PostScript They are Family

"If you kill a cat you must build a Mosque so that Allah forgives you." Saying from Turkey

A cat killed a snake that threatened the life of Prophet Mohammed therefore some people consider cats as holy. Approx. 125.000 cats live in Istanbul and they are allowed to enter every building, restaurants, cafes, mosques, churches, etc. no problem, they are tolerated everywhere. Cats get spayed and neutered by the state to keep their numbers down and shelters for homeless cats are financed. In ancient Egypt killing a cat was punished with capital punishment. Why is it so different here and also in Egypt nowadays? In Europe millions of cats and dogs live in families and are seen as family members. Strange, countries interested in tourists from Europe do they believe that these don't mind seeing or hearing of "family members" being murdered in the streets? Experts have proven a positive influence of pets on children's development. It can teach them empathy, responsibility, understanding the value of animals as fellow creatures. But unfortunately not all who keep in particular a dog have the right attitude. I have seen kids and teenagers thinking it funny to make an innocent dog aggressive. Often puppies are taken away from the bitch and sold at a much too early age. In addition the food is not always suitable, like noodles (also fed to cats, for which in particular salt and other spices are bad). Kids can play with pets but should be made aware that they are not toys and in particular should not be thrown away like no longer wanted toys. An elderly woman from the neighbourhood decided that she's too old to look after her cat and suggested that I adopt it. It turned out that she lives with her son who's got a job. Strange, she said she loves her cat. I would never part from a cat I love if I can somehow help it. Why can't her son fed the cat in the morning and evening and that woman enjoys the cat's company during the day? In Europe it has been proven that folks in old people's homes who are allowed to keep a pet stay mentally and physically longer fit and are more relaxed. Anyhow, we are already living with 25 cats, they don't welcome additions, (definitely none that hasn't been spayed and neutered, like the one in question) they sometimes fight already. I have reached my limit reference my expenditures (food, medication and medical treatments) and energy (involved work) and for all I know we aren't getting younger. In the morning approx. 15 cats want to join me in the kitchen, try to hurry me up preparing their breakfast and once they have had theirs ( as well as the visitors to my "Cats' Table), watch me have mine with at least three on my lab. Heard of songs that help you fall asleep? Mine is very special. Gorgeous little lady Sandy likes to crawl next to me under my blanket and purrs until I fall asleep. This is my luxery.

They are Family

 "He who feeds a hungry animal feeds his own soul."      Charlie Chaplin.   The  most beautiful cats one can find out on the streets in Tunisia, neat gentle, grateful for a bit of food and water. There are golden and white, black and white, red, black and white (three colours means female, absolutely gorgeous), grey, all white, black or yellow, mixed colours, long (Persian breed), medium or short hair and even the Siamoise cat, that once upon a time only the Burmese royal family members were allowed to keep. Where do they all come from? Originally quite a few lived in a family, that fed them mainly on leftovers ( spices and salt are bad for cats, as well as onions, beans, etc.) and couldn't or didn't want to spend money on medical treatments or for getting their cat spayed and neutered. Unfortunately the cat is all too often not regarded as a kind of family member, unlike in Europe (the same applies to the dog), so when keeping the cat, possibly with babies, is considered to be too much trouble, the simplest solution seems to be to put her out on the street, with or without the little ones. In such a case the cat babies are put in a cardboard box and left in a place with a more or less slim chance to survive. I dread these boxes. When the babies still have their eyes closed their chance to survive without the cat mother are Ciro, I managed to spread this information. It depresses me to see cats (and other animals) in need and not being able to help. The other day I found a perhaps ten weeks old cat in front of my entrance door. I gave her food and water. She seemed to be okay, but I wondered where she came from, where she belonged and can she cope with the traffic? The next day an even younger kitten, maybe six weeks old, was sitting in front of my door. The two kittens' mothers don't seem to be among my regular guests. Someone brought them to my house. Anyhow, the older one I named Joyce, the other one Ramon and they are living with us now, playing and sleeping together. When I call: "Where is my Baby, " sweet Ramon appears.  They are so cute. My main worry, do the others accept them, are we getting too big a family, can I still manage to meet all the expenses. It is not just the food, new members means spay and neuter some time in the future, dentist and possibly other medical costs. Having lost meanwhile four cats due to kidneys not functioning properly, I guess I better use mineral water for my little treasures. I know poor citizens can't afford to buy this, but I am not helping them by making my cats sick with bad water from the tap. Some folks feel we should support them, instead of cats, what if we buy a nice car instead - like many neighbours do? We live modestly, no holidays, no car, etc. because we see the plight of the innocent cats and there are still kids that throw stones. Every day I find at least one in front of my house, when will they ever learn? Very loud barking, I see a medium sized a bit skinny white dog with spots, chasing cats, he knows where they sit or hide, underneath cars, around my and neighborhood houses. Cats are scared and running for safety, luckily no traffic. A grinning slim tall man, watching, looking highly pleased to see his aggressive dog obviously trained to be a fighter dog. Brought here are for training, no leash, no nozzle, but a blind man can see that he is misusing the dog so he can make money with illegal games. I try to chase the dog away (no stones, no stick) and when the man finally leaves, the dog follows him. I hope he will eventually get arrested and the dog retrained, after all he is innocent. 

