Your guide to owning a pet in Egypt

To our furry friends: If you really need us to show you this study on the health benefits of owning a dog before adopting one, then you’ve missed the point entirely. We’re not going to proselytize to the haters. So this special issue of Your Wealth is for the animal-lovers and pet-owners of Egypt and their furry friends.

There’s more of you out there than you think. Within MENA, Egypt represents 50% of regional expenditure on pet ownership, according to PETS International, and we reportedly spent some USD 450 mn on our pet industry in 2017. In a 2015 study of pet ownership in 22 countries, 57% of participants surveyed had a pet living with them.

That said, when it comes to animal protection, Egypt still has a long way to go. In a 2014 World Animal Protection study, we were given an overall ranking of F, with G being the lowest possible ranking. We scored particularly badly on protecting animals in captivity and enforcing animal welfare standards. We also scored pretty bad on recognizing animal sentience, but we won’t shed too many tears for that yet. A small but vocal activist movement has recently sought to draw attention to the often cramped, overheated and dirty conditions of animals kept in pet shops, aiming to popularize the global hashtag #adoptdontshop in Egypt. Their success in changing conditions within the shops themselves has been limited, however. Clubs and compounds, meanwhile, have been known to conduct mass poisoning campaigns to limit numbers of street dogs and cats. And unconfirmed reports late last year that ‘independent exporters’ were exporting strays to Asian countries where they might be consumed as food created a general furore.

PSA- We could improve conditions for animals in Egypt (and make the streets safer for ourselves too) by taking or supporting the following actions:

Spaying and neutering: This is one of the best things you can do for your animal. It has proven benefits for both health (reducing uterine infections, some forms of cancer, and increasing longevity) and behavior (females won’t go into heat, males are less likely to run away). Most of all, it can help to reduce the surfeit of stray animals that end up on the streets, often underfed, diseased, and even aggressive. Don’t have a pet? You can still support a TNR (trap, neuter, return) campaign: EVAC | TNR Maadi | TNR Zamalek. And no: it isn’t depriving little Fluffy or Mishmish of the ‘right’ to reproduce. They’re really much better off living a long and healthy life without the joys of parenthood.

Rabies reduction: With an estimated 15 mn stray dogs on our streets, it’s inevitable that more people are being bitten, sometimes with fatal results. Around 400k people in Egypt were bitten by dogs in 2017, up from 300k in 2014, and 231 people died last year from bite wounds, mainly as a result of rabies. In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US issued a temporary ban on dogs imported from Egypt, citing rabies concerns. How can we help to reduce new cases of rabies? Support vaccination schemes. Support TNR initiatives. Only support vets who follow all the vaccination rules.

Adopt Don’t Shop: The less we support shops that keep animals in poor conditions so they can sell them, the less lucrative the industry will be. Plus, the world is full of beautiful animals looking for a clean, kind home to go to. Read about why baladi dogs are finally getting some of the love they deserve, what it’s like to adopt an Egyptian street cat, and every animal welfare story imaginable by the Dodo. No, we’re not crying. You’re crying.

Want to adopt a pet in Cairo? There is advice aplenty, and lots and lots of animals looking for a home. The Facebook groups Adopt a Pet (Egypt), and “Recommendations and reviews ABOUT vets in Egypt” are both great resources.

Highly recommended vets: Dr. Paws Hospital (New Cairo), Royal Pet Center (Moqattam), Harmony Vet Clinic (Maadi), I-Vet Clinic (new Maadi), Dr. Ramy Eissa (Maadi), The Ark Animal Care (Garden City), Pets’ Park Vet Clinic (Maadi).

Where to buy your pet supplies (we recommend shops that sell and/or deliver supplies, and don’t have animals for sale): Amin Pet Shop (Maadi), Baladi (Maadi), Online Petshop Egypt, Pets Egypt, Pets’ House (New Cairo).

Who to call when you go on holiday: Pets are People Too (for pet sitting/boarding), Meowgical Nights (for cat boarding), Free Short Term Pet Sitting When Out Of Town (your pet stays with a family or you host a pet), Islam’s Summer Cat Service (your cat stays in their house, and is visited, fed and cared for).

Who to call if you see a stray animal in trouble: Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA), HOPE — Egyptian Baladi Rescue & Rehabilitation.

A dog-friendly workplace can be good for business: Your boss may not necessarily agree, but allowing employees to bring their dogs to the workplace can be very beneficial for productivity and the general work atmosphere, a report by Time magazine suggests. The study has found that dogs in the office can provide social support to employees, especially those suffering from burnout or mental health conditions, as well as affording more opportunities for coworkers to interact organically. Dog owners benefit from being able to bring their pooches to the office, remaining focused and dedicated during working hours without having to think about rushing home to feed or care for them.

8% of the US workforce now allow dogs in the workspace, up from 5% in 2013. Amazon is leading the movement, with some 1000 dogs in its Seattle headquarters. Disclaimer: We at Enterprise have an animal internship program (more on this below).

CIB Wealth accounts: making your money work, so you can take care of your other priorities. Being able to take care of our loved ones — whether they are human, feline, canine or other — is probably the most important thing in the world. But unexpected costs can be incurred and expenses can mount up, even with care, planning and good saving techniques.

