14 Years of Love and Care

By Yan Biyu and Zhou Xianxian

A t roughly five o’clock each afternoon,a silver-haired hunched old woman struggles to drag her small cart in the Chutianliyuan Community in Wuhan, Hubei. This woman has been feeding stray cats in the community for fourteen consecutive years.

I’ll eat after the cat finishes its meal

Hu Qifen is a 79-year-old lady with a thin figure and wrinkles on her face. Despite her age, she is dynamic and energetic, with a clear mind. We interviewed her on a scorching hot day in Wuhan, one of the “three furnaces” in China.Our arrival made her a bit uneasy atfirst, but after we explained our vision, she became calm and told us her story in a slow manner.

Her encounters with stray cats began with an accidental occasion. One afternoon, she came back from a trip and saw four hungry, skinny stray cats near her house. Seeing it, she felt very sympathetic. She went to the market for some leftovers to feed them. She didn’t expect what happened next. The cats started to wait for her every day in the same place. When they spotted her,the cats would gather round in anticipation.

胡奶奶和她的手推車Granny Hu and her handcart

Day after day, month after month, the number of cats in the community gradually increased,and they gathered in several corners of the community. Before long, there were not enough leftovers in the market for them,so having enough cat food became a problem for her. Hu could not bear to starve them, so she started cooking for the cats. It took her more than two hours a day to cook for them, and this has continued for twelve years. After feeding the cats, she returned home to make her own meal. Sometimes,she dids’t eat till ten at night.She jokingly said as she patted the mosquitoes, “They’re very punctual. I’m afraid that they may go away after waiting too long for my food, and they would starve if they couldn’t find anything to feed themselves. So I have to be punctual.”

胡奶奶給流浪貓喂食Granny Hu feeding the stray cats

Gradually, she felt powerless to buy the items and cook for stray cats every day. Last year, she began to buy cat food instead of cooking for them.

She told us that more than sixty cats in the community might eat up to seven catties of cat food in a day and she had to buy more than 200 catties a month. In addition,she also bought medicine for sick stray cats and sprayed pest repellents, costing her nearly 2,000 yuan a month.

Take care of the stray cats as her own

Although she feeds stray cats,Hu is particularly meticulous.To prevent dust, rain, and other particles from falling into the cat food, she has hitched a plastic sheet to her handcart. Before feeding the cats, she uses a broom to clean up the area where the cats are fed, then sets a clean container out and fills it with food. When a kitten has difficulty digesting,she puts the cat food in the boiled water so that the food would be soft and easy for digestion.Sometimes when a kitten disappears and its mother mews around her in a panic, she would take a lot of time and energy to help the mother.

Granny Hu was particularly concerned about an old sick cat.Years ago, she saw it on the side of the road, sick and dirty. She took it to the pet hospital for treatment and bathing. However, the hospital refused to take the dirty cat, afraid of infectious diseases.She had to wash it herself and her hands were accidentally scratched. Furthermore the cat was a slow eater and other cats would steal its food. Therefore,she would watch the cat until it finished eating. Granny Hu bought some anti-inflammatory drugs for it too, broke them up and put them into the cat food.With her care, the cat still lives to this day.

When a hungry cat comes along, she always bends down to give it a few scoops of food.She even knows which cats are missing in the community. If she hasn’t seen a cat for a few days,she worries about it. She looks around anxiously to find it. One day she didn’t return home until eleven o’clock at night because a cat was missing and she felt compelled to make sure it was okay.

Eye surgery is still prolonging

When she was young, Hu suffered from the LDH (lumbar disc herniation) because of her long time office work. As she gets older,it has become aggravated. She was originally a member of this community, but she moved to live in the neighborhood because she wanted to help her daughter.Every day, she hauls her cart from her new neighborhood to feed the cats. A distance of three or four hundred meters is a severe test for an old lady suffering from lumbar damage, especially on a scorching summer day and in the freezing wintertime. “I walk, rest for a while, and arrive here generally after resting three times,” She told us, leaning over her slightly hunched body.

During one Spring Festival,Granny Hu had a fever of 39 degrees Celsius. She felt uncomfortable and dizzy. She skipped feeding the cats and took a dose of medicine to help her sleep. When she later awoke feeling a little better, she was worried about the cats, and came over to the neighborhood to see them. Unexpectedly, the cats were still crouching there, waiting for her. She had to turn back to her house and fetch the cat food to feed them.

Granny Hu lives alone, her daughter being in Shanghai.When her daughter gave birth,she asked her husband, an eightyyear-old man, to help care for her daughter in Shanghai. “I know it’s a little inhumane, but when I’m gone, who will take care of these cats? I can’t leave.” She then pointed to her eyes. “The doctor told me to have an eye surgery long ago, but it would take two weeks to do it. These cats will be uncared for if I do leave for such a long time.”

Because of her daily cat feeding, some of her friends began to think her house smelly and some were afraid of catching some kind of infection, so they gradually lost contact. She laughed and said she was “divorced from the masses”and dealing with cats all day.

In fact, it’s not just the cats that are inseparable from her, she is also inseparable from these cats. With them, she finds life much more amusing than living alone. “Have you ever thought about the day when you can’t feed these cats?”

Granny Hu was silent for a while after hearing our question. “This is what I have been worried about…”She did not know how long she could keep feeding them. “Maybe I have spoiled them so they can’t feed themselves,” Granny Hu blamed herself. “But I can’t bear to see them starve to death. What should I do?”

