The Silver Kick Diaries: Cats

A cat café has finally opened in Bahrain and I am beyond thrilled. If you didn’t know, I’m a crazy cat lady. Unfortunately, I don’t house 10 cats but I am obsessed with the independent creatures. I’m the slave of one feline, Mili. We had two cats but our other cat, Snarf, passed away last year and we’re looking forward to getting a companion for Mili again, soon.

I {and my entire family} carry cat biscuits in my car, and I regularly TNR cats. Trap, Neuter, Release. This means that you trap a stray cat, take them to a vet who does surgery on them so they can’t have babies anymore, and then you release them back in the area from where you trapped them. This helps control the teeming population of strays so we don’t see more cats and kittens plastered into the roads on highways or dying because of the heat. Remember that cats and dogs are domestic animals and they’re supposed to be pets, looked after in a loving human home, not scavenging garbage cans for food.

Cookie checking out a cookie

So a cat café then is the perfect place where cats can live happily, and cat-crazy people like me can have their fill of quality cat time. I love cat cafés so much that I actively search for one each time I travel to a new country. And I always used to rue the fact that even though there are so many cats in Bahrain, there’s no cat café. Which is why I was so thrilled when I got to know that a cat café was FINALLY opening in Bahrain. I came to know in February and I had been waiting excitedly for it to open since then. Catopia opened last month. YAY!!!

Let me make it clear now in the beginning of this post that this is not a sponsored post. Catopia has not paid me to write this. I love cats and the concept of a cat café so much that I decided to write a post about it. I want more and more people to get to know these loyal, loving, intelligent creatures, change their thinking about them {CATS ARE NOT DISLOYAL! I’M SO TIRED OF HEARING THIS!!}, and adopt them so there are lesser cats on our streets.

Situated in Adliya behind Dessange, Catopia is a beautiful café that houses 13 cats who have all been adopted or rescued by breeders or families who have abandoned them or were found on the street in a bad condition. The café offers a coffee and a cookie to each customer visiting the cat area, included in the cover charge which is the fee for the first hour. There’s a nominal additional fee for every hour after.

Catopia is the brainchild of two best friends, Samiha Bashir and Hafsa Saleem, both 26-year-olds, hailing from Pakistan. They love cats and thought that the concept of a cat café was amazing, especially since Bahrain has so many stray cats but no cat café. Hafsa resigned from her career as a chartered accountant, while Samiha still works as a Digital Project Manager.

Samiha and Hafsa, the fab owners of Catopia

Both best friends put in a lot of work into this passion project, making sure the location was just right, that the kitties have enough space to move around and play, enough toys so they don’t get bored, nooks and crannies high up where they can go and sleep when they’re tired of human interaction. There are strict rules of the cat area which include taking your shoes off, sanitizing your hands when you enter and leave, no children younger than 3 years, etc. There’s also an outdoor space for customers and a non-cat area where people who don’t want to meet cats can sit and have coffee. Both women are thrilled that they opened the first cat café in Bahrain. I’m thrilled that the cat café is run by women. Because, you know, we do everything better.

Rules of the cat area

I’ve visited Catopia a lot of times and I can sit for hours and hours because, for me, a cat café is the perfect place to let all your stress go. Even better than a spa or the beach. Just sitting and watching cats play, or stroking a cat, or having a kitten purr in your lap is enough to turn back the years. Which is why I love cat cafés so much and I love Samiha and Hafsa for opening one here.

Dawn sitting very uncharacteristically politely

So if now you’re wondering what exactly is the goal of Catopia {or any cat café}, let me educate you. It’s great for people who love cats but can’t keep one at home. Or for those looking to adopt one and want to familiarize themselves with their behaviours before they can make up their minds to get one. It’s great for people with cat phobia, as they can reduce their fear at this place. And of course, one of Hafsa and Samiha’s main goals is that Catopia promotes kindness towards cats and all animals.

But the ultimate goal is to get people to adopt cats from the café and take them to their forever home. This way, the café can keep rescuing more cats and letting them have a safe haven to live in temporarily until they find their forever home. The adoption process at Catopia is fairly simple- you pay for all the previous medical bills of the cat, and you take the cat home.

I love the mix of cats in Catopia. There are street cats, beautiful breed cats, kittens and older cats. The caretaker of the cats, Catopia’s affectionately termed “cat lady”, Nasra, looks after them in the cat area. This woman is such a powerhouse! Not only does she look after the cats in the café, but she’s the one who got all the rescued cats together and made sure all got along with each other before they came to the café. This is a very difficult job as cats are territorial and it’s very hard to make one cat get along with another. But Nasra did all of this for all the 13 cats that are there and will do the same for the next ones.

Nasra also makes sure no one mishandles the felines. She makes sure they’re watered and fed, she trims their nails and she bathes them. Whew! Not just this, she cheerfully and patiently answers all the thousands of questions that visitors throw at her about cats, myself included.

Nasra trimming the cat's nails. The expression on the kitty's face! LOL

A better pic of Catopia's Cat Lady, the incredible Nasra

In addition to the cat area, Catopia has other exciting cat activities planned. They'll soon start a Cat Theatre where people can watch a movie while cats purr in their laps, Cat Yoga where cats can rub against your legs as you strike a warrior pose, cat board games, cat open mic events, and more! They have a special event area for all such activities and the area can even be booked for events in the future.

