The Recap from previous post

Last October, an abandoned newborn kitten was handed to me by a colleague who found her on our campus. Near death and in dire straights, she blossomed with a good dose of antibiotics and round-the-clock care. Her recovery prompted me to find her a name, given by a UMC church group in Flowery Branch, Georgia who had been following her story.  We called her Pingan Hua (Peaceful Flower), or Ping-ping for short.  Below, she is on the mend in December.

Here she is, 7 months later, at the kennel in Luzhou where she’s being housed.

And here I am, clear across the world and stuck in America due to Covid-19, trying desperately to find Ping-ping her forever home.

A long wait has prayers answered

My plea to find rescue Ping-ping a home has been ongoing.  I posted the following in my WeChat moments, hoping once again for someone to contact me.

大家好！我需要你的帮助。 我还在美国。由于感染了病毒，我无法返回中国。 我在沧州的救援需要一个家。 他在宠物店等。 她叫平平。 她是一只雌猫，1岁。 她被人搞砸了。 她是一只室内猫。 她不喜欢住在外面。 她不会损坏家具。 她喜欢其他的猫和狗。 请给平平一个充满爱的幸福家庭。 如果您有兴趣，请与我联系。 告诉你的朋友！ 谢谢！！

“Hi, everyone! I need your help. I’m still in America. Due to the virus, I can not yet return to China. My rescue in Luzhou needs a home. She’s waiting at the kennel. Her name is Ping-ping. She is a female cat, 1 year old. She has been spayed. She is an indoor cat. She doesn’t like staying outside. She doesn’t damage furniture. She likes other cats and dogs. Please give Ping-ping a happy family full of love. If you are interested, please contact me. Tell your friends! Thank you!!”

The message, with pictures,  went out on June 26.

2 hours later came the reply: “你可以把它留给我 我会照顾你的猫 我会给她一个好家。”    Leave it to me.  I’ll take care of your cat. I will give her a good home.

From whom, of all people, did this message come?  None other than our former choir director at the Luzhou Protestant Church, Zeng Yujie.

The offer of a forever home

Yujie was very quick to announce in her note to me that she was not busy and wanted to pick up Ping-ping the next day.  She explained she had raised a cat before, calming my concern of a first-time pet owner.

From past experience, I know that Chinese don’t often understand the great responsibility of feline ownership, nor do they want to spend the extra money needed to take ownership seriously:  proper pet food (not their left-over, oily and spicy stir fries with dangerous fish bones), vaccinations (often Chinese don’t bother), store-bought kitty litter (a majority improvise with construction site discarded crumbled brick pieces), plastic litter container (cardboard boxes are used instead) and scratching boards (cats that scratch furniture are sometimes abandoned, thrown into the streets to fend for themselves.)

In China, animal rescuers such as myself have a stressful time placing our charges in good homes.

But Yujie put my fears to rest by immediately sending me a video of her lovely, home where Ping-ping would live, and assured me that the kitty would never be released outside.  She also  included in our WeChat message photos of how prepared she was.  Kitty litter and tray ready to go and one of the best cat food brands we have in China, Royal Canine, all waiting for Ping-ping’s arrival.

A Smooth Pick-up

My next task was to contact the kennel owner and staff to tell them that Ping-ping would be leaving them the next day.  I put the two in contact so they could co-ordinate pick-up times and then anxiously awaited news of kitty’s departure from her 7-month foster compartment at the shop.

Due to time differences, I had to wait an entire nail-biting day until nearly midnight before the “pings!” began on my phone of messages, videos and photos being received.

Yujie arrives, reaching inside to pet her new kitty. I fortuitously left Ping-ping’s carrier as an after-thought, not knowing my 1-month absence would stretch into 7 months. The staff,  in the above, are looking on.

I later received word from the kennel employees that they cried when Ping-ping left them.  She had really grown on them! (But obviously not enough for someone to step up and adopt her.  Hmmmm.)

An Easy Adjustment

At first, Ping-ping was worried and scared when she emerged from her carrier.

Yujie left her alone.

And then came the photos 2 hours later.

Ping-ping contentedly rolling on furniture.

Ping-ping gazing out the window onto the apartment complex below.

Ping-ping perched on top of the piano as Yujie plays hymns and sings.

Obviously,  Ping-ping had truly taken to her new home and loving caregiver.  No worries from my end  of her being tossed out into the cruel world.  This kitty was here to stay!

Blessings Abound

It has been 3 weeks since Ping-ping found her forever home.  Yujie has updated me weekly about her new family member’s silly habits and numerous feline activities.  Ping-ping loves her cat food and especially enjoys her evening bowl of goat’s milk, which is to be good for her pretty gray coat, according to her owner.

Being a devout Christian, Yujie gets up every morning at 5 a.m. to send out the scripture readings on her phone to those of us in the daily Bible reading class.  (I am also a member of that church group.). She prays and goes over her lessons as do many Chinese Christians at the Luzhou Protestant Church.  During that time, she shared with me that Ping-ping flops at her feet as she reads aloud Biblical passages for both to ponder over, contemplate and meditate on.

It gladdens my heart to know that Ping-ping’s Christian education is continuing onward. She was first introduced to my faith in my home, when all during December, my student Christmas parties  took place one after another after another.  While I did my best to share with little kitty the true meaning of this season, a very young Ping-ping cared more about batting at Christmas ornaments and playing with sparkly tinsel roping than she did about hearing of Christ’s birth. Good to know that, under Yujie’s faithful tutelage, she might very well become a Christian yet!

Thank you, Yujie,  for giving Ping-ping the perfect home, the perfect life and the perfect  human companion, yourself.  I think I can honestly say this was in every way a match made in heaven.