A guy in Istanbul is letting stray cats seek refuge in his mosque

[Little Tich]

Source: Metro UK

The winter can be a tough time for a stray cat, but Mustafa Efe has been making their lives a little easier and giving us all the feels in the process.

He’s the imam at the Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi Mosque in Istanbul’s historic Üsküdar district and is known for his ‘good-humor and diligence’, The Daily Sabah reports.

But it’s his love of cats that’s got everyone getting all misty eyed.

Instead of chasing felines out of the mosque, he welcomes them in with open arms, calling them his ‘Friday friends’.

They’re also totally welcome seven days a week throughout the cold winter months.

One mother cat feels so at home, that she is raising her whole litter inside the mosque.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/18/a-guy-in-istanbul-is-letting-stray-cats-seek-refuge-in-his-mosque-5629491/

[KamaAina]

1. Cats rule Istanbul

They're not really strays. More like halfway between feral and domesticated. Meow!

[Warpy]

4. People there have long memories

Cats ate the rats that carried the fleas that caused the Black Death.

[KamaAina]

8. Aha!

Egyptians worshiped them because they ate the rodents that ate the grain that, as the learned Dr. Ben Carson has informed us, was stored in the pyramids.

[mwrguy]

2. Cute

[darkangel218]

3. Cats are very much loved in Turkey

I didn't know that until recently (I've never traveled there).

Another story with the dogs there though, they are heavily neglected.

[justiceischeap]

5. Did that momma kitty decide to take the pulpit (or whatever it's called)

where they sing out the prayers?

"No prayer singing for you, you'll wake the kids!"

[KT2000]

6. I want mama cat!

She looks like some who have shared my home too.

[petronius]

7. That's very sweet, but I'm not surprised - the kind treatment of stray animals and

especially cats in Istanbul (and elsewhere in Turkey) was very noticeable when I visited. Food and water dishes everywhere, and when strays had to be moved on it was done gently. Even in tourist areas, where a random dog or a dozen cats under the dining table might have been viewed askance in a lot of other cities...

[REP]

9. The Angora and Van cats are protected in Turkey

A special permit is needed to remove a Van from the Van region.

A random sampling of Turkish friends here and in Turkey reveal people who are nuts about animals (and confirm that Turkey is not a bad place to be a cat).