Travel Tips

"I love cats because I love my home and after a while they become its visible soul."
- Jean Cocteau


I leave you with some pics of my lovely 3 Dubai-desert cats - all rescued from life on the streets & cruelty.

PHOEBE was the first cat we rescued from outside my friend's house in Dubai... I never liked cats and actually preferred dogs until she came along... she was about 2 months old, dehydrated and the poor thing was covered from head to toe with cactus-thorns (she had been hiding there... stupid baby!) So we took her home and started plucking... during the whole procedure she only stopped purring to let-out a little 'squeak' whenever a thorn hurt her.

Nowadays, Phoebe is the ruler of the house, and as a "Queen" seems to sometimes despise being forced to live with two boys... but whenever she thinks you're not looking she starts cleaning them & "playing mum"...

She has quite a load voice and likes to talk... she almost sounds like a cross between a cat & a goat!

KAZIMIR means "destroyer of the peace"... he's quiet a handful, because he seems to believe that he's a Labrador puppy (he grew up with a Labrador pup at his previous foster home)

Phoebe had been alone in our apartment for 5 months & simply decided life was too boring to play 'nice kitty' and started ripping the house to shreds! So we decided to find her a playmate.

Down to the local cat-rescue we went, and fell in love with the little Siamese-desertcat cross.
Kazimir had been found by someone and presumably been kept in a small box for a few weeks...! Also, there was an obvious mark in the wound on his tail indicating that either a piece of string or wire had been tied around it, cutting deep into the flesh. As a result, poor little Kazzy had tried to chew the string/wire off, causing the wound to get bigger. A concerned friend of these horrible people rescued him.
Apart from that Kazimir has a very sensitive stomach and cannot digest processed foods. (i.e. cat food!). His stomach and intenstines are constantly bloated, and due to his stomach condition his breath was quite bad and has cause him gingivitis.

He now gets his own, special meals of raw or cooked, unseasoned meat 3 times a week and is a big, happy, healthy, snuggle-fanatic cat! He's as predictable as clock work: when we go to bed, he sits next to John's face and gives him a nudge with his nose, which signals John to live his duvet so Kazimir can leisurely stroll underneath & settle down by his feet for the night...

This little cutie-pie sat screaming under the car next to mine in the multi-storey car park at work... God knows how he got up to the 5th floor!
No mother, no siblings in sight, I wonder to this day if he was abandoned by someone or if he's the 'Robinson Crusoe' of kittens and wandered-off by himself.

Anyway, it was a few days after my boyfriend John's birthday, so my excuse for keeping him was: 'But honey... it's like your belated birthday-present...'! Thank goodness John is such a softy. One look and he couldn't say 'no'.

Even though you could hold him in the palm of one hand, he already had a good amount of attitude: if anyone got too close to his food, he'd simply climb into the bowl, stand on his food and growl (well, the growl sounded like something Gizmo from 'The Gremlins' would do... so cute!)

So, because the little guy was found in a car park, and because of his black paws, his name is DIESEL.

He is the most charming & cutest little kitty I've ever met. He has the sweetest voice, sings & calls when he wants snuggles, loves cheese (the smellier, the better!) and curls his tail into a corkscrew when he stretches. He's also an all-round scaredy-cat & frightened of all new people and objects!

Kazzy contemplating life's great mysteries...?

Nah! Just calculating the minutes till lunch!

For some universally strange reason, desert-mix tabby cats seem to love water. It's not that they merely accept when you try to give them the annual, obligatory bath - nope: they love it!

Maybe it's something in their DNA that yearns for water because they've had to live without it for so many generations in the desert...?

We first noticed this quirky personality-trait when Johnno filled up the sink to shave. He turned around to get a towl, and when he looked again there was Phoebe up to her chin in the warm water, purring like there's no tomorrow...

Since then, Phoebe 'demands' a shower every 4-5 weeks by sitting in the sink and hitting the tap with her paw.

Kazimir also likes playing with water, but he's nowhere near as 'passionate' about it as Phoebe. Diesel on the other hand, hates water with avengeance.... at least we have one normal cat!

It's always a worrying and stressful time, preparing to introduce another animal to the pets in the household. Here's a couple of pointers I've learnt in the past few years:

- Always (when possible!) introduce only younger animals. The existing, older pet will usually not see a puppy/kitten as a threat to its territory, and their maternal instinct may even kick-in!
- Give both animals an escape route when they first meet. Don't lock them in a room together! If you're afraid that they may harm eachother, we found the trick with a fly-screen very helpful: hold a fly-screen between the doorframe with either animal on either side. This is perfect, as they can see and smell eachother.
- NEVER give the new animal more attention than the older one! ALWAYS feed the older pet first. Animals (dogs, cats, etc.) have very strong hierarchies, and will lash-out out anyone/anything that may want to take or be given their 'top-dog' position!

In the end, it's always up to the individual animals if they'll ever get along or not... We were simply lucky that all now our 3 cats couldn't live without eachother anymore - as you can see on the photo!

Oh yeah: once in a while tufts of striped fur fly through the air - that's just Phoebe reminding the boys who's boss! My kinda girl ;-)

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