Well - I must do as I promised and talk of community cats.
In Nice I borrowed this cat to use as a hotwater bottle while ill as John would simply not lie still.
I dislike stray dogs as I am from Africa and always think of Rabies and bites. Community dogs are interesting however though not necessarily any safer. They attach to communities as pack animals just as they attach to individual homes when they belong to you. They don't become wild loners as cats do just a little more like teenage kids attach to family.
In Bulgaria where community dogs wear ear tags (I think )we were surrounded by circling dogs and cats at the camp site. They went round the wheely cabin just outside the circle of light - then gradually came in closer and closer! It was a little unsettling but the dogs were a lot more civil about leaving when asked. Cat simply leapt on the table and made off with the bread!
Both cats and dogs worked the campsites like professional beggars but were only occasionally a nuisance. We think a community cat we met was actually a manipulative stowaway who pretended to be abandoned.
For several weeks we had a community fly as a companion. John subjected a large number of flies to rigorous testing with his electric tennis raquet swatter. This one was outstanding and travelled with us from Turkey to Sicily where it decided to follow Ulysses to see Scylla. I still miss him every morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment