Pampered stray cats of Istanbul

One thing led to another online, as usual, and I was finding all kinds of information about the stray cats of Istanbul, Turkey. I had no idea that they've become a "thing" online in the past few years, as well as around the city itself. In most big cities around the world, stray cats and dogs are treated badly, or are at best ignored, except by a few dedicated to caring for as many as they can. Istanbul's stray cats have been pampered and adored, by comparison, as you can see in the many Youtube videos on the subject. One shows a British expat who has been a dedicated stray-cat-care lady in her years in Istanbul, but the care really comes from the citizens of Istanbul. 

The journey begins with this story about a young Turkish woman named Vera and her helpers, by way of a small news article. She even gets veterinary care for those in need. (Maybe a spay/neuter thrown in would be good?) She estimates that she feeds 350 cats per day.

    

Then, this story about Imam Mustafa Efe opening Aziz Mahmut Hudayi mosque to feline guests to get out of the freezing temperatures. They are so popular that some people attending the mosque take photos and videos of the cats.

    

Now, I present the Stray Cat Hostel of Istanbul, where humans can rent a nice room in a place that also accommodates stray cats.  Like the proprietor says, you have to "be nice to the cats!"

    

Still, there are way too many cats! In a funny blog post on the subject, the author tells us that "....wandering the streets of Istanbul you will see many small containers by the sides of buildings, and discreet food rations doled out by its inhabitants. While the cats are not adopted formally, they are taken care of by no one and everyone, a giant community network of cat caring." Just looking at photos of the chubby little things, I would say it's a pretty good system - short of some birth control.
 
The file contains a folder with all three locations, although Vera's cat feeding station is approximate. Perhaps Tek can take a look at the video and identify the exact place.

Istanbul cats.kmz (1.66 KB)

Yes, I can. The location of the movie must be around 40°53'9.07"N 29°10'46.31"E

In most neighborhoods, feeding and caring especially the cats (and even the sparrows, pigeons, doves) has always been part of the ordinary life in İstanbul. Though the process of urbanization has negative aspects on culture, daily life and habits, the core -what we call- İstanbul culture continues to spread. People tend to feed masses of cats and dogs in their gardens, streets, and public areas like in Vera's case.

Thank you for sharing your findings. These three examples are natural habits of İstanbul (and other cities) one can frequently see on streets and in places. The only thing recently becomes visible is that people started to get organized and try to explain what they do.

Thanks for the reply and correction, Tek! Wow, I was just slightly off, eh?    I'll update my file.  I think Istanbul's care and feeding of strays is highly unusual and it's an excellent example for the rest of the world. Let's hope it spreads! Do you know if this is true in most of Turkey, or only Istanbul?

Hopefully. There is a documentary recently filmed that can explain cat life in İstanbul more than me (web site).
Trailer:
vimeo.com/user47256929/kedi-trailer-1
vimeo.com/user47256929/kedi-trailer-1

Generally speaking, for different reasons, 'relationship' with cats is the same throughout the whole country (we can't say the same for dogs, for instance). Nevertheless, there are still many things to do with spay cats when it comes to a need for a local governor's support or sponsorship. One can see them pampered in places where for instance more retired people (as a result of finding free time to engage more with them) or under-educated elder locals (the "real locals" as having cats around them during their whole life) are living. One can also often see people putting foods on streets while going to work in the mornings. In many small shops, they live as if the place is their own home - from anywhere, there can heard a  miaou.

I have seen same behaviors in every city I have been though not as frequent as in İstanbul (not frequent, maybe because other cities are not yet that much concreted and paved). In reverse, what I also witnessed is that bad treatment in İstanbul is higher than in other parts of the country whereas when it comes to personal interfering and protesting bad treatment, people in western cities and in cities around İstanbul is much more active -but this can be my subjective judgement.

I selected the following links to share here how they look:
http:// fromwayuphigh.com/istanbul_cats/
youtube video
youtube video
youtube video
youtube video
youtube video
youtube video

Perhaps, I can take shots and share them here by time.