The Dubai cat who will not relocate

Dubai: A cat may have nine lives but only one home as far as Rosie, an Arabian Mau belonging to a British family, is concerned.

Do anything you will, but the five-and-a-half-year-old short-haired local breed will not move to a new place, as her owners John Moore and his wife found out. In the four months since they moved to their new home in Jumeirah Village Circle from Arabian Ranches, Rosie went missing three times. On two previous occasions she was found at the Moore’s old address – roughly 12km away and on the other side of the busy Mohammad Bin Zayed Road. She has unfortunately gone missing for a third time this week and the Moores did not see her till Wednesday evening.

Missing again

“It’s not funny anymore and we are worried now. We are guessing she left on Monday and are pretty sure she is back in our old locality once again. People have spotted her, but we haven’t got our hands on her yet. We will resume our search again,” said Moore who’s had Rosie since he and his wife bought her as a small kitten.

“How she makes the trip every time is amazing. I was shocked the first time one of my previous neighbours rang to say she had spotted our cat in Arabian Ranches. I couldn’t believe her, but when I checked, she was indeed missing from our new home in JVC,” said the expat from Oxford, England.

Moore who lives with his wife and another cat, reckons it is not ordinarily known for a cat to return to its old home. “It’s not that we took the straight route from our old villa to our new place when we moved with her. It was a long winding trip through Al Khail Road and Hessa Street and certainly very confusing for any new driver, let alone a cat,” said Moore.