Small group of feline friends rescue 300 cats in Sharjah

Black or white, grey or ginger, male or female - all cats are the same to Muezza's Feline Friends.

This Sharjah-based group has helped to rescue, neuter and release or rehome around 300 cats since it was founded five years ago.

It is an impressive tally for an organisation that is entirely run by volunteers and funded by donations and the sale of goods made by group members.

Muezza's Feline Friends was started by members of the faculty of the American University of Sharjah and their families after several cats were abandoned at the campus.

"We are a really, really small group," said Dr Kimberley Lund, a former fine art teacher at the university who helps to run the organisation.

She said there is a hardcore group of about six people who run Muezza's Feline Friends, which is named after a feline that was said by some writers to be the favourite cat of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Much of Muezza's Feline Friends' work involves taking unwanted felines -some of them dumped on the street by uncaring previous owners, others street cats that have never before been pets - and finding homes for them. Group members "foster" the cats until new owners are found.

Other animals are released back onto the streets once they have been neutered and vaccinated. Sadly, the group sometimes has to put down animals that have infectious diseases.

In addition to rescuing unwanted pets, the group also provides food for street cats to ensure they do not go hungry.

Of those animals that are taken in and are suitable for rehoming, Lund says some have to be "civilised" if they are accustomed to life on the streets.

"It is a difficult conversion going from being a wild cat fighting for everything, to becoming a pet. That takes a lot of time and a lot of patience," she said.

People who have rehomed a cat from Muezza's Feline Friends are allowed to return the animal later on if they decide they do not want it any longer - and that can cause frustration.

"It's perhaps unfortunate that we have a returns policy - last week, after nine months, two people decided that they wanted to return their cats," Lund said.

Feelings

"An animal, whether it's a cat or a dog or a fish has feelings. It's not like throwing away an old pair of shoes that you don't like."

Often pets are rehomed at the open days the group holds in Sharjah. These open days are on hold for the summer, when some of the group members are away and the university community drops in size.

Lund herself is something of a cat fanatic, having six felines living at her home, among them a 20-year-old called Vivienne which Lund brought with her to the UAE from Arizona. Her five other cats are all rescued animals.

Much of the funds to help pay for the group's work comes from the sale of shopping bags made by Lund from old cat food packets.

These bags are not just quickly stitched together, but instead are the product of painstaking work by Lund, who is a professional artist.

Although Muezza's Feline Friends is not formally linked to the other Feline Friends groups in the UAE, Lund has nothing but admiration for what these other groups have achieved in improving the lot of the country's cat population.

It has been a struggle for the UAE's animal welfare groups to educate people, but Lund says the lot of our four-legged companions is slowly improving as awareness among the public grows.

"We are hopeful that Sharjah will be at the vanguard and that maybe an animal shelter of some kind will get built eventually."

Lund said Muezza's Feline Friends has benefited hugely from the help of veterinary surgeon Dr Jim Bolssens, who runs Europets Hospital in Sharjah.

Anyone who thinks they can offer a home to a cat can contact Dr Bolssens on 050-860-6857.

Helpline: 050-8606857