CIB Wealth accounts bring you peace of mind by taking care of the money management side of things, freeing you up to focus on who and what you love. Offering a wide range of diverse current and savings accounts, with customizable features to accommodate different needs and lifestyles, holding a CIB Wealth account is a way of making your money work for you. The accounts offer different benefits, including airline miles, exclusive insurance benefits, and access to a variety of value-added services.

For more information, contact CIB to arrange a meeting with a Wealth Relationship Manager.

Your top 5 pieces of business and economic news in Egypt in June and the first week of July:

• Veon subsidiary Global Telecom Holding (GTH) ends its long, drawn-out tax dispute with the government, signing a USD 136 mn settlement agreement.
• The Enterprise business interest rate survey shows businesses are eager for interest rates to return to pre-float levels to boost investment.
•  Egypt’s annual headline inflation rose to 14.1% in May from 13% in April, as business conditions contracted.
• Mercedes-Benz is due to return to Egypt and set up a plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone). The news comes days after the cabinet’s dispute resolution committee rules in favor of Mercedes-Benz in its dispute with the Customs Authority.
• Former president Mohamed Morsi dies after a heart attack in court.

Animals had a special place in Ancient Egyptian society: Ancient Egyptians not only kept animals as beloved pets but also revered them, burying mns of mummified creatures at the temples where they honored their deities. A 2004 study conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol found that the same embalming materials were used to preserve the mummified animals as were used on people. In 2016, a 2000-year old pet cemetery was discovered by archaeologists. Scientists have said that the find was notable because “the animals were clearly loved,” with people having no choice in such a remote area but to import food for them from hundreds of miles away.

Ancient Egyptians might even be responsible for the evolution of the modern-day cat: Scientists are suggesting that there were two ‘waves’ of cat to emerge since we became codependent 8,000 years ago: the type A (‘Cyprus’) cat that first turned up some 9500 years ago, and a type C (‘Egyptian’) cat that had a slightly different genetic makeup and first appeared around 800 B.C.E. Type C cats quickly came to outnumber type A cats, before the two interbred, and it seems plausible that it was the Ancient Egyptians, the only civilization at the time with the resources to breed cats, who were responsible for this popularity.

Unusual pet-human pairings in history: Ten years ago, we laughed at Paris Hilton carrying a chihuahua in her handbag (and then despaired at the fallout). But eccentric celebrity pet-human relationships have existed for years. From Josephine Bonaparte dressing her pet orangutan in clothing and eating meals with him to John Quincy Adams keeping an alligator at the White House. Here are ten of the strangest, most fascinating human-animal relationships of all time.

The Lion Cub from Harrods: Perhaps our favorite animal-human story of all time is that of Christian the lion, bought in 1969 from Harrods (because, in 1960s London, you could apparently buy anything from Harrods). Realizing after a year that the UK was really no place for a growing young lion, his owners asked a conservationist to reintegrate Christian into the wild, and they took him to Kenya. Some two years after Christian’s successful reintroduction into the wild, after he had become the head of a new lion pride, his former owners went to visit him, steeling themselves for rejection, indifference, or in the worst-case scenario, an attack. Their reunion is captured on grainy 1970s documentary footage, and it’s spine-tingling. The full story of Christian the lion is told in the documentary The Lion Cub from Harrods, or you can watch the final reunion here.

PSA- Should you ever find yourself in the middle of a Kenyan national park with a lion barrelling towards you, we do not recommend wrapping said lion in a bear hug.

Not to labor the point here, but generally speaking we like animals (not to a ridiculous degree, though). And no discussion of pets would feel complete to us without introducing some of the animals whose personalities, little habits and quirks are a constant source of entertainment in our lives.

As you may have already gathered, Luna is top dog in the Enterprise world: Beady-eyed Enterprise readers will have already noticed the new family member keeping us all in line. Luna is a chewer of harnesses, a friend to children, a champion fetch player, a brave defender of her territory, and she will do anything she can to avoid venturing out into the scorching heat of Cairo’s midday sun.

Zeus (Zuzu, or as many a bawab likes to call him, Ozoz), recently celebrated his first birthday. More than happy to hoover all seven of his birthday pupcakes in what may have been record time, he was not quite as pleased with his party hat. Zeus is not a fan of Enterprise, and regularly nudges at his owner's laptop in a bid to reclaim her attention when she’s busy working.

Meet John: Pretty cute, right? Wrong. He doesn’t care about your wants and needs, your dreams and fears, your opinions or your moral conundrums. We suspect he’d take any chance he could to inflict grievous bodily harm upon you. Luckily, he’s not a fast mover. But he wants you to feed him. Now. Or else. Put a handful of cat food in a saucer and place it next to his cage with some water. Then leave the room. Immediately. Thinking about getting a hedgehog? Just don’t.

Adopted siblings Jasper and Mimi are as charming and fluffy as they come, and yes they do know it, thank you very much. They love chasing each other around the house at high speed and then lounging for hours when it gets too hot. Generally, Jasper’s favorite place to sleep has always been the bathroom sink, but since Mimi started sleeping there too, he now prefers the bath. It just isn’t cool when your little sister’s always trying to copy what you do, after all.

Say hello to Leo, who spent a year with one family before it was decided he was going to move on to another. In keeping up with his Tibetan heritage, Leo the Lhasa-Poodle left his former life behind, and reemerged with the new name of Lucky. Now just over two, much has changed in his life. But he still visits and recognizes his first Mom and his brothers, and still loves to tilt his head sideways when he’s curious or confused. His first family is looking forward to catching up this summer. Until then, stay safe little man.