(This story of Kimi was written in 2007 after he left us forever)
I’ve waited so long to write this story of Kimi. The story that I hoped was only just a dream.
Kimi was born on May 15th, 2006. His weight was only 40g at birth, and his mother had totally ignored him from the moment he was delivered. I took the initiative to break his amniotic sac, cut his umbilical cord, clean his face and suck the fluid out from his mouth and nose. He was sooo very weak. I tried to give him back to his mother, but she still refused to accept him. She was busy with the rest of her litter and she just ignored him while he was just lying helplessly beside her. I put his mouth onto his mother’s nipple, but he never showed any sign of sucking. When I called the vet, my vet told me that normally when the mother refused to accept or ignore the kitten, she already had the instinct that her kitten cannot last any longer. And usually, if the kitten didn’t receive the early mother’s milk which contains colostrums, he would eventually suffer from illnesses.
I was already losing hope to see him like that. However, my husband did not let me give up so easily, he suggested to syringe feed him with milk – just give him a try rather than to let him die. So I started to give him milk every few hours and I made sure he got enough milk and put back to his mother.
And surprisingly he responded well with that method. After few days, he seemed to be stronger and managed to crawl and cry a bit. But he still couldn’t suck his mother’s milk unlike the rest of his siblings. So, we have to continue syringe feeding him and ever since, he became totally dependent on us for his milk.
After 2 weeks, he started to open his eyes – and oh gosh….he was sooo adorable…my son was such a real cutie. I could see his bright future in his face. I just couldn’t stop staring at him for hours.
Even though he was not as active as the rest of his siblings, and not as big as them, he still tried his best to play with his sisters.
At the age of 3 months, his 2 sisters had completely weaned off from their mother’s milk BUT Kimi still could not eat on his own. We had tried lots of methods/ways to make him eat on his own but to no avail. We even fasted him for few days and tried to make him starved for food. But, he would just ignore the food that we put in the bowl and always stared at us asking for his “syringe”. SO, we had no other choice except to continue syringe feed him for at least 3 times a day. We syringe fed him with can food or we blended the kibbles, mix with milk and put in the syringe – that’s the only way for him to eat and the only way for him to stay alive. He was totally dependant on us. And because of that he became so very close with the entire members of my family. He stayed with us in our bedroom and slept beside me almost every night. We cannot go anywhere except to bring him along.
Later, he continued to develop very well. At the age of 3 month I could see his nice features being developed. He has a very very nice doming, very deep break, very powerful and strong jaw. Very short cobby body and very pale cream color. But the only thing was his built – he was the smallest among the rest of his sibling....maybe because of his eating habit.
At the age of exactly 4 month he started his show career in Penang International Cat Show. He was made Best Kitten in Yaeko Takano's ring and 3rd Best in Kenji Takano.
I’m glad that my evaluation towards him was almost perfect with some additional quality that being developed, i.e. long cottony coat, excellent eye color, super smooth topskull, wide set eyes & ears to express the sweet open expression etc. And obviously his long cottony coat was his biggest asset, which never failed to impress judges and spectators.
Everytime when he was presented on the judging table, everybody would show and voice their excitement…. which (I think) gave a hard time to the judges not to use him in the final.
I still remember in CFA International Show in California last year, everybody seemed to admire his coat very much – few of them (even some of the well known breeders) asked us what’s our secret to get and maintain that type of coat. We had few judges (who were not the judges at that show) stopped at our benching cage and admired him. And some of the spectators/exhibitors even asked the judges how to get that coat and what kind of product to use to get that effect. And the best part was when Connie Stewart (the owner of the Best Cat in CFA last show season) congratulated us for our grooming and presentation on Kimi.
I’m proud that he’s more or less, close to the standard (CFA).
To prove these, after numerous shows that he attended, he had always been in the final and several times won Best Kitten in Show and not to forget his achievements in International Show as 3rd Best of Breed overall. He had defeated several top kittens which also include the Best Persians Kitten of CFA Europe in one show. And finally (even with limited number of rings and shows he attended) he was crowned as 15th Best Kitten in CFA Asia for the season of 2006/2007.
