The Turkish city of Istanbul has so many cats that people don’t bother to look if the animals “get lost” in the office buildings, giving them the last seats at the bar.
On the narrow streets of Istanbul, the ancient capital of Turkey, cats sit on the roofs, door sills, run and jump on the steps or lay half-closed eyes in every nook and cranny.
Whether it’s sunbathing, licking fur or visiting stores to find food, cats have become an integral part of people’s lives in the city that divides Eurasia, according to Reuters.
They were so crowded that no one bothered to look when a cat ran across the lobby of an office building or when a cat curled up and slept on the chair next to it.
Shop owners and locals know the neighborhood cats well and will tell dozens of stories about them as if they were a friend.
Some cat lovers in Istanbul buy homes for their stray cats so they don’t get cold in the winter, buying a lot of cat food every supermarket sale. Some even bring the animals home on nights when the temperature is at its lowest.
“Money isn’t an issue if it’s for the cats,” Ozan, an employee at a pet store, told Reuters . “If they find cats with broken legs, blind eyes or digestive problems, they will take them to the hospital. When they see they have been treated well, they will put them back on the street.”
In the Cihangir district, where the streets are lined with cat houses, it’s common for customers to give up their last seats in bars to animals. They will stand next to them and pet them when they wake up from their sleep.
Cats jumping on the laps of diners in restaurants, looking for a place to rest as well as food, is also common in Istanbul.
Esra, who works as a barber, said she often takes care of and befriends two cats at the park near work in her free time. She says it helps her get through tough times.
Meanwhile, Mr. Necati, who works as a scrap collector, said cats are sacred animals when telling the story of the cat protecting the Prophet Mohammed of Islam from a poisonous snake. ” One should love cats, not people,” he said. “Humans are very ungrateful”.