Pawsome Pets: This Marshall’s job is to keep his sibling cats from hitting him

Though they’re quite the pranksters amongst each other, they don’t annoy their mom as much and she’s thankful for it, jokes the music producer.

She has always been fond of animals thanks to her parents, she tells us. “My father was in the Army so I’ve grown up around animals all my life. We had two German Shepherds, who we lost to old age and then Marshall Singh was the third addition. My mom’s a really big animal person too; she’ll feed any animal that comes home,” she says.

When the family moved to Chennai, that’s how they found their first cat… or did the feline find them? “My mom found Jingle hiding under a car. She didn’t have to coax him to come with her; he just hopped into the carand came like he was supposed to be with us,” says Mehar. Unfortunately, he succumbed to a kidney disease a month ago.

“Right now, I have six other cats at home and they’re all rescues,” she shares adding, “We haven’t really actively adopted anyone but found them by chance. One of the cats was stuck on a roof, I found the other helpless inside a train and so on.” The six felines are Coco, Kung Fu, Peanut, Lotta, Boubou and Indy. Mehar laughs, “Boubou is like a ghost that roams around the house, creeping people out!”

Marshall has no problem accommodating the cats because, “He’s always been great around smaller creatures — he spent a lot of time around ducks, chickens,rabbits, goats and other dogs. He’s like a Buddhist and follows a live and let live principle. So when Jingle came into our lives, he was very cool with him,” says Mehar.

It’s the cats who annoy the big Labrador Retriever. “All my pets have established boundaries with each other but sometimes if the cats are sitting higher up, they tend to smack Marshall on his head. Even he has his limits so if he barks, which is really loud, the cats know they’re in trouble,” she smiles.

What she admires in all her pets is the unconditional love they show on Mehar. She says, “No matter which species, once they come home they become part of the family. Also, they are just so happy and satisfied and they keep me grounded especially because these days, we’re all on the fly most often. They make me feel at home and that’s something no human being can do!”