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| Name: |
Little-Job
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Age: |
Two years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Bulgarian Cat
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| Home: |
Iskra, Bulgaria
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Little-Job is a Bulgarian pussycat (a.k.a. Heinz 57). She was discovered, along with her brother, amongst the rubbish in an acquaintance's outdoor waste bin in a small city near to the tiny village in which I live. Both kittens were pitifully thin, soaked to the skin and crying. East Europeans are not generally well known for their care for domestic animals and in the cities of Bulgaria and particularly in Sofia, the capital, packs of stray dogs have become a serious problem.. Similarly to dogs, cats are viewed, particularly in rural areas, as 'Tools' whose presence is tolerated because they scare away foxes and jackals and reduce the rodent population.
Stray cats abound here and some kind soul had obviously more than enough felines and treated Little-Job and her brother as garbage. With the average Bulgarian wage, (at the time of writing,) at 770 leva (£350 395€ - $500) per month, one can readily perceive the underlying reason for the absence of proper care, castration and spaying.
Little-Job, so named because she could initially stand comfortably on the palm of my hand has grown into a medium sized silky furred little lady with, as the picture shows, beautiful, big, hypnotic eyes. She is very chatty and has a purr far louder than her size should warrant. Now almost two years of age, she's retained kittenish ways and regularly has me laughing aloud at her antics.
She shares her life with two more pussycats, Bonzo pussycat, (male) and Pouncer pussycat, (female,) unwanted kittens from separate mothers both of whom would otherwise have led typically short, parasite ridden feral lives as do so many felines in this country, (and others.)
Bulgarian winters can be relatively harsh with ambient temperatures sometimes falling to minus fifteen degrees centigrade and, with winds sweeping down from Stara Planina, (Old Mountains,) toward the north, the wind chill factor can produce temperatures down to minus forty to fifty degrees. Bonzo, Little-Job, Pouncer and I spend many winter hours cuddled up together in bed where I read and they purr!
I'm a reclusive person and I've suffered from depression for the past forty years. Like many other people whose lives are a disappointment, the only real friends I have or want, are my pussycat-pals and to anyone who empathises and, indeed, all you cat lovers who may read this,congratulations, you've made the best friends in the world.
Laurie, (Laurence, not a female Laurie,)
Ciao from me and Miao from them.
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