A Decade after the Revolution

"Man is effected not by events but by the view he takes of them. Associate with people who are likely to improve you." Seneca

A decade after the revolution many remain disappointed with what has been achieved, calling for " a war on corruption, repression and impunity". There is obviously more freedom and good new laws, many remain in the draw, I am told. Following a long dictatorship the majority doesn't like to follow instructions and regulations. Without control they are frequently ignored, even when they make sense. This is well demonstrated by the handling of safety belts. They are supposed to be worn by drivers outside of town and this is checked at well known police (garde) control points. Well observed by almost all - normally for two minutes untill out of site. Phoning while driving, you wouldn't think it's forbidden. Social distance keeping in view of Corona rare among kids, adults don't seem to be convinced of the need or getting tired of this. Face masks are cheaper now but those with little money consider this something they can do without. Six thousand kids under the age of ten have caught Corona so far, are parents aware of this? Twenty percent of the population is estimated to be poor, thirty percent unemployed, mainly young people, a high percentage with university education, what a waste of intelligence, leaving them without opportunity to forward Tunisia. Cuba is a small country, they have done better. In my opinion we could learn from them. By the way, while Ben Ali had himself a castle build in just about every big town, Fidel Castro lived very modestly and had hardly any money on his bank account. Tunisia has to cope with several greedy politicians, ministers, bank directors and others shamelessly more or less successfully robbing the country, not driven by need, but by greed. Those who praise Ben Ali I ask what did he do for Tunisia? Do we need here luxerio palasis instead of water treatment plants? Doctors advice to just drink mineral water ( low nitrate, below five), as the tapped water creates stones in the body and harms the kidneys, it even effects cats, three of mine died of kidney problems. Poor folks can't afford to buy mineral water! Would anyone who loves his country suppress her citizens, no free speech, govern by fear, support corruption? The effect of the long suppression are after the revolution still there. Some believe they have total freedom now, this includes not having to educate their children, no respect for anyone, free to pollute, in particular kids and youngsters ignore Corona restrictions, they like to hug and sit next to each other on the pavement if there aren't any benches,  boys don't miss school as long as they can football with a lot of screaming ( if singing can spread Corona, wonder whether screaming does as well), they laugh about

 police - until they turn up! Very sad. Much can be achieved with more control, proofing that the government means business. We have many good and honest people, solidarity can make us strong and achieve progress for Tunisia. More and more folks in North Africa recognize the value of animals and are willing to aid and support them, this gives me hope. It is in line with the Quran and maybe the Mufti can teach the ignorant to respect Allah's creations.

No Time to get Old

 "A lie gets half way around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." Churchill.                                          We appear to live in a century of fake news, rumours and lies, why should it be different here from the rest of the world. A lot of hope was placed on vaccine, while rich countries had declared they would ensure that poor countries receive a fair share, there was later on talk of 50 or maybe 40 millions doses. Lately WHO mentioned one poor country ( didn't say which one) will be given only 2500 doses of vaccine. Now I heard the country in question is Algeria and they promised to donate half to their sister country Tunisia. By the way in Tunisia live approx. as many people as in Portugal. I guess we see here the result of everybody using a calculator, even for very simple calculations (is this what is taught at school nowadays, how to switch the calculator on and off?). Further, it was said not all required papers arrived in time from Tunisia in America. Not surprised, if they were send by Tunisian mail. The arrival day is always a surprise, e.g. a letter from GB took three month, some Christmas mail that I posted on 10th of Nov. to Germany is still on its way (nearly end of Jan.), other mail just gets lost in transit. Does anybody know why the post office functioned well before the revolution?  Bureaucracy is practiced with a lot of fantasy. Among the 10 most unhappy populations in the world the Tunisian takes place 8. Very sad, it could be so different. We must fight corruption, greed and envy is so destructive unlike solidarity. We need education, folks willing to accept responsibility and contribute to a better, greater Tunisia. Learn and teach our children to appreciate, love and protect animals. Don't abuse, kill, be rewarded with loyalty and lots of love. By the way, 12 millions of cats live in Germany, usually well protected and much loved, part of the family. In fashion in Tunisia are dogs, mainly among youngsters/young men. Those who can't or don't want to spend money on food, look for an alternative. I would have thought that a butcher won't charge much for bones, a fair amount is just thrown in rubbish containers (attracting lots of flies). Anyhow, at least one boy leads his big dog to Cats' feeding places so his pet gets noodles, soaked bred, sometimes mixed with animal sausage, a bit of meat or fish and in front of my door also croquettes for cats. They differ from those for dogs, are more expensive and can cause diarrhea and kidney problems if dogs eat them. When dogs arrive ,the cats get frightened and may well run underneath cars without observing the traffic. I am sure several fatal accidents happened like that, including my adorable gorgeous Honey. She was always observing the traffic. It broke my heart to find her bleeding and dead in front of my door. Honey used to spend most of her time indoors. We had a very special relationship. She would only listen to me and was absolute loyal, but happy to tolerate my husband and he learned to accept that. 

