Just a little bit of care can change a cat's life
This is a short story about how friends of mine, both Thai and foreign, are normally quite intrigued about what is is that I do for a living and when I tell them, they normally wish they could do that as well. That is until I tell them the part about how we make almost no money and many times have to dip into our own savings just to keep the lights on at Krabi Animal Welfare and I am sure it is quite similar at all of the other animal-welfare charities that exist around the world.
There isn't a lot of glamor or fame that comes along with this sort of work and it is a lot of work. So this job isn't going to be for everyone but when I do talk to these people about how they can "have this job" in a very part time sense, they listen, and it's kind of a trick on my part because I am not actually offering them a job, just for a little help.
This cat doesn't have a name that I am aware of, but my Thai friend who was asking about my job had noticed it near his rented house for a while now. It always looks sickly and sad, and any attempts to approach it resulted in the small cat becoming defensive and ready to pounce before it would run away.
Well, because of speaking to me about how a little bit of help can seriously change a stray animal's life, my friend started to put out a bowl of extremely cheap cat nibbles when he would see it. Then he would back off and just sit far enough away that the cat would realize that he (my friend) is not tricking the cat and there is no reason to be afraid. It took a while but eventually the cat started to realize that this person is there to help and pretty soon the cat would start to approach him in that way that I think most people really enjoy in how the cat is at least pretending to care about you in the hopes that you are going to give it some food.
After a few weeks the cat started to become a lot more approachable and by my advisement my friend was able to apply a sort of anti-parasite drops to its back as well as mix in some edible medicine with the food - just a tiny amount and being careful to not waste it or use too much.
Here is the same cat just 3 weeks after first getting involved with a little bit of help from its human friend
The coat had grown back, the eye sludge is gone, the mange has almost completely disappeared and the cat has a full enough belly to be once again concerned with grooming itself. The cat is still and outdoor cat because my friend's house has a strict no pets policy, but he puts food and water outside the door but only puts the food when the cat is actually there. My friend also spends time out on the porch petting the cat and will do the usual phone doom-scrolling with a little, now-healthy fur ball at his feet.
This took almost no effort or money on my friend's part. Cat food, the hard nibble kind, is so inexpensive it is almost free, and the medicine that he applied carefully was around $2 in total. The cat doesn't always come there for food, but when the cat does, my friend will put down a bit, but not so much that it becomes something to attract rodents, insects, or even other cats.
This is actually pretty important. Just throwing a bunch of food on the ground is actually counter-productive and once it does attract mice or rats or an army of cats, the owner of the property is going to take issue with that and I think that is their right. But by putting out just a bit of food for the cat when you both happen to be there, is more than enough to completely change the life of this cat. The next step is to be to contemplate getting the cat sterilized and when that time comes if my friend cannot afford it or doesn't want to do the transporting on his own, we will gladly do it for him.
This is how everyone on the world can assist animal-welfare organizations like our own. We don't need you to actually volunteer your time turning up and putting on a uniform and clocking in, we just need you to keep an eye out in your own neighborhood and just put forth a bit of kindness. Then, if you find that you need help most animal-welfare organizations will be more than happy to provide it. We can't be everywhere at once and because we don't live there, there is a very good chance that we don't even know there is a cat in danger in that area... but you do. And you can change that cat's life to be from the 1st picture to the 2nd for just a few dollars.
So why not? If you care about the homeless and endangered stray animals of the world and there is one where you live, why not try what my friend did? It will make you feel a lot better about yourself as well.
If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
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