Despite the title above sounding a dramatization of an Egyptian historical storyline, it hasn't much to do with pyramids and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra! but certainly has something to do with small companions that fascinated the Egyptians. Cats seemed to have played an important role in the ancient Egypt society and evidence suggests that it was in Egypt that the cat was first domesticated 4,000 years ago! Cats becoming a precious part of their culture were not only protected by the people but also their law.
Cleopatra and Princess (named by me) are two stray cats wondering about in our neighborhood! Since the day they discovered our kindness of serving them food, they gradually began to visit home regularly three times a day for their meals. Princess is actually a litter by Cleopatra, so in the early days, she was quite hesitant to climb over to our side of the wall, but Cleopatra wouldn't miss on her trips to us for her timely meals. Many times Cleopatra (the mum) would 'meow' at her young daughter, Princess and caress her, trying to convince her to come over, but Princess seemed afraid and not very willing. But now, Princess is all grown and well accustomed to making regular visits with her Mum to us in the morning, noon and night for their meals.
A year ago, Cleopatra littered again, and this time Princess too joined her. It was quite funny to watch both Mum cat and daughter cat (I sometimes refer to them as that) carrying a loaded tummy! While Cleopatra was smart enough to carry her kittens to our home after littering, Princess poorly experienced had left them in the neighbor's garden exposed and not well hidden. We heard from a neighbour that her kittens were eaten by a straying animal. I still remember how Princess mournfully meowed for many days in confusion searching for her kittens. Princess quickly, started to have an affection for the kittens of Cleopatra, where she comes and spends time watching them and licking their fur but somehow I felt the kittens always detached themselves from Princess as they tried to avoid her when she caressed them.
This time of the year, both Princess and Cleopatra have littered again, seems 3 each, as we watched Princess carry 6 kittens over the wall to our home 3 weeks ago. It’s amazing to see how Princess takes care of the kittens unlike Cleopatra who spends less time with them in comparison to Princess. All 6 kittens feed on both Princess and Cleopatra and they show absolutely no differences in feeding all 6 at the same time.
