Numbers of kittens and dogs gather in front of Omani Maryam Al-Balushi, as she distributes sweets from above a bed in her home in the capital, Muscat, where she lives with about 500 pets that she saved from the streets and diseases.

Despite neighbors' complaints and the increased expenses - says Al-Balushi, 51 - that living with 480 cats and 12 dogs on the ground floor of her two-story home helped her overcome harsh conditions in her life.

"I found that animals, especially cats and dogs, are more worthy than humans," Al-Balushi explained to the French press.

While growing up with 9 siblings amid great financial difficulties and in the absence of her deceased parents, the retired government employee recognized the word "shelter" and her dream became "to have a shelter to protect homeless children."

And she continued, "Since the Gulf countries provide all the basic requirements for the needy, my dream was made up for this shelter for animals, especially cats and dogs."

"They have become my world, my love and my happiness. I sleep, eat, drink and play with them to the point that I gave up all kinds of entertainment, entertainment and even television with them because of them," Al Balushi stressed, while the animal sounds were louder near her.

The bottom of the well

Oman has seen an increase in the number of homeless animals in recent years, according to local media reports, despite financial penalties for leaving a pet on the street.

But Al Balushi - a mother of two young men who live on the first floor of her home - spends 7800 dollars a month to take care of her friends of cats and dogs, including 17 kittens who were blinded, so she feeds them and takes care of their hygiene and takes them to the vet whenever she needs to.

Most of the animals in her home are homeless cats and dogs, who live in large cages, and she is allowed to leave them at certain times to play.

The beginning for the Omani mother was in 2008, "when my son bought a kitten. Although it was beautiful and fluffy, I was like many mothers. I refused to raise animals and did not like it."

But about two years later, "My son repeated the experiment again and bought another cat that was not clean, so I found myself totally interested in it and spending a lot of time with it."

The news of Mary Al Balushi's love for animals spread widely, and expatriate travelers were leaving their pets on her doorstep.

In 2014, she bought her own house and began to increase the number of animals that live with her, saying that during the beginning of her life she was affected by a former neighbor who was feeding homeless animals on a daily basis in front of his house.

The mother asserts that living with 500 cats and dogs helped her out of depression at different stages of her life.

"I was like someone at the bottom of a well and did not know how to get out of it, and (the animals) were like a lifeboat or the bucket that pulled me out of the bottom of the well," she said.