My Little Treasures

Whenever I hear a dog bark, I hope that his bark is bigger than his bite. Most dogs on the street can be easily chased away, thank heaven. Cats carefully watch them, as they do with bored disturbed children of various ages. Just now I caught three 5 year old kids attempting to pour the drinking water (I leave outside for cats) over a cat taking shelter underneath my yucca plant behind my metal fencing. Yesterday I heard tiny kittens screaming from a garbage container, I lifted a bit of garbage but couldn't see them, too much rubbish of various kind had already been dumped on them. Treating the tiny ones just like vermin is what the ignorant, uneducated regard as civilisation. I fear they often also kill the mother, "capital punishment" for falling pregnant. Later on I discovered a lovely big, mainly white cat in an open cardboard box. She had an apricot sized wound on the back and was highly pregnant, still alive but I could see from her eyes that she's dying. So I just stroked her, I could feel her babies. She didn't make a sound and shortly later died. The wound (and her death) may be inflicted by a thrown stone, a beating or an accident. Everything is possible here, lack of empathy a big problem and I would like to stress such behaviour is not in line with the Quran. Not yet giving up hope, I often shout "Haram" (meaning the Quran forbids you such action). Alice, a golden coloured street cat and regular visitor to my Cats' Table, for several days stayed very close to my entrance door and on various occasions tried to get  inside (my cat community doesn't like it). I could see that Alice is pregnant and looking for a save shelter. I know the panting sound when a cat is just about to give birth, (the first time it was lovely Amira, our house cat, then glorious Gloria - also in front of our entrance door) and quickly took her inside. It was just in time. Alice gave birth to 3 sweet alive kittens and another 3 arrived already dead. She is such a caring Mum, one hardly notices this little family. The babies are happy, not screaming (unlike those taken away from their cat mother), my husband even asked whether Alice's kittens are still alive. I keep her in a small corridor, away from my other cats as the majority consider our community to be already big enough. My husband is of the same opinion. Anyhow, Alice is a quite gentle cat and her babies are just like her, a happy little family. As always one kitten looks like her/his mum and the others like their fathers. Cats manage to give birth to (usually 4) kittens of different tomcats on the same day. Due to a generally week immune system and other problems cats don't get old here, most die during the first 3 months of their life, several more during the following few months. I've seen so many dead: run over by a car, hit by stones, killed by a dog, bad teeth and gum making it impossible to eat, bad cold preventing the cat from smelling the food (what they can't smell they won't ear), fatal injuries and prior to this lots of pain caused by airgun bullets (in the neighbourhood), malnutrition, etc.. Lately I noticed several of my regular guests at my cats' table suddenly disappeared. It is highly unlikely they found another place to provide them with daily food or that they found a family, certainly not several at the same time. Sudden death by nature or poison? Both is possible. Among those who disappeared without a trace are Snowflake, a lovely cat with long white fur (wasn't well but recovering, may have had a home and hopefully returned there) and Tony, a big gentle tomcat that allowed me to clean his nose and eyes - cats actually hate that (some of my in-door cats react as if I wanted to kill them, less easy), he just started to eat again and I was happy to see this. Folks keep bringing me tiny kittens, but I unfortunately can' t cope with any more. Sad, at least these people try to save kittens' life, but I'd wish they would employ a vet and get cats operated in order to reduce the number of unwanted kittens. I had quite a few operated, yet I find so many kittens in front of my door or placed underneath the Yucca plants next to my entrance door. The last ones I accepted, were 3 grey and 1 black baby kittens, a few days old, had just started to open their eye, the mother is dead I am told (pity there is rarely a father in sight to take over, but I know of at least one case in Germany). I bottle fed them with 1/3 cow milk and 2/3 mineral water. Without the mother or at least a foster cat their chances are not very good. One died after 7 days, it looked peaceful. One of the others I added to the 3 that Alice already had of her own. She accepted it and I hoped the little family won't be too disturbed, as this little one belonged to these 4 that were accustomed to doing a lot of screaming, missing their mum. (With my really bad headache the last 2 days it was rather trying.) Anyhow, a bit more screaming and now all are happy. I wonder what Alice thought, when the additional kitten arrived (can't she count up to 4?), I think she just felt sympathy for the poor little darling. We can really learn from cats. Bijou has gone hiding in our house. We know her teeth are bad, the vet had to pull out 4, the gum causes pain, sometimes she screams suddenly, even without eating anything. What was intended as protection by mother nature (sick/week animals make easy prey, better to hide) is now a disadvantage, we can't take her to the dentist-vet when we don't know where to find her and then it won't be easy as she is frightened. Nevertheless I nearly managed but then she happened to put one of her claws into a vein of my hand, just slightly, but it was enough to get me bleeding. As son as I noticed this I quickly stopped the bleeding by simply applying pressure with a finger. Just as well we are provided with 2 hands. For the next attempt I shall wear oven gloves. Hope I'll find my little treasure soon, the poor little darling urgently needs help. - On the morning of the next day I found one of my tiny grey kittens dead, at least it looked as if it was sleeping, a peaceful death, of the remaining 2 one was with Alice for a couple of days meanwhile, well adopted, I tried to add the other one to Gloria's. But she is pregnant again, she was so fast, I've been thinking of getting her operated....... she was faster. Anyhow, she wasn't interested this time to feed her milk to yet another cat's baby and this sweet baby died also. All my attempts were in vain, except for one, they were just too young to survive without a cat mum. - I found a kitten that looked as if someone had thrown a bucket full of washing water over it (for the 2. time meanwhile, it definitely wasn't raining, besides it looked like dirt water)  cleaned and dried its fur, cleaned its nose and eyes. I wonder why so many kittens suffer from blocked noses and "sealed" eyes here. In addition they often also have pus in their eyes. Never encountered this in Europe. Strange. A few hours earlier I discovered a tiny kitten on top of an approx. 3 m high wall. Under no circumstances can it have got up there all by itself. Some bored stupid youngster must have placed it there, next to a small flat roof, without food or water. I asked a tall young lad from the neighbourhood to help me and he managed to get it down with the aid of a stool. The little one was so thirsty! Next I cleaned its nose and eyes, the usual procedure. Poor little darlings, they also have but one life. I hope the sun will put us all in a better mood and allow us to enjoy the beauty of this country. We need solidarity.