Ruins, Ruins Everywhere | Main | Color & Light: Two Moments, Unrelated
May 31, 2007
They're All Cute Until You Discover a Missing Eye
And even then they're still pretty darn adorable.
Photo by Alexis.
Though I had read about the large number of cats in Turkey, I was completely floored by their prevalence. They were EVERYWHERE. In trees, garbage heaps, window sills and flower pots. There were orange Irving Affiliates, several shades of long hairs, and many, many white footed felines whose paws were a consistent soot gray from dirt. Everywhere we went there was at least one bewhiskered friend that just called out for petting, which is just what I did, despite my loving husband's pleas to let them be, or at least carry around some hand sanitizer.
Despite this, we both found the presence of cats throughout Turkey to be heartwarming at first- that is until we began looking at them closely and discovering their runny and often missing eyes, crooked or shortened tails, ear stumps and the fact that they were whenever they could find them. This was when I started dreaming about carrying a large, wriggling sack full of felines through customs or forming some sort of partnership between Turkey and the SPCA. Or just creating some sort of Sally Struthers telethon to save the cats of Turkey adoption program.
You can see more cats of Turkey here. Don't you just want to scoop them up, wash them and send them off to a warm safe home somewhere? I do.
Posted by callalillie at May 31, 2007 6:13 AM | Feline Musings , The World Outside NYC , Turkey
nearly half my pictures from a trip to provence are of cats...
Posted by: alyssa at May 31, 2007 9:46 AM
I want to find funding to write a travel guide based purely on the presence of cats. Next trip: Greece. But now that you mention that there a Provence and cats, I'm so there.
Posted by: corie at May 31, 2007 9:48 AM
Greece = TONS of cats! They hang out at the Parthenon.
Posted by: lesterhead at May 31, 2007 10:32 AM
Yes - I also am interested in international cat relations.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntbrooklyn/358927499/
But the one of the fuzzy kittens in the construction and plaster garbage was heartbreaking!
Start the telethon.
By the way - hope you had a great trip.
What camera(s) did you bring to Turkey with you?
I noticed a small black Canon in some of your photos.
Posted by: Tiya at May 31, 2007 10:47 AM
Awww, I love the cat pictures. And don't forget that June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month! Although I suspect most of your readers already have a cat or two (or three or four).
Posted by: janine at May 31, 2007 11:19 AM
Sweet little mangy, one-eyed kitties. I saw one cat in Mexico and he was enormous. The tallest cat I ever saw. It freaked me out.
Posted by: Sally at May 31, 2007 11:40 AM
Definitely put Barcelona on your cat touring itinerary.
Posted by: craige at May 31, 2007 1:01 PM
I haven't been to a country over run by cats but I did go to Hemingway's house in the Keys. The multi-toed cats are everywhere and I wanted to take them home. I don't know how I'd do in an area where they are not loved and have warm food bowls to enjoy every evening.
Posted by: Jenifer at May 31, 2007 1:50 PM
hey tiya- we took way too much camera equipment on this trip. lesson learned. alexis used one of our digital rebels and i used a canon g7. i was pretty happy with the g7 with one exception-- sometimes your fingers slide into the many small buttons which more often than not changes the settings. i took lots of little videos throughout the trip and didn't realize until i got home that somehow the sound had been shut off. bummer.
Posted by: corie at May 31, 2007 2:01 PM
you should also count rome in for cat-vacations. tons o cats!
Posted by: Dahlia at May 31, 2007 4:59 PM
I agree, cats are one of the unforgettable things about international travel. They are everywhere, sometimes more so than elsewhere!
When my American family and I lived in Egypt, cats were one of the big highlights of daily life. Were they mating? Fighting? Cuddling? Ailing? All I had to do was yell. "Cat fight!" and family members would rush out on to the balcony for a better view.
I wish I could have adopted every one of them.
Posted by: C.B. at May 31, 2007 8:26 PM
Bolivia has few cats but has an insane number of wild dogs, even in the cities. I've also heard that Romania and India are littered with stray dogs. I wonder what attracts the cats vs. dogs.
Posted by: yp at May 31, 2007 8:38 PM
Oh, this makes me so sad... just like the cat's on NYC streets. Cat's are so adorable and should be in loving homes or else out in nature not on city streets eating our trash. People need to take action and get these cats neutered first if they're going to throw them to the streets to prevent breeding and more street cats. Same for dogs.
Posted by: me at June 1, 2007 11:48 AM
yeah... just like the cats in NYC... except ten times as many! LOL a stray gave birth to three kittens on my friend's balcony here. they didn't even know the mom was living in the bottom drawer of an old bureau that they put out there for their kids' toys and outdoor shoes and stuff... and then there was a nest of kittens and they are allergic, so they couldn't take them in. and then two weeks later, a stray dog on campus was adopted by a couple and turned out to be very, very pregnant... so now there are seven adoptable puppies. it's a little out of control, actually...
Posted by: kelly at June 1, 2007 2:43 PM
i love that you are a crazy-cat-lady everywhere and anywhere you go! *mwah*
Posted by: gg at June 12, 2007 7:56 PM
