No-one coming to Fez can be unaware of the number of cats in the Medina. The poor condition of some cats can arouse compassion in the most hard-hearted. Sometimes a little more is needed. Suzanna Clarke shares her latest cat tale with The View from Fez.
Hurrying to an appointment one morning this week in the Fez Medina, I barely gave the little black kitten huddled in a doorway in the Talaa Kebira a glance - until it looked straight at me. Then I gasped in shock. One of its eyes had the worst infection I’d ever seen; bright red and hugely engorged, protruding about two centimetres from its socket. The other tiny green eye just gazed ahead helplessly.
A passing tourist and I exchanged horrified looks and I knew we were both thinking - what can I do? There are thousands of street cats in the Medina, and kittens are a common sight; particularly at this time of year. I’ve seen many deserving cases I’ve had to harden my heart to.
I wasn’t in a position to rescue it, I reasoned. My husband and I were about to leave Fez for a while, and others would be caring for our house. It wouldn’t be fair to ask them to also look after a desperately ill kitten.
Going about my business until the late afternoon, the image of the kitten and its awful eye haunted me. I made a deal with myself. If I went back and it was gone, so be it. If it was still there, then I would have to do something about it. Just in case, I took a basket with me.
So I found myself trudging in the heat, around the Atlas district of the Ville Nouvelle, searching in vain for a vet. The pathetic mews coming from the basket spurred me on. It was late in the day, and at the first two surgeries the vet had already left. The assistants told me to go elsewhere.
The last vet was difficult to find. I asked a young man on the street for directions and he offered to show me the way. When we reached the vet he also came inside.
The vet was a man with a kindly expression. When I explained I wanted him to put the kitten down, he shook his head. “I can fix it,” he said in French, and explained the operation of removing the eye and suturing it. He also mentioned it would cost 700 dirhams. I gulped.
He appeared extremely reluctant to put the animal down. “It’s not a good thing to do in the eyes of God." If I wanted to take it to the American Fonduk they would do it, he explained. But that would mean keeping the kitten for a night – after which I knew I wouldn’t be able to put it down.
“But who is going to look after it if it has this operation? I asked. “I am leaving Morocco in a few days.” We all stared at the tiny black bundle on the operating table, suffering through no fault of its own.
“I will look after it,” announced the man I had just met in the street.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Yes, I will look after it,” he replied emphatically. “As God is my witness, I will feed it le petit dejeuner, dejeuner and diner every day.”
I had no idea who this man was, I explained to the vet . “I have only just met him, but if he really wants to take the cat, I will pay for the operation.” At least it would have the chance of life.
The would-be cat rescuer was Si Mohamed. After giving the vet his contact details, he showed me the restaurant where he worked. The staff may have thought I was there for another reason, because they were quick to tell me he is “a very responsible man.”
“That’s good,” I said, “because he is about to look after a cat”.
The next day I visited the restaurant with my husband, and Si Mohamed told us that the kitten was still at the vets’, as it hadn’t yet recovered from its massive operation.
Later that day Si Mohamed emailed us a photo. The kitten was groggy, but awake and on the mend. It may be minus an eye, but is one of the luckiest cats in the Medina to have been adopted by such a caring man, who showed compassion when it was most needed.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
7 comments:
Beautiful story and a stirring tale of human kindness and compassion to all involved. God Bless You All.
A wonderful story, thank you and Si Mohammed for rescuing and giving medical attention to the poor kitten. I once saw a kitten with a similar eye infection in the Bou Inania and did nothing, it is good that there are some more thoughftul people out there than me.
I have a question you might have some inkling about: I once found a kitten in the Ville Nouvelle with a badly messed up leg and took it to the Foundouq Americain to ask if they could fix it. They said yes and indicated that it could live there. I asked if it would be OK if I came to see it from time to time and they said that was fine. The first time I came back it seemed to be doing well but the second time, it wasn't there. They told me that a familty had taken it to look after it but I wasn't entirely convinced. Would they have put it down as a matter of course? I would have taken it to a vet or offered to pay for its upkeep (I made a small donation anyway) if I had have thought/known that. I really hope they didn't.
Thanks, Anonymous. You did well to take your kitten to the American Fonduk. We don't know enough about the Fonduk, and plan a visit there soon.
We do know that vets don't put animals down in this country as they might in the west, as it's anti-Islamic.
Lumen,
that's not an accurate statement. A vet in Casablanca put down a kitten that had a broken back. I think it depends on the situation, and the vet.
Bless your caring heart. I would have done the same thing, probably - and have done on a few occasions, one of which resulted in the 13 pound fuzzy black cat sleeping next to me right now.
I´ve just been to Fez and although many people require assistance it was the abandoned kittens that affected me. I´m sure that animals are ignored out of the massive effort required to meet the needs of human beings but to my "Western" eyes the horror of the suffering of tiny kittens made me terribly sad. We did what we could to help the motherless scraps we found but I wonder if there´s any kind of organization in place there for cats.
This was my first time in Morocco, Fez was a great election, is and amazing city, I'm very glad we came here, the Medina it's been amazing, the people is wonderful and the food great, but I agreed with Maureen, the saddest thing in Fez are the sick cats and small cats we found in almost every street, very skiny and hangry, seams there are not animal care associations, now protection animals laws, I didn't even found cat food to give them, 2 years ago I went to Istanbul, there are also many cats but they look much better than in Morocco and in the food markets they also sell cat food, today my boyfriends asked for extra chicken in the restaurant thinking in give it to the cats, but is such a small gesture... I think there are a lots of discontrol and with a good association that protects the cats, will be amazing if many of them get sterilized, must of the population will live better, we saw many, many kittens in the streets, asking for food an a few of them even dying for the lack of food, Morocco needs to start thinking in this, I know they love cats that is why they have many, and are very common in their houses, but let them reproduce this much without even having enought food for them is not good as they will suffer a lot.
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