Turkish cats - a picture thread

[Miss Z]

Hello all,

Following on from my thread (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=168990)in General about my recent holiday to Turkey, I thought I'd share a few more of my pictures of the feline variety. :) I always have a thing for photographing stray cats abroad. The way they eke out an existence fascinates me, as well as, of course, finding them incredibly adorable.

We stayed in a villa and for part of the holiday were graced with visits from a cat we presume was a stray, even though she was friendly and appreciated human contact. She was a beautiful subject for the camera! We nicknamed her 'Tiptoes', since she had a habit of kneading her paws.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011389-Arrivaloftiptoes.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011391-Tiptoesposing.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011394-Tiptoesface.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011398-Tiptoesmeowing.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011402-warmtiptoes.jpg

After her trust in us grew, she began to wait for us by the patio door every morning.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011403ab-waitingnextmorning.jpg

We didn't often have a lot to give her to eat. I'm vegetarian, and when we're away the rest of my family don't really eat meat other than at restaurants. She had to make do with milk and boiled egg to begin with (I know not quite the ideal diet, but considering we caught her eating some old cooked potatoes from a rubbish bin one evening, I think she could manage). Since she kept coming back, we thought of some more inventive ways to feed her. Here she is eating some 6-hour slow roasted Turkish lamb; we kept a little meat to one side of my parents' dish at a local restaurant and wrapped it up in napkins and snuck it home (we didn't think they'd be to happy that we were planning on feeding their best dish to the cat :p ).

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011404-FeedingTiptoes.jpg

We then had another nice surprise - this time her kitten joined her! To begin with, he was very nervous of us, and stayed glued to his mother, and if we got too close he would bolt off to a safe distance. He was quite wary of the flashy box!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011405-arrivalofkitten.jpg

More to come...

[Miss Z]

His bravery did grow, however, most likely thanks to that famed curiosity of cats...

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011405b-Tiptoesbringsherkitten.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011410-warykitten.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011413-pawnomz.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011415-kittenwashing.jpg

Then I decided to see how brave he could be. He just couldn't resist chasing one of my belts, and before long he was brave enough to follow it into the house. The little sweetheart got so excited - I don't suppose he'd ever had anyone to play with before.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011437-Playingwithkitten.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011438-Playingwithkitten.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011418-kittenplaying.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011419-omnomnoms.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011420-kittennomming.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011425-bookitten.jpg

More to come...

[catmandu]

How kind of you to feed that Momma Cat andthier Kitten, and for at least for a while make thier lives a little better:cool:
We are sure that they will meet up with you in Paradise and Thank You:love:
many years from now:love:
One Fine Day:love:

[catmandu]

My Goodness that Kitten looks like My Scrappy Two!!!:love::love::love:

[Miss Z]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011428-Playingwithkitten.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011430-gotcha.jpg

Eventually he got so full of himself that he would waltz into the house of his own accord and pretend he was chasing something - and lo, we had a housecat! I was sad to leave the pair of them behind. I do hope they're both doing OK.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011444-Housecat.jpg

Here are a few pictures of other cats I encountered. There's something so magical about cats by the sea. I have no idea why, but somehow they suit each other!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011291-Kitten.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011217-Harbourcat.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011215-Catmoonlight.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011202-bigtomcat.jpg

Last one, get ready to say 'aaaaaaaaaw!'

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http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011201-Funnyharbourcat.jpg

Tee hee :D

That's the lot - hope you've enjoyed them!

[Miss Z]

How kind of you to feed that Momma Cat andthier Kitten, and for at least for a while make thier lives a little better:cool:
We are sure that they will meet up with you in Paradise and Thank You:love:
many years from now:love:
One Fine Day:love:

Thank you, Gary. :) I do hope it made some difference to their lives, however little.

Sadly, we found many tourists were so intolerant towards the stray animals in the towns and villages. In one restaurant, a family on another table got so up our noses when they were hissing (I kid you not :rolleyes:) at the cats walking by, who were not posing any bother to them, and then letting their bratty children run riot chasing them around the place. Some people - revolting!

[lvpets2002]

:love: Aweee the babies are so Sweet & Adorable.. great pics thanks

[krazyaboutkatz]

Very cute pictures.:) When I was getting my car smogged, the man that works at the place is from Turkey and he loves cats. He showed me some pictures of the cat he used to have growing up. It was a white Turkish Angora with odd eyes. He doesn't have any cats right now because his wife is afraid of them. He says he will have a another cat though some day.:)

[phesina]

Thank you so much for the beautiful photos and your love and care for these sweet cats. God bless you.

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

[Scooter's Mom]

This one makes her look like she's laughing, I think.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011398-Tiptoesmeowing.jpg

Thanks for the photos!

[cassiesmom]

I love, in this picture, that Mommy is watching as Kitten plays!
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011418-kittenplaying.jpg

[sasvermont]

Great photos. I am going to use the last one as my background on my computer.

[Miss Z]

Thanks, everyone. :)

Elyse, indeed she was a very respectful cat! She was too polite to intrude until invited in, I think. :D She did keep a close eye on her little one, but was very relaxed in letting us so close to him. If he got too excited and started scratching at the curtains, where she couldn't see him, she would call to him to come away. I think she could teach some human mothers a thing or two!

Sallyanne, that picture makes me smile every time I see it. He was such a shy boy, it took me an age to get a half-decent shot of him!

[momcat]

Thank you so very much for sharing your extraordinary pictures! All the kitties are beauties. Your kindness to the mother and her kitten made their visits so special. Because you cared, they possibly knew love for the first time being strays. Bless you for helping them and welcome home!

[sana]

Loved seeing the pictures! I love the little black and white kitten!! :love:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/Miss_Z_rat_luver/Turkey2011217-Harbourcat.jpg

I loved this one especially! Beautiful photo! :love: :love:

[Killearn Kitties]

Tiptoes was a wonderful photographic subject! You got some great pictures.

When we are on holiday, we always find that our dinner choices are severely compromised by what would be best for all the stray cats. Of course, these days we take a bag of cat food with us too. :)

[Barbara]

We also have cat food with us when we go to southern countries. We made some Sicilian kitties very happy this year and I remember having had a cat family out of mom, dad and kitten boy (really, dad was also part of it) in a bungalow by the sea. We named them Catzidaki, Tomitsi and The Mitsokrator in fake Greek;). It is always so hard to leave them.
So I am glad to see that little Tiptoes has a face just like my Kiri who is a rescue from Mallorca- there seems to be a Mediterranean variety of housecat. When Kiri came first to live with us she would eat anything- potatoes, even bread.
Thanks for the lovely pictures:)

[Miss Z]

I think I may also have to start packing cat food in my suitcase on any future holidays!

And thank you, everyone. :)