Postcard from Bishkek

Regular readers of my postcards will recall that every now and again I make oblique references (and sometimes not so oblique) references to my cats.  One of my first postcards was about My cats – My “children”.

At the moment I have three cats, or perhaps I should say that at the moment three cats have adopted me as a surrogate “something or other” – master / substitute mother / food dispenser / masseur …  or even as their own “pet” – ranging from a sedately veteran of 15 or 16 to a sprightly and lively young kitten.

The numbers vary from time to time: my first cat, (here in Kyrgyzstan, that is – I had one when I was in London – but he died of liver failure), was called Sinock, (which basically means Sonny).  He was kidnapped … or stolen … literally … the ladies that picked him up and carried him off were seen climbing into a taxi by a neighbour.

Since then, others cats have come and gone … some have just wandered in and mewed – demanding attention, to be fed or cuddled, others were  abandoned or dropped on us by people who seemed to know that we would take them in, and yet others were born in the office as their mother decided to get pregnant before we could take her to the vets.  On the other side of the coin, we have managed  we’ve managed to find homes for some, others have decided to strike out and wandered off … and, for all I know, some may have met the same fate as Sinock – and got kidnapped.

Visitors often notice the cats in the office – let’s be honest, … it’s a bit difficult not to notice them.

Their reactions vary from a shocked, “Goodness gracious me, it’s a cat!”, to a fawning “Ohhh, how sweet!” … and, I have to admit, the occasional shudder from someone who really does not like, or has an allergy to, cats … in which case I quickly grasp the moggy in question and remove them to another room.

Although lots of people here in Kyrgyzstan have pets, they can present a number of problems.  Of course, there are the bills – food, (which can be pretty substantial, especially when you have five hungry mouths to feed), cat litter and vet fees.

Although there were pet shops which specialized in everything for your furry friends – at first it was actually difficult to find a regular supply of cat food … most cats were brought up on scraps and special cans and packets were more or less unheard of.  Nowadays, at least, virtually every supermarket carries a supply.

Cat litter remains a problem – as supplies tend to be sporadic.  I got over that problem by getting a shredder and now more or less every piece of paper, once it’s been used on both sides, gets shredded to be recycled.  That might deal with the practicalities – but there is still a need for copious amounts of Air Freshener to be sprayed from time to time to deal with the odour.

Vet fees, well, fortunately the cats are all relatively healthy and apart form the “operation”, it tends to be only when one has an accident or gets into a fight that it necessitates a trip to the vet.

I am sometimes asked if I wouldn’t prefer a dog … and I must admit that I have been tempted … but practical common sense dictates that if I really want a pet, it should be a cat rather than a dog.  Whereas dogs are very sociable, they form attachments to people and don’t like being left alone. (which means that they can be very demanding, what with the need for regular exercise … for which they really need to be accompanied – a need which I would find difficult to accommodate), cats tend to fairly independent, territorial creatures that form an attachment to a place rather than people.  They can be affectionate, but are happy to arrange their own devices – especially when it comes to exercise – so few adjustments to the daily routine are called for.

More to the point, however, is the fact that I live in a small apartment – and there really isn’t room for a dog … unless it’s a really small one – about the size of a cat.

This brings me to what is, in some respects, one of the biggest problems: access – entrances and exits.

Most of the private houses are single strorey dwellings – although there are some that rise to two or three floors.  Obviously, for those that live in private houses, life is a little easier … for those of us living in apartments, even if only on the second floor, (first floor to the Brits), the routine of opening doors to let the cat out at night becomes quite an undertaking.  It also means that it is difficult for the animal to get back in … they can’t exactly ring the doorbell to get their owners’ attention.

One way that I tried to get round this was to get someone to make a “kennel” – a sort of “cat house”, a bit like Snoopy’s “dog house”.  It sort of worked, after a fashion, but the cats being independently minded tended ot ignore it and find ways in and out of time little holes to get into neighbouring cellars, into the foundations under the building or alongside the water and heating pipes where they were in culverts.

As the office is on the ground floor, life is a little easier … when we were having some redecoration work done, I got the builders to put in a “hole” so that the cats could enter and leave through it.  The workmen were concerned about cold air blowing in during the winter – so I described to them that wonderful invention of Sir Isaac Newton’s – the cat flap.

To be fair, the idea of having special holes for cats to gain access to a building – or to leave it – dates back to long before Sir Isaac … there are examples from Ancient Eqypt and Chaucer describes something similar in one of the Canterbury Tales … but there is the wonderful story of Sir Isaac cutting holes in a door, one for his cat and another for her kittens … although the great genius hadn’t realized that the kitten would simply use the same hole as their mother … holes which boarded up and  which were still visible in the door over a hundred years later.

As it happens, the workmen were familiar with the idea having, seen it in the movies, but couldn’t understand why anyone would want one – after all, you could simply open the fortichka - the little fanlight window that is used for ventilation.

The hole, however, has a distinct advantage … it is customized to the size of a cat … whereas the fortichka, even if it doesn’t seem possible for a human to squeeze their way through it, can still provide an enterprising cat burglar with a means of access … as, unfortunately, we have discovered to our cost.

The workmen also seemed concerned about the hole being used by “strays” exploring the neighbourhood and finding their way in … and they found it highly amusing when I mentioned that, in the West, there are special cat flaps which operate together with radio transmitters in cat collars so that only certain cats with the right “key” can o[pen them … they rolled around laughing … and, to be honest, I can’t say I blame them.  Anyway, they made me a special slider, so that I could open and close the hole to permit or deny access if I so desired.

Since then I have seen the odd cat flap for sale here in Kyrgyzstan – although there are still not common … and seem to be considered simply as a fad for someone who wants to coddle their pet … someone with more money than sense.  Still, who knows, in the course of time the idea might catch on.

Tags: Cats