Three New Cats To Care For ....

If you look closely, you can just make out a timid ginger cat hiding in the shade of the old chicken coop - she was very wary as I took the photo, & didn't take her eyes off me for a minute !

As you know, I have ‘rescued’ several stray/neglected animals since I’ve been living on the farm. As soon as I become aware of an animal in need, I see what I can do for that animal. (If you’d like to read more about the wonderful animals which have blessed my life, you can go to the “Categories” section in the right sidebar, and click on “Pets”.)

Many people here cannot afford to feed themselves, let alone an animal and the common misconception here (and indeed, in many parts of Africa) is that dogs are pack animals and should hunt for their own food. There is also a ridiculous belief that the hungrier a dog is, the more vicious they will be. Many people do not know any better, and I try to educate as many of them as I can. Justin (my right-hand man, who you can read all about here) is wonderful in that he helps to get the word out to many people who live in the villages around the farm, and has a genuine love for animals.

Earlier this week, my husband came home and told me that Frank, the owner of a local shop (no more than a small cheap wood and tin roofed building selling basic goods like soap, candles, sugar, flour and drinks) had a cat sitting on the counter who had made a home there a few weeks ago. When Frank told him that the cat belonged to him, my husband said that he’d better take good care of it and feed it else I would be along to give him a piece of my mind ! We are now providing Frank with de worming medicine and some food for the cat, and as soon as we can, we will vaccinate the cat and organize to have it spayed/neutered.

Then a couple of weeks ago, there was a huge commotion in the house late one night and I found a stray ginger cat cowering under the dining room table, s/he had obviously come in through an open window, looking for food, and had been chased by Ollie and Dibble. The cat has since taken up residence at Justin’s house (which is in the farmhouse/workshop area near to our house) and is living in an abandoned chicken coop and we are feeding her (discovered that she is a female) every day and have de wormed her, too.

Then a few days ago Justin said that a very thin, extremely starving young grey cat had followed one of our 100 casual farm labourers down from the village one morning, in search of food. No one would own up to ‘owning’ the cat, so Justin took it and brought it to his house. I went around to see her (also a female) and found her curled up, asleep, on a sofa. She is very tame but was SO SO weak from hunger, she was all lethargic but hungrily wolfed down the food we gave her. I checked her over and she is in good health otherwise. I don’t know why she is so starving as usually cats manage to survive on rats and birds, and I wonder if she has been locked up somewhere, perhaps ?

Anyway, both cats are now living at Justin’s (our cats here will just chase them away) and are being fed daily. They’ve been de wormed and will soon be vaccinated and spayed once we can get them into a travel box. It’s great finding female strays, as they are the ones who are important to spay to keep the population – and more unwanted kittens – down.

Thanks to everyone who clicks on the “Animal Rescue Site” button in the right sidebar to donate a free bowl of food daily (it costs you nothing) and if you’d like to click on it today before you leave, that would be GREAT !

Emily

Would you look for trouble with her ?! Before she found us, Emily never allowed humans near her (as far as we know)

Late last year, Justin came to me and told me that there was a mother cat with 3 kittens living in the roof of his house (which is not far from ours and part of the farm workshop compound). He said that she was ‘very wild’ and extremely aggressive. (I was not surprised, seeing as she had kittens to protect.) He said that the mother cat was very hungry, and would come scrounging for food at the staff quarters, and stealing what she could. Poor thing.

So I immediately sent food up for her and the kittens and made sure to give Justin a good amount of food for them every day. One day Justin told me that one of the kittens was missing. We never found her/him. When we went to the UK for 6 weeks over Christmas, I returned to find that the other 2 kittens had also vanished, even though Justin had searched high and low for them. Only the mother cat remained. She was extremely aggressive and would not let anyone near her – she would hiss and spit and it was actually quite terrifying to see how wild she could get (but good, as it meant no human could harm her).

One weekend Justin was off and he had obviously forgotten to feed the mother cat because it was around midnight on the Saturday night that I heard a crying in the garden. I locked the dogs in and went to investigate. I found a bedraggled grey and white cat (the mother cat) approaching the house – but as soon as she saw me, she fled. I put food out for her on our verandah, and waited at the window as she gingerly crept up and ate it.

This nightly routine continued for about 2 weeks and I began to start waiting up for her. Slowly, slowly after me talking to her in a soothing voice and having her ‘talk’ back to me, she started allowing me to gently stroke her. She had obviously never been touched (or loved) by anyone before. I decided to call her Emily – I’m not sure why, perhaps in memory of Emma, another beloved cat I lost many years ago.

Imagine my surprise when one night, I came in to the kitchen to find Emily sitting on a counter top near the open window, meowing for food – she was now brave enough to actually come inside the house ! She now comes every night – late – for food which she eats inside where all my other cats eat (they are usually all snuggled up for the night by this stage, and are not aware of her presence – if they see her, they chase her away). On very rainy nights, she sleeps in our guestroom (!!) and then disappears by first light …

She is much tamer now and my next challenge will be to give her a rabies vaccination (we keep vaccines and vaccinate our own animals here most of the time, as we have no other choice, really) and then to tame her enough to be able to put her in a travel crate and transport her to the vet for spaying.

My husband, daughter, Justin and I are fully vaccinated against rabies (it was a tiresome course of several injections) as we can’t take any chances with all the animals we have and also because sadly, we had a rabies outbreak on the farm last year and I lost my beloved deaf cat, Bella to it.

When I was in South Africa recently, I had to smile when reading one of the emails my husband sent to me “Hello Darling. You’ll be pleased to hear that even though you’re not here, Emily came for supper tonight and actually ended up sleeping over in the guest room …..” (Anyone intercepting that email would’ve wondered why he was so happy to have an Emily in the house at night during his wife’s absence … ha ha ….)

African Bees Attack !

Good old Justin whipped out the "Doom" and the "Rungu" and gave the pets a good spray with it to ward off the bees !

Yesterday we returned home to a bit of a disaster. Whilst we’d been away from the farm, a huge swarm of bees had attacked the pets out in the garden. Justin was first aware of it when Dibble and Ollie ran in to the house simultaneously, covered in bees and in great agony. Many bees followed them in to the house and all the animals started running inside for cover – only to have the bees follow them, too.

Justin’s first thought was to get Zonde to safety. He said he ran into the garden to find her (suffering many, many stings himself in the process) and dragged her into our bedroom, slamming all the doors and windows closed and swaddling her in thick bath towels for protection. BLESS HIM a hundred times for using his head and ‘saving’ Zonde first because he knows she is very allergic to bee’s and that also due to her cancer, we have to be extra cautious with her. Next he lunged for Ollie (once again, to the 2nd weakest of our animals & the one he knew would need help) and wrapped her in a bath towel, then proceeded to spray her with “Doom” !!! Now in hindsight this is pretty hilarious (and very dangerous) as “Doom” is a household insect spray that you use for killing flies, mosquitoes etc (as is "Rungu" - pictured above) and poor old Ollie got sprayed all over with it. “Mama” Justin said to me “There was nothing else I could do, Ollie had so many bees covering her, too many for me to take off by myself, quickly but the Doom killed them all immediately” (I bet it did) So I guess he did the next best thing.

Then both Dibble and Tessa got the “Doom and bath towel” treatment.

When I got home, Ollie and Tammy were no where to be found (Justin had not seen Tammy throughout the entire incident, so that was a bit of a worry) - I found her late last night when I was searching the garden for both ‘missing’ cats – she was cowering under a bougainvillea bush and meowing pitifully and my husband extracted her to safety ! She was a little shaken and swollen, but otherwise alright. A few hours later Ollie cried at one of the back windows (none of the cats ever stay out after nightfall, so I was really worried by this stage) and jumped straight into my arms when I approached her – her tummy was tender and swollen and she was soaking wet from the rain. (I think that the cats were protected due to their thick coats.)

Fortunately my village strays were not yet hanging around waiting for their food, so none of them were stung.

This morning all the animals are well although a little nervous and Zonde and Ollie have been inside the whole day. I gave Justin a course of antihistamine tablets and some antihistamine cream and he, too, is alright this morning.