Little Diamond Kitty - an Obituary

 "Man is effect not by events but by the view he takes of them." Seneca                                                                              Little diamond, black white and orange coloured dainty beautiful lady cat was born somewhere on the street in my neighborhood in 2017. For a while she came for meals to my Cats' Table. Then one day, watching my little indoor treasures eating from a big bowl, I discovered Kitty among them, acting as if she's always been living inside my house. The other cats accepted her straight away, which they don't do with all new comers. In the beginning Kitty used to go out for a bit, maybe for 2 or 3 hours, and always returned to the new house she had chosen or should I say she adopted us? She purred a lot, wonderful. In April 2018 Kitty started to cough. The vet recommended Marbocyl and it got better. In January 2019 Kitty got on heat. We had to get her spayed and neutered, unfortunately. Poor little darling, after that she calmed down , felt relaxed again. She always stayed dainty and remained gentle, no arguments with anyone. When I got up in the morning (apart from Tiger and Sandy sleeping with us in the bedroom) Kiddy was always the first one to greed and spoil me with her sweet purring. One day I discovered that she wasn't eating well, often just pretending to eat and loosing weight. She emptied a cupboard shelf in the kitchen and decided to sleep there. I padded the space with a soft blanket. From time to time she came to sit on my lap. I served her chicken with rice and carrots in order to make her stronger again and she seemed to enjoy it. When the vet took blood from her for testing, the result was really shocking, her kidneys working very badly. A blood transfusion would have been great and might have saved her life, but we are here in Tunisia. I felt so helpless. The vet tried in vain to save her life. My sweet little darling left us. Every cat is different, has her own story, her special character. One of the most stupid sentences I heard here: One cat goes, another one comes, why mourn, there are many....  I miss my gorgeous little treasure, it was great having her, she went much too early, may she rest in peace now. To me paradise includes being united with my cats.

Winter time

 If you are not high class, at least your cat should be (but of course all cats are more or less). The former most expensive cat in the world, white with brown paws, ears, nose, mask and blue eyes has become very fashionable in Tunisia. I used to have two of this kind for a while, without specially searching for them. My sweat Diana went outside one day and did not return (which she would have done if she could) because a woman from around here picked her up in front of my door and took her home. I was feeling sad and miss my darling. The lady admitted it some time later, Diana is now one of her four cats. I am not happy but Diana prefers to live with less cats than we have that I know. She has been spayed and neutered, does the lady know that? I don't get my cats marked (a bit cut off the ear) as we have all operated at the right age, I keep a record. I hope my darling is treated well. My other Siamones cat, Minusa, was brought to us by a young man in need of money. She has become a little princess and daddy's girl. - Corona restriction led to a considerable reduction of air pollution including all that noise created by those popular huge loudspeakers employed at various celebrations. For a while there was also more social distance keeping, no more women and men pushing in front, trying to be served first. But it still exists, old bad habits die hard! And this strange (at least for most Europeans) last arrivals getting served first. Customers feel entitled and those behind the counter frequently support it. At the optician's the young employee asked every customer entering the shop how she can help them. While my husband tried to convince me that those four people arriving after us had been asked to return a little later and therefore should not be requested to que up, the fifth customer turned out to be a beggar. Feeling happy to have him "served first" in this case, the young lady declined to do so and just send him away! I have been told that folks working for STEG (electricity and gas company) don't have to pay for their consumption. Lately they stopped sending an employee to read the meter, because of Corona, customers should do the reading themselves. Since we are now doing their work, shouldn't we at least have a reduction of the costs? - On account of bad experience I usually send my letters by registered mail. This time they run out of forms for the procedure. I wonder whether my letters will arrive. Four weeks have past. Several small parcels and seven of ten letters from a friend of mine in Germany disappeared in the Tunis Bamurda Triangle (or elsewhere), also mail from Great Britain. It can only get better. If you want to have your temperature checked, on account of Corona precautions it has become a free service at the entrance of several supermarkets. 

