Mumbai, India, More than a year after nearly losing her to a severe infection, rescue cat Laxmi’s full recovery has been marked not with a private celebration, but with an act of generosity extending across Mumbai’s stray cat community. Her rescuer, content creator Sawan Koull, recently distributed 100 kilograms of cat food to individuals who feed and care for the city’s street cats, fulfilling a promise made during the most uncertain days of Laxmi’s illness.
The story dates back to 19 June 2025, when Sawan found Laxmi as a tiny kitten in critical condition. A veterinary diagnosis confirmed feline herpesvirus, a viral infection that can be especially dangerous for young, vulnerable animals. At the time, doctors could not offer any certainty about her prognosis, the severity of her symptoms meant her survival was genuinely in question.
For Sawan, those days brought a mix of hope and fear that he says he still remembers vividly. Managing Laxmi’s treatment while uncertain of the outcome pushed him to make a private commitment, one rooted less in expectation and more in desperation: if Laxmi pulled through, he would dedicate her next birthday to something larger than a personal milestone. He would use it to support the people across his city who feed and protect stray cats every day, often quietly and without any form of public acknowledgment.
What followed was a slow, carefully managed recovery. Over several months, Laxmi responded to consistent veterinary care and treatment, gradually regaining her strength and health. The kitten who had once been fighting simply to survive eventually grew into a healthy, active cat, a transformation that Sawan describes as one of the most significant experiences of his life as an animal rescuer.
When Laxmi’s birthday arrived this year, Sawan kept his word. Rather than treating the day as a purely personal occasion, he arranged for 100 kilograms of cat food to be distributed to caregivers across Mumbai, the individuals who consistently feed community and stray cats, frequently using their own money and time to do so, with little institutional support behind them.
“This was never just about marking a birthday,” Sawan said. “It was about keeping a promise I made at a point when I genuinely didn’t know if Laxmi would survive. When you go through something like that with an animal, it changes how you think about what you owe back, not just to her, but to the people doing this work every day without any recognition.”
Sawan said the distribution was designed to be direct and personal, allowing him to interact with several caregivers and better understand the day-to-day challenges involved in feeding stray cats in a city as large and demanding as Mumbai. He noted that many of the people he met described feeding routines that had continued uninterrupted for years, regardless of weather, cost, or personal circumstance.
“Meeting some of these caregivers put things in perspective,” Sawan said. “Laxmi’s story is one example of a rescue that worked out. But there are so many cats out there being looked after by people who never get any attention for it. This felt like a small way to change that, even briefly.”
Sawan added that he hopes Laxmi’s journey, from a critically ill stray kitten to a fully recovered cat celebrating her second birthday, encourages others to think differently about rescue and long-term animal care. He said the experience reinforced his belief that recovery, while never guaranteed, is often made possible through sustained attention rather than any single intervention.
“If Laxmi’s story convinces even a few people to look twice at a stray cat instead of walking past, or to support someone already doing that work, then the promise achieved exactly what I hoped it would,” Sawan said.
