Living with Cats

"If an elephant steps on a mouse and you leave them to solve this out between themselves, you take the side of the elephant." Desmond Tuttu. -
January is ending with lots of sunshine, 20 degrees Celsius or more, even warmer on the roof, my big cat community loves it and now spend more time on my roof terrace. Nights are still quite cold but a bit less damp. The temperature drops as soon as the sun goes down, faster than in Europe. Another effect of the sunshine is that cats get hot at a much younger age, wanting to "get engaged" while still fairly small, if they fall then pregnant it means a lot of stress for their young body. The vent advised me that 7 or 8 months is a good age to get them spayed and neutered. (for the male approx. 50 Dinar and twice as much for the female). This operation is the price my little darlings have to pay for living with us, over the years I had at least 35 cats undergoing this procedure. They were all fine afterwards, more interested in cuddling and no longer suffering from that "feeling hot". Still I'd wish I could explain this to my little treasures and regard it as a pity not to see their doubtlessly gorgeous babies growing up. Tunisians who keep a cat and can't afford to pay the vet or don't want to often separate the mother from her babies at a much too early age (less than 6 weeks, in my experience they never survive) and if they can't find a family for them just leave them in a cardboard box or even worse, put them in the garbage bin. I hate to find these boxes in front of my door (or elsewhere) as I have reached my absolute limit, meaning space and expenditure as my fur family should be entitled to medical care as needed, including dental treatment (more and at a younger age than in central Europe). Ricardo e.g. only 7 months old, had already 3 tooth removed, Fritz approx 8 months old 4 tooth. He was brought by a German lady who requested that I look after him for about 6 weeks until her brother will arrive and take Fritz to Germany. That was in July last year. He has been vaccinated, I was told. (Exact age unknown) My temporary guest meanwhile looks like a permanent one and has not been operated until recently. I had to have him undergo this procedure as he started to get interested in the cat ladies and this would also include marking his hunting area and possibly fighting with my other tomcats. Besides, my cat "teenagers" Natasha and Nathalie have yet to be operated and as my little beauties are still small I want to delay this visit to the vet a bit longer. By the way, Fritz is well integrated and a pleasant easy going fellow, but it would be nice if that lady from Regensburg would turn up and apart from saying hello (also to Fritz) contribute to some of my expenditures (180 Dinar for the vet, including dental treatment and another injection for his gum). Sharks are much luckier than cats, nature provides them with 10-15 rows of spare tooth, up to 30,000 spares during a lifetime. I guess this just as well as not many dentists would wish to have Sharks as patients. Anyhow, sweet Claudia and Fritz are the best of friends now. My husband and I love our fur family, great having them, their love is so pure and honest.