The Story of "Dogz" and Me

"Dogz" is a 9-year-old male cat that was sterilized by its former owner and later became a stray for unknown reasons. The first time I met it was one night in the winter of 2017

when I was sent by my company to a public school to take charge of the logistics management of foreign teachers at a public school. In order to facilitate my work, I lived in the school dormitory. One evening, after shopping at the supermarket, I walked to the door of the staff dormitory. When I was about to open the door, I found a dirty, long-haired orange cat curling up in the doorway waiting for the door to open. When he saw me, he looked up and mewed at me with imploring eyes. I asked him, "Are you coming in?" So with my opening the door, it followed me slowly into the corridor.
The long corridor was dark, with an occasional light or two flickerings, for there was no one and the whole building was deserted. At that time, I had just returned from the Spring Festival holiday and no other teachers returned to school. I was an employee sent by the company and had to go back to work earlier after the national holiday. The orange, long-haired cat that had come with me, though slovenly, it has majestic-looking and followed me like a little beast from the bottom floor to my room on the third floor. I was always nervous about the darkness, but with the little beast around me, I didn't seem that scared anymore, just like the little girl in a fairy tale walking with a wild animal in the forest.

I entered my room on the third floor, turned on the light, then I could see the cat more clearly: it had all knot of hair, with two large shedding hair sticking just like "wings", under the belly fur there was dark dirty mud. It looked at me when I touched its head. What an elderly man look it has! It stared at me for a while and then looked around my room. I searched for something to feed it. In fact, I had nothing that the cat could eat, so I had to try. I cut some slices of bacon, put a piece of scrambled egg leftover at noon, and gave it some water in a bowl. It ate a long time and drank a long time of water, probably it suffered a long thirst and hunger. At this time I looked out of the window, dark and chill. If I let it go out, it should be too cruel. So I simply asked it to stay in my room for the night, and then let it go out when it’s warmer during the daytime. Anyway, the dormitory was only for me. I saw it lay down and slept on the tile floor. It must be too cold, so I found out an old pillow and put it on the ground. At first, it didn't dare to use, so I nipped it in the chest with my hands and carried it to the pillow. Then it felt very satisfying, and soon it failed into sleep soundly. That was the first night he slept in my dorm.
The next morning I got up early and went to work. The little beast followed me out of the building and we went about our own businesses. After two or three days I did not see it again, until the third day when I was cooking Hunan cuisine "Double Pepper Fish Head" in the dormitory, it appeared right at my door. I let it in, gave it a lot of fish, and it began to stay in my dormitory again for about a week in a row. Every day it went out of the building during the day, then at night, it went back to my dorm for the night.
My career life on assignment was really hard, and I was being forgotten day by day by the boss in the headquarters. There was no colleague nor friend around, so lonely and depressed sometimes. In addition, I was an English major and a graduate of Beijing Normal University. With my MBA degree, I had been expecting to make progress in the field of international education. However, I was suddenly sent to do the work of apartment logistics. I helped teachers rent and repair houses, responsible for maintenance of furniture appliances, visa applications, etc. While other colleagues acted as a glorious people's teacher at the class, I was in and out every day contacting repairing closestool, plumbing, decoration, furniture appliances, etc., gradually I become more and more depressed. I didn't know how long the job will be lasting. My role and work content are just like the old lady in the dormitory management office. The only difference was that my English was good so I could communicate directly with foreign teachers. To be honest, I really didn't like it, but what could I do? If I talked too much about that, it would be deemed as complaining. Simply resign, but that was unfair for me. It was at this time that I met this stray cat. It was so human-like, a partner actually. Every day it calls me with a very penetrating voice from downstairs. At night it was just like a dog walking with me on campus, sometimes it ran happily.
Ten days later, I decided to adopt the cat. Despite his impressive appearance, we seemed to be destined for each other, like friends from a past life where we had met over the centuries. I decided to take him to the pet shop for baths, check-ups, and injections. Probably nobody had touched it for a long time, and he was so frightened that he didn't know what was going on. As powerful and deadly as a ghost, it cried showing its long fingernails and teeth. Two boys in the pet shop could not hold it down for fear that the cat may bite them with its long and sharp teeth, and leave them with penetrating wounds. The shocking scene at that time is unforgettable until today. It seemed that the whole pet store was killing pigs. After a howl, the animal was cleaned, then washed, snipped, dewormed, checked, and vaccinated, which cost me more than 800 yuan. Finally, the pet store clerk told me: it has been cleaned up, you can raise it safely!

I gave it the name of "God beast", mainly because it looks like a lion, but it is very tame to me. It was not allowed to have pets in the school dormitory, I was really worried that one day it would be found by the administrative office, so I was very careful. Sometimes they found the cat running down the stairs, then they would drive it out of the building. When I saw the danger, I would bring it into the dormitory immediately. But it wasn't a sustainable idea, and I couldn't give this cat away, because no one else would like it as much as I do. So I took him back to my hometown to ask my parents to help me raise him, but they already had two dogs and a beautiful cow cat, and my parents didn't like this old, stupid, hairy monster at all. Helpless, I took it back to Beijing. Just before the school gate, I put it in a residential area. It cried in horror, not knowing where it had been left. I picked up the cage and went back to the dormitory. I thought like this: if it does not come to me, our fate will be broken; if it can come back and find me, I'll keep him forever. Not long after I entered the dormitory, I heard the piercing cry of the magical beast in the corridor. I opened the door and looked to the end of the corridor. I saw a fluffy orange animal with a long, long voice crying, running towards me, and the voice was like my lost child seeing its mum again after a long separation. My tears fell down and I picked it up and decided that I would never try to abandon it or give it to someone else because it had taken me for its own.

It's been nearly three years now, and I've been transferred back to the headquarters from my school assignment and I’ve rented a master bedroom with a single bathroom across the street from my workplace. Pets are allowed in this apartment, which was a condition I asked for when I rented the house. We have an independent space, although there is no longer a playground. My god beast no longer likes to go out as before, but I know, as long as I am living with it, it would like to be an indoor cat in the future. It is so old, and if he lives in wild places, it would not live for more than two winters as it has no ability to fight nor hunt anymore. But in a comfortable, quiet environment, with human beings, I believe it can be alive for more time. My life has also changed a lot since I got this cat. My mood is no longer so anxious. With this companion, I feel a lot more secure. When I sleep, he likes to lie on the edge of my pillow, just like a hand warmer and a constant temperature blanket. It follows the same routine as me and never tries to break anything. I fall asleep in the middle of its purring every day, and it feels really warm. There are a lot of stray cats, but not many of them would like to trust us. In changing its life and destiny at the same time, I also feel that there is a powerful force in my own body. Love and company are mutual. When you feel happy, they are happy too. I hope that more people can accept animals, treat animals well, and generously share their love because in doing so, your own heart will be warmer and warmer. Dogz once hunt birds for me and my family members. I believe it must love us just like the way we love it.