Meet My New Baby

2 weeks

Now

One night Jeff was walking home, when he heard something pitifully mewing on the side of the street. It was a small kitten with huge jungle ants on it; the kitten would most certainly not make it through the night. Now we see A LOT of sick, hungry, flea bitten dogs and cats on the street. You have to start not seeing them as pets and just as another thing on the street if you want to survive. To be honest, the animals on the street gross me out because they are so dirty and sick; I don't want to be itching all night from them. But I have always said that if it was clean and got it as a kitten, I would accept it as a pet.

Something about the way the kitten was mewing made Jeff turn around, pick it up and bring it back to his house. He made the fatal mistake of naming it (, which means night in Tagalog) and started to get attached. His plan was to clean it up, feed it and give it a comfortable place to die during the night. Buttttttt, the kitten didn't die. It started to get energy back little by little. She wasn't out of the clear though. She preferred to be near the computer fan because she was cold all of the time. She kept getting diarrhea and was so so SO skinny. Plus she craved attention. Jeff's plan was to nourish her back to health and give her to me as a gift after a couple of weeks. Well, true to form, the surprise couldn't be kept from me for very long. I caught him with her on his porch after only 3 days.

She always likes to be near me. 2 weeks here.

But look at her now after almost a month. She has boundless amounts of energy now and is growing exponentially. She even is growing more hair back now that she has nutrients, although that hair is growing back white instead of black.



Gabi came at the perfect time because work was starting to feel a little stressful. Tita Med hired 2 new girls to directly report to me at the village so my time was full of training them, answering questions and troubleshooting, on top of carrying out my normal jobs. She gave me something to play with once I got home from work, instead of more work.

She is definitely quite the character. She rides with me on the jeep and bus and sleeps in my arms while the passengers either move away or take pictures. Since most people in the Philippines do not keep pets like people in the US do, they are surprised with the quality of food that I give her and the amount of time I put into her healthcare.

Tagalog words of the day- Pusa: cat; kuting: kitten