Cats looking for a Home

25/04/2026

Duke
Duke was one of the 40+ cats living outside our offices at the place where I work - a big fenced courtyard.

Monday, 20 April 2026, Duke disappeared. He was sick, he had a liver problem, he was very skinny because he ate very little.

I looked for him around the courtyard several times a day (I never imagined he could go outside in the shape that he was). Due to his condition, I assumed he might have died.

Around midnight on Wednesday, I got a message that on Facebook somebody posted about finding Duke. I did not get the full Facebook post or a link, I just got a screenshot with a photo of Duke and words in Arabic (which I don't speak).

Thursday morning, I went to the place where the Facebook post was made - Duke was not there.

Thursday lunch time, my colleague located the Facebook post. I had to find somebody to translate it because it was a video in Arabic. On the video, a person holding Duke was saying that the cat was used in a black magic ritual, blamed people who do such acts, etc.

I went again to the place where the Facebook video was made, but this time with my colleague who speaks Arabic. She talked to a person running a cafe at the place. The cafe person confirmed Duke was there on Monday, the video was taken on Monday. That the cat kept coming to this place in the next 2 days. That on Wednesday, he took him 20 metres away from his cafe because the cat was looking bad.

Since Thursday morning, I have been to that place several times a day, I walked the nearby streets, I showed Duke's photo to people on the street, I left my phone number with many people. Nothing!

Today, 6 days after his disappearance I have to assume that he starved to death on the streets.

To recap:
- A person took Duke from the place where he was safe and cared for (Duke did not exit the fenced courtyard by himself, he was barely moving due to his medical condition);
- Whether or not they used him for black magic is uncomfirmed, what is certain is that they threw him on the street;
- Another person used Duke for Facebook presence making a viral video of him, got many comments on his Video;
- Another person did not want Duke around his cafe because of the poor condition that he was.
- People saw a starving sick cat - they did not give him water, they did not give him food, they did not give him a place to sleep.

I was late by 1 day - 1 day only. Had I discovered the Facebook post before Wednesday afternoon instead midnight, I would have found him.

Duke, I am sorry. I am sorry for all the times I did not pay enough attention to you. I am sorry, my baby - I tried, I did, but I was just one person with 40 more cats like you, I was so tired I am tired all the time. I am sorry for all the times that I did not give you food when you asked - I was busy, I was tired, I had my paid job to finish first, I had other cats in need. I am sorry for all the times I complained about you miauing in front of my office - I did not really mean it.

You died without knowing that I had you microchipped and vaccinated and blood-tested to travel with me to the EU when I finish with my contract in this place and go back to my home country. You were to come with me, my baby. We just did not make it.

You died without knowing that I looked for you. I went there as soon as I could.

I am sorry.

25/01/2026

It is like this every morning when I arrive at work? Poor hungry babies. All of them want to get inside my office (I am not allowed to feed cats inside the office, it is a miracle they still allow me to feed the cats at the back of the compound).

20/11/2025

Blood tests time!

Absolutely horrible and stressful experience for everybody involved, including me.

Why I have to do blood tests for over 20 cats? Because those are the cats currently living in the open-air, but fenced, courtyard of my Employer, which cats I am foolishly trying to rescue by planning to take them with me to my home country after I end my job with that Employer (I am a foreigner working in Laayoune and will obviously have to leave the place when my contract ends).

Wasn't there an easier solution than an international travel across continents with 20-30 cats? I tried absolutely everything else from begging individual people to adopt to offering to buy a place in Laayoune if anybody wants to commit to run it as a shelter. None of these worked due to lack of interest from other people.

Am I trying to rescue all the cats at the place? No! Sadly, no. They are too many there, over 40 and people keep bringing more cats to abandon inside the fenced area. 20-30 is my absolute physical and financial limit (or rather way beyond my limit, but I am ignoring the red flags).

I already did the microchips and the rabies vaccines but the EU requires blood tests for rabies antibodies as well. The EU being the worst possible place to import animals. For many other countries in the world I would have been done just with the chip and the vaccine.

I managed to do the blood test for 11 cats - taking 1-2 at a time to the Vet.

From the 11, only 4 cooperated, got their blood drawn and were free to go within 5 minutes.

The remaining 7? I feel like a monster torturing animals. They resisted the Vet to take the blood. Couple were relatively quite until the Vet put the needle inside the vein, at which point they started panicking which made it worse as the vein was already punctured. Denice had his neck and front leg all in blood.

Eventually, the 7 cats had to be sedated (the 7 are spread on 4 different days, so I have to re-live the experience every day). Vomited in the process, because we did not fast because we did not know whether we had to be sedated. I had to leave the cats in the Clinic overnight because they were not alert enough to be collected in the evening (I use my lunch break to take cats to the Vet).

