Pumpkin also lives in B&B Petra Fig Tree Villa

Ginger and Pumpkin the cats of bed and breakfast Petra Fig Tree Villa

Here you see Ginger and Pumpkin, in their daily job. Relishing life after a good breakfast while they enjoy the nice view on the garden.

Unfortunately Ginger is no longer with us as he passed away during an operation on his teeth in December 2023. Pumpkin is still alive and kicking. And keeping me company in the B&B.

Staying in Petra Fig Tree Villa with cat allergy

Good to know when you’re planning to stay in the bed and breakfast is that Pumpkin also lives here. So if you’re allergic to cats, maybe this isn’t the ideal place to stay.

I keep Pumpkin out of the guest rooms, but of course he spends some of his time in the rest of the house. That said, I’ve had several guests with cat allergies stay here without problems. Some brought their allergy pills and were fine, and some didn’t react at all to Pumpkin’s presence.

The interesting thing is that I’m allergic to cats too! When I’m in the Netherlands at my brother’s house, where three cats are running around, I get all the symptoms, itchy nose, watery eyes. But here in the B&B? Nothing. No sneezing, no itchy eyes, no reaction at all.

Apparently, that’s possible. Some cats produce much less of the main cat allergen (a protein called Fel d 1) than others, depending on things like their sex, age, and genetics. So even if you’re allergic to cats in general, you might not react to every cat the same way — and Pumpkin might just be one of the lucky exceptions. 

Ginger from Petra

Ginger was found by Italian tourists in the summer of 2014. Or to be more precise, he followed them in the Siq after their visit to the Treasury at Petra by Night. They took him to their hotel and fed him some milk. 

The next morning they brought him to the horse hospital where Emad, the vet nurse, took care of him. And they asked him to give “Petro”, the name they gave him, the needed vaccinations to travel to Italy. Consequently he needed to wait three months before the blood test for the Rabies test. I offered to host him for these months and fell in love with him. And Pumpkin too! Long story short, he didn’t go to Italy and the three of us had almost ten happy years together!

Ginger and Pumpkin as young cats in Petra Fig Tree Villa

Pumpkin from Zeitoen

Shortly after Ginger came to live here, my friend Sandra asked if I could take care of a little kitten. Her neighbours’ children had found him in a large pipe. I wasn’t planning on having cats — let alone two! But when I saw him, this tiny ball of fluff with huge ears, I was completely lost.

He was far too young to be away from his mother, so during the first weeks he spent a lot of time tucked inside my cardigan to stay warm. Ginger, meanwhile, took over the mother’s role and taught him everything — from washing his paws after dinner to how to behave properly.

Both were born in the wild from stray mothers. So their behaviour can be unpredictable. So it’s good to take that in account when you meet Pumpkin in the B&B.

If you’d like to see more of these two lazy sweethearts you can have a look on their instagram account We are Ginger and Pumpkin.

A kitten ginger cat, Pumpkin, with sticky flowers on his paws.

Taking care of more stray cats

It all started with Eva, a tiny kitten hiding under a parked car in my driveway. My neighbour’s boy came to ask if he could keep her. The kitten turned out to be a she, and they gave her the name Eva.

One evening, new guests arrived at the B&B and said, “Ah, so sweet, you have four kittens!” When they parked their car, they had seen ten little eyes glowing in the headlights from a cave in the wall. Eva, who turned out to be the mum, had been busy moving her kittens around. From one hiding spot to another: first a cave, then the storage room behind the house, and finally the back terrace of the Petra room.

Not all of them survived, but since then the number of cats around the B&B has slowly grown. Two of the offspring of Eva are Moppie and Ollie, as I named them.

 

Petra Veterinary Clinic

I heard about the vet clinic, Petra Veterinary Clinic (PVC) where they treat stray animals for free. Moppie was the first stray cat I took there to be neutered. Not much later another stray ginger and white cat showed up in my garden. With a drooling mooth and a visable infection.

I took him to the clinic and learned about Calici virus that can cause these mouth infections. Some teeth were taken out and now I had a cat that needed some TLC after his operation. He recovered well and my brother, who was visiting me with my mum, gave him the name Jemmel. 

Stray cat Moppie drinking water from the bird bath in the garden of Petra Fig Tree Villa

ABC program

I had already noticed that the number of stray cats in Wadi Musa was growing. When I bring my waste bag to the container, I often see dusty little kittens and thin adult cats jumping out and hiding behind the dumpsters. So many cats (and dogs!) live on the streets without proper food, shelter, or medical care. Many of them face short and difficult lives.

We mentioned this to Dr. Yazan at the vet clinic, and together we decided to volunteer to set up an Animal Birth Control program. Also known as catch, neuter, and release. It’s a humane way to help reduce the suffering of street animals over time.

In January 2025 we picked up the trap and started with the ABC program. And as I had to feed Jemmel, to recover from his mouth operation, the word spread about breakfast and dinner at the B&B and now I have over a dozen stray cats in the garden.

Cat in trap in ABC program of PVC in Wadi Musa Jordan

Would you like to adopt one of these sweet cats?

Feeding so many cats every day has become quite a task. And quite a bit of food! The strays around the B&B know exactly when it’s breakfast and dinner time, and they show up eagerly for their meals. To keep all these furry friends healthy, I go through quite a few bags of cat food each month.

If you’d like to help, you can virtually adopt one of the cats by contributing €10 per month towards their food. Your support makes a big difference for these little ones who otherwise wouldn’t have much to eat.

You can send your contribution through PayPal (or for the Dutch people via a ‘Tikkie“), and if you’d like to support the Petra Veterinary Clinic (PVC), who do the neutering and spaying for the ABC program, you can make your donation here. The Donate now button is at the bottom of that page.

Shukran jazeelan! Thank you for helping to care for the cats of Wadi Musa — each donation, small or big, truly helps to make their lives a bit better.