You are never very far from a cat in Cairo. Feral cats abound and any restaurant with an open door will have several. They are usually quite well behaved, just looking for a handout. Our building currently has three regulars.
Well, make that four with this little one living on our doorstep.
His mother, we call her Dusty, has lived in the building for several years. Last year she had a litter of kittens a few weeks after we arrived. It took her a couple of days this year to discover that we were back in town and appear at our door. A short time later she escorted her little newborn kitten down the stairs to begin living on our welcome mat. Here they are together.
If you look closely at that first picture, you will notice that the kitten's left eye is closed. We couldn't seem to help the situation ourselves so we needed a veterinarian. After asking several people we soon located an animal shelter with a vet. So this afternoon, we headed out to the countryside to get a professional assessment.
The road took us to a fairly rural area. A pickup truck of boards was in front of us. I don't know if the tire is being used to hold the boards in place as the truck goes over the many speed bumps or is just in a convenient location. The mother and daughter carrying some bulky items are a typical sight in the country and sometimes seen in the city as well.
The veterinarian seemed well trained. He quickly diagnosed an eye infection and gave us a list of four medicines including an antibiotic ointment and a boric acid eyewash. The vet doctor's charge was zero but we could give a donation to the shelter. We did so. The four medicines later came to a total of $5 at the neighborhood pharmacy. The animal shelter has a separate area for cats and dogs and I paused to take a couple of pictures.
There are stories on the Internet of several people in Egypt helping with the feral cat problem. There are limits to our generosity and interest. We are not going to match this couple from England who spent about $10,000 to bring their Egyptian cat home.
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1 comment:
Oh that kitten is just so cute. When my cat recently had kittens, the youngest kitten seemed to be having some trouble feeding and we were a little concerned so took her to the local vet. luckily everything was fine, she was just a slow feeder. I don't know where I would be without my local vet.
Elvira Mullins @ Nelson Vets
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