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28 March 2024

UAE feline lover's cat-astrophic debt story

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

The Abu Dhabi man who feeds about 425 stray cats is in serious financial trouble, but insists on continuing.

Sadiq feeds stray cats every single day. It is difficult to find a place to sit in his car. The seats are filled, his trunk is stuffed. Fish, chicken, and dry cat food are stapled up when he drives towards his first destination. It is 16.45 when he arrives in Musaffah, a little behind schedule.

The whole process takes five hours; he starts off in Musaffah and then moves to Mushrif and Mina Zayed to finally wind up in his own street, where another 40 cats roam around. And when he reaches home at 22.00 in the evening he is still not done. "I have 14 cats in my house too."

The Indian cat lover has a simple explanation... "If I stop feeding these cats they will die." Every day he feeds about 425 cats. "They used to be more, but many of them died."

In Musaffah alone Sadiq feeds an average of 150 cats daily. Only a year ago this remote area hosted 600 labour camps, but last year the municipality started demolishing the buildings as part of a location shift. But as labour camps moved, the local cats lost their homes too, explains Sadiq. "Now, there is only one building left, and this one will be demolished soon."

Sadiq cannot imagine not feeding these cats even for a single day. However, his passion is starting to take its toll. His debts are swelling and his family in India is suspicious about his expenditure, as he dedicates almost his salary on buying the cat food.

"I earn Dh7,000 salary and spend Dh5,000 on cat food every month. When I started feeding cats in one area it was sustainable. Now I have all these places it is not possible anymore to keep up with it. My rent is Dh3,000; so you can see the problem."

Sadiq has a credit card debt, a bank loan and owes money to the food factory and he is unable to send money back home. He did not join his family in Hajj pilgrimage this year and he has not been able to see his three-month-old son because he could not afford the ticket back home.

"My wife asked me questions about my financial situation yesterday. She knows I feed cats, but she does not know how much I spend on this.
Nobody knows this and I don't want anybody to know. I might lose my job if my company finds out about the swelling debt."

For Sadiq there is no way out. He must continue feeding the cats. Last year with the help of Abu Dhabi municipality a cat shelter was raised in Musaffah, which divided the number of stray cats in half. But not all cats were lucky to find shelter; for them only the trees were left behind.

"When the labour camps were demolished many of the cats died. Now the trees might be uprooted from this area as well. Add to that the threat of stray dogs and the circulating cat flu and the future of these cats does not look bright," he worries.

There are some people helping Sadiq on his daily routine and every now and then he receives the help of generous people. But these incidental injections will not avoid Sadiq from running into deeper unsustainable debt.

Marion Koot, a Dutch animal care taker in Abu Dhabi has started an initiative trying to raise sponsors willing to support the monthly purchase of cat food S. is making. "This would enable S. to release his debts and stand on his feet again. But it is very difficult to find enough sponsors to cover the costs."