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An art aficionado who runs a framing company in Bahrain built a home to care for a pregnant stray in his area. The big-hearted gesture has not only won over animal lovers across the kingdom but now has all the local kitties purring with joy.
Bahrain Artistic Frames Centre owner and director Ali Asgar Shafiq, who earlier this year launched a gallery in Hoora’s Exhibition Avenue to support local artists with a laboratory, a workshop space and an exhibit area, fell for a green-eyed Dilmun stray moggy roaming the streets around his shop located across the road.
Raj Kachwala, the centre’s store manager, said: “Mr Ali was putting out bowls of food and water for the cat but when it started getting hot he thought of building her a home, especially as she was pregnant.”
Ali, ‘the cat father’, instructed carpenters to make a house for the stray to help shelter her from Bahrain’s scorching sun using left-over wood from his frame-making division.
Then, a tiny blue chateau called the Cat House was formed and the inn has been welcoming furry four-legged felines from around the area, as well as the original cat which started it all.
“The cat has had its kittens and they are all enjoying the home,” Raj added. “Other cats are coming from around the area as well for daily feeding and shelter. This cat though is always here and is like our mascot.
“The minute Mr Ali arrives the cats seem to know and come running to him, weaving between his legs as a ‘thank you’ for what he has done.”
Art lovers in the community has taken a shine to the cat house and it has become a hit on social media as a work of art in its own right. One suggested: “This could really take off with sponsored corporate cat houses placed around Bahrain. It’s certainly better than the random plastic-filled feeding stations and junk placed on the streets. People care about the stray and domestic Dilmun cats as they provide a useful service keeping rats at bay.”
Experts say the Bahraini breed evolved over the centuries to adapt to the kingdom’s extremely high summer temperatures and are quite different from other moggies worldwide.
Their coats feel as soft as a silk Persian carpet and they are built to survive the desert climate. The cats have an oriental build with slender, long bodies, high haunches and long, narrow legs and tails.
Their faces are also unusual. Most have a wedge-shaped head and ears that are wide at the base and oval tipped. The nose has a slight dip in its profile, and their eyes slant toward the ears, and are usually green or gold-coloured.
The coat of Dilmun cats is also uncommon. Although some are solid-coloured, many are what are called ‘spotted tabbies’.
Apparently, this spotted tabby gene occurs only in the Middle East.
