Adopted by the street cats

After moving in and unpacking, we discovered that our patio has apparently been claimed as a hangout for a couple of the local street cats. At first, one cat appeared as we sat on the patio. Slightly nervous, she seemed to know her way around our outdoor furniture and soon felt comfortable enough around us to sit on the windowsill and stare in at us. Every morning she would leap up to look in the window as we ate breakfast, and she would come throughout the day to see if her humans were doing anything interesting. I finally succumbed to her pleading looks and began to put food out for her, knowing that once I fed her, we would be responsible for her care. A very affectionate animal, she loves to be petted when she is in the mood. My son decided to name her Captain Monkey, and she now answers to Monkey.

During the day, she roams as she wishes, but at night, she always returns to our patio. She seems to be so comfortable here that I suspect she may have been a pet of the former residents. Unfortunately, due to allergies, we cannot allow her inside the apartment. However, to protect her in the cold weather, I created a warm, cozy home on the windowsill for her made out of a large plastic bucket turned on its side and insulated with soft, thick bath mats on the inside and one secured over the top to hang down over the front. Each night, she snuggles up in this secure bed. After watching my interactions with Monkey, another cat, who we named Cookie, decided to take up residence on the patio, too. Not wanting Cookie to suffer in the winter, I made another little home for him in a corner of the patio, away from the wind, rain and snow. So, now we have two street cats to feed and look after.

My son had been asking for a pet for quite a while, but in part, because of allergies, we have not been able to have any animals living inside. Also, we travel often, and I do not feel it would be fair to an animal to have to spend weeks cooped up as they are boarded at a kennel or vet while we are away for long periods of time. To me, dogs are out of the question because I feel that dogs, especially medium or large-sized ones, should have enough space to run and play outside, which is not possible with our apartment lifestyle. Now, with our new residence, my son has the chance to learn about animals and how to care for them.

It took a little while, but since Captain Monkey and Cookie are now fairly comfortable with me and my family, it is time for me to find a reliable veterinarian nearby. Since I decided to feed the cats, and in effect, adopted them, it is also my responsibility to make sure that they are kept as healthy as possible. We suspect that Captain Monkey is pregnant, but after she has her litter, we will be responsible for locating new homes for the kittens once they are old enough. Afterwards, Monkey will be making a trip to the vet’s office to be spayed so that she does not add even more kittens to the streets of İstanbul. While Cookie is comfortable with the humans around him, he does come and go from our garden, sometimes gone for a day or two at a time. This will make it harder to get him to the veterinarian so that he can be neutered soon.

With so many stray animals on the streets of İstanbul, I believe it is the responsibility of anyone who feeds them to make sure that they are cared for as well as possible. This includes taking money out of our own pockets to make sure they have the necessary shots to stay healthy and to be spayed or neutered. There are too many feral animals who suffer abuse and starvation while living on the streets. For each animal that is fed and given water by well-meaning people, there are numerous more that are kicked, beaten and even killed while trying to survive on the streets. The problem of animals abandoned to fend for themselves will probably never end. However, if each person who decides to feed a street animal also took on the responsibility of ensuring that they were healthy and that they were spayed or neutered, there would eventually be a decrease in the population of these feral animals.

As we have found, even though street animals are often mistrustful of humans, with quiet, patient encouragement over time, many are very warm, friendly animals that just want love, food and a warm, safe place to live. Don’t they deserve that?