The most terrible part -I took the "nice cats" first, the ones easy to handle, calm and friendly. The remaining cats that I have to take for blood tests next week or two are in the increasing level of difficulty when it comes to even touching them or catching them.

Good boys and Girls (no sedation, 5 minutes - sample taken and going home) - Duke, Lucinda, Joe, Hana.

Tortured Boys and Girls (several unsuccessful attempts by the Vet to take blood without sedation, then sedated and left at the Clinic overnight) - Tima, My Girl, Orange, Denice, Wolfy, Smurfette, Teetho.

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12/11/2025

Snow

Snow was born in the big fenced open-air courtyard of my Employer. Snow is very beautiful long-fur male cat. Very quite and solitary.

Even if I have been feeding him (together with the many other homeless cats who also live at that place) for several years , he is rather difficult to catch. He "talks" to me i.e. says little miaus when I put food in front of him. But he runs if I so much as extend my hand to him.

Which is why any time Snow is sick, it becomes a challenge to treat him. To start with, he is in the habit of getting a ringworm infection every spring. So I have to spend 3-4 weeks masking the pill inside the food, keeping 5-10 other cats away so they don't eat the "spiked" food and praying that Snow eats the full dose.

For a homeless cat, Snow is not at all food-driven. He would eat slowly any food and would stop eating and move away if he senses medication.

I did not notice that he has a health problem until 2 days ago when I saw him with blood and puss dripping from his mouth. I managed to trick him with food inside a metal trap cage to take him to the Vet.

Snow is now staying at the Clinic. He has a big wound inside the mouth which can not be stitched as the tissue is very soft. He gets antibiotics and a spray and we just have to hope that the wound closes on its own soon.

I used the opportunity to put on Snow a microchip and vaccine in the hope that he may become part of the group of cats I am trying to rescue by taking them with me to my home country when I finish my work for this Employer (I am a foreigner working in Laayoune, at some point I will have to go back to my home country while there is nobody to continue to care for these homeless cats. So, after trying everything else, I will have to take with me as many as I can in the craziest possible rescue operation).

But for Snow to be rescued he has to allow me to catch him a few more times - international travel involves many other procedures requiring the cat's participation. As the matter stands now, Snow is not cooperative.

11/11/2025

Jessica
Until 2 weeks ago, she did not even have her own name. We called her simply Multicolour's sister (with more than 40 cats, we name one cat and a bunch of others are known by their relation to the named cat).

I have spent two years trying to catch Jessica and get her sterilized. During that time, she gave birth 2-3 times, but no baby survived.

Jessica's normal state is terrified and paranoid. I don't know what traumatized her that much. Both sisters (she and Multicolour) had a tough childhood - beaten by the bigger cats, waiting on the side for the others to eat and eating whatever was left. Jessica had been the more social and brave of the two sisters until something changed and she became scared of everything. While Multicolour became one of "my" closest cats, Jessica started to run and hide in panic without a visible threat.

She spent months under containers, going out only to eat and running away even at the slightest suspicion that somebody was approaching her. Things got so bad that I had to put a plate of food next to the container for her to eat with only her head in the open and the body still under the container.

She gradually improved and started to at least spend time in the open. But it took even more time before she allowed me to get near her.

Finally all my sneakiness paid off and on 25 October 2025 I managed to quickly grab her and drop her in a cage before she could react.

I had borrowed the Vet special cage for the purpose - a metal wire cage that opens from the top - and had strategically positioned the cage just next to where Jessica was eating. There was no way I could have used a standard plastic carrier box. Most of the times when I get severely bitten and scratched were trying to put cats in carrier boxes. I had my blood spilled even by otherwise sweet angels who nevertheless turn into shredders the moment I try to stick them in a carrier box to take to the Vet.

So Jessica is finally sterilized/neutered. I used the opportunity to also microchip her and vaccinate her in the hope that maybe she could be part of the group of cats I am trying to rescue by taking them with me to my home country when I finish with my job in Laayoune (the cats in question are the homeless cats who live outside the offices in my Employer's fenced compound). But for this to happen I have to be able to catch Jessica at least 4 more times. I am not optimistic about that.

Jessica was very sweet at the Clinic - allowing me to pet her, purring and generally behaving. Apart from insisting to sleep in the litter box!!! The Vet even offered her a second clean litter box but she continued to lie in the one used for toilet.

But the moment we went back "home" and I opened the carrier box (yes, the return trip was in a normal carrier box), she darted and went under a container. Again!

I will surely not have another two years with this Employer to get over Jessica's latest trauma. I may have only couple of months left at this work. So, Jessy, dear, please decide to be a sweet girl, like you were at the Clinic, and let me help you.

