A gentle tale (or is it tail?) of the delights of pet ownership from Jason Will, Country Manager – Asian Tigers China.

People are usually either dog people or cat people. I have always been a dog person. From when I was a young boy, until recently as a few years back, I have always had a dog. When we moved from Jakarta to Shanghai in 2017, we took our dog with us. But alas after living in a house in Jakarta with a backyard and household staff around 24/7, to moving to an apartment in Shanghai, our dog did not adjust well to apartment living. Whenever we left the apartment, the dog would howl for hours, prompting concerned/irritated neighbours to post notes on our door. But what could we do – not leave the apartment?

As it turned out, fate took care of the situation. One time when we were on vacation, our maid was looking after our dog in her apartment. However, somehow the dog got out and then disappeared. She called us and we were of course very upset at the thought of our dog wandering lost, especially as it was winter in Shanghai. We posted ‘missing dog’ alerts on social media. People helped us post flyers. One lady who called herself a professional ‘lost dog finder’ even got involved. Gradually we got reports of sightings until we eventually found out that a local dental clinic had taken her in. And that one of their employees had taken our dog to her parents’ house in the outskirts of Shanghai. When we eventually returned to Shanghai, we visited them to see our dog. Our dog was in a house, with a backyard, people always around and a few cats in the house to chase. She was happy. As sad as it was to say goodbye to our dog, we realised that she would be happier living there. And of course we could visit her anytime. Fate had indeed taken care of the situation.

Fast forward until recent times. My wife from time to time told me she would like to have a cat. I was not keen on the idea and managed to dissuade her each time. That was, until one day recently, when she left to visit her hometown of Jakarta, and called me from the airport to tell me that we had adopted a cat (kitten actually). The kitten had been adopted by another expatriate couple, however their pug dog took an instant dislike to her. As a result the kitten was stuck in a cage all the time. They felt sorry for the kitten and therefore felt it best that they give it away. My wife apparently immediately agreed to adopt the kitten.

I was given instructions to collect the kitten immediately. I saw that I had no choice in the matter, so I did. I took her home and removed her from the cage. But never having owned a cat before, I really had no idea of what I needed to do. The previous owners had given me a pack of supplies, food, kitty litter, and cat toothpaste. Was I really expected to brush the cat’s teeth! I sent out a help message and immediately some wives in our compound visited me to give me ‘cat training’. It wasn’t long before I realised that cats are low maintenance and as long I made sure she had food in her bowl, cleaned the kitty litter now and then, that was about it. I was told, thankfully, that it was not necessary to clean her teeth.

Then we had to come up with a name for the kitten. My wife wanted to name her ‘Disney’. I wanted to name her ‘Skittles’. I decided however to let my 8-year-old son name her. He came up with ‘Biscuit’. I have no idea how that name popped into his head. Anyway Biscuit was so cute, with pure white fur and big blue eyes, I reluctantly found myself falling in love with her. Eventually my wife returned from her trip. Since her return, each day we have been receiving deliveries of cat items that my wife had been ordering. Machines that pour out cat food every few hours. Kitten toys. A water dispenser. A cat house. A cat scratching tower. All of a sudden, our quaint apartment was turning into a cat paradise. Well now Biscuit is well and truly an embedded and loved member of our family.

I guess it is possible to be both a dog and a cat person.