Prescious Diamonds on Four Paws

 "One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and be understood." Seneca

In Tunisia I discovered a lot of prescious diamonds on the the streets. The cats here are such amazing little beauties, why are so many out on the streets? Several obviously had been living in families before that don't regard them as a kind of family member, like Europeans usually do. Unfortunately there aren't animal protection laws ( more and more folks are demanding them). The way animals are treated tells you a lot about a society. Europeans are often horrified about the plights of animals. Guess that explains why women from various European countries living here decided to create animal protection organisations and shelter. I discovered e.g. women from Great Britain, Italy, Netherland, Swiss, France and Germany doing so, often with Tunisian partners. So much needs to be done. A few days ago a woman with hardly any money asked me for help. Her cat has been poisoned, looking as if she got epilepsy. I brought my transport box, we quickly took a taxi and brought the cat to my vet. She confirmed the poisoning and suggested to leave the patient with her overnight. The next day as I was about to start picking up the recovered cat, another woman from the neighborhood arrived, stating same problem, same symptoms, asking for my help. Same procedure. Fortunately this lady, though, knows the person responsible for the atrocity, a middle-aged woman who had stated that she wants to kill all cats around here. So I decided to pay her a visit. She lives around several corners, nearby. Having been shown her house, I rang the bell. As soon as she saw me, before I could say a word, she banged her door closed. Being in urgent need to address her, I kicked at her metal door (once, not several times as she lied later on). When she came storming out, I took my mobile phone and told her it's for internet. She tried to hit me and steal my phone. I shouted Haram, Haram Halufa. The Prophet Mohammed said: " Have sympathy with the animals on earth and then Allah will also have sympathy with you." What makes you think you have the right to kill innocent cats (and dogs)? Don't you know the Quran? The next day when I returned with my husband, a neighbor tried to defend her, that woman is her friend and also doesn't like cats I am told. I called her a liar. The woman who poisoned those cats (possibly more) told my husband she only used rat poison in her house. I replied that her house must be very dirty if she needs to do that! And that is is evil and Haram anyhow to make cats suffer like that and poison them! Other neighbors decided to support me and speak to her husband, how can his wife poison cats while he prays in the Mosque, don't they know that the Prophet loved cats? He promised to throw the rat poisoning into the toilet and that it will stop now. Every morning I count the number of cats attending my Cats' Table and of course I know my regular guests, some arrive from a small distance. Whenever any are missing I worry whether they are okay or something happened to them. For unknown reason Jasmina, Bella and Black Beauty don't come every day. The very young ones tend to disappear quickly again, unfortunately I can't offer shelter to all of them, the traffic is a big problem. We keep telling drivers to look out for cats and those who park here that a cat or more may be sitting underneath their vehicle. As it is getting colder the little treasures tend to be more hungry (those inside our house and the others). I learned from our vet that cats won't eat what they can't smell, so a blocked nose can kill a cat, horrible thought. Occasionally a homeless little darling allows me to clean her nose. I noted an adult black beauty stopped eating outside. Unfortunately she didn't let me clean her nose. A little while later I discovered she sneaked inside my house. As our precious angels on four paws didn't complain, the cat must be female. She cuddled with other cats but wouldn't allow me to touch her, at the same time carefully watching me. She can see that the others love me and come to cuddle with me. Shouldn't that make her feel secure? No, it doesn't work that way. If I could at least get her inside a transport box, then our vet could help e.g. with inhalation. I am getting desperate, she really needs help. My husband hopes she secretly eats, as we viewed her drinking water. By the way, the two poisoned treasures are fit and well again, thanks to our excellent vet who also managed to save several of our fur family members who fell sick or had an serious accident. We now have four cats with only one eye: Aisha, Grace, Tariqa and Myriam (plus two with one blind eye, Malek and Milka), two had successfully a broken jaw operated: Myriam and Precious. The "lady in black" our cat visitor, I named her Ramona, unfortunately left us the way she arrived, she sneaked out while we weren't watching. I looked for her everywhere, she also didn't turn up for breakfast anymore. Bad news. Poor darling.