Donnie is a feral cat. He came into Aimi Lee’s life after his mother, also a stray, left him and his sister on Lee’s front porch under an old cupboard.
A constantly nervous cat, Donnie became somewhat of a recluse after he lost his sister to an accident and his mother ran away after falling sick.
“Something traumatic had happened to him when he was young, and it imprinted itself on his being,” Lee says, adding that Donnie was always on edge and kept socialising to a minimum.
“He had favourite spots in the house that he liked to sleep in, away from the others as he was also afraid of other cats. But at least he ate well and looked healthy.
“Nevertheless, Donnie trusted me enough to bath him, take him to the vet for vaccinations and deworming, and even have him neutered,” Lee says.
Donnie liked staying at Lee’s house, and settled into a routine. Until she and her husband decided to shift.
Once they started packing, Donnie sensed something was up. “He made himself scarce, coming back to the house only to eat quickly and run away again.
“We had planned to move gradually but Donnie became more and more estranged. It was impossible to catch him as he would run as soon as we approached. He then disappeared altogether,” Lee says, adding that they tried searching for him, and eventually gave up.
“But my heart still held a place for Donnie and I drove to the old house one morning to check on whether he’d be there. I nearly shed tears when I saw Donnie sitting by the front gate looking at the glass sliding door, waiting for me to open it, so he could go in for kibbles.”
Heartbroken at this sight, Lee decided to bring Donnie food every day since he refused to move to the new place with her. She did this for over one year.
“Even when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and my movement was restricted, I would still go every morning to feed him.
“Donnie would eat the special treats I brought him with meows of gratitude. Because there was free food, apart from Donnie, two other cats in the area would also wait until I came,” Lee says, saying a skinny chicken also joined the gang of hungry strays.
“Donnie was terrified of the chicken. I named the chicken Ayam Covid. Like the cats, Ayam Covid knew when my car approached and it would run quickly across the road to approach me, with both its wings folded and its body swinging from side to side.
“Sometimes Ayam Covid would even peck at my hands for grains of rice before I had the chance to pour them out for him.”
As for Donnie, a neighbour living opposite from Lee’s former house had started feeding him. “With his strange behaviour, he soon gained a reputation amongst the ‘aunties’ in the neighbourhood as the ‘untouchable cat’,” Lee says.
She worries however that it is still a hostile environment for Donnie as there are many aggressive stray male cats in the neighbourhood, who may disturb him.
“I have now gradually stopped going to see Donnie as I feel I may be disrupting his assimilation into the new home and contributing to his sense of being temporarily owned by me.
“Both he and I have to move on. However, Anna the road sweeper tells me that he still waits for me,” Lee says, with sadness in her voice.
Here’s wishing all the best to Donnie. May he find happiness with the kind woman from across the road.
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.