Istanbul Cat Portrait

The Watcher

This Istanbul cat would always be staring at us as we passed by on our way to work.I was always impressed by his thoughtful knowing gaze. He was one of the lucky ones, because he was an indoor cat. Life on the streets for animals is hard and not always as romantics as a Google search of Istanbul cats would have you believe. If no one is there to take care of them and feed them, they usually don’t live more than a couple of years. In fact, my wife tried to save a litter of  terribly sick kittens that were born to a mother who was also too sick take care of them. My wife is extremely allergic to cats, so after a few days of trying to nurse the kittens back to health in our home (and they weren’t getting better either), she hooked up with the Istanbul pet lover’s network to look for better alternatives. She found a veterinarian who would try to help the sick kittens. Unfortunately three of them died at the vets. He said it was very common in Istanbul, most kittens are too weak and vulnerable to make it on their own. Istanbul cat life is hard.

More Istanbul portraits can be see here.