There’s half a dozen cats in this house with two dozen anecdotes that raise your eyebrows, drop your jaws and make you want to give these fluffy felines a tight hug.

These rare Persian cats live in New Town’s Uniworld City with Sandeep Bordoloi, at least when he’s in town. “I’m a pilot with Jet Airways and my wife Saswati Phukan (Anie) is a cabin crew member with Qatar Airways, based out of Doha. But we have a trusted help, Arun Guala, who looks after the cats when we are flying about,” smiles Sandeep.

The story began in Mumbai seven years ago when Sandeep was courting Anie. “One day I was walking past a pet shop and there were rabbits, parrots and puppies making a racket. But in the middle of them was this beautiful greyish-brown Persian kitten sitting like a queen, looking straight into my eyes,” says Sandeep.

He bought the cat for around Rs 10,000 and gifted it to Anie, who fell in love with the kitten (and with Sandeep!) They named the kitten Laaila.

Kidnapped twice

In Mumbai, Laaila was free to roam about their housing complex but one day she never came back. “I searched high and low and learnt that a labourer had stolen her and sold her to a poor family for Rs 500! I paid the sum to that family and bought her back,” says Sandeep.

That wasn’t all. When Sandeep shifted to Delhi, Laaila got kidnapped all over again. “This time I had to stick around fliers announcing a Rs 3,000 reward for her return. Finally a man came to return Laaila and claim the dough,” says Sandeep, who then started taking her for walks wearing a dog collar.

The couple then thought of getting a companion for Laaila, and got a pristine white male Persian cat. They named him Stitch after the naughty monster in the Disney film Lilo & Stitch. And then came the kittens.

Jump from the ninth floor

Laaila’s first litter had a single male kitten — soft and grey with deep yellow eyes. “We wanted to give him away but he was born on Valentine’s Day,” shrugs Sandeep. They kept him and named him Valentine.

It is unknown how romantic Valentine is but he sure is mischievous. For starters, he fell off their ninth floor balcony in Uniworld! Twice.

The first time he was having a go at some crows when he toppled off. But like they say, cats have nine lives. “I rushed him to the vet and miraculously he was all right,” recalls Sandeep. Then another time Valentine jumped from the ninth floor to the eighth floor balcony.

“No one was home in the eighth floor and Valentine had got trapped,” says Sandeep, who then got security  guards to contact the flat’s owner. The man sent his driver home from office to open the balcony and rescue the cat.

But things turned tragic with Meatball, Valentine’s brother who again leapt off the balcony during a party one evening. He didn’t survive the fall.

Thereafter the balcony in the Bordoloi home got netted, so no one could topple over again.

Bought, misused, returned

Then was born a kitten who knew no limits when it came to crapping. He earned his name: Goo.

But Goo was one cat too many and so Sandeep placed an ad for him on Quikr. A buyer happily picked him up but couldn’t care for him. He sold Goo to yet another buyer who finally came and returned the cat to Sandeep.

But by then Goo was a changed cat. Neither did he remember his family nor was he eager to make with them friends afresh. “His ears had never been cleaned and he had got ticks. He craved attention but fought with the other cats. He had almost gone feral,” says Sandeep. Goo still has to be kept away from the other cats.

The last litter by Laaila and Stitch had four kittens, out of which two were given to friends and two were kept. One of them had a small head and was excessively furry. He got named Chewbaca, after the Star Wars character with similar attributes.

Chewbaca is currently the naughtiest cat in the flat. “The other kitten was puny but then one day when ‘she’ was about six months old ‘she’ started humping my hand! She was a cheat! She had us believing she was female when she was actually a male! So we named her Thog, which means ‘cheat’ in Assamese,” laughs Sandeep.

Rat chases cat, cat chases dog

Sandeep has had street cats as pets before but says these pure bred ones are a different ball game. “I could leave the kitchen door open and they’ll never steal any food,” says Sandeep. And unlike the shy and suspicious cats on our streets, the Persian cats are as friendly and playful as dogs.

The cats have unique equations with one another. The tormented Goo is unable to socialise with the others; Stitch, the dad, only gets along with the mom and Laaila, the mom, pretty much smacks any cat that comes her way.

They have never seen rats but once a field mouse had climbed up the pipe and got stuck in their bathroom. Sandeep was trying to shoo it away when his brother reminded him that he has a house full of cats to do the honours!

“I led the cats to the bathroom but the rat chased the cats out!” laughs Sandeep. Then there is a Beagle puppy in the flat opposite theirs and ironically, it’s the dog that gets scared of the cats swelling up!

Brinda Sarkar

If you have a pet you have brought up at home as a family member and which has its eyes only for you, do write to us with your contact number at The Telegraph Salt Lake,6, Prafulla Sarkar Street,Calcutta 700001 or call 22600115 after 4pm or email to saltlake@abpmail.com

Workshop to help heal strays

The thick attendance at an animal aid workshop at Labony community hall recently proved that many animals lovers do more than click selfies with exotic dogs. They also care about the well-being of strays.

“We get lots of calls about street dogs getting hit by cars, having lost their appetite or having developed tumours. But many dogs die waiting for help to arrive. So people must learn to treat the dog themselves,” said Smita Ray, who along with Priyanka Chakraborty, had started the animal welfare group Healing Touch in 2013. While Smita is based out of Madhyamgram they have members from all over.

The workshop was conducted by vet Sanjoy Goswami, who told participants about vaccines and prevention and treatment of diseases like distemper, parvo and rabies. He also taught them canine anatomy. “When there’s been an accident, it’s much more effective if you can specify to the doctor which bone of the animal looks broken so pelase learn about the femur, fibula or tibia,” he said.

The participants took copious notes. “My family members and I have rescued dogs and birds but sometimes they don’t survive despite our tireless efforts. If I can learn enough today I can save more lives,” said Sonali Roy, who had come from Belgachhia.

A staff reporter