Bang-earn

First written November 2016. Later updates follow the original story.

Bang-earn was found by Yeepun’s mother one evening in Kantang, a town in southern Thailand, abandoned in a box near a forest.

Mom saw a box that looked out of place by the road, with no one around. She opened it and was surprised to find a cat. He didn’t jump out or flee. He stayed in the box.

He was just sitting there, looking confused, wondering where he was and what had happened to him.

She felt sorry for him. She took him home and cared for him as her own, and gave him the name Bang-earn, which means “by chance” in Thai.

Earn loves Mom and follows her everywhere. When she visits the neighbors or walks down to the store, Earn follows her there and back.

At the vet, for a check-up and shots, it turned out Earn has feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Mom didn’t want him to infect other cats, so she had to find him a home where he could be kept apart. Because of the disease he gets sick easily, and Yeepun spent a lot on supplements to keep him strong.

Mom moved Earn to the property in Chiang Rai owned by her sister, Yeepun’s aunt, where the family has built the cat kennels. The kennels house several cats together, so Earn lives in his own room in the house.