[Pawprints]

June, Yani is a very soft spoken tiny lady who doesn't talk much and much is in tiny whispers with her timid eyes constantly observing who might be watching or marking her. Much of my assessment is through my sharp observation of her body language and the cramped condition of her shop. She is even conscious of her customers' presence because the other day, she signalled discreetly to me that the customer in her shop at the time didn't like cats and screeched, "Eeeeeeeehhh!!! Ada kucing!!!!" and she quickly downplayed things with the customer, distracted her and attended to her, then put a thin cloth around the cage located at a more private section of her very small shop.

She is someone who does not ask for things but we observe and play by ear and offer her essential things which she didn't even think about. The other day she had run out of RC Babycat and Kitten kibbles which we gave and advised her to free-feed the Mommy cat as much as she could eat but she didn't even tell us and had gone back to nasi. Luckily, we checked ourselves. She is a very simple and unassertive young lady but has a very big heart! In fact once when we suggested spaying her mom cat later, she disagreed and wanted to keep the mom cat so that she could continue to milk any desperately needing very young kittens dumped by people so that they could have a chance of survival (who has the time to bottle feed such young kittens round the clock every 2 hours! - so in her simple point of view, she also has a strong point).

So we decided to change strategy about the mom cat's food - instead of simply asking, "Yani, makanan ibu kucing ada lagi tak? Cukup tak?" Now we estimate ourselves the voracious appetite of the mom cat (we have seen with our eyes!) with 6 equally voracious and ever hungry little kittens and prepared the kibbles in ready air-tight biscuit containers and put them in her shop without having to ask her.

2 units of 1-tier cages stacked up would be ideal to save very precious floor space and to separate and contain the 2 batches of kittens (the 3 orphans and her own 3 tiny newborn) to prevent them crawling around and ending up stepped on and squashed. The mother must be confined with her own litter and only put together with the orphans and selected times to milk them until they are weaned.

Yani uses the small cat area to rest and eat as well so we really have to think about efficient and optimal use of the tiny space, not to mention hygiene.

Ashley, it is alright to tick the Mamak off loudly in fact it is good and legal. Bukan nak tumbuk muka dia, we just want to create a good commotion so that not only him but the other unkind people will be detered from abusing the cats and be more sympathetic to the plight of the innocent animals who were actually dumped there by cruel and irresponsible humans. Kalau dia tak suka banyak kucing, tell him like what we shouted at him that he and the others should do something effective and positive, bukan tangkap buang kat some anonymous kampung, simply transfering the problem somewhere else and in the process the little kitties, especially the very small ones starve to death or kena makan anjing mati kena hujan in an unfamiliar environment with the mothers themselves running off entah ke mana in fright themselves.

We must make a big commotion otherwise the existing people in the market who have been trying to help the kitties will be pressured to stop and what will happen to the future kittens found dumped there?

Tell them that if they really hate cats and cannot stand the increasing numbers that they should contribute to neutering them and pasang mata to catch and belasah the bastards that dump the cats in the first place! But not to take it out on the innocent cats. And work towards solving problems effectively and positively instead of dumping it to someone else (kampung/warong/pasar lain).

Isn't that so? And why should be the kind and compassionate people really trying to help the cats (example protecting and feeding them so that they will not go hungry begging and kacau the kedai makan) creep secretly and quietly around to help the cats as if they are doing something criminal like thieves takut orang nampak and marah maki hamun? Where is the logic? We need to stand up for these people who are doing the right and humane thing and for the rights of the animals to their very basic necessities that is food and right to live. The animals ask for very little!