Istanbul, The City Of Cats

Istanbul is a very peculiar city. Those who have been there say that the streets are full of stalls for street vendors that sell even the unsaleable”. Although this is not the only peculiarity of the city, it has another one that is even stranger: Istanbul is the city of cats.

So it is, the city is full of cats that could be said to be stray. But that’s just because they live on the street, because they actually live like maharajas. We will introduce these very peculiar felines that live in Istanbul, known as the city of cats.

Why Istanbul is known as the city of cats

Source: Tombili Facebook

The natives of Istanbul have always loved animals. They were concerned with feeding them and watching over their well-being. This created an unbreakable bond between them.

Although this was also the cause of more and more cats arriving in the city. Because they were fed, all the cats came to the cat city and stayed. And that’s not counting all the feline babies that were born in Istanbul.

Cats have become such a feature of the city that seeing them is as common as seeing pedestrians’ feet or the cobblestones on the ground. It’s normal, usual, and no resident is surprised to see hundreds of cats roaming the streets.

However, for tourists, this is a fact that does not go unnoticed, because the number of cats is huge. In fact, it is estimated that their number exceeds 150,000.

Where did so many cats come from

Apparently, as Istanbul was a port city where large cargo ships passed by, the cats came on them with the purpose of catching rats. So hundreds of cats were left among the population and never left.

But the fact that Istanbul residents take good care of animals goes back a long time. Since the Ottoman period, cat doors and windows for sheltering birds could already be seen in the buildings.

This fact is also attributed to the love of the cats of the prophet of Islam Mohammed, the largest religion in Turkey.

In the city of cats, stray cats are invited

Image source: lamenteesmaravillosa.com

In Istanbul, the government ordered that specific hostels be built for them and different food facilities on the streets. And besides, there’s an Instagram account where they post pictures of many of them, postures or other fun things they do.

But not only the government is in charge of taking care of these animals. Many people are seen putting food and water in, thus ensuring that the cats are okay.

You can see them on store shelves, in coffee shops, purring to customers, and in restaurants, chasing waiters. They can enter virtually any location, as they form part of the city’s scenery and have won everyone’s love.

Many photographers try to take the best snapshots of cats and some of them are already faced with huge surprises. A photographer claims that cats are able to go where we cannot. For example, he remembers a time when, following one of the cats, it ducked into a hole where it couldn’t fit.

So, he put on just the camera lens and was faced with the interior of a building he had never seen before. It seems that the many felines that live in Cat City have a lot of secrets they don’t want to reveal.

It is beautiful to think of a city concerned with ensuring the welfare of homeless animals, transforming them into something special and belonging to the country. Congratulations Istanbul!