In the Philippines cats get no respect,
never pampered unlike in the US.
No cat hospitals, probably no cat vets.
Feral street cats no one there wants;
they leap from roof to roof on one story
Philippines houses, a racket on the roofs,
and scrounge for food wherever they
can find it. Theirs is a hard luck life.
Once as a dumb and foolish experiment,
I hissed at one to see how he’d respond.
Big mistake. Regretted it. Cat took offense.
Every time he saw me after that, his eyes glared,
his teeth bared, and he hissed at me, an enemy.
My conscious guilty, I really felt bad for teasing
that poor cat. I should have been better than that.
I began bringing him food to atone for my offense.
Six meals later, friends at last.
Bob Boyd