Not All are the Same

We first met Amira 2012, a gorgeous white, brown and black cat and it appeared to be love on first sight on all parties. Several cats came to our house, "introducing themselves" as possible new family members, at the time we just chose Amira. She loved climbing walls and onto roofs, no problem for her, only for me watching and worrying about her safety. She became quicker pregnant than anticipated and got "engaged" at least four times. Cats manage to have kittens of different tomcats born on the same day usually four or sometimes six, normally one resembling the mother. Amira allowed me to assist her, when in May 2013 Tiger, Bijoux, Soleigh and Sandy arrived. They were so cute and Amira turned out to be a great mum, providing her babies with a lot of love and care, watching them carefully and only interfering when necessary. A happy little family we were proud to have. As they grew older, Sandy showed a tendency to panic with bad weather (heavy rain, hail, thunderstorm). We decided to have Amira operated and the others when they are at the right age (family planning). During Amira's operation the vet discovered (unknown to us) that she was pregnant again. When Amira returned home she changed and didn't seem to like her kittens anymore. Did she intend to make them leave and make space for her new generation (unaware of having had her pregnancy terminated)? Or was it the shock of the operation forced on her? She started to fight with Sandy, to a lesser extend with Bijoux and fear her son Tiger. Him chasing her, because he saw her as the attractive female cat and she not wanting to get "engaged" to her son? We had to keep them separate. Whenever Amira went outside on the street she quickly returned and she didn't seem to find the street with all those cars, noisy motorbikes and lots of constantly yelling and stone throwing children very appealing. But life is full of surprises. Lately Amira went outside, disappeared for two days, returned, had some food and went again. Next morning she mixed with the cats that come to my "cats' table", protested when I took her inside and went out again. Now we haven't seen her for three days and this depresses me. What kind of food does she find, what shelter, does she observe the traffic, encounter disturbed kids? Honey goes out after breakfast, returns when she's hungry and always sleeps in our house. Why can't Amira do the same? We continue to hope for her return, those who have to sleep rough don't get old. Hopefully Amira is aware that she's got an alternative. We love her and I learnt a lot from her. While some cat mums always seem to enjoy the company of even their adult children, Amira appeared to prefer to be on her own. Maybe she only loves kittens while they  are small and little bundles of joy.  We often wondered  whether she was aware of which cats are her children. She seemed to "argue" a lot with Sandy, had started hitting her and one day Sandy began to hit her back. Looks like cats' behaviour is not so unlike that of humans. Perhaps Amira's strained relationship with Sandy made her decide to leave. Very sad. I haven't given up hope yet to have her return. - While we had reached a point where any more additions of little fur angels is no longer possible, a lady from Germany arrived with sweet Fritz asking for temporary shelter for him until her brother would pick him up within 4 or 6 weeks. That lady left a bit of food for Fritz, returned once more with additional food and that is the last I heard of her. Did she change her mind or did she trick me in order to find a home for Fritzchen? The other day a Tunisian lady tried in vain to persuade us to accept two baby kittens. We very much regret but we have reached our absolute limit and that is also how our little darlings feel, they don't want an even bigger family. Some have found a friend or several, others are not happy to see one or two of those present and I have to stop them fighting. Life isn't always easy and as nights are getting colder our little treasures will start coughing and sneezing, have their little noses running. I am afraid vaccination is too expensive for us, even though our vet would be prepared to offer this at a reduced rate to us.