Our new furry neighbour... with a right hook!

For a couple of months now, a tabby cat has been living in the stairway of our block of flats.

It (I really have not checked for the gender) does not seem to belong to anyone, but is happy to nap quietly on people's doormats or on the stairs themselves. Luckily, nobody has hurt the cat and there are always two small containers full of food and water at the entrance downstairs. The cat itself is very friendly and often purrs when I pet it.

If you were wondering how Aschiuta has been getting along with our new furry friend, I will begin by telling you that we often go to Brasov, the city where my mother-in-law lives. Aschiuta always goes with us, since she is always welcome there. But my mother-in-law also has two cats, both quite shy. And, according to my experience, shy cats can be aggressive when scared, so we keep the cats and pooch in separate rooms at all times to avoid any conflicts.

Aschiuta has also had a few "close encounters" with a couple of cats, some of which have left her with a small scratch on her nose. But of course, she does not learn and is always curious about these smaller creatures that have ears similar to hers (but not of the same magnitude).

Our new tabby neighbour is no exception and Aschiuta almost always tries to catch a sniff of the cat.

The first meeting was as expected, poochie poked her nose into the kittie's business and the kitty gave her the right hook (the boxing kind). I decided that these two needed to make friends, so I always let Aschiuta get carefully closer, so as not to scare the cat. Gradually, they got used to each other, to the point where they both lean in to catch a sniff of each other, their noses almost touching. And then Aschiuta hops up in a dance of glee and the kitty readies the right hook, which is where I have to drag the crazy pooch away before she gets hurt.

Tonight I tried to get a photo, but none of them was interested in posing for me, no matter how nicely I asked them. As soon as I put the phone away, they get close for one of their sniffs. Figures... they are only being cute when they are not being photographed. But I was stubborn, so I managed to get one almost cute shot of them. Almost. Maybe next time...

Saying hello, like good little neighbours

Paranormal experience

They say dogs have a 6th sense, that they can feel an earthquake coming or even sense ghosts. Could it be true? You decide for yourselves.

One day, Aschiuta was going about the house after me, when the front door caught her attention.

She sniffed, intrigued, and started cowering away towards the door. Something obviously troubled her, making her uneasy, almost scared.

I went to the door and listened. Nothing.

I looked through the viewer and couldn't see anything or anyone outside.

What was making her so nervous?

I kept my cool and decided to just go ahead and take her for a walk. She usually can't wait to go, but this time she was reluctant.

We were finally ready to go and I opened the door and saw what had made Poochie put her tail between her legs.

It was no scary ghost or boogieman. It was a tabby cat rolled up napping on our front door rug!

She was not scared at all, but let Aschiuta sniff her and even started purring.

Now they are good friends and seek each other for a sniff and some friendly sparring. No teeth or claws.

The moral of the story? Not all ghosts are all that scary.

An encounter of the "kitty" degree

Chapter 6. Be a good dog

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The first day in the tall creatures' home was full of rustle and new events. I sniffed around and eventually found a nice spot to sleep, where the floor was a little softer. The Woman gave me some food. It smelled very good and I ate it quickly. I had never eaten anything so delicious and I kept following her for a while, hoping she would give me more.

I talked to the Cat again, who knew everything about the place I was in. He told me I was in a house, that the creatures were humans, or people, and that the one who had brought me there was the Man and the other one the Woman. They also had a Boy, who was always away and only came home at night.

The Cat's name was Ferdinand and he wasn't very friendly. He did talk to me though, because he said I needed to learn how to behave. "I will take you under my wing, if you will." He made a strange rolling noise in the back of his throat. "Remember not to get in trouble, you will make me look bad too." So I did my best to behave.
 

He also told me I might stay there for a long time and that I might not be able to see Mother any time soon. The thought made me incredibly sad, but I willed myself not to whimper and stay strong.

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Adopt the Internet Day. Open your eyes

Today, as most of the pet bloggers out there already know, is Petfinder's Adopt the Internet Day. For their 15th birthday, they are trying to get as many people to promote pet adoption on the Internet. On Facebook, Twitter, talking about an adoptable pet in particular or adopting in general.

Pet adoption sites in Romania

I haven't used Petfinder, since it's only for pets in the USA, but Romania has its own sites, Adoptii Caini and Adoptii Pisici and I recommend people to use these sites to find a new furry friend.

The situation of strays in Romania

I have already talked about the desperate situation in Romania. Our streets are full of stray dogs and the government has decided to euthanise them. There have been protests and you can read about this in my post Our strays in danger. We only hope for the best.

We are responsible

I want to make people think about this. Our streets are full of dogs, yet I see new breeder-bought dogs being pampered by their owners. We are killing our stray dogs by doing that. Overpopulation is not just "somebody else's problem". We can't just solve it by allowing other dogs to be killed when we take such good care of our beloved purebred Fido. Dogs here are often a fashion accessory and we often discriminate between "our dogs" and "street dogs".

Why don't people want to pick a dog off the street and take it home? Because it's too much trouble, it might have diseases, parasites. Well, that's what we have vets for. Our vet helped us a lot with Aschiuta's problems, even if we didn't have a lot of money.

Oh, and of course, it's a bit embarrassing to say "my dog is a mutt", rather than "my dog is a purebred [breed], we have a certificate and all". Honestly. Why should we discriminate like that? Dogs are dogs and they are all wonderful in their own way.
 

I won't even talk about the "puppy" and "cute" craze. It's bad enough to be known worldwide.

The vet that took care of Aschiuta at the dog hotel told us that people abandon their dogs there. They give false addresses and never return for their dogs. And at least they are considerate enough to send their dogs to a nice place, but others just leave them on the streets.

If you live in a place like that, think twice before buying a "ready-made" dog or cat. Pick one up off the streets or from a shelter. It might save a life or two.

Adoptii Caini & Pisici. Blog the Change for Animals

Today is one of the four days when bloggers write posts supporting causes and organisations that aim to help animals. The project is called Blog the Change for Animals and was started by the Be the Change for Animals site. You will also find a list of links to everyone's posts there.

Blog the Change for Animals

Adoptii Caini (= Adopt a Dog) and Adoptii Pisici (= Adopt a Cat) are sister sites that represent databases of adoptable dogs and cats in Romania.

Adopt a Dog

Adopt a Cat

Why am I telling you about Romania? I know most of my visitors are from all over the world and even if they had the kindness of getting interested in these programs, they couldn't even read the information on the site. Still, I want to spread the word about these people who work hard to also tell people about all the dogs and cats that need homes.

You probably know Petfinder, which is a similar site with a database of adoptable animals in the USA. You can make some parallels between this site and the Romanian ones.

The two Romanian sites are a program created and maintained by volunteers throughout Romania. They are associated with Protectia Animalelor (= Animal Protection) to raise awareness of animals that need a home. They also have a lot of information about other animal care organisations in our country, shelters, vets and even pet shops and dog trainers.

They also create a community of volunteers, who help document the database and take pictures, and other animal lovers. People can share their opinions of a certain shelter or vet and post classifieds about their missing pet.

What is more important, in my opinion, is that they also have information about our famous stray dogs and cats (also see my On the streets post) posted by people who want to try to find homes for them. I've said it before, this is a serious problem in our country.

I hope this post will help those animals even the tiniest bit and that more people will adopt pets. Forget that they chew your furniture or pee on your rugs or leave hair on your clothes. Pets bring a little piece of living nature into our homes and we will have a sweet, loving friend.

Please adopt pets. If you are from Romania, now you know where to start looking.