Weekend-Engagement topics: WEEK 180

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This is my entry for the Weekend Engagement #180 challenge.
I chose this topic for my writing:

"We all like to spend extra time with our pets over the weekend - Introduce us to your pet and tell us something about it. Someone else's pet will work if you don't have one but remember to use your own photos."

Thank you, as always, to @galenkp for being such a wonderful host. We all look forward to his weekly topics.

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Since my stepfather died, I haven't had a pet. We had a rooster, rabbits, and even a fish before he died. My late father enjoyed caring for animals. But the rest of me and my siblings, we either didn't know or didn't care. We like animals, but we don't pet them like other pet owners.

However, in my neighbourhood, there are a number of stray cats who wander over to our backyard for food and occasionally give birth to their babies. I usually tell my Mom that our backyard is their main hospital because there are so many stray cats that come just to give birth and then go.

My children grew close to them and even named them. They knew all the stray cats as their own because they came for food all the time. I know they aren't our pets, but since we see them almost every day and never forget to feed them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I suppose this story fits the topic this week.

Since we need to make a story about a pet and introduce it, its name is "Belang," which my son gave it. It's a little kitten who constantly tries to break into our home. We never let cats into the house. We only go to them in the backyard or on the front porch. My sons are always the ones who play with them. But "Belang" is something exceptional.

"Belang" is a playful and lively kitten. Even when we ask it to leave the home or shoo it away to the backyard, it doesn't seem to be terrified of us. It has a habit of climbing our door gates only to get back into the house. Despite our best efforts to keep it out, "Belang" always finds a way in.

However, we recently lost "Belang" unexpectedly. One night, I discovered "Belang" laying in front of our porch main gates. It was still breathing the night I discovered it, but I sensed something was wrong, so I urged my son to transfer it and place it in a paper bag so it could rest in peace. "Belang" died the next morning, just as I expected, and I had to dispose of its remains.

I am still wondering what caused its death. There was no sign of it being hit by a car or any scratches at all. All I remember is that it was motionless when I first found it. But it still gave off a meow sound when my son tried to move it. I can still recall it, which makes me sad just to talk about it.

This is why I do not want to keep a pet with me. I can't bear the thought of them dying. It saddens me, and I don't believe I want to go through it again. The last time I tried to keep a cat, it lasted only two weeks before going missing. I knew I didn't want to keep a pet on my own after that.

I suppose I'll stop now. It's difficult to put into words how I felt about this kitten because we saw it every day and played with it before it died. Despite the fact that it was not our pet, witnessing it from birth and feeding it made us feel the closest to it.