Arabs and animals have long been companions throughout time. In Egyptian history, cats were associated with Egypt in a mythological way — cats were believed to have the ability to watch over children and homes. The Arabic word for cat derives from the North African word “Quattah.”

The culture of having pets is not alien to Saudi homes, either.

 Most Saudis do not treat their pets as animals; rather they are treated as companions, friends, and a part of the family. 

The majority of owners agree that having a pet has made their lives richer. “Having a cat makes my day happy, especially with her funny actions,” said Hana Al-Ghamdi, 25, who has had cat pets since the age of five. 

Treating them as a part of the family requires catering for their needs from food to periodical visits to the vet. Some pet owners even buy accessories for their pets. Al-Ghamdi said her cat “has her own brush, nail cutter, vitamins, and snacks between her main meals — it costs up to SR200 ($53.32) per month.” 

 The presence of pets at home tends to add humor and a fun atmosphere to the house. Batoul, 27, owner of 12 cats, said that her then-five-months-old cat used to go to the kitchen and play there. 

Having pets requires periodical visits to the veterinarian, either for behavioral or medical reasons. Routine visits may help the vet to determine how your pet is progressing; it may also help treat an illness in the early stages. A nose-to-tail checkup is just the beginning, while some other products for your pet’s health could be recommended.

The adoption culture became one of the pressing topics Saudis have been spreading awareness about.

The option of adopting an animal from the streets and shelter homes may change a homeless animal’s whole world for ever. Some animal lovers prefer adopting instead of buying pets from breeders or pet stores. 

Ezzat Mullah, a 30-year-old engineer who encourages people to adopt and rescue animals, said: “I never support buying from a breeder or a pet stores because they deal with animals like a product, like it is a production line and they have many cats that are producing small kittens all the time and they are making huge profit from it,” he said, adding that these creatures have “souls and they have feelings.”

Mullah believes that adoption is the proper solution in Saudi Arabia. “We have a huge number of animals that need to be adopted and rescued,” he said. 

Mayaser Essam, 29, who owns a nonprofit animal shelter in Jeddah, said adoption is her preferred way of having a pet. “Of course, I prefer to adopt and rescue animals. The number of abandoned animals is very high,” she said, explaining that breeders are also part of the problem. “They are breeding the animals and we don’t have homes for them all. That is (a) very big problem.”

There are no official shelters for animals in the Kingdom, which is one of the main concerns for animal lovers and owners. Saudi Arabia is in dire need of a place where stray, lost, abandoned or hurt animals can be kept. 

 Some animal lovers have created groups with the aim of helping and rescuing lost animals. Mullah expressed his disappointment: “It is a disappointment when you try to do some rescuing, individually, and sometimes with small groups. We don’t have resources,” he said, adding that the process needs some fundraising from the government, companies, businessmen.

“We really need more shelters. (Some) groups have a shelter and it is not enough for all the animals that have been abandoned by their owners,” said Mayaser. Those shelters include cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters and other animals.

Mayaser explained that the process of adoption starts from the social media site Instagram. “We are posting their pictures (on) Instagram but we need more people to adopt them, so we can accept more abandoned animals.”

Saudi dog owner Rana Bafail, 20, says it is unfortunate there are no shelters for stray animals. “That’s a really a bad sign.” 

I really want more, or at least one known shelter for animals, because not all the animals survive on the streets, nor there are some people that feed them. No one cares about them. And some people mistreat them, of course. Most of the kids do that.”

SOURCE : ARABNEWS