I was recently in Costa Rica at a women’s surf and yoga retreat. One morning while we were eating breakfast, one of the women, Olivia, spotted an unusual pile near our table. Upon closer inspection, she exclaimed it was baby kittens! Being a cat lover, I bolted up and joined her above the mound of tiny, helpless creatures.
Was the mommy around? Did someone drop them off for the hotel to deal with in the middle of the night? These questions became less important as time went by because getting them help was crucial. We put them into a large circular plastic bin and put our heads together. Marjie, one of the women who runs the retreat and lives in the area, knew a woman named Alina who had nursed a baby squirrel back to health with rice water last year.
She called Alina, who came and gave the kittens the rice water. We needed to get them to someone who could help them. Alina and Marjie knew a woman, named Barbara, who takes in all different kinds of animals and helps them. Barbara lives in Flamingo, a town about 20 minutes away by car. We all pitched in a little money to get the kittens some formula milk and to pay to transport them and we waited for the news.
In the end, I learned that three didn’t make it. That’s the sad ending. The happy ending is that one did and Marjie and her boyfriend, Fern, will be adopting her. Her name is Mare Shari, and she goes by "Shari." She’s named “Mare” for “La Marejada,” which is the name of the hotel we stayed at and where she began her life. “Shari” is the name for the bowl all the kittens were put into, which is used for sushi rice (Fern is a sushi chef at the hotel).
I received some great news after I returned home that Shari opened her eyes and has been accepted by a mother cat with kittens a little older than her. This means she's getting the milk and love she needs to grow strong for her homecoming in a few weeks. Here's a picture I received a few days ago of little Shari:
In the video, she’s the bigger, almost all white one, with a few back spots and the tiniest speck of yellow on her head. In a few weeks, Shari will be home with Marjie and Fern.