This swarm of bees was first spotted in a big tree in our garden on Sunday. They do not have a nest here, but were merely “visiting” and I suspect, were possibly disturbed by one of the cats yesterday. (I believe that bee’s have been known to leave their own territory in times of nectar shortages ?)

We had no choice but to destroy the bees, and last night they were sprayed with diesel and have all since died . They were found in a tree above the flower seedling/vegetable patch I’ve recently planted and, unbelievably, when the gardeners sprayed them they did not THINK to cover the seedlings and as a result I have lost ALL my rocket (which was coming along nicely and the tender young leaves were ready to eat) and most of my lettuce. I really gave the gardeners a piece of my mind this morning, for not THINKING and covering the seedlings before they sprayed. When I saw the trampled seedlings and wilting rocket and lettuce - all covered in slick diesel - I just wanted to sit down and cry from the sheer frustration of it all. I mean, the gardeners planted the seeds with me, knew that I’d brought them all the way back home from South Africa, watched them grow and kept them watered for me – and now this ?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh !!!!

Anyway, I am just grateful that my daughter and I were not on the farm when the bee’s attacked and that all the animals are fine. Thanks to Justin. Who I slipped a nice cash ‘bonus’ last night as a thank you for thinking on his feet and using his head. Which is more than I can say for the (disgraceful) gardeners.

Dibble

Dibble - the 'baby' of the family - so handsome in his traditional East African beaded collar !

This is Dibble, he is the newest addition to our family and came to us last year when he was just a puppy. He is now 9 months old, and is one of the most lovely natured dogs you could ever hope to meet ! His father is a pedigree Ridgeback, and his mother is a pedigree Labrador/German Shepherd cross.

He is our first pet in a long time who is not a rescued stray. It is sad to say, but most strays here have such bad temperaments due to inbreeding etc – even if taken out of the villages as puppies, and treated with nothing but love and kindness, they have still been known to turn on other animals and worst of all – children – for no apparent reason.

So, having a young child in the house, we needed a dog who could grow up with our daughter, who had a nice, docile temperament. We waited for ages for the ‘right’ dog to come up, and Dibble was just that. (My daughter got to choose his name, and named him after one of her favourite cartoon characters !) He has quickly become not only a loving companion and playmate, but also a very alert watchdog (he sleeps inside, though).

I must point out his beautiful handmade collar to you – it is a leather collar covered with traditional Masai (an East African tribe) beadwork which is all done by hand (usually by Masai women) and is very popular both here and in Kenya. Of course you can find Masai beadwork necklaces, bracelets and even rings but I think that the beadwork combined with leather (like this collar, or men’s belts or even leather handbags) is quite special.

Tessa wondered if she sat long enough, would cat treats perhaps hatch out of them ? (It was worth a try !)

Well yesterday I mentioned that I had baked a batch of bread rolls in the morning. I had taken them out of the oven to cool (still in the baking tray), placed them on a kitchen counter top and had put a tea towel over them (to ward off any flies). Imagine my surprise when I walked in to the kitchen about 20 minutes later to find Tessa happily nestling on top of the covered tray – silly cat !

She obviously thought it was the perfect place to keep warm … as the rolls were slightly hot and of course she probably thought (as cats do) that I had put the tea towel down especially for her !

Of course I chased her off immediately, but not before I had snapped this photo !

You can read Tessa’s story, and how she came to live with us here.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the weekend, I certainly am – although it has been a bit cold and rainy today, which is not much fun with a ‘housebound’ toddler to keep occupied !

There's A Tiger In The House ...

Is it a tiger ? A leopard ? No - it's Tammy !

Well, not really. Everyone knows that there are no tigers in Africa, but we have our own little tigress who we call Tammy. Isn’t she beautiful ?

Tammy was one of Jessica’s kittens. (Jessica was the cat I lost tragically a little over a year ago.) On our way to the vet to have Jessica and Ollie spayed a few years ago, Jessica managed to escape from her travel box and out of the window on to the farm. She was gone for a week and I was beside myself, until one night she returned … pregnant - although we didn’t know it at the time. She gave birth to 4 beautiful kittens while I sat with her - I only managed to find a good home for one, (many homes were offered, but there is a difference between a home and a good home) so we kept the other 3 … they were Tammy, Isabella (who was born deaf) and Sir Huxtable Hiss.

