The Stray Cats of Porto

The Stray Cats of Porto:

A recurrent theme of mine…

I love cats.

I know many don’t, (and many do!) I realise that some find them aloof, greedy and self centred.

But animals didn’t ask to be domesticated, they didn’t sign up to some mutually exclusive deal, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours

Animals exist in our domesticated world because we have use for them, or because we tolerate them.

But many large urban areas have stray animals, perhaps once a pet, perhaps the offspring of a pet.

Strays are NOT a Porto problem, they’re not a London problem or a Rome problem or a anywhere problem, they’re a humanistic problem.

Strays say something about our own species; and it’s not nice.

Animals stuck in a neither world of not being part of human existence nor being free of it. They exist in this space because of the human world and despite the human world.

When we take a pet, we create a dependant. When we break that bond, we create a shadow.

These are not cutesy kitties, they could be… they have the capacity, but these are street creatures, discarded and dirty. Left to eek out an existence on whatever they can get.

I love cats.

And when I look into the eyes of these strays I see the struggle they’ve endured and their defiance in never giving up.

This isn’t some sort of aloof detachment. This is the primordial square root of survival.

Even the little indoors only kitty curled up on your bed has this ability.

Respect this ability, respect the cat; but most importantly care for it and keep it.

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