Unlike dogs, who let you know exactly what they’re feeling, cats tend to be a bit more secretive. Humans generally have no idea what’s going on with their strange behavior. One woman decided to check out what this cat was up to, and what she found brought her to tears.
An elderly woman from Seoul, South Korea absolutely loves cats and she has since she was a child. Five years ago, the woman moved to a part of the city that has many buildings that are very close to each other. The amount of alleys and terraces is the perfect spot for stray cats to hang out. The woman immediately found herself taken by them.
Soon after the old lady moved in, she began feeding the strays. The neighbors didn’t seem to mind because that meant the strays wouldn’t be poking around their houses looking for food. It wasn’t long before all of the cats knew the lady, and she knew them, too. But since cats are pretty sneaky, she didn’t know all of their secrets.
Earlier this year, one cat in particular started to catch the woman’s eye. The cat, a female tabby, started behaving differently than all of the other cats. The old woman went up to her with bowls of food, the cat would sniff at them, but she wouldn’t take any. The woman figured that the cat had just eaten, but the tabby did the same thing the next day. Then the lady recognized the cat.
The woman recognized the cat, later named Dong Sook, and she knew that the cat had given birth in one of the building’s basements not long before. She had heard from a neighbor that the tabby had had five kittens, but none of them survived. The woman became sad and began to wonder if maybe the cat was sad, too. Was Dong Sook not eating because she didn’t want to keep living?
The woman thought she would try to make the tabby a bit more cheerful. She bought her some wet cat food, which was something she rarely did. She figured there was no way Dong Sook could refuse that type of delicious food. After opening the can, the woman placed it in front of the cat. The cat looked at the food, and up at the woman and let out a meow. Then Dong Sook did something surprising.
In the woman’s hand was the bag of dry food she used to feed the other strays. As she bent down to pet Dong Sook, she couldn’t believe she still didn’t want to eat. Dong Sook then put her paw up to the bag and knock it out of the woman’s hand. The old lady let it drop to the floor. The cat then grabbed it with her teeth and began running away. The old lady was thoroughly confused.
The woman couldn’t believe what had happened. In the five years that she had been feeding strays, she had never seen one do that. The following day, the old lady made sure she had another bag of food, just in case it happened again. Just like the previous bag, the cat took the bag and ran. The woman was just as confused as the day before, but she was fixed on finding out why.
The woman decided that if she wanted to find out what was going on, she would have to follow Dong Sook. The next day, she did the same thing. But this time, she left it on the ground and waited for the cat to take it. Once the cat grabbed the bag, the woman began to follow her, with her camera in her hand. Following the cat wasn’t going to be easy.
The cat took the woman on a journey through the alleys, and she almost lost Dong Sook when she jumped up onto a ledge attached to a terrace. But the woman climbed the stairs and there she found Dong Sook pacing around the terrace with the plastic bag full of food in her mouth. It appeared as if Dong Sook was waiting for something. What happened next completely shocked the old woman.
Coming up the ledge was a tiny tabby kitten. It found its way to Dong Sook, who had dropped the bag of food at its feet. The kitten then tore open the bag with its teeth, just like she had probably done before. The little cat began eating the food inside, as Dong Sook closely watched. The old woman finally understood what had been going on.
It would appear that not all of Dong Sook’s litter passed away! She had one surviving kitten and was doing everything in her power to keep it alive. The woman was extremely moved by the mother’s act, that she knew she had to do something to help. Even though Dong Sook was doing a great job, the woman wanted to make sure that the kitten was taken care of.
The woman got into contact with a local animal rescue group and told them Dong Sook’s story. They were unsure at first, but after watching the video the woman had recorded, they were astonished. One of the group members spoke to a Korean TV station and said, “After suffering, she was attached to the kitten.” They also wanted to help give the cats a better chance of survival.
The rescue group sent some of their people to the woman’s neighborhood in order to find Dong Sook. It proved not to be an easy task, since the cats didn’t know them. It wasn’t until the old woman came out with food, were they able to find Dong Sook and her kitten. Catching them would be the true challenge. Since Dong Sook was a street cat, she wouldn’t be taken without a fight.
Since the kitten would be easier, they trapped it first. Because they wanted Dong Sook to see they meant no harm, they picked the kitten up with extreme care. When they tried to pick up Dong Sook, she was very wary, but allowed them to take her. She understood that that was the only way to be with her kitten. Even though the woman was happy about their future, she was sad to see them go.
The group found a home for Dong Sook and her kitten, and they even bought them a new house to sleep in. The kitten jumped playfully around its mother, seemingly excited about their new set up. Even though she showed no emotion, Dong Dook finally accepted some food. It was as if Dong Sook knew that she wouldn’t have to fight so hard to find food for her little one anymore.