Syrian Cats Need A Home
Posted on September 11, 2012
As some of you know, we recently managed to find two great homes for Sally and Arthur, two stray abandoned dogs in Damascus, Syria. The Emma and Phil rescue crew are now looking for a home for their two cats. The war in Syria is worsening and at some point they will likely need to flee, so they want to get the cats squared away now while it is somewhat easier to get in and out.
Phil is willing to fly to the US with Qurush and Khaifa in late October and we hope we can find a single home for the two brothers. Both are in great health, young (4 years old), nuetered, and love people. Not crazy about dogs or bearded men.
Emma can be reached at [email protected] if you are interested or know someone who might be interested. She shares their story here:
I have two lovely black and white Syrian refugee cats seeking asylum in a loving, US home.
The cats are brothers, and their names are Qurush (which means Shark in Arabic) and Khaifa (which means Frightened), although Khaifa also answers to “Barry”. Qurush, as you might guess, is the braver of the two, although it’s really just an act and he sometimes acts like a tiny, nervous kitten. Qurush is more independent though, and likes to run around the garden and go out adventuring. When he is scared, he climbs under the covers on the bed. He’s also quite a hunter when he has the opportunity (he’s doing his best to wipe out several bird species in Syria). His favorite foods are chicken and any kind of bread products — baguettes, donuts, cake, whatever. He is very much a lap cat. Khaifa is actually the friendliest cat in the world, and likes to stay in constant human contact (throughout which he never stops purring). When Phil sits at his desk typing, Khaifa lies between him and the computer, so Phil’s arms are across his belly. Khaifa likes to sleep on people (arms, feet, faces, anything) and to have his very, very fat belly rubbed. He also spends hours every day playing with bouncy balls and stuffed animals. He chases the bouncy balls all over the house and stashes them in secret hiding places. He also tries to befriend birds, and chirps at them through the windows.
They’re really just adorable cats, and have no real downsides to speak of. Khaifa is lactose intolerant, which he thinks is a tragedy, and he is also afraid of heights, so he doesn’t really like to be picked up though he does love to be cuddled on the ground. To be fair, he’s quite fat and clumsy, so his fear of heights is a pretty rational one. Neither cat loves dogs, but they both love people — especially women and children. They are both neutered and healthy and have all their vaccines. They will probably need a couple weeks of patience and attention while they adjust to their new home, since the trip will be pretty traumatic (30 hours — car ride from Syria to Lebanon, flight to Germany, another flight to Boston, drive to New Hampshire), but we’ve moved houses with them before in Syria and they quickly settled right back into their routines.
We’ve had them for four years now, since they were tiny kittens (they wandered into our apartment from the streets). It’s heartbreaking for us to give them up, but we have to get them out of the Syria because of the war. Their expected arrival date in the US is sometime in the last two weeks of October.
