Eileen, Obituary

 Sweet baby Eileen was born approx. end of March 2017, I found her in front of my door together with Allan, both dark brown streamed. They were the first cats I bottle fed with cat milk, fairy new on the market here. She and her brother used to fight who can have the bottle first. They developed well, but after one year I suddenly discovered her brother dead in the morning, no sign of illness. Middle of November Eileen developed breathing problems. The vet recommended Marbocyl and Kortison, and she recovered. She loved to cuddle and got specially detached to me. In March 2019 I got my little treasure spayed and neutered. In Januar 2021 Eileen got bold patches behind her ears, dermatique the vet diagnosed, we applied ecorex. One year later she started to eat only very small amounts of food and the vet discovered kidney problems, following a blood test. Our little treasure stayed over night at the vet's and we bought special croquettes for her (50 Dinar for 1 kg). Kidney problems are sadly fairly common here, the water is of a poor quality and so is their immune system, all too often. I loved cuddling with lovely Eileen, such a gorgeous little darling. For a short period Eileen got better, then she started to have a blank expression on her face just sitting there, not interested in anything. I feared the worst, but didn't want to give up. Took her once more to the vet. On the 9th of April she passed away, looking very peacefully. My sweetheart I miss you, thank for all the love you gave to me. 

Postscript Diamonds and Perls among the Rubble

 "The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of convidence." Charles Bukowski.                                                         Wondering where the diamonds and perls are? For me they are the gorgeous cats and dogs indoors and outdoors, too many forced to live as strays, some all their life, others innocently lost their home through folks too blind to see and appreciate their true values. What do I love most of all in Tunisia? It is not the beautiful beech (if kept clean), not the sea, the architecture, the food, etc., it is those amazing cats. We bought a red collar for Leica, a gentle bitch, I call her a half stray, she has human friends and and creates no problems. Cats know she's okay, they even try to steal her food. Now someone without shame has stolen her collar, it was mend to protect her. Isn't it enough to stupidly throw stones at innocent pets? Living among the ignorant can be so trying. Our puppy, Djego, still gets his panic attacks, less often now, thank heavens. With his reaction to noise, maybe headphones would a solution? Just dreaming, my husband uses these when it gets too much. He by the way, informed me that beautiful Bella (3 colours), Fleur (dark colour with blond streaks) and Minus (white tomcat) are waiting outside, in front of our house, for a late breakfast.... They sometimes oversleep the early one. I am prowd of my husband's reaction, no complaint that my expenditures for pets should and could be reduced, after all, a Cat's Table in addition.... In the kitchen Adele tried to steal a piece of raw meat. I took it away from her and offered it to Djego. Big surprise, he doesn't want to eat raw meat.  Fishmongers sometimes donate a sardine or two to stray cats. While several eat the raw fish more or less completely, others won't touch it at all. I have seen cats even picking out, as uneatable, the tiny, soft bones of tinned  sardines. Like humans, all are not the same. Black and grey Alien had problems eating, smell from the mouth, which usually indicates teeth or gum problems. It turned out that 5 teeth were black and had to be removed. Cats' visit to the dentist vet is all too often drastic, though they seem to recover quickly and Alien is enjoying his Croquettes again, his favorite food. Lately kittens are especially endangered when a virus spreads. Their immune system is frequently too weak to cope. Poor little treasures. I wish more folks here would understand the babies need to live, be fed and trained by the mummy cat for at least 6 weeks, for dogs it is 3 months. By the way, a woman would need to be pregnant for 18 to 21 months before giving birth to a baby as well developed as a chimpanzee at that stage. When we discovered Djego, close to death, he was only 2,5 months old. I don't know how long he had already been forced to look after himsef. He has such beautiful brown eyes, when looks in my eyes, it is so difficult not to melt. Nevertheless, we are forced to look for a new home for him. Living among so many cats, several not respecting him, is very stressful for our sweat darling. 

