When Liyana first caught sight of a calico cat wandering outside her family home and lounging on top of cars, one thought came to mind: the cat looked lost without a family.
Moved by the sight of this forlorn kitty, Liyana followed her heart and decided to foster her.
She named the cat ‘Patches’ because of the sporadic spots and markings on her body.
The new addition to the family was easy to take care of, especially when it came to food. While most cats are picky eaters, Patches happily gobbled everything put down for her —especially if chicken was on the menu.
A happy-go-lucky sort of gal, the only thing that irked Patches was bath time – like most cats, she detested the feel of soap and water on her body.
According to Liyana, Patches was a street-smart cat. She recalled how a year after coming to live with her, a heavily pregnant Patches managed to sneak into the house and present Liyana’s family with not one, but three surprises!
“That evening, I had relatives over and we were chatting downstairs. All of a sudden, my brother raced down the stairs to announce that Patches had given birth in one of his drawers,” recalls Liyana.
She says she found this quite strange as Patches was an outdoor cat and the house was generally off-limits to her. All the windows and doors were closed.
“We suspect that she climbed onto the second floor and sneaked into my brother’s bedroom from the window.”
While Liyana fell instantly in love with the kittens, she was a little worried her mother would not feel the same. What if she insisted the kittens be sold? Or worse yet, left at the market?
To her surprise her mother began thinking of buying a cage to keep the kittens from straying and a litter box so they could be toilet-trained, Liyana says.
She remembers how having the kittens changed her life for the better.
She used to be a loner, happy to stay cooped up in her room all day, only venturing downstairs for meals or the occasional chat with her mother.
“But after Shrek, Lady and Smoky were born, I found myself spending more and more time with them in the backyard,” Liyana says.
Meanwhile, the kittens’ very busy mother, Patches, often disappeared for days on end.
“Patches was not your ordinary cat – she was a wanderer. When she did come back home, she would be covered in dirt. Those were the only times I got really mad at her,” Liyana says.
Patches’s disappearing acts were random until one day in 2015 when she just stopped coming home.
Liyana says she doesn’t know where Patches is today and although she misses her, she is not sad about it. “I have always known that Patches was a wild soul who loved wandering.”
Liyana says she likes to think that perhaps Patches went back to her life as a free-roaming kitty once she knew that her three babies were in good hands with Liyana and her family.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PET: FMT Lifestyle readers are invited to send in pictures (landscape format) and a short video (if any) of their furry, scaly or feathery friends to [email protected]. Don’t forget to include details like your pet’s name, age, breed and a short story about them.