A Small Act of Kindness… A Heartful Story

People usually associate kindness with Human Beings. But other animals show kindness to. All they need is a helping hand and a caregiver. Here is a small incident that happened with me, that proves this fact.

(Courtesy: giannahomes.org)

It was a hot summer evening. I had gone out to play with my friends. There was no one else on the ground, except us. We were too busy playing football, to notice our surroundings. Suddenly, there was a whimpering noise. It seemed as if the noise came from an animal, struggling with pain. We tried to locate the noise but were unsuccessful. The noise then stopped. We resumed our play.

After we were done playing for the day, we bid farewell to our friends. I and my friend then started walking back home. We were abruptly stopped by a cat, struggling to walk on the road. It had injured its limbs. It started whimpering after seeing us. One of its limbs seemed lifeless. It was just being dragged against the road. The cat looked tired. We felt pity for the cat.

We immediately carried the cat to a nearby abandoned shelter. The cat seemed to be dirty, with scales all over her body. We gave the cat a shower and tried cleaning all its wounds. Since we were inexperienced in addressing animal wounds, my friend went to call a neighbour to help us address the cat’s wounds. The person was happy seeing kids like us take care of stray animals, and was happy to help us. He brought powder with him to cover the wounds. First, we started cleaning the wounds of the cat, one by one.  But its right hind limb seemed very much bruised. The cat was not able to move it.

Our neighbour thought of a plan. He took the cat to the house. He made an artificial stent with a wooden stick and a wound-dressing cloth. He wrapped the cloth around the cat’s limb with the stick. In this way, the stick would support the limb. This would help the cat stand on its feet, somewhat stably. The stick would also help the injured bone recover faster.

(Courtesy: theweeklycat.wordpress.com)

We then had to look for a shelter for the cat, so that it can stay there until it is completely healed. My neighbour agreed to keep the cat on the balcony of his house. We were fine with the idea. My neighbour was more-than-pleased to take care of the cat until its legs healed. Since we stayed close-by, we planned to visit the cat every day and feed the cat. We then went to buy cat food from a nearby store. When we were just about to leave, the cat quickly grabbed my friend’s hand with its paws. We didn’t understand why the cat did this; maybe it didn’t like the idea of us leaving. Maybe it was a gesture to show thankfulness to our deed. We were, however, moved by the gesture. An animal just showed Gratitude, which we humans rarely show nowadays.

The next day, when we went to see the cat, the cat came limping to us. The cat’ condition was much better than the previous day. We were very happy to see the cat in a good condition now.

It’s not just humans that show compassion and kindness. Animals show compassion and kindness too. We just need to treat them right. Stray animals are usually fed by the humans walking down the street. But due to this year’s lockdown situation, many animals were stranded and helpless. Also, due to various fake news that circulated on social media, many people started abandoning their pets. These pets had no food to eat. I and my friends tried our best to feed stray animals, and also nurse them if required, this lockdown.