Cats of Tunisia

Meet Nini and Asher, two members of the Elde-Sylvester household who declined the offer to join us there was no way we were taking with us on our travels.

Saying goodbye to our favorite non-human father-son duo for the duration of our trip wasn’t easy, and we were grateful to the family that cared for them while we were away.

Meanwhile, we may have fallen for a few new friends overseas, who may have made being so far from our own kitties a touch easier (see also: perros de Argentina).

Although a few different stops on our ten-month journey are known for their feline affinities (looking at you especially, Tokyo and Reykjavik), nowhere did we see more cats than in northern Tunisia.

The sweetie on the right greeted us on our first day in our Sidi Bou Said apartment.

“Blue Eyes,” as we came to call her and who we eventually learned has a human who lives next door, visited often.

Many shops and restaurants, from fast food to fine dining, have resident kitties. This one, Jean of the delicious Smoky Buns, won our hearts straight away. We visited several times to find Jean chilling here on his sofa.

We met this baby while doing school one day at a fun seaside restaurant. Known by staff as Dudu, she is doted on, we could see.

Note, to the right, our offering of (with consent from staff) a hunk of chicken wing, which was ignored in favor of receiving pets.

Cat care = community care

There really are a lot of them. In digging around online, I found articles like this one, which clued me into a relevant aspect of Islam. (FYI 99% of Tunisians are Muslim.)

In Islam, cats are viewed as holy animals. Above all, they are admired for their cleanliness. They are thought to be ritually clean which is why they’re allowed to enter homes and even mosques. According to authentic narrations, one may make ablution for prayer with the same water that a cat has drunk from. It’s even permissible to eat from the same bowl that a cat has eaten from.

Unlike dogs, cats have been revered for centuries in Muslim culture. 

Still, I read in a few places that keeping cats as indoor (or indoor/outdoor) pets isn’t something many Tunisians do. Rather, most cats wander freely and are cared for by the community.

On learning this, we started carrying around salami (“grab the meat bag!” we’d say on preparing to leave the apartment) for wanderers who were clearly looking to eat, which definitely described some of the cats we encountered.

More on Islam + cats:

Muslim scholars are divided on the issue of neutering animals. Most, however, maintain that neutering cats is allowed if there is some benefit in neutering the cat and if that will not cause its death.

According to the TN Facebook groups I followed during our stay, there are several local groups on the ground doing what they can to get more cats fixed.

Before putting this picturesque place in the rearview and moving on to Thailand, Flynn and I had to pay a last visit to Restaurant Le Pirate’s resident قطة.

Sniff, we’ve missed you, Dudu—even now, as we make up for lost time with these dorks:

Creature comfort

Zooming out, we were all pretty tickled by the various cats and dogs we encountered on our travels—both the one-off sightings and the repeat hangs.

There was Diego, a charming dachshund spotted outside a San Telmo grocery store on day two of our Buenos Aires stay. Feliz Perro, pup who “led” us home from a halfhearted hike on a rainy day in Ushuaia, disappearing/appearing/disappearing/appearing again and again. Coco of Shimokitazawa’s Cateriam, very old and always in terry. Plus others.

These rascals surfaced regularly in our conversations. They cracked us up. We gave them code names. We still talk about them today.

They brought us comfort as we made our way in unfamiliar settings. It was the familiar sweetness. Because this guy is this guy the world over:

Woof.