The on going adventures of the made cat lady ...

... with a little bit of Arabic thrown in.

Yesterday CC’s visit to the vets went well al-hamdulellah. Her poorly paw is less swollen and her toes are definitely defined. If her paw is looking normal on 24 June, she does not have to go back.

I did have a bit of a scare though. As I was walking Kayla, my shadow Ambrose suddenly disappeared. I called and called and he didn’t appear. I called him when I got home from walking the dog. I called again when I got home from taking CC to the vets. Then again after I did some shopping; still no sign of him at all. He eventually arrived back home at about 2pm. The little monkey had me really worried. His absence was the longest one ever. My little boy is growing up!.

After our ACE visit I had a lovely visit with my mate who I met at Arabic classes. As our classes have stopped until September, we have decided to carry on meeting twice a week and do at least half an hour Arabic together to keep ourselves in. Her trouble area was the verbs and how to conjugate them and mine are the pronouns!!

I went through the present tense verbs and I think we have had a break through.

It was not as painful as last year

When I got off the launch on the East Bank I was asked where my cat was.

Anyway got to the passport office at 10.30 and was asked to come back at 2pm. I got there just before 3pm (after having lunch with a friend). The administrators were just leaving and getting on a microbus. One of them noticed me and went back in to the office and get my passport for me. If I had been a few seconds later I would have had to go back again tomorrow. How lucky was that?!

A totally different experience to last year - what a difference not being in Ramadam makes!

The mad cat lady rides again ...

...by motor boat, ferry and taxi!

I have had a bit of a frantic week this week. I had to take CC back to ACE (animal Care in Egypt) on Tuesday as her poorly paw was infected again and I got pus out of it on Monday evening. Anyway it turned out that the infection had gone down to her bone and was affecting her nerve endings.

So on the way home on a motor launch, bi el nas, a little boy was staring at me and the cat basket and so I told him, in Arabic, that she was not well and she was sleeping. An older woman then asked me, in Arabic, whether it was a qota (cat) or a kelb (dog) so I told her it was a qota. She was surprised that I knew Arabic …

The vet gave me an injection to give to CC on Thursday but I have to make a trip there again today and it was hot. I checked the temperature at the roundabout near the HSBC bank in Luxor which said 56 degrees C which was probably 6 degrees out and was in full sun!!!! So yes it was hot.

So between now and Wednesday I need to get my residency visa on Monday – hopefully this will be a less painful experience than last year, inshallah. I will let you know.

By the way, yesterday I was followed round the football pitch by Ambrose again – in full voice. He did not follow me to the Nile where Kayla and I had a game of catch.

It appears that I have a nickname ...

I think I have become known as the strange/mad cat women by my neighbours and the local boat boys. The reason I think this is because I am often asked how my biss (cat) is.

I can trace this back to when Willow one of my newer furbabies was spayed at the beginning of March. She managed to chew the glue that was holding her scar together and open the wound. I panicked. The following day was a Friday and technically the vets were only open for emergencies. Well I tried putting a dressing on the wound – she didn’t like that; then a bandage which again she didn’t like. Now covered with scratches I called the vet who said she would meet me at ACE (the vets) at 8am the following morning. She was cleaned and re-glued. She was given a collar but she managed to get it off! 1. Suffice it to say that she took that out on the Saturday evening so I was again at ACE on Sunday and Willow finally got stitches which stayed in for about a week! Again she managed to get the collar off. Luckily the scar was healed enough for me not to have to rush to ACE again.

The next incident involved CC. She had badly injured her paw. My visit to ACE this time was delayed as I had found a tiny kitten that I rushed to ACE to see if it was worth working with. Well it was but unfortunately died the following week. So that Thursday I took CC to ACE and her wound was cleaned and dressed. I returned again on the Monday more cleaning and dressing; and then again on the Wednesday more cleaning and dressing however it took her ages to come out of the anaesthetic and she managed to get her bandage off, for two times she was still out enough for me to get the bandage on again but on the final attempt of reapplication she scratched and bit me in the process.

We Europeans love our pets and take them to the vets when needed. This is not the case with Egyptians not least because they often do not have the money to do so and its not really in their culture.  Therefore they think it strange that Europeans do this, hence me being labelled the mad cat woman!

This image has been compounded by what has happened this week.

I have been looking after my neighbour’s dog and their cats. I have been walking the dog in the morning and on Thursday my little Willow followed me all the way to the football field, making no end of noise about it! She was scared because it was new ground for her. Well again today I was followed but this time by Ambrose. He even followed me for one circuit around the football field! Like his sister he was very vocal, telling everyone within hearing distance about his adventure. Good job there were not many people out and about and on the football pitch that time in the morning.

Then this afternoon I was followed by one of the neighbour’s cats and three of mine as I took the dog for her afternoon constitutional.  It must have been a sight!!!  I'm just sorry I couldn't take a picture of it!