Couple goals

Feeding Nachos a treat. He's half Maine Coon!

Simba the mighty

Dawn gobbling up a treat from my friend Nicole's hand

I keep asking them if they’re accepting donations as I’d like to donate money that will go towards the medical bills and care of the cats. {Other cat cafés around the world accept donations.} They tell me that hopefully, they’ll be accepting donations too, soon.

For more info on Catopia, check out their website, their Facebook and Instagram. You can also call them on +973 17 231412 or {mob} +973 3350 2726. They’re open every day from 1 pm to 11 pm. Now go visit!

Until next time,

xoxo

My love for a good maxi skirt will never diminish. It's one of the most versatile items of clothing that you can dress up or down and it looks so elegant! A black maxi skirt, then, is a wardrobe staple. I used to have a gorgeous layered one when I was in college. It was an A-line full gypsy skirt and I loved it to bits and wore it until it fell apart.

About the Outfit

This skirt is a lucky find from the outlet store of Next in Manama. It's a thin jersey material, but because it's thick and loose, it's not see through. My favourite parts about this skirt are that it's long, {always such a hard thing to find for a tall person like me} so it reaches all the way to the floor and would look good with heels too.

Top: Koton, Skirt: Next, Earrings, Bag: Gifted, Ring, Necklace: Gold Souk, Bangles: Forever21, Sunglasses: from Rome, Shoes: Aldo.

And IT HAS POCKETS. Who doesn't love pockets?? I've said it before and I'll say it again- pockets in everything for girls! We like pockets, too!

The waist is elasticated with a drawstring. It has short slits on either side, just up to the knee. Or below it, actually. I love that the skirt is A-line, so it has some sort of flair to it. I hate maxi skirts that stick to the body or that fall straight down like a column. Ugh. Because of the slits and the wider cut, it's very easy to walk in. The soft jersey material and the elastic waist make it a very comfortable item to wear.

In winter, you could wear black leggings under it for warmth, and a nice thick cardigan or shawl on top. I love pairing jackets with these types of skirts too, for an effortlessly chic look.

In this look, I paired it with one of my favourite tops. This pink blouse from Koton with its rolled up sleeves and V neck was one of my most worn tops. I say was because just two days ago, it got stained by another top, in the wash. :( Anyway. Gives me a reason to go shopping. :) But yes, tops like these are so great because they go with almost any bottom. I've worn this it with jeans, midi skirts and trousers.

The combination of pink and black has always been a go-to for me. The contrast of the softness of the pink and the substance of black makes it a winner for me.

Since the neckline is a bit wide, I wore a pretty round pendant necklace. I matched simple silver earrings to the necklace. On my hands, I wore a flower ring and a few thin silver bangles to add to the girly vibe.

I've had this backpack bag for quite some time, but didn't use it. I'm so used to my professional handbags that this was stepping out of the comfort zone for me. But the thing about backpack bags is that they're so practical! Especially if you're on your feet all day. I love that this one is in a neutral but vibrant tan and has a sleek leather finish. The shape is very simple and sleek, too, making it easy to pair with a professional outfit. The stripes at the bottom add interest and the black bottom makes the bag look smaller than it actually is.

I tied my hair in one of my favourite ponytail styles. All you do is tie a low and slightly loose ponytail, create a hole above the hair tie, and pass your entire pony through it, so you get pretty twists at either side.

On my feet, I wore tan leather loafers that match with the bag.

Ups & Downs

In my last post, I spoke about going through ups and downs in my personal life recently. And I said I'd talk about what they were in my next post.

On 5th June, our beloved Snarf passed away. He was only 9 years old. He got a disease, and within 4 days, he was taken from us. We were left bewildered and in shock. All of us in the family were very attached to him. He was our regal king, who knew we were his mere slaves and would do anything for him. He was given to my brother Arif by our cousin, around 8 years back. He had been found on the road near my cousin's home. My cousin couldn't keep him. So we did. Snarf was the embodiment of the cartoon cat Garfield. He was arrogant, loved to eat, and knew we were mere peasants under his paw.

Having him around was like having a comedy show running all the time. This was one cat who truly believed he was a human. He used to sit on his butt, sleep on our beds with his head on the pillow, and join us for every meal on the dining table by taking a place on a chair. Once Mili came into our lives, the both of them became great friends. Their fake wrestling matches were the most hilarious things to watch. And since Snarf went away, Mili was very lonely. She missed her brother. And we missed our handsome king.

To fill up the hole in our hearts, we decided to adopt a new kitten. Our vet, the same one who had treated Snarf, told us he had a kitten for adoption. We gave him to our father as a birthday present, as my dad was the most attached o Snarf. And vice versa. Snarf was like an obedient dog to my father.

And that's how Munna came into our life. I don't have much back story about him, but he's the cutest little biting machine. He's only 4 months old, purrs like a truck engine, and took to us the second we met him. He loves to play and run around the entire house and has the softest fur I've ever touched.

For now, we're just enjoying the new baby in the house and trying to make him friends with Mili. It hasn't happened yet, but it will, soon. At least we're all smiling in the house again.

Until next time,

xoxo