The Kitten

I was speaking with the two EIP teachers in our office hut in Umphium when the kitten tottered into the room. At first I thought it was the kitten that one of the teachers had adopted and brought to camp. They have the same coloring. Also that cat has a tendancy to sleep in the ashes of the charcoal fires to stay warm and this kitten was filthy.

The kitten who weakly made its way into the room was much smaller than the official EIP cat (named, like every cat I’ve ever met in a Burmese context: MiMi). I tried to feed it some milk. It drank a little and then fell asleep in my lap. Quite frankly, I was not exactly happy to have it there. The thing was tiny, had a scar on its side, was missing significant patches of hair and seemed to be covered in soot. It looked as if it would vomit worms and die at any moment.

Well there’s nothing sexier than vomiting worms now is there? So of course, I had to take it home. I stuck it in a cardboard box and loaded it into the truck and headed down to Mae Sot to find a vet. If I hadn’t been going back to Mae Sot that very moment, I’m not sure what would have become of that cat. It obviously didn’t have a mother or a family and it looked like it was on the edge of death as it was.

The vet looked dismissively at the little mewling pile of dirt on his table and said, “wash it and feed it,” then sold me some milk, kitten food and shampoo.

So there you have it. How I came to have a tiny pathetic creature as my roommate. The little thing was not happy about being washed. It was the most miserable, tiny pile of bones I have ever seen. I have seen rats in Bangkok bigger than this animal. It protested the water weakly and then just stood on the concrete floor of my bathroom shivering while I washed scoops and scoops of dirty water off of it.
Mostly if I am at home, it curls up in my lap or rides around on my shoulder.

And now I am soliciting ideas for names. For now, I have absolutely no inclination to name it and left to my own devices it will probably remain nameless. But if it continues to live, I suppose that in a few weeks I should name it something. Any ideas or suggestions?