Beloved

The ‘tail' of Beloved is a heart warming one that gives hope to special needs cats.

David Oliver (Feline Friends Sharjah) found the kitten feeling his way around outside an administration building on the University of Sharjah campus over the summer. David noticed the kitten had what appeared to be a bad eye infection. So he scooped him up and took him to see Jim Bolssens at the Europets Veterinary Hospital in Sharjah. Jim could tell immediately that the kitten was blind, waving a hand in front of his face didn't make him flinch.

A neuter and release was obviously out of the question, so there seemed to be only one option - euthanise. Reluctant to make this decision, David asked Jim to give him the weekend to try to find a home for little blind cat.

Over the weekend Teresa Rojas (Feline Friends Sharjah Volunteer) saw the blind kitten when she took a colony of strays in to be sterilised. Unable to stop thinking about him, she called David early on Sunday morning asking if the kitten was still alive and if she could adopt him. David managed to get through to Jim just before the kitten was due to be euthanised and told him to "wait!". The rest is a happy ending.

David can only guess that the kitten was either being fed by female students at the University and started wandering when the holidays started, or was dropped off in a place where there would be a lot of pedestrian traffic - the University's female registration office might have seemed like a prime location. I guess we will never know but what a story!

Teresa named the kitten “Beloved”, and coincidentally David means “Beloved” so it is a good name as far as he is concerned! Beloved does manage to get around quite well on his own and loves to be held and cuddled. He feels the face of the person holding him to get a sense of who it is. Teresa confirms that Beloved lives a fairly normal life, and even plays.

Feline Friends Sharjah

The situation in Sharjah is desperate because there are only a few adults and one teenager volunteer, who depends on her mother to drive her on rescue missions. These volunteers take calls passed on from Feline Friends Dubai and often the calls are not only for Sharjah but Ajman as well.

The funding situation is extremely critical. For example, a one day fund raising activity at a fair might raise enough to neuter two or three cats.  But last year Feline Friends Dubai offered to help with sterilisation costs and that breathed some life into the small organisation.

David and Teresa face similar situations in that their cat families have grown to nearly double digits as they keep fostering and then cannot find permanent homes.  They have one trap that is currently broken. So as well as more foster homes, they also need more traps plus some volunteers willing to be trained as trappers.

Beloved has a lot of aunts and at least one uncle who include Ruffa, Sali, Migoy and Buddy the dog. Teresa and her husband have built a cathouse outside their home, but it only has an electric fan so every summer she keeps any animals that are sick or not neutered inside the house. When neutered she sets them free and they live in the garden.