Israeli Cats May 30, 2009

There are many street cats in Israel. I think they’re cute.

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This is what can happen if you have a ground floor apartment in Jerusalem, and you ran out of cat food to leave out on the window sill.

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Proud in Jerusalem.

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One of a few cats that will be coming to my kitchen window in my new apartment!

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Why wouldn’t there be a mattress thrown on top of a chair in the middle of the common area? This cat makes the best of what crazy locals do around here.

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“I told him playing with acorns isn’t for weak cats, but he never listens to me.”

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Dreams of the day the Pope visits the cats of Israel.

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“The best part is that after I jump out, I can snack on whatever’s stuck to my fur later.”

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“If you’re gonna look at me like that, at least throw some Bamba my way.”

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“Wait just one second as I put my paws on this step- makes me look taller!”

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Outside the old city, Akko cats continue to enjoy beautiful sea views and cool breezes.

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The death of Jewish soldiers continues to weigh heavily on the mind of this cat residing around Akko fortress, which at one point served as a prison, whose first prisoner was Jabotinsky.

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Oh, the story this Akko cat’s face tells!

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And other Akko cats found companionship in hunting for thrown falafel pieces together.

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But some Akko cats found their bit of peace and happiness.

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It’s rough in the old city of Akko.

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This was one tough street cat in Akko.

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She seemed to be happy enough without our shnitzels, anyway.

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The nun told us that this cat was serious about wanting our shnitzel, and we needed to watch out. Moments later, the cat tried to jump on the table, but we blocked her.

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At the Austrian hospice cafeteria in the Old City. This cat was aggressive! The nun in the background soon gave us a warning.

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Jerusalem, Old City cat- blending into the stone yet again.

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This cat is lounging on the grass as if it were a white leather couch in a condo in Miami.

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Back at Givat Ram campus.

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Hebrew University, Mount Scopus campus.

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I found him near the front bus station at the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University. He pretended to be shy by not showing his face until he went around to the other side of this column and strutted around in more privacy.

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These cats knew where to go. While I ate my homemade sandwich alone, they gathered around the guy eating a shawarma baguette with fries.

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This photo is a bit off because I didn’t have my camera on me and had to use my camera phone. I saw this snoozing cat in the lobby of my the building where my mom’s friends live. Some neighbors keep their baby carriages near the front door, and someone left the front door open, so this cat made itself comfortable. It was there when I left for a museum, and was still sleeping when I came back a couple of hours later. I woke it up by accident, and it yawned, cleaned itself, and looked far from ready to move. By the time I headed back upstairs, it was sleeping again, with its face held out as if it was sniffing the air. So. Cute.

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This guy was trying to get in so desperately, but when I opened the door, he ran away from it. Then he started rolling around on the floor playfully, then stopping, looking at me, then rolling again, as if he was performing for food. So cute, maybe my new fav cat around here. Not sure why he has a collar, but it looked uncomfortable and I wanted to take it off.

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And what’s this over here?

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The fur and the garbage bags become one.

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Looking off onto a dreamy horizon lined with garbage bags filled with treasures street cats can only wish for.

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This guy is a kitten, but street life has not done well for his youthful appearance.

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This resident cat did not get off that dirty floor mat someone threw over the bench in the hallway. A couple of days later, I’m pretty sure my Russian neighbor hurled it down the hallway (along with ripped newspapers) in a fit of Slavic rage.

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I think that if the street cats of Israel had a  darkwave band, this would be album cover.

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And here he is, ladies and gentlemen. The pseudo-Hitler (Kitler? Is that wrong?) cat outside my window at work. Not that I had to tell you, because obviously he looks just like my rendition of him.

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Same cat as below, but I like the predatory/quizzical look. Some guy smoking a cigarette near me was very amused by my taking a picture of a stray cat.

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Flexible and itchy!  These cats are amazing!

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Why take the nearby pathway to the upper area when you can take the tree straight up?

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This cat always hangs out on the other side of this glass and gets really excited when people approach her. If you put your finger up to the window pane, she gets up on her hind legs and rubs up against it on the other side. It’s cute but so sad! For some reason, she was being frisky and wouldn’t cooperate for a photo, but when I started to walk away, and looked back at me longingly.

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What a centerpiece!

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Ok, it’s official- I can’t draw cats. Still, I wanted to share a sketch I did from memory of a cat that I couldn’t photograph. He appeared sitting on a wide ledge outside a window at my job. He sat there staring at me for an hour. And he had a bottom lip Hitler mustache. A perfect square below his mouth. If you looked up at him quickly, you couldn’t tell which lip the mustache was on. It felt like the cat eyes of history trying to make me work more furiously in my tiny role in maintaining Jewish memory.

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This one is lapping up every last bit of what looked like yogurt that was spilled onto the ground.

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This guy seemed pretty happy after he was offered a helping from a campus sandwich. I think all the street cats in Israel can be fed from the bread of one campus sandwich.

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Check out this campus Garfield with a natural, furry necklace.

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This cat is totally working the dramatic turn-around effect. I like how he blends into the Jerusalem stone on a grey day.

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What continually intrigues me about these strays cats is how easily they look you right in the eye, and often times hold the gaze. Although they are easily frightened, you can get some intense looks before they scurry away. This one wasn’t moving anywhere, though. It was was quite content basking in the sun and licking itself freely.  Who wouldn’t be?

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This Tel Aviv kitty was not having any of this photo taking. She gave me one good shot, but then meowed grouchily and ran under a car.

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This cutie is a regular the hallway when I live. Sometimes his cloudy eye freaks me out a bit. What freaks me out more, though, is students who think it’s ok to dry their clothes on heaters in public areas!

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Cloudy is at it again in the common kitchen.

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This big boy obviously gets to the garbage first often. Outside ol’ Reznik dorms of Hebrew University. Supposedly the other dorms don’t have as much of a cat problem.

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However, the problem is so bad in Reznik that these girls put up a sign on the door to their hallway and common area.

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I brought along my camera for the sole purpose of finding some cats along the way to the library, and I didn’t have look for long. First cat. He was not enjoying the attention.

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Second cat, about 15 feet away from the first one, was sitting in the middle of a busy walkway. Not sure what to think about the Franken-tail, but I hope it was one of those beautiful defects he learned to love when he got older.

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Third cat. About 20 feet away from the second cat. Cute and wuddly and all that, but it turned out I knew the girl and after I took the photo, she talked to me very loudly about her ongoing medical ailments for what felt like 20 minutes. I told her maybe she caught some kind of virus- “But which one? I’ve had them all!” she kept saying.

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Casually cleaning while looking out the window of a Hebrew University dorm kitchen window.

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Another dorm cat in the Hebrew University dorms.

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In the Hebrew University dorms, again.

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This bugger hid inside a cabinet in a shared kitchen. When I opened the door, he let out a few lazy hisses, but soon gave me this look, ask if asking, “You done yet?”

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Restaurant cat at Benedict in Tel Aviv.

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Cat train in Tel Aviv.

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There is no soft surface in the urban landscape that goes unnoticed. In Neve Tzedek area of Tel Aviv.

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Hoping for a piece of that shweet, shweet shawarma. City Center, Jerusalem.