Don't dump your pets!

The email below is actually AC's response to my 'RIP Dorian Grunge' post which I also sent to her as a personal email. She left it as a comment but I decided it deserved its own post because everything AC says is very meaningful and rings true for every animal that has been dumped, and also is a message for anyone that has ever or wants to dump their pet in the streets. Please read on below.

Dear L,

I still believe that Dorian was someone's pet at one time. He was not a feral cat. I don't know if someone dumped him at the pasar pagi, or whether he escaped from a home, but he clearly could not manage as a stray cat.

I would like to ask all those people who dump cats in markets and food stalls to take a good, long look at Dorian with his scars and scabs from fights, his emaciated little body, and the infections that were wringing the very life out of him. And I would like them to know that he rubbed his face on everyone and purred right to the very end. Please, people, don't dump your cats in alleys and figure they'll manage just fine. They won't.

I'm still crying for Dorian, but I know that the tears are really for every stray that's suffering as he did. I doubt I could be so affectionate to humans if I were in his condition. And aren't we blessed to have our healthy, sassy furkids to console us?

Me? I hope Dorian will come back in his next incarnation as a fat-cat UMNO politician with a will to pass some animal rights legislation with real TEETH!

Hugs to you, AC