willing to do something about it.

I wasn't sure I was going to keep Xena, but thought that after she recovered I would try the introductions with Ginger and see how it went. I also wasn't sure that Xena would be happy living in the house after being outside all her life. But her and Ginger took to one another very quickly and Xena has never even once been interested in going to the door!

It has been one year since her surgery and she is the absolute best house cat ever. She snuggles, gives nose kisses and behaves like the princess she is! I have come to the conclusion that the adult cats who come in from outside after living a hard life on their own are much more appreciative of the love and warmth a home can give. Ginger on the other hand, who was raised inside, has nothing but dreams of living outside!!

Sterilization in Mumbai

In Mumbai we do not always have the same medical care for animals that is available in other parts of the world. In the past I knew that when we got animals sterilized that they were at the vet for at least a couple of days and came home in pretty good shape. In Mumbai, it is quite different and a shocking experience for me!

When Ginger was finally old enough and healthy enough to be sterilized that was our first priority, even though she was an inside cat. I had read enough about the benefits of it to not think twice.

The scenario is a bit different here though. I had to have her fast for the night before the surgery (or at least 8 hrs), which meant that I had to get up in the middle of the night to give her, her last meal!

And then it was time to go to the doctor. As part of the supplies I would need to bring, I was told to bring 3 kitchen towels that were not the "linting" type. I wasn't sure what they were for, but did as I was told!

I dropped Ginger off and then was told to come back in 2 hours. When I returned, she was still totally out of it (the anesthesia) and was being dryed with a hair dryer. She just looked so pathetic with her skinny limp little body!

Then I got to see what the kitchen towels were for -- they were her wrapping! The doctor needed to do this so she wouldn't mess with her stitches or wound. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen!

I loaded her up and headed home. I was told to keep her in a confined space for the night while she came out of the anesthesia. I also was told to keep her warm as she might be cold coming out of it. But that was the only information I retained.

I didn't have a carrier (not available here at that time) nor any confined space - except an old AC box. I padded it with pillows and sat it next to my 'bed' on the floor so that I could sleep with her. She slept for hours and hours, but finally as the night wore on she began to come out a bit. With this was screaming and yowling like I had never heard before. I tried to soothe her as much as I could, but being a new 'mommy' I was freaked out myself!

She was still a bit out of it the next day, but as the day wore on she slowly began to come around. But she hated the 'wrapping' which constricted her walking and jumping too much. But it was great to have because she was not able to get through to her wound at all!!

Within a few days she was pretty much back to normal and had learned how to walk with it on and to use the litter box again. (She hated going to the toilet with the cloth on!)

And then time for her check up. Stitches were doing well and she was healing, so I was told to bring her back in a few days to remove them. Also at that time the vets here did not have access to dissolvable stitches.

But she survived the ordeal (or maybe I should say I survived!) and went on to become a beautiful happy healthy house cat!

and then came Ginger Masala

After my dramatic entry into the world of cats with Pinky and Perky, I became obsessed with the stray cats of my neighborhood. I would walk around daily with food in my bag, looking for little ones who weren't too scared to come near me. And it didn't take long before I happened upon another needy kitten.

It was monsoon season 2005, we had just survived massive flooding with hundreds of people and animals being swept away. On one of my nightly walks, I happened across a small ginger kitten who was standing in the middle of the road screaming her lungs out. I lured her over to the side of the road and set her on a stoop to feed her. She ate greedily and was super friendly.

After feeding her I wasn't sure what to do. I searched around for other kittens or for a mother, but had no luck. I asked all the watchmen and people around if they knew where this cat lived, but no one seemed to know anything. Not sure what I should do next, I thought I better go home and get my basket and try to bring her home with me for the night. She was covered in oil and grease and was terribly skinny.

No need in getting the basket.. she just followed me right home, screaming the entire way!

I brought her up and my partner said that if we were going to take care of her that this time this cat would be indoors only.

We quickly named her ginger masala (aka ginger spice). The following day we took her to the vet to get checked and found that she had worms (expected) and a very bad abcess on her butt, but that otherwise she was fine and would be healthy with proper nutrition. So once again I had a cat!