11/11/2025

Duke
His looks alone tell the hard life of struggle of a homeless cat. He probably was a cute little grey tabby kitten before the starvation, illnesses, injuries, parasites, fights with other cats distorted his fragile body outside and inside.

Nobody knows what happened to his ear.

The tilting of the head is likely due to nerve damage caused by ear parasites and ear infections.

The tilted head is why he was named Duke by a colleague from the USA who said that John Wayne, the legendary actor, also tilted his head and since the actor's nickname was Duke, the cat was named that too.

Duke's most dangerous health issue is that his liver is failing. I left him more than a month in the Clinic, but the liver damage could not be fully reversed. Poor cat was on almost all-vegetable diet (cats being obligatory carnivores) with just a bit of salmon. He lost even more weight during the treatment, he did not weight much to start with.

Duke doesn't eat dry food, although there is nothing wrong with his teeth, gums and mouth in general (unlike other cats in the same cat colony which appears to be plagued by gingivitis and stomatitis).

When I asked the Vet why he only eats wet food although there is nothing wrong inside his mouth, she replied that he was saving energy, because chewing crackers takes a lot more effort than the wet food.

This is possibly the saddest explanation - how much a cat should be starved before starting to preserve energy by not chewing food!

Duke is truly starving! You can see from the photos how skinny he is. Even if he has food, his liver does not process well the proteins, leaving him mal-nourished.

I can't do much for him. Duke is one of the many homeless cats who live outside the offices where I work. I try to sneak Duke in my office and give him wet food there (with 40 other cats around it is rather difficult to give special food only to one cat). He eats very little, so 20 minutes later he is hungry again and starts crying in front of my office door. I know the solution is to feed him frequently but I am there to do my paid job (which has nothing to do with cats). So I can not spend much time during the working hours caring for cats (I was already reported by somebody who had nothing better to do). Sadly, I do not have the time or the energy to feed him frequently. More than 40 other cats are also on my care. Many in bad shape as well. Apart from a Helper who I have to pay to help me with the cats' breakfast and dinner, nobody volunteers to help them for free.

Nobody wants to adopt Duke and care for him.

30/10/2025

Sylvia
When you look at a cat and know that she needs help but she is too scared to let you help her. This is Sylvia.

Sylvia appeared out of nowhere sometime in 2024 at the place where I feed the cats. She did not look like a street cat (was too clean "on arrival") but at the same time she was too scared - she spent most of the time in hiding, re-appearing at the meals time only and not letting anybody approach her.

It took a long time before she started spending her time in the open area, staying next to the other cats even if not interacting with them. She started coming near to me when I fed the cats and started following me around. She now accepts that I come close to her and doesn't run away. But she still does not allow me to touch her.

Sylvia does not have much survival chances if she has to look for food herself on the street, where survival depends on closing up to people who may be kind enough to give her food. Which is why I wanted to vaccinate and put a microchip on Sylvia so I could possibly take her with me (together with as many other cats as I could afford) when I leave the place. I nearly succeeded yesterday, but everything was ruined by one stupid move from my side.

I managed to trap Sylvia in the metal cage trap (I lured her inside with food and closed the door). And then I decided to transfer her from the metal trap to a normal cat carrier box because the metal trap is very difficult to carry. Plus, I was taking a second cat, Pepper, also to the Vet and had to carry 2 boxes.

In the process of moving Sylvia from the metal trap to the plastic carrier box, she escaped inside my office. She hid in the small space between the cupboard and the wall. Freaked out, screamed and scratched. The taxi that I had ordered was already outside calling on the phone. I had to give up - I opened the door of the office and let Sylvia run away.

I am sorry, Sylvia - this was the last time I could get cats to the Vet to prepare them for international travel. I am already too late - it takes 4 months from the vaccination before a cat could travel to the European Union. Compared with my contract termination notice of 3 months (which may come any moment now).

It breaks my heart when there is a cat who is in a desperate need for help but does not let me help her. I will always feel guilty about Sylvia.

Especially since today Sylvia has forgiven me for the stress endured in the metal trap and in my office - she came close to me and licked the food on the spoon while I was holding it. Maybe there was a chance for the two of us to work it out? But I ran out of time.

23/10/2025

Why I hate Weekends!

Everybody wants to eat every day. Cats are no different. Being hungry is a terrible thing.

Weekend or holiday, the poor homeless cats sheltering behind the fence of my Employer's courtyard need food. Since it was physically impossible for me to feed more than 40 cats, every day, twice a day, while attending to my paid job (I go to that place to work for my Employer and have to respect the office working hours), I had to pay a Helper to help me feed the cats.

