Cats who teach me to fly…

Healthy. Before this photo was taken on August 2016, Healthy was all bony and skinny. She didn’t look healthy at all, that’s explained why she was named Healthy. After providing her with regular meals, she put on weight eventually.

Healthy went missing for more than a week. When she returned, she was all bony again. Mel and I had decided to send her to the vet. After the ultrasound, we were told that her liver and bile duct were terribly inflamed and the pancreas may look like it was in the process of turning into a cancerous body. There was also obstruction in the bile duct that was preventing it from doing its job. So we had to make a decision immediately as to whether we should do a surgery. And there was also high risk involved and we may have to put Healthy to sleep on the surgical table.

After discussing the pros and cons with Mel, we decided to go ahead with the surgery. The surgery was done on the same day when we sent Healthy to the clinic two days ago.

Sadly, it didn’t go well. There were cancerous bodies on Healthy’s liver, pancreas and bile duct which the surgeon cannot divert the bile duct to her intestine. And we had to put Healthy down on the table.

As a buddhist, we pretty knew well that we are not supposed to kill. I wouldn’t find excuses for myself by saying that I have no choice but to put her down. I do have a choice, which was to sew her up, allowing her bile duct to explode and rupture, leaving her cancerous cells to spread further but not for long. I wouldn’t want or need to talk about the pain she had to go through and the same thing we all have to go through eventually… I decided to let her go with the understanding of cause and effect which I am willing to take upon myself.

It was with a heavy heart when I had to pick Healthy up the next day. The final thing we could do for her was to wrap her with a cloth that has mantra written on it and to scatter mandala sand on her body and stick some onto her crown. To chant a mantra and blow on Healthy’s body… Mel explained to her the reason why we made such a choice. Healthy was cremated yesterday and I am waiting for her ash to be delivered to us today.

This photo was taken before she went missing. The first time we saw Healthy, we suspected that she was one of Gorgeous’ siblings. Gorgeous was brought home by us when she was four-months- old. Four tortiseshell kittens were found locked in a cage outside someone’s corridor with minimal food and water four years ago. They were later released. Gorgeous was one of them whom I first saw roaming around my feeding area. Next was Healthy…

We will continue to dedicate the merits that we have created in the past, present and future to her.

May Healthy have a favourable rebirth, so as to be able to have the right conditions to meet the three jewels, practise the authentic Dharma and meet good and wise teachers and be enlightened like Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the benefit of all sentient beings.