Ah K - trapped and freed

We all thought Ah K was female until the vet tech informed he's actually male after sterilisation was done. True, for some male cats, the sacs could be so small to the human eye on first glance to even determine whether the cat is a male or female.

I have seen kittens suckle on teats of a male cat who didn't mind demonstrating motherly care. Bizarre, but the animal world could be just a headscratcher as anything else.

Trapped in a cage loaned from AVA, Ah K was a fiesty one, struggling in the trap destined to his one ill-fate. We reckon that where he was from, an alley behind a row of shophouses, the colonies of cats scavenge through rubbish left from kitchens of restaurants and seek shelter in automobile stores. According to R, mother cats are known to have found their way into cars under repair to give birth in the vehicles, and only to have their newborn kittens die in the engine system. As to how that could happen, I have no idea.

The uncle who trapped Ah K labelled him as a fierce cat, but R implored him to let him go, promising that he'll never return to the alley but be released elsewhere. So carefully she transferred him from the trap into the carrier in a room. V brought him for sterilisation, vaccination and microchipping.

When he arrived at my place for transit to a foster, he was semi-groggy and sedentary, but certainly far from the aggressive feline the uncle had said him to be. I was expecting him to snap on my fingers when I inserted them through the grilles of the carrier, but only found him responding like any friendly cat would, to the caressing strokes on their hard-to-reach chins. Ah K was a delight to interact with.


Ah K in the carrier. There's nothing, till this day after follow-up visits with the foster, fierce or fearful about Ah K. Nothing at all.



So for now, Ah K resides peacefully at the foster's, together with other unadopted cats. He occupies a cage meant for rehabilitation. I cannot imagine the trauma any animal faces being trapped in a four-walled trap, only to find itself denied of hope and life.

We gave the elderly foster lady $50 for taking care of Ah K. I know it's never enough for her, for someone forking out her own money all these years to tend to her strays and cats at home. On top of that, she initially refused to accept it until we convinced her she needs this help and this is the best we could draw out from the fund, as we made plans for our 7 dogs then.

Last I visited Ah K, he was all clean from his bath and resting well in his cage, eyeing the other cats scampering about in the room. Purring in the pleasure of the stroking and at peace that he's out of that fearsome trap, that intuitively so, spelt death to him.