每天下午五點多，在中國湖北省武漢市一個叫楚天麗園的小區里，總能見到一位佝僂著腰，費勁地拖著小推車的銀發老太太。她在小區里輾轉著喂流浪貓，十四年如一日，從未間斷過。

貓吃完了我再吃

老太太名叫胡其芬，今年79歲，即將步入耄耋之年的她，身材瘦削，臉上布滿皺紋，但精神矍鑠，思路非常清晰。我們采訪她時，“三大火爐”之一的武漢正值中伏天氣，驕陽似火，氣溫接近40攝氏度。我們的到來令她感到很突然，待我們說明來意后，她才鎮定下來，慢慢地跟我們聊起她與這個小區里流浪貓的往事。

她與這些流浪貓的緣分，起源于一次偶然的邂逅。十幾年前的一天下午，她外出回來，看到自己家附近有四只流浪貓，餓得有氣無力，瘦骨嶙峋，她覺得怪可憐的，就到菜場上要來一些剩余的鹵菜喂它們。沒承想這一喂就收不住了，這些貓每天都到這個天上掉餡餅的幸運之地等待她，一見她總是滿眼期待地圍過來。

一天兩天，一個月兩個月，慢慢地，小區里的貓越來越多，它們分別集中在小區里幾處角落。沒多久，菜市場的剩菜就不夠吃了。貓糧成了一個問題。胡老太太不忍心餓著它們，就開始給貓做飯，每天要花兩個多小時，一煮就是十二年，而且每天都是喂完貓才回去做自己吃的，有時一耽擱，晚上十點還吃不上。她邊趕著蚊子邊風趣地說：“它們非常準時，我怕它們等不到我就走開，然后又找不著吃的，挨餓！所以，我也得準時。”

漸漸地，她越來越覺得，每天買菜做飯給流浪貓吃，有些力不從心了。去年，她知道了貓糧的存在，就改喂飯為喂貓糧了。

她告訴我們，小區里的六十多只貓，一天就能吃掉7斤貓糧，每個月要買200多斤。除了貓糧，胡老太太還會給生病的流浪貓買藥，在貓吃東西的地方噴防蟲藥，每個月要為這些貓開銷近兩千元。

把流浪貓當自家貓打理

雖說胡老太太喂的是流浪貓，她卻格外細致講究。為防止灰塵、雨水等掉進貓糧里，她在拖車上搭上塑料布。每次喂貓前，她都要用掃帚清理放貓糧的地方，然后擺上洗凈的容器，再給貓盛上糧。小貓消化不好，她就把貓糧用開水泡一泡再給它們吃。有時候，小貓不見了，母貓慌得圍著她嚷嚷，她只好幫它找，累得她夠嗆。

有一只老病貓讓胡老太太特別揪心。幾年前，胡老太太在路邊看見這只老貓，渾身污垢，病怏怏的。胡老太太把它帶去寵物醫院看病洗澡，醫院嫌貓太臟，又怕傳染病，拒絕了。她就自己給它洗，手指還被它給撓破了。老貓吃東西慢，總有黑貓過來搶，她就一直守著老貓吃完再走。它總是發炎，胡老太太就幫它買消炎藥，弄碎以后放貓糧里。悉心呵護下，這只貓活到了現在。

遇上貪吃的貓，她也會停下來再給上兩勺。社區里哪只貓不見了，她一眼就能發覺。要是幾天沒看見，她心里就難受，擔心貓出了什么事，著急地到處找，有一次找到晚上十一點，直到看見貓沒事才安心。

眼疾手術還拖著

胡老太太年輕時，因坐辦公室太久，落下了腰椎盤突出的毛病，年紀大了，更加變本加厲了。她原本是這個小區里的一員，由于要幫女兒看家，她搬到隔壁小區去住。每天，她都是拖著小車從隔壁的小區回這里喂貓。短短的三四百米距離，對一個飽受腰椎疾病折磨的她來說，是一個嚴峻的考驗，尤其是炎熱的夏天和冰雪寒冷的冬天。“我走一走，歇一歇，一般歇三氣就到了。”胡老太太偏著微駝的身體對我們說道。

有一年春節，胡老太太高燒39攝氏度，人很不舒服，頭暈目眩。為了給貓喂食，她給自己加了藥量，醒來時，身體是輕松了些，但已到晚上十點。她思來想去，還是放心不下，就來小區看看，沒想到那些貓依然蹲在那里等她，胡老太太只好又折回自己小區，拖來貓糧喂它們。

胡老太太一個人住，女兒在上海。女兒生孩子時，要老太太去上海幫忙照顧，她因為放心不下這些貓，就讓八十多歲的老伴去。“我也知道這很不像話，但是我走了，這些貓怎么辦啊？離不開啊！”她指了指自己的眼睛，“醫生早就讓我去做眼睛的手術，可一做就需要兩個星期，這些貓沒人管啊！”

因為她喂野貓的事，一些朋友嫌她家里有味道，有的怕沾惹上什么傳染病，漸漸也不和她來往了。她笑著說自己“脫離群眾”，成天和貓打交道。

其實，不光是這些貓離不開她，她也離不開這些貓了。和這些貓在一起，她覺得比一個人有意思得多。“您有沒有想過，您哪天喂不動了，這些貓怎么辦啊？”面對這個問題，胡老太太沉默了一會兒，“這是我一直著急的事……”她也不知道自己還能喂多久。“也許是我害了它們，讓它們不會自己找吃的了，”胡老太太自責道，“但是看著它們餓死，我實在是不忍心，你說怎么辦才好呢？”