I still continued to scour the neighborhood looking for animals, but was much more content with my little ginger to look after. But the feelings of injustice that cats face on a daily basis never left me and I continued to speak to people about the possibility of doing something for them.

But it still would be a while before Meow Mumbai would began to become a more focused thought.

it all started with two little ones...

I had already been living in Mumbai for almost 2 years when I first really noticed a cat. The stray dogs are notorious in Mumbai and had been in my radar since day one along with the beggar children. I used to always try to feed the stray dogs, be friendly to them, etc. At that point that is all I knew.

Then one day I came home to my new building to find small kids chasing these tiny little kittens around, flopping this way and that, and generally just going crazy over these little things. I was immediately drawn in and went to check out the kittens. They both seemed relatively healthy, but had eye infections and were seriously bloated with worms. I asked around and no one seemed to know if they had a mom. At the time I didn't know much about cats, so I brought them up to my house to at least get them away from the kids, give them some food etc.

The next day I called every animal organization in Mumbai to find out what i could do with these little guys. I assumed that like in the west that there must be an adoption agency or shelter somewhere. But I got the same response from every NGO - there was nothing they could do unless the cats were in need of serious medical help, otherwise they all suggested I leave them outside and hope the mother comes back for them.

To say the least I was disheartened.. how could a city of 18 million people not have one shelter for cats or a place that they could be adopted from?

I then found a pet store (the first in Bandra) and asked if they knew of a vet and they recommended a few who I called and took the little ones into right away. He told me to make a decision - either keep them in my house and take them back to America if I left India or to leave them outside so they wouldn't get too domesticated. At the time I wasn't sure what the policies were for taking pets abroad, so I thought the best option was to leave them outside, but continue to care for them (vaccinations, food, etc).

I loved these little guys like crazy. And amazingly I began seeing cats all over the place - where I had never noticed them before. I spent hours each day downstairs with the kittens. I also began teaching the children in the building about cats and how to care for them, hold them, etc. It was seriously the highlight of my days. The kids and I named them Pinky and Perky (as they were still too young to determine their gender).

Then one day they disappeared. They had never left the building before so I wasn't sure what had happened. The children were the first to tell me that they were gone. We asked everyone and no one knew anything. But I couldn't let it alone.. I knew they were out there. They must have been following a bird or something and gotten lost. We went out for 3 hours, searching all over the neighborhood, whistling for them with no responses. I had almost given up and then a block or so from my house we saw them. They were scared and hungry and excited to be back in my arms!

Life went on as usual again... until one night I decided to go down and check on them at 1 in the morning. As I was down playing with one kitten I saw the watchman for the building pick up the other one and throw her against the marble wall. Of course I flipped out and went hysterical! The little one seemed ok, but as soon as I set her down, she ran off - never to be seen again. (we searched all night for her, with no luck.. my guess is she ran off to die).

In the meantime I decided to bring the other one upstairs so he wouldn't be harmed in the night. The next morning I took her downstairs and left her while I went to the office for a few hours - upon my return a driver for a resident in the building came up to tell me that "billi hit by rickshaw". I freaked.. I found him laying in the grass, still breathing, but barely alive.

I rushed him to the vet, but he died in my arms on the way. The vet tried to revive him, but said that he had massive internal bleeding. I was again devastated.

I came to find out later that it was the secretary of my building who ordered the guards to kill the cats. That is why they had disappered previously - the guards were supposed to have taken them to the sea to drown them - but of course were not able to, so instead just dumped them. And this guard was afraid that he was going to loose his job, so was trying to beat the cats so that they would be too scared to stay in the building anymore.

I had nightmares for months about perky being out there alone needing help, about pinky being cremated (requires another blog post!). I carried cat food in my purse all the time so that anytime I saw a stray I would feed them and hope that my other two would be replaced. I was obsessed about how someone could be so cruel to another living animal, etc.

And that was what began my obsession with the stray cats of Mumbai....