But a paid Helper can not do everything. A paid Helper does not notice when a cat is sick or that in the chaos created by dozens of hungry cats, one cat is missing. Plus we have several cats with mouth problems who can only eat wet food and it is terrible for one person to both feed the big group and make sure that the "special cases" cats could eat their "special" food - because naturally everybody else also wants to eat wet food rather than the dry crackers!

This is why I try to be with the Helper when she feeds the cats. So every Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday I go to the office in the morning to attend the breakfast.

Why did I hate it? Because technically these are not my cats. They were supposed to be "community" cats i.e. cats whose care I could share with other colleagues who work there. So the work to care for them is divided between several people and I get to have at least one day off. At the beginning, I was not even involved in the cat "business".

This weekend, the feeling of helplessness and frustration will be greater. Because Dany, a little precious boy, is sick and has to take medication twice a day for 10 days!

Friday office working hours are until lunch but I either have to stay in the office until evening, or go home and return to the office in the evening for Dany's evening dose of medication. Saturday and Sunday, instead of coming only once in the morning, I have to go also in the evening.

Plus I have to clean my house. Plus I have to go buy food for the cats at my House and for myself.

Usually, when a cat has to take medication twice a day, I leave them at the Clinic of the weekend and pay for the stay there. I tried to do this with Dany but poor baby didn't want to get out of the cage and cried so pitifully that I couldn't leave him there.

I hate the weekends but I love my precious Dany, so I will be there for him this weekend. The least I could do since I can not yet give him a home (I am trying though, for him and for as many poor babies I could afford).

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23/10/2025

Blanca (the mother) or Little Blanca (the daughter)?

Who did I have microchipped and vaccinated today?

As in my older posts, since it has become evident that my work contract is ending with my Employer in Laayoune and I have to return to my home country (as I am a foreigner here), I have explored every possibility and every crazy idea for the continued care of the multiple homeless cats who live outside the offices (in a big fenced compound). 41 cats on my current list, plus several I have not yet entered in the list.

The organized care and feeding of this large cat colony will stop with my departure - there is nobody to take over from me in terms of time, physical work and money required.

I failed to find people to adopt cats locally. Only 3 people agreed to provide for 5-6 specific cats after my departure. This was a huge help no matter how small the number.

There are no local shelters or rescue groups that can accept the cats.

So I had to come to the harsh realization that either I just leave Laayoune, go home and feel guilty for the remainder of my life for abandoning the cats. Or, I can try and take with me as many of them as I could possibly afford financially and physically (and still feel guilty, but a little less so, for the ones who I am forced to leave behind). Thus, I have started preparing cats for international cat travel by putting the obligatory microchips and vaccinations.

Blanca (the mother) is one of the above-mentioned 5-6 cats for whom there is a person willing to support her. Little Blanca (the daughter) - nobody agreed to save her, so I wanted to prepare her for international travel in case I could take her with me. So Little Blanca had to get a microchip and obligatory vaccine.

After I have spent 4 days trying to catch Little Blanca and put her in a carrier box to bring to the Vet, today I finally succeeded just because she was a bit sleepy and was a second late to put up strong resistance. Or at least I thought I succeeded.

Blanca and Little Blanca are identical! Both white Angora look-a-like. Both with different colour eyes!

Little Blanca used to be smaller than her mother when she was younger, but now it is very difficult to tell the difference.

I thought I got Little Blanca simply because the cat was at the "right place". The two hang around in different places of the compound. But at dinner time, when both cats appeared at the same time, and could be compared side-by-side, I started having significant doubts.

Who did I bring to the Vet?

20/10/2025

Hana
A sweet girl acting out due to constant pain.

Hana's life has been a very painful one (I posted her full story some time ago) - toes smashed when a stone fell on her paw, barely survived the cat flu virus, then gingivitis and stomatitis. The gingivitis and stomatitis turned into a chronic condition causing Hana significant and constant pain. To the point where one Vet recommended to remove all her back teeth, a death-by-starvation sentence for a homeless cat on the street, where food is scarce as it is. Her teeth as such are not rotten or dead, just very prone to tartar. Which is why I chose to keep them but I have to deal with her chronic gum problems.

I took Hana to the Vet last Thursday (I already took her once last year for the same problem). She again had to be sedated just to be examined, at which point the Vet decided that since she was already under anesthesia, she might as well de-tartar her teeth immediately.

Hana has been at the Clinic for 5 days now because a very experienced Vet and the Vet assistant have to work together to make Hana take her pill. I have no chances to manage that feat alone! The first day at the Clinic Hana was still lashing out at everybody, growling and cowering. But now she is acting sweet and cuddly.

I would like to believe that as the pain has reduced my beautiful Hana is back to her friendly and sweet self.