27 Days and a cat

With 27 days to go here in Cairo, I thought I would begin to share some of the information I've gathered all these months here. Some of it will be practical, others will be thoughts, rants and opinions. I appreciate your feedback on any of it.

OK, lets start with the practical.

WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO ADOPT AN EGYPTIAN CAT

If you've ever spent any time with Egyptian cats, you know they are a breed apart from American cats. Over the last few thousand years they have developed into highly intelligent scavengers with impressive fighting skills. But like any good Cairene, they've developed impressive social skills as well. They know there's no animal protection laws out there insuring they get fed. So they've figured out how to build almost human-like relationships with people to ensure that the food keeps coming.

Take my cat, Sami, for example. He is a strange cat, even by Egyptian standards: he loves water, and thinks that chasing shadows is even more interesting than going after the real thing. In his free time, he teaches himself tricks: he can now climb to the top of a 10-foot wooden trellis on the balcony. He climbs paw over paw as if it was a ladder, then balances on the inch-wide surface up top, turning foot by foot, until he can position himself for a leap onto a nearby table. On one of his first days here, he figured out how to jump on top of the refrigerator and open cabinets from above. He approaches household objects with an engineer-like curiousity. Recently he's decided, for example, that it would be more interesting watching water go down the bathroom drain if he removed the metal cover. So every night he sticks his claws into the cover and slides it off the drain. When the shower starts up in the morning, he runs over to watch the water pool before it disappears.

He saunters like a street fighter--admitedly a retired one, with a bit of a furry white paunch. His forearms are thick like tree branches and his hind legs remind me of a frog's. He is not afraid, just deeply curious. After going to the vet for the first time, he looked in amazment at his cat carrier once he returned home, as though it was some kind of magical transporter that lifted him out of his dull apartment, and brought him into the exciting streets of Cairo, into a noisy cab, halfway across the city. Now he jumps in there expectantly sometimes, like a dog grabbing at his leash.

Affection comes naturally to him too. When I'm studying, he likes putting his head on my arm and draping an arm non-chalantly across my shoulder. He curls up by my stomach when I have a stomach ache. He is almost always near me if I am home. He likes laps: my lap, visitor's laps. He likes the arm holes of winter jackets. He likes climbing into a basket and leaping out to surprise me. And even when he looks like he's sleeping, he usually gets up and goes with me when I leave the room.

It makes you wonder: where does the American cat stock come from anyway? I loved my American cat, Kitty, but her speciality was sitting on the couch and getting petted. Besides the occassional pen, she never chased much of anything. Who were her ancestors? The few cats that made it to America on merchant ships? Modern times have been even worse for American cats. We have been killing tens of thousands of urban cats every year, afraid they will be some kind of disease risk. But let me ask you, wouldn't you rather have cats than rats?

BRINGING AN EGYPTIAN CAT TO AMERICA

OK, I haven't completely figured this out yet. But here, I gather, are the rules. I think Egyptian cats need their rabies shot before they arrive in America, and according to my vet, this must be administered 28 days before travel. I was unable to find any information on the CDC website in America confirming this, so I can only assume this is correct.

Cats flying through Europe also need a microchip implanted in their necks with an identity number. Sounds freaky I know but it was really easy. The thing is so tiny it fits in a regular hypodermic needle. Once in there, it can be read with a bar code reader for the next 75 years (now that is freaky).

In Cairo, you can get all of this done at the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends in New Maadi, 30 Korshed Street, across from the Modern Academy. Dr. Rania Kashif. The clinic's number is 010-620-5694. For the rabies shot, another standard feline shot (Fel-o-Vax, I believe against leukemia), and the microchip it cost 340 L.E. Plus you get a cute little ''cat passport'' which lists your cat's ID number and serves as his vaccination record.

Another vet in Zamalek has been recommended by friends, but I've never been there. His name is Dr. Rafiq and his number is 736-2402.

Five days before you travel your cat needs to be examined by a vet to make sure he is in good health. You then carry his health certificate with you to the airport. If you plan ahead, you can bring your cat on as carry-on luggage and stow him under your seat. This costs as much as an extra bag: ie. on Lufthansa, $155. Not cheap, I know.

I justify all this time and expense to myself by thinking there is no way I can leave behind such an interesting and extraordinary animal. For Americans who have never met a cat quite like him, he will be a kind of cultural ambassador. Plus I really want to see him run in grass, and, oh yeah, kick those American cats' asses.