Whiskas and the Laowai to the Rescue!

We moved from our old apartment in Tongzilin last weekend to a nicer, newer albeit smaller one nearer to my husband's office in downtown Chengdu.  For few days after we settled in, my husband K returned from walks with the dog in the courtyard to tell the kids he thought there was a litter of kittens somewhere.  I finally suggested we go investigate.

Instead of finding kittens, we found a kitten.  And what a sad state of affairs he was in!  This is the opening to the ventilation shaft where he was.  As you can see from the size of the opening, it could very well have been someone's kid who had fallen in rather than a kitten.

And this is the hole.  Eight or 10 feet down, smooth cement on all sides and no chance of climbing out.  In the near dark, being eaten alive by mosquitoes we tied the dog's leash and two of our daughter's shoe laces to our garbage can with some cat kibbles we'd found in the bush(yes, desperate times call for desperate measures) which we then lowered into the hole.  We finally gave up after about half an hour and dumped the food down with some water so he at least had some sustenance until morning.

The next day we asked the management office if they had a small maintenance worker willing to be lowered into the hole.  They hummed and hawed; one guy climbed in scaring the kitten into an opening farther under ground and then told us there was another way they could go in and they would send us word when they had rescued the kitten.  When we had heard nothing all day I told K that it was up to us because management wasn't doing anything about it.  I suggested he go to the Hongqi store across the road and see if they sold wet cat food.  He returned with two packages of Whiskas wet cat food-- Ocean Fish and Tuna flavor.  I don't know of any cat that can resist that!  Off we went with our garbage can attached to a dog leash and shoes laces with Ocean Fish cat food in the bottom.  It took about 10 minutes before the scrawny, starving kitten succumbed to the temptation and got in the bucket.  K pulled it up as fast as he could but when the kitten saw him at the top, he leaped out of the bucket and landed back in the bottom of the hole.  Cursing and swearing ensued before the bucket was lowered again.  This time--success!

"I got him!"

Filthy and starving; ribs and hip bones protruding, we rushed him upstairs.

A bowl of chicken broth and a bath later and he started to look much better.  I had him purring in no time.

He's doing much better but not out of the woods yet.  In a country that cares little for animals, finding things like good quality cat food is difficult.  I am on the search for Whiskas cat milk right now because he's so little and everything else is upsetting his stomach.

We've decided to name him Yunqi(Yoon chee) which is Chinese for Luck and we are in China after all. It wasn't luck that he fell down that hole but it was luck that we happened by.  And we all need a little Yunqi in our lives, don't we?  ;)