A Beautiful Affinity

I moved from Singapore to Taiwan to join my partner a few years ago. We live on an university campus where my partner is employed as a professor. I noticed many stray cats living in poor condition which the university chooses to be oblivious of. So on my own expenses and time, I started a little TNR neutering, spaying and returning these strays or putting them up for adoption. I would personally take care of each postop, 2 days for male and a week for female.

Jan 2020 this year, I set trap wanting to spay a female stray which I have been feeding daily for many months but another stray kitty which I have not encountered before got into the trap instead. Then, I was a little unwell so I engaged help from a student to bring the kitty to be spayed and looked after for 8 days postop. According to the student it was too feral for adoption. So on the 8th day we decided to return it but I got into a car accident that very day so I failed to witness the release. Each time I go feed the strays on campus I would look out for her to no avail.

In April, a few professors on campus alerted me of a emaciated stray meowing for food near their dorm. With their help, we managed to bring the kitty to the vet for treatment. To my surprise it turned out to be the kitty I spayed in Jan which the student help looked after. She was normal then but apparently she did not fare well after being spayed for she was severely underweight only a mere 1.27 kg for a 1-year-old. The examination showed she has mild FPLV, internal worms and hernia. Worms were quickly gotten rid of and we hospitalized her to treat the FPLV. The high medical fee was beyond me but blessedly a few professors pooled resources to see her through the treatment. After her discharge she was personally taken care of by the university VP's wife till she was clear of the FPLV. On May 8, I brought her to my dorm to continue looking after and preparing her for a hernia op in the near future; we officially named her Kang Kang which in Chinese means "to get robust". I was anxious and nervous to say the least because I was not sure how Julian, my own rescued male cat, would get along with her. Previously Julian was literally bullied by one of my foster male cats but luckily I could find the foster cat a good home quickly. Praise the Lord, Julian and Kang Kang got along relatively fine after hissing at each other for a week.

Now, just a few days short of a month since we reached out to her, Kang Kang weighs 2.5kg. With lots of continued love and good food, I hope she is ready for her hernia op soon. With her full recovery I am hoping to find her a good loving forever home although realistically I do know it isn't easy given her health history so I am prepared to keep her as a foster fail if it is meant to be.