The Bahraini cat

What?
I hear you say.
You went all the way to Bahrain and blipped a mere cat?

No, not a meerkat, I reply. This is Mandy, the Bahraini cat. They are a distinct breed, and this is a blip of Mandy having a kip. She was an outdoor cat and did not usually come inside, but this appears to have been taken in the house, on a very yellow 'indoor' setting. As a result of this overcolouring, I have bleached it, but I am not sure the coat colour is correct.

Mandy was with my sister and her family from around 1996 onwards, having come from a cat rescue centre. In 2008 she went to cat-heaven, which is presumably a large warm mattress, with a snack machine, an adventure centre/wild patch, and a few humans in smart uniforms jumping to attention every five minutes.

Bahraini Dilmun Cat

Bahrain is a small island just off the east coast of Saudi Arabia in the Arabian Gulf. The local cats of Bahrain have a very distinctive 'look' about them - they are slender, elegant, street smart spotted tabbies. These spotted tabbies have beautiful short hair coats that are extremely sleek, I compare their coats to the feel of a beautiful silk Persian carpet. The spotted Bahraini cats occur in all different clours from dark brown, bronze, cinnamon, lillac, ginger, silver, etc. and the cats occur in solid colours also. Recently the typical Bahraini cat has been called the 'Dilmun Cat' after the name of ancient Bahrain. These cats have managed to adapt to the harsh climatic conditions of Bahrain. Due to the extreme summer temperatures in Bahrain the cats have large ears and short fur. In the summer they sleep all day and come out in the evening, and in the cooler months they are more active at day time.

Generally these lovely cats are not much appreciated in their home land. Most of the cats in Bahrain live as street wise cats in areas where there is a sufficient supply of food and enough shelter (fortunately for the cats people throw out a lot of food in Bahrain!). Appart from their good looks, the cats of Bahrain are particualary endearing creatures because of their great personalities. Even people that normally don't like cats end up with a soft spot for the cats of Bahrain.

The cats of Bahrain are very adaptable creatures, and that has been the key to their survival. Unfortunately, nowadays there is so much development going on in Bahrain with shopping malls and high rise offices popping up, that the traditional home areas of the cats are being demolished. The next test of their survival is to see how they will survive in the modern towns and cities of Bahrain.

Please take a look at my other Bahrain blips of Feb 2007 if you're interested. These are old holiday pics, but I do blip every day now (it's @5 November, 20102, as I write) so do check out my more recent stuff if you care to,