Is There Such a Thing As Too Many Kittens?
Istanbul is FULL of kittens these days and they are adorable!
If you are a regular reader of my articles you will know that Istanbul’s streets are full of cats. People build little houses for them out in the streets and neighbors come together to take care of them by feeding and watering them on a daily basis. There is even a government-sponsored vet program that will treat cats with a mobile vet truck around the city.
When we were here in 2020 we were here in the winter and we saw a few kittens, but nothing like we have seen this time.
One spot, in particular, is located really close to where we are staying. Every time we need to go somewhere, we make a stop at this location to pet the cats and hang out with them.
We have hung out with a range of cats of different sizes, however, in the past couple of days, we have noticed a whole new slew of tiny kittens appearing. They are so new that they are wobbly on their legs, and their adorable antics have had us entertained and captivated for many hours already.
The following photos were taken in one day of hanging out with them. We counted 8 kittens in total and when we looked into the house there appeared to be a couple more inside that were curled up in the corner.
At first, there were only one or two out on the street. But as we sat to play with them, more and more got curious and one by one they came crawling out of the house.
We were amazed at how many there were!
This house is a typical setup and is one of many in the city. Each street or park area seems to have multiple little houses set up so there is always a safe place for the cats to stay. I even saw food placed right inside the house so that the mama doesn’t have to worry about going far.
The beautiful thing about these guys is that they aren’t scared of humans. Clearly, the mama cats and past generations have been treated well, so there is no reason to fear humans.
We enjoyed playing with them immensely.
Watching eight kittens roll around and wrestle with each other is certainly entertaining. While there were always ongoing small battles, there was also one where 6 of them were piled on top of each other and were climbing on each other, biting each other’s tails, and just wrestling around.
Sometimes they get serious and hiss at each other while swinging their paws erratically.
It’s hard to be threatened by something so adorable.
This guy below is a little bit bigger than the others and is a real cuddler. Each time we arrive he crawls up onto my lap and snuggles in. But when I am up and walking around, he curls up on my purse.
He is a real lover.
The little guy below has the cutest fluffy ears. Actually, he is quite fluffy all around and we think that he is not part of the bigger litter. He looks totally different than the others. We did see one long-haired adult cat which we think might be its mom.
I have a strap that hangs from my cell phone case and he got ahold of it and wrestled with it for a while. I took lots of photos and also some videos. He is just so incredibly cute!
He also likes to fight and wrestle with us. This picture gives you a sense of how small he is.
We have had so much fun spending time with these kittens and will miss them when we leave. I hope we find cats to hang out with in our next destination as well.
Istanbul has an amazing city-sponsored vet program that provides free medical treatment to stray animals in the city. We are constantly amazed at how they take care of the animals, and it is heartwarming to witness this spilling out into the individuals that feed them and care for them as well.
If you are a cat lover, then a visit to Istanbul should certainly be on your list!
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