Friday, June 30, 2006


THE CAT AGAIN :( : will her beautiful eye heal ?

Just when I thought that June has stopped being a curse as it was officially over last night, something terrible happened. Just as I was taking a deep breath after burying three members of my family, and after the cat was saved , something tragic happened . At 11.55 pm exactly the I heard a chilling scream and ran to the garden to find the cat locked into a fight with a stray, I managed to separate them but the damage was done :( .. My baby has a double eye injury and this time blood is coming out . There are no vets at midnight here, I called the one I knew but he said he was far and could not come over - well why would he it is midnight anyway. Adib in Tunis must hate me by now and is probably considering changing his cell phone number. What I needed were words of comfort and re-assurance, so thank you Adib for your patience again. I cannot diagnose the problem myself regardless of my great love for animals . We need to make a website which has all the vet clinics in Tripoli for such an emergency. Someone has to be availabe 24h/7. People care about their pets not just cows and camels. I am so angry and frustrated but mostly of my impotence. Any Libyan vets out there please ?

I have to thank my best friend for staying up with me and who is reading this right now. You made it possible for me to calm down and feel better.


PS I'm still replying to this thread about Haditha , I never had that much comments on the blog thanks.... It has turned into a lot of interesting discussions but I just needed to vent a little bit my frustration and sadness about the cat.

PPS those are her real eyes by the way.

13 comments:

Maya M said...

I hope you'll save you cat's eye again! And then sentence her to house arrest.
I want to add something to our previous discussion (the comments there became too many, so I'm putting it here). I saw you were interested in Arab women with achievements of international importance, but I agree with Programmer Craig that the Nobel prize nominees aren't the right group to seek people of real merit. I think it's better to "screen" scientists. These days I read about a genetic disease (the Rett syndrome) and mentioned a researcher named Huda Zoghbi. I knew Huda is a female Arab name, so I thought she could be a person for your "archive". You can read her CV at http://www.bcm.edu/pa/zoghbi.htm and about her discoveries at http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/neuroscience/zoghbi.html.

Hannibal said...

@Highlander : sorry for your cat :( Hope she or he will recover soon. Keep strong !

Leilouta said...

I am so sorry for your cat. I hope she is doing better by now. She is lucky to have you as her owner. Others wouldn't even care.Sometimes when I see these kinds of things happen to animals I just wish they die so that they stop suffering. I don't know what it is with animals, but it really breaks my heart when I see them sick or very old. My cat was really sick for a few days and wouldn't eat or move. I remember going home early just to make sure she was OK. I think it is the fact that they are so powerless that touched me.
You're right, there should be some kind of 24/7 emergency vet assistance for animals everywhere, but again people in some places don't even get that luxury. Ambulances in Tunis are extremely slow...so imagine how they are in small towns. Actually I've been to really small towns where there is not even a hospital.

BTW, this is an interesting post about the subject http://pheras.blogspot.com/2006/06/arabs-animals-dont-mix.html

programmer craig said...

Your poor cat :( She's lucky to have somebody whe cares for her so much. I agree with Maya, maybe it's time for her to become a house cat. I'm sure she loves to go outside, but it seems like there are just too many strays in your neigborhood.

Here in the US, we have 24 hour/7days a week emergency pet clinics, no appointment necessary. They can really be a Godsend in an emergency. The only downside, is a lot of people seem to bring their terminally ill pets to the emergency clinics to be put down. It can be a real bummer to be in the waiting ropom and see crying people bring in their dogs or cats to be put to sleep.

KhadijaTeri said...

I hope your cat is feeling better. It is frustrating to have no access to a vet 24/7. Maybe someone might read this and open up a clinic.

Highlander said...

Hi Maya thanks for the good wishes , I can't sentence the cat to house arrest but she had a curfew after 9pm no going. Unfortunately someone let her out that's why she got into trouble. I can't rant too much about who let her out because what's done is done , but I can only insist that they never let her out after that time which is when the strays descend into our garden.

Re. the Nobel prize nominees I thought the Libyan one as quite good , check her out you might want to give her a second chance.

Thanks for Huda's CV I love to find everything about Arab women achievers.