Isabella and Sir Hux died last year .... more tragic deaths of beloved animals which I also find hard to write about. Now, only Tammy is left and she is so much like her mother, it is quite uncanny.

Tammy is an extremely vocal and quite neurotic cat and would love to be the only cat in the house. She fights with all the other cats and spends her days up a tall gum tree in our garden, only coming down at night. Of course this is a great source of amusement to the garden staff, who pretend not to see/hear me when I stand talking and cooing to the tree during the day.

The first time I did it, they apparently asked Justin “Why is Mama talking to that tree ?” and Justin had to explain that Mama was not talking to the tree but was, in fact, talking to the cat in the tree. Which they thought was just as odd as talking to a tree. (The local people don’t care much for cats here, and see them as vermin).

I think they’ve got used to it now … which is great as I have also been known to talk to trees. So now I can just get on with it and no one bats an eyelid. Thanks to Tammy Tiger … my little decoy !

Ollie says "A Click A Day Keeps Hunger At Bay"

I promised Ollie when I found her, that she would never know hunger again. Ever.

Ollie was one of my very first “rescued” animals in Tanzania. She came from a litter of 5 kittens. Her mother was found (poisoned) on the top of a storage container, with 3 kittens trying to suckle off her dead body. The other 2 kittens, sadly, were already dead.

The 3 surviving kittens were removed by well meaning staff and placed on the ground underneath a coffee bush. They were given a dish of rice and milk. As they were still so tiny and not yet ready to be weaned, (their eyes were open but their little ears were still folded in) they could not yet feed themselves. They were riddled with fleas which has burrowed little tunnels underneath their skin. They stank and were severely dehydrated. It had started to rain that day, and their pitiful cries of hunger alerted me as I walked from my office through the coffee plantation to the hotel which I was running at the time. The desperate “Mew, mew, mew” sound they made, made me think at first, that they were bird. Until I saw them. Pitiful little creatures, so fragile that their bones tiny protruded through their translucent skin. I quickly got one of the staff members to fetch me a dry box, lined with an old towel. I took them home and the rest, as they say, is history.

I named the black kitten Emma, the tabby Jessica and the ginger one Oliver (as I thought that Oliver was a boy - hence “Oliver” later became “Ollie”). Justin and I had to gently bath them to get rid of all the fleas. I remember using an old cereal bowl as a makeshift bath – that’s how tiny they were ! We had to syringe feed them Infant’s Formula every 3 hours. There was no animal welfare organization or anywhere I could take these poor mites, so I decided to keep them, although up until that time I was officially “a dog” person …! (I have since learnt that if you are an animal lover, you are actually neither !)

Zonde helped us by acting as a surrogate mother, and she used to lick them to stimulate them and clean them after each feed, and also allowed them to cuddle up to her to keep warm.

A few months later we moved to our first farm in an extremely remote part of the country and of course the kittens came with us. Sadly, Emma died suddenly one night (I never found out why as we had no vets nearby at the time to perform a postmortem) but Jessica and Oliver survived and grew into the most beautiful, loyal cats.

We lost Jessica tragically in November 2006 when she caught and ate part of a poisoned rat and I still can’t believe that she’s gone. (I still can’t actually talk about her much, as it is just too painful for me.)

Ollie will be 6 this year, and I call her my little “Malaika” which means “angel” in the local Kiswahili language. She is the only cat who sleeps on our bed at night, and is never far away from me. She is the most timid of all my cats, and whenever we have visitors to the farm, will spend the entire time hiding under our bed ! Her and Zonde are still very close, and can often be found licking each other’s ears and having a cuddle.

I have recently added a link to the Animal Rescue Site on my right Sidebar and all you need to do is to click on it to automatically be taken to their site where you can click on the big purple “Click Here To Give – It’s Free !” button to donate FREE food for animals in shelters. Each click provides 0.6 bowls of food to a needy animal, and it won’t cost you anything - except the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping animals who, unlike Ollie, have not been as fortunate in life.

