Generosity at a whole different level

I have been slacking in my writing, I confess. But I do have a good reason (or excuse?)

I fostered a cat and her 5 kitties for 2 months. My husband calls them the "refugees" (joke, no political correctness at all).

I have written about cats in Lebanon before. There are loads of them in the street. Since I love cats, this is like an awesome thing for me since my landlord doesn't let us have pets in the house.

For my husband, he thinks cats are the Lebanese equivalent of street rats. I couldn't disagree more. Cats have personality. And personality goes a long way (any Pulp Fiction fans?)

So here is the story of the Mum and the 5 kitties: I am walking past the dumpster next to my house and say, as usual, hello to my feline neighbors. I notice this time though that there is a new cat in the block. She is skinny, and frankly sort of ugly. But she starts following me (street cats don't do that) and meowing and meowing. She then goes to a little corner behind a pile of trash and shows me 6 little little cats. Maybe 2 weeks old.

The first thing that surprised me is that a cat never shows where her kitties are. Second, street cats don't follow people. This was a house cat. Long story short, I go to my house, bring milk for her in a little Tupperware and she drinks it like crazy. Poor Mum-Cat is starving. So I pour some more milk and go home.

The next day, there are only 5 kitties left. There is a little fur ball further away, but it looks crushed. Maybe a car backed down? I panic. These kittens are going to die if someone doesn't do something.

But who?

I call my friend who volunteers at Animal Lebanon. She sends a volunteer to pick up the cats and brings them to the vet. The kittens have an eye infection and need medicine. The Mum-Cat is malnourished.

So I call my landlord and my husband and we found a happy arrangement: the cats are allowed home as long as it is not a permanent arrangement and they stay in the balcony. Yahoo!

Having 5 kittens in my house was so much fun. Even my husband warmed up to it, as we saw them grow stronger, get better, and wrestle with each other. I wouldn't say Mum cat got fat, since she was breastfeeding 5 kittens after all. But she looked much better.

After the 6th week, it was time to find a home for the kittens. Friends, friends of friends and people who contacted me through Animal Lebanon came to the house and took them to a loving home, one by one. It made me so happy to meet such generous people. These kitties were going to have a much better and healthier life.

The problem was the Mum. Usually people don't adopt adult cats. And then, a co-worker of mine told me about H. H lives in Saida, a city south from Beirut, and is a huge animal lover. He has a garden and rescues street cats and dogs (in separate locations). He has 60 cats and 50 dogs. And he pays for their food and medical treatment out of pocket.

So I contacted H and he told me no problem, he would take the cat as long as she was spayed. So Animal Lebanon helped me find a very professional vet who did the operation for a good price. Mum cat recovered within a week. 

I drove down to Saida with 2 friends, and H invited us to his house. We sat down in his garden, surrounded by cats of all shapes and sizes. He served us fruit from his garden and fresh lemonade (although he was fasting) and told us how taking care of animals made him feel that his heart was turning softer and sweeter. He truly believes that it  is humanity’s duty to take care of defenseless creatures that can’t speak up. And he doesn't stop there. Every time he sees a wounded, abused or abandoned animal in the street, he brings it to the vet and keeps it in the garden. He has even made a deal with the local butcher, and he comes everyday to pick up the meat scarps to give them to his dogs.

I was just amazed at his compassion and commitment. He is by no means a rich man. But that doesn’t stop him. He only asked me to bring a big bag of cat food. And he took another cat in.

I was so proud of myself and my little cat rescue mission. This man put things in perspective…

Although there are organizations in Lebanon to protect animals and do a great job–such as Animals Lebanon- the amount of work to be done is enormous. A lot of street animals have to rely on people who pick them up spontaneously, such as H, but in all cases that doesn’t mean they will be cared for properly or that they won’t end up in the future back on the streets. I don’t know what needs to be done, but I am certain there must be a way to establish a more systematic approach to street animals’ care and protection. Any ideas?

Lebanese Top Cat

I know that everyone must be waiting for a political analysis of what is going on in Lebanon right now. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I do too much of that at work. Today, as I was wondering what to write on my blog, a kitten crossed my path with a French fry on his mouth. It was a sign (and the cutest thing I have seen)! So today’s topic is: Beirut’s cats.

You know how some cities are full of street dogs? Not here. Beirut is full of street cats.
As a matter of fact, in the corner of our house, there are a 3 or 4 green dumpsters where a bunch of cats live in. It’s something like the Lebanese version of Top Cat, that cartoon from the late 70s. In Mexico, we had a far better name for that show, “Don Gato y Su Pandilla”, and it was my absolute favorite.

I have taken upon myself the task of giving names to these cats, since they are - after all- our neighbors and deserve all our respect. So there’s Moustache (a cat with a little black line under his nose), the Blondies (a yellow cat and her 3 kittens), Cinnamon Roll (another yellow/brown cat with crazy circular lines, probably the father), Crasher (a black cat that sleeps inside of our building) and the grey cat that has no name (and whom we thought was a house cat and used to pet him, until we realized that we couldn’t see the dumpster dirt on him because he is grey).

They are pretty good neighbors, since they take care of mice and mind their own business. However, at some point they can be very loud, when they fight or when they, hum, fight in a different way, so then it gets pretty annoying.

The American University of Beirut, or AUB as it is known here, hosts a LOT of cats. It’s actually pretty cool, you have this awesome campus, with wonderful gardens, a spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea, and loads of lazy cats. They live on campus and make you understand that they were there first. If you want to sit on a bench and there is a cat there already, you can forget it, it won’t move. As a matter of fact AUB launched recently a 2011 calendar to raise awareness and support the welfare of campus’ cats. Very cool.

We usually don’t think of animals as victims of war. But after the war in Lebanon, there were several efforts to take care of street and abandoned animals. One worth mentioning was an initiative in 2006 to send close to 300 cats and dogs for treatment and adoption to the US.
There are sadder chapters on this topic, and barbarism towards animals is still present in Lebanon. However, there are several agencies that take care and advocate for animals as well.

I personally think the cats in my streets are the cutest thing. I can't keep a straight face when I walk pass them and they are fighting to death with a plastic bag. I just wish I could take them all home with me...