Hannibal I hope she will recover soon too, but this time it is quite serious she's been sleeping all day in the corner :(


Leilouta like you I feel so sorry for animals as they can't talk . Your cat probably had a stomach upset . I can cope with any animal injury except to the eyes that is so terrible because they get so confused.

You're right about ambulances and other medical care for humans. If you know why my grandmother died a few weeks ago you will pull your hair out !
Thank's for pheras's link I had a blast there .

Programmer_Craig, I wish we had this 24/7 vet thing I would even volunteer to help them.

Khadijateri, thanks for taking the time to read this even though you just got out of surgery yourself .
The cat is still traumatized and sleeping in the corner of the sitting room. I try and keep her in the dark not to hurt the eye. I'm giving her antibiotic drops now. I called the vet and his said he was busy at the beach with his kids and will be watching the world cup later, so if I wanted I could drop at his clinic and leave her and he will see when he has time to see her tonight or I can bring her tomorrow. I don't trust my cat on its own there plus there won't care for her like I do so I'll risk keeping her with me. so far the eye has not gotten infected which is what is more dangerous if 24hrs pass without an infection and fever I think she will not loose the eye. Then we can work on the healing bit .. I know I should have been a vet.

OK me go give her some fish and water... also time for her eyedrops

Leilouta said...

"I called the vet and his said he was busy at the beach ...."

Can't you go to another vet??????

Anonymous said...

I checked it on the Internet. We do seem to have lots of 24/7 vet clinics here LOL in case the vet Highlander called stays on the beach with his family the whole Libyan summer. The problem, however, is that before Highlander has flown here, secured a Schengen visa and fulfilled all it needs to take a cat from a potentially rabies-infested non-EU country (Libya is not on the list of low risk rabies countries I checked) here I'm sure even the vet is back and the 2010 World Cup is over.

If the cat still is so wild she wants to go on adventuring on Tripoli streets despite the dangers, what about letting her adventure inside your house. Found something which might keep her busy in a safer environment:

http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/catmax/index_eng.htm

Another company here also produces something you might enjoy having your cat in if you want to keep her outdoors. The page is not in English but I guess the pictures tell it all:

http://www.kolumbus.fi/levatop/epelit.html

Highlander and Leilouta, how do you call your cats?

NBA

Highlander said...

Leilouta that football fan vet was my second choice :( my favourite vet said he was at his ranch - they don't really do house visits here , they used to sometimes give me special treatment because I nag a lot and we go a long way but now there is alot of business for them so they don't really need me that much although I am prepared to pay top price and what an expat would pay just to have peace of mind. Most other vets are interest in non-pets because it is less stressfull..they don't want to do with 'hysterical' owners like me loool.So no I could not get another one the others I do not trust at all ..


NBA, coming to Finland eh ? is this an invitation ;) oh we got a lot of cat diseases that's why I'm constantly collecting strays...and playing good samaritans . My dad has threatened to disown he says it's like a hospital in his house :)

Those are nice links you sent , good idea but that's over my budget and we don't have this stuff here anyway. Plus our cat likes to stay in her own , it's not her fault if she is so pretty that all the cats withing a 10 miles radius are attracted ...she only wants to sit in the car on the hood of the car or in the trees within someone tresspassing on her ground... cats are very possessive did you know.. do you have pets ?

Twosret said...

Salamtek Ya set Katkoota InshAllah Twosret :)or even better InshAllah Elly bally balek :)j

Anonymous said...

Highlander, no pets of my own but yes, it's an invitation ;). You're most welcome here anytime, if for no other reason, then to colour at least one new country on your map of countries you visited.

NBA

Nura said...

Habibti!!! I hope your kitty is well, sorry to hear you were so upset! Coming to think of it, animals are not so valued in Libya at all... so I am sure this is a campaign you can start! Those strays are vicious... Hope she heals..

Highlander said...

Twosret habibti thank you - lol @ ili bali balek ya rab!

NBA, hmmmm you are sifting my archives and seen the famous map eh ? thanks for the invite. Maybe I will visit one day.

Nura long time no see , glad that you are back. Actuallys someone suggested I start it 10 years ago ....