In loving memory of Pole

Cow, Bunny and Pole were my very first rescues. It was Mother’s Day, 7th May 2006 that I found them huddled together by the roadside after the rain.

That’s the three of them on the first day. They were newborns.

Pole opened her eyes after 10 days, so we think she could be the oldest of the three.

Pole was an escape artist right from the start. Even before opening her eyes, she could find ways to climb out and escape from anywhere. She was also very athletic and could scale out from a plastic box even before she opened her eyes.

Way back in our old neighbourhood, our cats were free roaming. I was slow in getting Pole spayed, so she got pregnant very early and gave birth to three kittens. Cleo was one of them. Pole was spayed after she finished nursing her kittens.

Pole was a very good mother for four months. After that, the kittens were on their own. Pole loved to wander in the neighbourhood and even made friends with a big dog in a neighbour’s house.

Once, we lost Pole for about 5 days. We searched all over the neighbourhood but could not find her. Thankfully, she came back after 5 days! Our guess is someone must have adopted her and confined her, and our escape artist found a way to escape and return home.

After we moved here, we prepared a room and backyard for all the cats. We thought it was cat-proof, but Pole managed to escape without any problems. We found her on a neighbour’s roof and luckily, she knew how to come home after a few hours. Our cattery was further fortified and Pole-proof after that.

This photo is blurry but it shows Pole looking up at the cat-fence at night, probably still trying to figure out a way to escape and venture outside. We call it “waiting for the mothership”.

Pole soon settled down in our new home and there were no more escapes.

Pole had a remarkable resemblance to the beautiful Audrey Hepburn, so we called her Poldrey Hepburn. Her name “Pole” was actually a short form for “Polar”, her original name. I named the three of them Cow, Yeti (this became Bunny) and Polar, after big and strong animals as the vet said their chances of survival as newborns without a mother were slim.

So beautiful!

Pole lived her life happily and was always respectful of the other cats. She never competed with the rest for anything. She was happy as long as she had a clean towel in her condo and she shared her condo with everyone else too. She never complained about anything nor asked for anything.

I will miss Pole dearly but I will honour how she lived her life – with simplicity, acceptance, dignity and strength.

Your tour on earth is over now, Pole and the “mothership” has come to take you to a place of freedom, peace and happiness!

Be free and happy, Pole!