S’fair is a yellow stray dog that’s been roaming around our neighbourhood for over a month. S’fair (meaning little yellow in Arabic) was part of a pack that came down from the mountain one night and were running on our street. I was woken up by their barking and stood in the balcony watching them carefully as they passed by our house. Sitting high on the walls, my smart cats were watching them too.
For some reason, S’fair decided to break up from the pack (maybe he found them boring) and since that time he’s always spotted roaming our neighbourhood with one floppy ear. Being a cat owner, I was a bit concerned about him chasing the cats but luckily, I’d never spotted him anywhere near Kitzania.
Last month after placing the food for the cats’ evening meal, I noticed that we had a new visitor: a big ginger cat with a dozen of flies swarming around his face. He’d been here months back to eat and was somehow friendly. I stroked his head and noticed that he had the flu and a nasty wound in one ear that was bleeding. I decided to trap him and squatted for a minute devising a plan as there was an obvious air of hostility between him and the rest of Kitzania’s residents.
It was that time when I spotted S’fair standing at our gate and watching us curiously. I stood up and decided to approach him assuming that he was hungry and looking for food. I gave him my hand to sniff before stroking his head. He wagged his tail and I discovered that he was castrated. He must’ve been somebody’s dog as he was too friendly. I decided to slip him one of the cats’ biscuit plates as there were a dozen of them lying around.
It wasn’t an easy mission of course as the cats were over-possessive when it came to their food (first it was the ginger cat and now the dog trying to share their food. What a day!). I went back in and picked up a biscuit’s plate casually but was spotted at once by Rayhana, the cat who always shadowed me while walking around the garden. She gave me uncertain looks and decided to follow her dinner plate in my hands. As I placed the plate in front of S’fair, Rayhana stepped in and meowed in protest. S’fair was too hungry to pay attention and gulped down the dry biscuits.
Not used to being ignored, Rayhana struck his nose with her claw which pretty amazed me given their size difference. I tried defending the poor dog by pushing the plate further to him and telling Rayhana off. Instead, my voice drew the attention of the other cats who came out and took interest in that plate too.
S’fair got frustrated by the number of cats that grouped around Rayhana and were blocking his food. He barked twice — which made their hair stand on end — and for a few seconds he managed to take a few more bites before running away. I was surprised by the territorial act of my cats, ganging up against a dog twice their size!
With a sigh, I went back in and managed to trap the ginger cat. The next day, I bought two different collars and two small bags of dogs’ biscuits for S’fair. I shared them with our helper along with a plan: whoever spots S’fair first should put the collar on him and feed him some biscuits. My apology for the misbehaviour of Kitzania’s residents towards an unexpected guest!
Rasha al Raisi is a certified skills trainer and the author of: The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@yahoo.com
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