Perls and Diamonds among the Rubble

 "The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different." Hippocrates.                                                                                      Ramadan has started, this means quiet streets, less traffic in several areas in the morning, a more pleasant walk with puppy Djego (just like me he doesn't enjoy noise, it makes us nervous), but we have to put up all too often with extreme cacophonous kids and youngsters until late at night. The street crossing in front of our house is used as a "football stadium", a kindergarten and a play ground, traffic gets only more or less tolerated, dangerous in particular for motorcyclists or pedestrians, as up to three balls are kicked in all directions, by screaming children. There seems to be a celebration on the street, many neighbours attenting by the sound of it, looking down from the roof.... big surprise, only 4 kids outside. Wow, even louder then 30 monkeys in a zoo (sorry, but I can compare by experience) and on several occasions I counted more then 20 kids of all ages....  In Africa the majority of the population is less than 30 years old, the elderly becoming a rare species. I hope that reading gets fashionable again, not just the internet. The government donated 60 Dinar to poor families as a bit of help during Ramadan, another payment is planned a bit later. Though Ramadan means no food nor drink during the day, it is a custom to have a special good meal in the evening, difficult when you are poor. Moslims tend to be more generous during this period, like Christians around Christmas. A young boy from the neighborhood, coming from a badly off family, shocked my husband by handling him a shoping list for vegetables, spices, rice, noodles, flour, oil, sugar, one chicken, etc. "This is what his mother wants...... if it is too much than perhaps you can buy half or one just one third....?" I may add that over the years we helped that family on various occasions, even though we are most certainly not rich, can't afford a car, nor employing a cleaner, etc. being a private patient and having a big feline family eats up my savings. We do hope to find a good family for Djego, without cats and small children, in a quiet neighborhood, ideally with a garden to play in. He has improved but is still traumatised, that street cat (one I don't know) that all of the sudden jumped on his back and attacked him, while on a leash, has thrown him back, Djego's relationship with cats worsened, seems he wants us to kick them all out, perhaps just keep Fritzchen. I presume Djego would eventually relax more if he would get spayed and neutered, (approx. 200 Dinar), needs to be vaccinated too, 90 Dinar. Too much for us. Pity we haven't got a garden. A puppy needs to play, poor boy, seperated from his mummy while still too young, thrown out on the street, attacked by a dog, close to death and viewing his fright of children, most probably abused by some too, we do wish him a loving for ever home, in Tunisia or Europe. Whenever we go for a walk guys tell me that Djego is beautiful, which race? Atlas, expensive in Europe. He originates from the Atlas mountains, a loyal guardiandog, keen to protect his owner and his property, including his flocks. Very allert to any possible dangers, wild animals, and warns of suddenly appearing strangers, Berbers breed (Aidi) in Morocco, an old race, effectonate and docile.- A neighbour, the kind one can do without, tried to tell my husband that excrements were left on the street by our dog, very strange since we always pick them up and carry this back to our house, won't even leave the excrements in one of those garbage containers as we don't want a plastic bottles collector to accidentally get in contact, while serching the container. Several guys, young, middle aged or old, finance their livelihood with the sale of plastic, so there are no longer lots of plastic bottles polluting the environment (as before the revolution). Tunisia intends to import more tomatoes, onions and pepers and ban export. Why can't we produce enough to cover the demand? So much could and should be improved. Tunisia depends too much on imports, while having to cope with high unemployment. I have been advised that working as or for farmers is not considered

 an attractive lifestyle, too much hard work for too little money. So folks leave the countryside to start a better life in a town. Wonder how many regret this afterwards, difficulties to find a job, no nice cheap flats or houses available, many children but not much money nor much space. If then the kids are allowed to roam the streets, boys spending every spare minutes playing football, what will be their prospects in life? No rules, no boarders, no limit, no respect, no values. I pity those from an ignorant family. Teachers on the whole are not exactly

dedicated, too long and too frequent holidays, etc. Lucky are those from an educated home, taught at an early age the beauty of books. Perhaps having a parent read a good night story to the little one, send to bed when it's dark. It is so important to sleep at night, not just, but in particular for kids. Such knowledge unfortunately hasn't reached North Africa yet, or only some.