Our Pet

Picture: Rani our new kitten

Introducing "Rani" our kitten. When we arrived in Jakarta we promised Paige that once we where settled we may look at getting a pet. We have found with many expats coming and going there are always animals looking for new homes so I thought this time we will wait and see.

Well it just so happens that a friend of ours cat had already given birth to a litter of three kittens and two had already found homes so we decided to adopt the last kitten and we name her Rani, which means princess in Bahasa Indonesian. We have had Rani for about a week now and she seems to have become part of the family, Paige is enjoying having Rani around but doesn't like her wanting to play when Paige is trying to sleep.

Picture: The mother cat with the three kittens

In Indonesia we find many cats wondering around the housing complex and you can tell if they are a local cat by their tail as many local cats are missing part or all of their tails. Something I have always wondered when it comes to pets many Indonesians don't like dogs or cats but others do. It is sometimes hard to find staff to work in your home when you have pets so its always best to let them know at the interview stage that you have pets because they will either say yes or no to working for you.

At times I find it a very confusing issue in Indonesia the two main religions are Muslim or Christian and depending on how religious a person is will depend on their tolerance of having animals around.

I decided to do some research on the Internet and found the following explanation:

"It is perfectly acceptable to have dogs outside your home as guard dogs for your house,farm, property, animals ect. It is preferred to not have them in the home in order to keep your home clean and pure for the reason of making salat (prayer) because the angels will be witnessing your salat (praying) and angels are know in Islam to dislike unclean places. It is a kind of respect for your angel to keep your area, room apartment, house clean and free from animal hairs, debris, dirt and even dust. Even owning an indoor cat is permissible if the cat is clean, house trained and you clean up after it. If the cat is causing your home to be unclean then even a cat indoors is haram if it causes you heath or cleanliness issues"

In reading the above I realised why the house maids always like to keep the houses so clean and that might explain why before praying Muslim people wash them selves clean.

Picture: One of the local cats roaming around the housing complex