Lottery players punt on one-eyed pussy

AYUDHAYA: Gamblers have been rushing to get lucky omens from the corpse of a one-eyed kitten which refuses to rot.

The cat’s owner, 60-year-old Wichian Sangchai, said the kitten was the last of a litter of three born early in July in Ayudhaya, but died within minutes of being born.

Mr Wichian said the kitten had only one eye and a strange nose which looked a bit like an elephant’s trunk.

He said he and his wife Namfon kept the body of the kitten to show neighbors, but two days later the kitten’s corpse had still not started to rot or smell, despite the heat.

As word of the bizarre kitten spread, people started coming to pay homage to it.

Some lit incense and asked the kitten’s spirit to bring them good luck.

The dead kitten also attracted a lot of lottery players who made offerings in a bid to to pick up some lucky lottery numbers from the dead cat.

Some are betting on 13, the date the kitten was born, while others are punting on 18, Mr Wichian’s house number.

Other gamblers opted for more complicated formulas, such as taking 321 because the kitten was one of a litter of three, with two surviving and one dying.

Local vet Pancha Iamseng said the kitten’s strange appearance was simply a birth defect, but agreed it was odd the kitten’s corpse had not started to rot.

Decomposition usually set in after about 12 hours, he said.