KKU-Kuching Kurang Upaya

I remember the day KKU (pronounced kay-koo) adopted us.

My husband and I were out in the garden enjoying some fresh air. Along came this little black kitten with its mother; they didn’t look too undernourished but they didn’t look like they were stuffed silly with lots of IAMS or Royal Canin either.

They saw me coming towards them and ran off. The kitten looked like it tripped and then fell into the drain. Eventually I saw both of them walk away.

I told my husband what happened and he said, “That’s odd. Cats, even kittens, don’t trip. They’re very steady on their feet. Maybe there’s something wrong with it.”

I just shrugged. You see, I’m not a cat person at all but my husband is. He’s had cats all his life while my family has never had a pet.

Later we saw them again and watched them for a little while. The kitten had a rather unusual gait.

“You know, I think the kitten has difficulties with its hind legs, or maybe a hip problem. That could explain why it walks like that and isn’t as steady on its feet.”

Its gait just added to its personality; and so we decided to call it “KKU”.

In no time KKU and his mother became indoor/ outdoor cats. We bathed KKU regularly (his mother wouldn’t have any of it) and put their food under the kitchen table and litter box in the bathroom downstairs. Interestingly, neither of them really needed any training on using the litter box; they took to it instinctively.

After a few months we sent KKU to the vet to be neutered. In the meantime, KKU’s mother had delivered another kitten – this one we called Sausage because she grew quite fat quite fast in the first 2weeks. When Sausage was weaned, we sent her mother to be spayed but unfortunately she managed to run away; the poor thing probably felt so frightened.

So our family now included KKU and Sausage. When I was pregnant, they stopped going out of the house together – they would take turns going out such that either of them was always with me at home. I found that quite extraordinary.

When our elder son was 11 months old, Sausage went out as she normally does but never came back. The last time we saw her was on her 2nd birthday. It was heartbreaking for me as I had never had a pet before so I had never experienced the pain of losing one. 9 months later, on New Year’s Eve, it was KKU’s turn to go out and never come back.

By that time our son was 1 year 8 months old and could talk quite proficiently for his age. He would ask, “Where KKU?” And we’d tell him, “KKU’s gone to a better place. He’s gone to the big PAWS in the sky.”

As he grew older he would ask more questions, like, “Why KKU go to better place?” or say something like, “Don’t want KKU go better place. Nak KKU come back.” There were times when I was too choked up to reply and just distracted him (us) with something else.

We are very thankful to have had KKU and Sausage around for our son. He learnt how to play with them, to be gentle with them and not be afraid of them. He learnt to respect them. He learnt to be human with animals.