I’m sharing this story with you because feel it has a great teaching for me… and perhaps for you. We will always find our way home if we think like a cat!
Recently in the district of Ka’u… at the Southern end of The Big Island, “Teddie’s Safe Haven” has been performing a spaying operation to limit the number of feral cats in the district.
They lend residents traps to catch feral cats on their properties and bring them in for free neutering.
I have become a big fan and am working on ways to support their activities in Hawaii.
Why?
My personal experience…
When I left Hawaii for Bali in March, I had four cats… A lot, but still reasonable for a three acre property. When I returned a few months later I had twelve cats!
I was dumbfounded! How did this happen?
Quite simply!
A Calico colored feral mother had parked herself under my house and happily given birth to six kittens!
She’d brought along the big red feral dad and a black and white friend to keep her company; probably a sister or brother … perhaps they came because they could smell the food my staff diligently left out for my own cats while I was absent. Suddenly, I had a mass population of cats!
What to do?
By now all the kittens had grown to adolescence and were getting ready to repeat the population explosion again and again between themselves. This was an emergency!
I heard about the a local feral cat rescue and spaying program: Yes! Yes! Yes!
Essentially, ‘Feral’ means the cats don’t trust humans, nor look to them for nurturing or to give nurturing… which is indeed a domesticated cat’s true desire and chosen purpose. This spaying program was a big blessing.
I collected eight traps and set to work… in fact it took about nine hours… from 10pm until 7am to catch all but one (the smartest of the lot… I will get him next time!). They were completely feral and not at all happy at being caught; they bashed their cages with their noses until they all had a headache I’m sure… They all still wear the scars!
Once they were “done” I had to decide what to do with so many cats… The majority were showing signs of slowly being more interested in becoming friends and in fact today I can report that most allow me to pat them and come to the sound of my voice. I love cats and am willing to be the mother of a crowd as long as they are not continually reproducing but I certainly didn’t want to release the feral mum and dad — 
this wild couple, back onto my home property so the bullying of my own could continue…
They were not friendly… they were scary!
I drove around and around with them… with their cages in the back of my truck, trying to decide where to leave them; decide what would be best for everyone.
It was not until very late in the afternoon, that I decided to release them into my Orchid property. I gave them food and told them I would be back the following day.
I guess they must have started their journey back home soon after…
On the fourth day, they both appeared back at my place five miles down the side of the volcano, having crossed over the highway! At first, I simply didn’t believe it, I thought the dad was just another big red tom cat looking to push his nose in here now the other one was gone…
But when I saw the Calico mother with my own eyes I was convinced and astounded!
These two cats, as a couple, had walked back the five miles from my other place, across the highway… How extraordinary is mother nature?
What made those cats so sure of where their home was?
Did they navigate by smell?… by the stars? … by magnetic resonance?
How… why?!
Why had they chosen my ‘house’ as their ‘home’, uninvited, unwanted, determined felines.
No wonder cats scare people!
A cat never sees difficulties… a brick wall does not stop a cat but rather provides a vantage point… They are so brilliantly aligned with their place in the order of things…
How can a human ever imagine a cat could get lost?
Activate the cat within you and I will activate the cat within me…
We will trust in our own power to navigate the mysteries of the journey back home and never give up!
Never allowing ourselves to take anything too personally;
Staying disciplined within our mind and not letting ourselves to drown in the water of our emotions…
We will be adamant about what we want and where we belong…
Never taking no for an answer…
Never give up on your quest…
And I will never give up on mine…!
I have come to accept these two wild beings into the family. I believe over time, the big red tom will calm down and become a more loving parent to his offspring. When he had his balls, he was aggressive and competitive; for food and sex! In the future he has the capacity to become more interested in other things. The Calico mother is still the most fearful and makes me think she reflects some part of myself that I have not yet allowed others to come in close contact with.
Life really is a mystery.
These cats have certainly sent me on a new learning curve… Forever grateful for the lessons, the adventures and the many wonderful friends I ‘ve made along the way.
Cats are one of my blessings, I have been drawing pictures of my kittens all my life. I created a wonderful set of cards called “The Angel Cats of Self Healing”; all the images are from my drawings, if you would like to see them online please click here: Angel Cats
The profit from the sale of these cards will go to “Teddie’s Safe Haven” for spaying feral cats in Hawaii.
I’m glad to be of service to such a worthy cause, protecting the native wild life of Hawaii and improving the lives of those cats already born and living in the lava fields of Ka’u County…
Have a great day and remember to purr every now and again. It is so good for the soul!
Blazing tales of wonder,
Your sister through chaos and comfort,
Remembering all we have ever been and are about to become…
Blessings from Shankari the Alchemist xxxx