Josie

How anyone would want to hurt such a sweet little dog (any dog, for that matter) is beyond me !

I thought that it was about time I introduced you to another member of our family. This is Josie, and she is also a rescued stray who lives in our garden. (We suspect that she is one of Mbwenya’s puppies from a litter she had before she was spayed, as Justin tells me that one of the puppies from the litter she had in our garden was black and white.)

She used to come in to the garden and eat the leftovers from our other dog’s bowls at dinner time, so I started putting food out for her. She disappeared for a few days and I sent Justin into the village to look for her. He found her chained up with no food or water, and she also had a deep gash on her head where she had been cut with a panga (bush knife) - so we removed her and said that she was our dog, had been born in our garden (we’re sure that she was) and that no one was to tie her up again.

The person who had tied her up said fine, but you must pay me for her and I refused point blank (she is considered “prized” due to her colouring – which doesn’t make her any better cared for – ‘prized’ or not ). I said, how can I pay you for a dog that you don’t even look after ? I also said that if he had a problem with me taking the dog without paying him, then he should just open a case of theft against me at the police station. (He never did.) I certainly do not want to start paying for dogs as once word gets around, people will think that they can make money this way.

A little while after that, we discovered that Josie was pregnant. She had her puppies and we managed to find good homes for each and every one of them. She has now been spayed, and lives in our garden with Mbwenya, coming and going as she pleases.

If the word “sweet” was ever created to describe the nature of a dog, then it was created for Josie, because it sums up her nature and character perfectly – she is 100% “sweet” and wouldn’t harm a fly. She is still a little timid but has really come out of her shell over the years and follows me around whenever I am in the garden or around the farm. My days are brighter because of this sweet and loyal little black and white dog who trots behind me and gently nuzzles my hand every now and then to let me know that she’s still there …..

The Matriarch of Our Family

Zonde's favourite place to be, is lying 'begging' on the kitchen floor when I am cooking ...

How could I not yet have introduced you to Zonde ?! My beloved Zonde, who has walked by my side for almost 12 years now ………….

Everyone who knows me, knows Zonde. She has lived with us in 2 African countries – she is known in the cities and even in the small villages here. She is feared by many - yet loved by many more. She is a constant source of amusement to the local village kids because of her size (compared to your average, mangy village dog !) and because she loves to lie on the couches on our veranda and bark at people going by …too lazy to even get up !

We got her when we lived in South Africa – before we were engaged, married or had started a family - when she was just 6 weeks old. She is now almost 12 years old, and I honestly don’t know where all the years have gone … I looked down and there was a bright, playful, cheeky puppy nipping at my ankles and when I looked down again a few moments later, instead I saw a grand old lady shuffling along beside me – her eyes are dull now, her teeth are blunt - and I love her more than you would ever know.

She was cared for by my family – and then in long term boarding kennels – when we were working in National Parks here, where no domestic animals are allowed. As soon as we were settled in town with a home of our own, we flew her here from Johannesburg … aside from the day my daughter was born, it was the happiest day of my life ! (She caused havoc at the Kilimanjaro Airport – but that’s another story !)

For many years we lived in a very remote part of the country and my husband worked a lot – it was before our daughter was born, and Zonde was my only constant companion there. She has been with me through so much, she has protected me and loved me and has never left my side.

Yet now - her body is riddled with cancer. This dreadful disease is taking over her insides, and she is slowly dying – and after all she has done to save me over the years, there is nothing I can do to save her now.

All I can do, is to make her last days as comfortable as possible. She is not in any pain (yet) and all her major organs are all still functioning. She is too old for chemotherapy (which is difficult to come by here anyway) and the best we can do is to control it with excellent medicine (imported from Germany especially for her), a good diet and of course, lots of love and rest. But I know that once she begins to suffer (I would never allow that) I will be faced with a painful decision. Then I will have to do what is best for her, and not what is best for me.

We may have a year – or more. We may have a couple of months – or less. All I can tell you that I know for sure, is that I don’t know what I am going to do when the day comes that I finally have to let her go ……………..

