Turkey, Istanbul—Stray kittens on the steps of a mosque

[inkey2]

my cat looks t like them...an American short haired tiger....gray and black with a slight shade of light brown in a few places

[EsmeraldaCatLover]

Awwwww, so cute! I found this video on Ultra Kawaii.

[27legofan]

im Turkish and Australian i feel sorry

[inkey2]

so do they meow in Turkish

[LuxConcordiae]

@inkey2 I think all they go is "BOK BOK".

[MisterGasMan]

So do they speak turkish?

[Rusti3DP]

aww

[Angles786]

hummm yummy

[PrishtinaHottieee]

better cats than rats, like in london, paris and NY

[Ankebut89]

"Two kittens on the steps of a mosque in Istanbul. There is a legend about Mohammed that once, when the call to prayer was given, Muhammad went to put on his robe and found his cat sleeping on one of the sleeves. Rather than disturbing the cat, he cut off the sleeve and let him sleep. In general, stray cats seem to be well treated in Istanbul."

THX FOR THIS.

[awesomelightning]

That is so CUTE!

[FenianandLimey]

They are helpless creatures.  HELP THEM. DON'T photograph them, you morons.

[Robkat3751]

They are the same no matter where they live or you go, all cute.

[kennethken9]

i wish those kiity became mine..they are so cute..if i only in turkey,,i surely adopt those kitties

[fadeless755]

حتى القطط في تركيا تجنن ///

[GreenLovexo]

Aww! why dont people take them in!

[roleplayman]

every time i try to get stray cat in egypt she runs or refuse to pick it up , so is kittens otherwise i found one kitten she was angle at the first day second fully aggrsive kitten

[GreenLovexo]

aww.. Its horrible.. i wish people could just take them in

[mammaTurki]

many people feed street cats in istanbul.

But their population is not under control. dog population is under control ...Cats are free ... maybe municipality doesn't think they are a problem. I don't know

[kanonekraftschuss]

@mammaTurki

Municipality is right, why should cats be a problem? The other way round, they are the solution to problems like varmints, rats and so on. If there are cats there is no need to poison rats. Mother nature thanks you.

[i8246i]

@kanonekraftschuss

Except that, like every other animal, they can overpopulate, start to terrorize other animals and humans, leave lots of waste...

Just because its cute and fluffy doesn't make it 'better' than other animals. Hell, look up what happened the few times rabbits were introduced by human hands into habitats that weren't used to them....

[foot5786]

i lived in istanbul for 7 months, and its true they have tons of stray animals, and outside of the city also. the government has programs to control the dogs, they catch, spay, tag and release them, but there are no services to control the cats. Its really sad. Some people feed them, but most people think they are just a comical nuisance. I think istanbul is really developing, but they still have many problems reminiscent of the third world.

[jasonj3100]

what happened to these kittens?

[EdwardBatchelder]

Unknown -- I hope they continued to live at the mosque, which was protected from traffic and passers-by, but I have no idea.

[tahadithetiger]

the mother probley was a stray too and mated with some tomcat . and the mother died - leaving the kits on there own . at least thats what i think.

[2000myfamily]

@EdwardBatchelder omg!!!! i fonud this kitten that looks exactly like that maybe it is them but i kept them in my house 2 :P

[switchdogdotorg]

@EdwardBatchelder

i was in istanbul two years ago almost ... (september 2009 ) ... do u remember whoch mosque it was ?

the blue mosque , right ?

[DeliBasAli]

@jasonj3100

I know an answer a question 2 years ago but cats are always living at historical places of Istanbul,shop keepers,local people,university students even Imams feeding them :)

[privatehigh]

The person who kicked a cat hard so much so that she could not feed her young will ROT IN HELL. HIS/HER private parts will be cut into pieces and they will live every moment with anguish. That's my curse to all those out there who are cruel to animals.

[yvettestinks01]

I was in Istanbul 2 days ago for 4 days so I could go to a wedding. I have a video of kittens I met at a guys shop who was a few doors away from my hotel. I have the video on my page now. Every restaurant I went to, there was always one cat walking round hoping someone will give it food, then hide from the waiters. One of the waiters tried to stamp on the cat's stomach, but luckily it hid.

The guy at the shop told me one of his cats were kicked so hard she couldn't feed her young

[rudecat75]

thats good to know about istanbul... dogs and cats are treated very cruel in greece and romania

[xHappyFits]

I saw a pidgeon crushed under a chair leg in Paris and someone sat down in it.

[Zod996]

I love cats, so majestic!

[AishaAmeen]

aww so cute