Cats are everywhere in Istanbul

This is the cat that “guarded” my hotel in Istanbul.  He was there each night, and didn’t mind people coming or going.  People walked around him even though he decided to camp out right on the entry carpet.

There are many such cats in Istanbul.

The cats are often friendly because they generally  aren’t mistreated by being chased or hurt.  Some people even band together to pay for any medical care the cats need and provide them with food and water, and a head scritch or two.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of street cats in Istanbul.  There is even a documentary that met with rave reviews a couple years ago about them called Kedi.  I’ve seen it twice (once at the limited theater engagement, and once on a plane).  It’s really touching how the Turks take care of these street cats.

You can click on the link to the left if you want to find out more about the movie which is about several of the cats in the city.