I'm grateful for the sunny days, knowing he can sleep in the sun and feel warm. On rainy days, I'm grateful to see his coat dry, reassurance that he has shelter somewhere. We feed him whenever he drops by, usually daily, and he accepts the food eagerly, always at a safe distance, and he methodically watches his perimeter while he eats.
I'm hoping that in the spring and summer, when we're outside more, he might get more accustomed to our presence. I'm hoping that we can introduce him to the shop, so he'll have a warmer, safer shelter than whatever he might be using now.
His ear is clipped, indicating that he's been neutered. I gave him some flea medicine in his food a few weeks back, and I'll do that again when we re-enter flea season. We keep a bowl of water on our deck for him, and swap the frozen bowl for a warm bowl each morning.
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| Bliss and Serena wonder about Sadhu |
The thought of trapping him and taking him to the shelter seems cruel. Switching his freedom and immersion in nature for warmth, steady food, and water, but abject boredom and inescapable fear, seems unjustified and self-serving. We do all that we can for him, and still I worry about him. Has he ever purred? Has he ever been pet? Has he ever felt safe?
What karma abandoned him here? What karma led him to our deck? What karma led me to this sore-hearted yearning to protect, help, and nurture every animal that wanders into my world? We never understand the deep complexities of karma. Our only job is to do the best we can, given who we are and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Our only other job is to find peace in that.
Sometimes that's easy; sometimes it's hard. But we do what we can, whenever we can. We are not the only agents of the divine. Others help; others learn; others work with their karma. We all do the best we can. It's what we do. And we find peace.
I see you deleted my previous comment and I understand that. In fact I came to the post again because I wanted to amend it. Then I saw that it isn't here anyway. And the reason I wanted to amend it is because I don't think I put my point correctly. I said, "Oh you aren't doing your best, you are doing your worst". That is not true. You were doing your best! It is just this: your best was ill-informed. It was not "the worst", because your "best" could and can be improved! So, as is often the case, in my emotionalism I go to extremes. I get emotional about the plight of our native birds. And, when I see someone contributing to that plight by what I consider to be 'wrong things', wrong ideas, wrong information, I want to yell to the high heavens!! And yelling doesn't help the situation. What I needed to do was to INFORM not castigate. I still maintain that feeding feral cats is wrong, but I could have made my case so much better. In fact I was "doing MY worst"!!! That's what I wanted to amend. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your level-headedness and friendliness! I did delete your comment and your link because my goal is to have each reader's experience on this blog be as uplifting as possible.
ReplyDeleteYou do make a valid and well-intentioned point. I've actually been formulating a follow-up post about the tragedy of house cats, not only feral but any Felis domesticus, and the tole they take on local birds, especially song birds.
I read an article or watched a documentary, something, that described a study conducted in England, decades ago, about the greatly reduced small-bird population across the country. Was it loss of habitat? Was it increasing population density? Nope! It was house cats.
So your point is well taken, and given your love of birds, I can completely understand your reaction to the tragedy of our feral feline from a completely different and valid point of view. However, I cannot bear the suffering of animals, any of them, and so feed this feral feline I must do. It is the best I can do do, given who I am and the circumstances in which I find myself.
I do have a question for you: By feeding this cat, am I diminishing his appetite, so that he needs to hunt much less? The energy expenditure for hunting is not worth it, especially in the cold of winter, if you're not hungry. Is this a factoid that I can cling to?
You have a vast reservoir of knowledge from which others could benefit greatly. Do you ever blog about your birding? Your nature tramping? Your view on the plight of song birds in the face of increasing feline populations? You could make a difference. . .