Cats and Dogs

When we arrived at our Cairo apartment this year we found only a single cat; last year we had two but in 2022 we were feeding up to ten cats. We had to buy food in bulk! I guess the word got out that food was available outside our door. We like to name these so-called street cats. We choose names that describe some characteristic of each cat. In 2022 we had so many cats that we ran out of clever names and so the last one named became just Kitty Kat.

The lone cat this year was Kitty Kat .  Here she is sleeping on her favorite chair where she spent many hours after discovering that we enjoyed her company.

 

She was a bit chubby - we suspected pregnancy. Sure enough, she got bigger and bigger until she delivered three kittens about March 11th.

We suspect that this cat, "Big Tom," has something to do with the situation. He seems to know a secret route into the building even though it's a security building and a key is needed to open the door.

  

 

One night we could see that Kitty Kat was unusually agitated, moving from place to place trying to get comfortable. Just outside our door we set up a maternity ward in the form of a box with a towel. She sensed that this was a good place to rest and immediately took up residence. We went to bed and when we checked in the morning, there they were-mom and three tiny kittens in one mass of fur. 

  

 

The kittens grew surprisingly quickly and their eyes opened;  Kitty-Kat, knowing what a safe place our apartment was,  moved them into our bedroom but we put them back into her box.

  

 

Suddenly, after 15 days they were all gone. I heard mewing sounds in the distance. Kitty Kat had taken the kittens to the very top floor of the building where there is a door to a vacant apartment with an opening of a few inches at the bottom. We saw her, with a kitten in her mouth, slip under the opening and then return for the last kitten. We can only speculate the reason for the move. Perhaps the box was too restrictive or too small for the growing family or ?? Only Kitty Kat knows the reason. Her family, her decision.

 

There are several dogs in the neighborhood too. Like many dogs here, they hang out on the tops of cars. 

  

 

 We offer them some treats when we pass by on the way to the grocery stores.

 

Kitty Kat is quite wary of people but we almost have her fully domesticated. We wish she was as friendly as some of the cute cats we encounter on the street; we will keep trying to build trust.