Second Chances

Mbwenya "Before" & "After" - it just goes to show what a little food and TLC can do !

We’d only been living on the farm for around 2 weeks, when a pathetic looking, starving animal appeared on the outskirts of our garden one evening whilst I was feeding our dogs. At first I thought that it was a jackal (as we do have them on the farm). On closer inspection, I realized that this poor mite was, in fact, a dog. She was so timid and of course ran off the minute I tried to approach her. I shut our dogs inside the house, put a bowl of food out and waited for her to return – which she did.

She returned every night after that, and slowly became a little tamer. I de-wormed her, and treated her for ticks and fleas. She got fatter around the belly, and I suspected that she was pregnant. After a few weeks, she disappeared for several days and then re-appeared a lot thinner than before, and I could tell that she was nursing pups. She had made a nest in the bush, and kept them safely there. I made sure that I gave her good quality food and lots of supplements. After a few weeks, I sent Justin (my right hand man – more about him in a future post !) to follow her one night, to find out where she was keeping the pups. He found them, but said that they were still very small/young. About a week or two after this, she returned (alone) permanently to our garden and when Justin went to see if he could find the puppies in the ‘nest’ she’d made … they were gone.

A few months later, she disappeared for about a week, and we found her tied up on a short length of wire in the hot sun in one of the local villages, with no food or water. I immediately removed her, challenging the lady who argued and claimed “ownership” of her to open a case of theft against me at the Police Station if she wanted to get the dog back again. (She never did !)

By this time she was tame enough for me to handle, and I managed to get her in to a travel crate and take her to a wonderful couple who run horseback safari’s here and also happen to be vets. They spayed her for me, and vaccinated her. She is now one of my “village dogs” and lives happily in the garden. We named her “Mbwenya” … she was supposed to be “Mbweha” which means “fox” in the local Kiswahili language – as with her odd ears she looked a bit like a bat eared fox (!!) but this proved too tricky for my toddler to pronounce, so she became Mbwenya instead !

The first time she ever started to play with me - daring me to chase her and jumping and gently nipping me and then scampering away with a cheeky glint in her eye – I actually had tears in my eyes, realizing how much just a little love and TLC had done to change this cowering, timid and starving animal into the content, happy and brave little dog she had become.

She is a fiercely loyal little dog, and follows me around constantly when I am outside in the garden or walking up to the main farm workshop area, and is very protective if anyone comes too close to me.

She was my first “rescue” on the farm … although at the time, I did not know that she wasn’t to be the last … but more of that some other time !

A Cat's Tale

Tessa - slightly annoyed with a wild bird which was just out of reach !

There is no animal rescue organisation in my remote corner of the world, and as I cannot bear to see animals suffering (some people here can hardly feed themselves and their children, let alone their dogs) I cannot turn any needy animals away.

When we first moved to Tanzania 10 years ago, I could not bear to see starving dogs & cats, and the only way I could handle the situation was to look the other way. But I cannot do that anymore. If I look at this situation as a whole in this country, it would be too overwhelming for me ... so instead, I decided to just care for those animals which I could. I live by the motto "To save one life, is to save the world entire". (Oh, how I wish that every expat here would just care for one stray dog or cat, or at least help their staff to look after and spay/neuter/vaccinate their own animals - it would make SUCH a difference.)

I've 'saved' several dogs and cats which have wandered onto the farm in the 3 years we've lived here. They've either wandered into the garden, or I've removed them from their "owners" who have had them tied up on short chains in the blazing African sun, with no water. They are now plump and content, and lounge in the shade of our garden all day. I have found homes for some and all have been spayed/neutered and vaccinated.

I have helped a few cats, too ... and this is a picture of the newest addition to our family, Tessa. She was found as a starving kitten at the end of last year - her right front leg and tail had been broken and she was unable to fend for herself. She would have died within days, with no food - or would have been caught my local dogs. Her leg was mended and she is now "whole" again. She is loved and cuddled and pampered and living a pain free life now, and has the most incredible little personality.

My animals play a huge role in my life here, and I will slowly introduce them all in future posts .....