Kimi in Hong Kong Show
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With Jan Rogers in Malacca A'Famosa Show
With Sheila Mizzi in KL International Show
With Cheryle U'ren
I have to admit that he was quite popular compare to my other kittens – maybe because of his achievements and few coverage of him in the newspapers. Every time I went back to my hometown or my husband’s hometown, everybody kept asking about Kimi. Even few reporters (esp from STAR and Harian Metro) that I met, always asked about him.
Coverage on Kimi in local newspaper
After finishing his show career as a kitten (his last show was at the KL International Cat Show in Titiwangsa Stadium last January), I tried again to train him to eat on his own. But again and again I failed. And what worried me was he started to show the sign of bowel problem – he would always have soft stool. I tried to change his diet but there was no improvement seen. I tried to give him medication like kaolin, antibiotics, anti-parasites and vitamins, but he was not responding well with the treatment. The symptoms persisted for few months. Every time I fed him he would vomit and had persistent diarrhea. Eventually he became anemic and jaundiced. After consulted few vets, he was suspected to have liver failure or gastrointestinal failure. We finally admitted him to the vet’s clinic and left him for further management. BUT, there was nothing much that they can offer him.
My last visit to see him was really heartbreaking (He had waited for me before his real sleep). The moment he heard my voice and saw me, he looked excited and tried very hard to stand up but he just couldn’t… he was just too weak.
I pet him and gently combed his hair (which were surprisingly long and always intact, never loose or shed even with the sickness that he suffered) …he just lied down without moving… stared at me with his open eyes….as if he knew my feelings….and wanted to tell me something…. that his time was about to come. It’s very hard for me to leave him like that. I insisted my husband to take him back to our house and let me nurse him for the last time. My husband promised me that he would come the next day to take him back since we were heading to another function on that day.
During my way back home in the car, my husband kept on reminding me that life and death is God’s territory. HE can create and lend any life for us to be shared, loved, enjoyed and admired. And don’t forget that HE can take back anytime HE wants to, since everything in this world belongs to HIM. We have to be prepared and accept whatever that HE decides for us with patience and open heart. More over in Kimi’s case, he would have been dead much earlier, should we did not take any measures to save him since the first day of his life. That thought managed to sooth my feeling well and I was fully prepared to accept whatever fate with KIMI, without knowing the fact that my husband already knew from the vet that he had passed away the moment we left him. He only told me the next day when I reminded him to fetch Kimi from the vet place. And he already asked the vet to bury his body near to his place.
Ohhh…what can I say. Silently, my tears dropped from my eyes. I went to my room, grab his pictures and grieved for the lost.
I could never ever accept the fact that Kimi is no longer with me in this world.
I couldn’t stop myself from crying everytime I see his picture… but I couldn’t afford not to see his picture even for one second. Every corner of my room I put his pictures.
I really missed his companion beside me in my bed. And I will always miss him for the rest of my life.
He was born in May and left us also in May. He died on the day he was confirmed as one of the Divisional Winner (DW) kitten in Asia. He had just lived his life to leave his title for our cattery…and it will remain with us forever.
Thank you KIMI for everything you left me….your love, your name, your title and your memories. I promise you, I will never forget that my dear!
GOOD BYE KIMI!!
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A Poem For Kimi (in Malay Language)
Kimi…. Kimi…..Kimi….
Kelahiranmu adalah anugerah…
Kehadiranmu penawar segala duka…
Kewujudanmu penyeri segala hidup…
Kemanjaanmu penambat rindu….
Kerianganmu pengubat sepi….
Kehidupanmu terjemahan kasih sayang…
Kimi…….kini….
Kematianmu kedukaan ku…
Ketiadaanmu kecacatanku…
Kehilanganmu tangisan ku…
Kenangan bersamamu keabadian hidupku…
Kembalilah ke tempat asalmu…
Kembalilah dengan ketenangan…
Ku pohon pertemuan di alam baqa’...
Kimi….
Kini ku mengerti ….kerinduan itu suatu keindahan…
