TURKISH BEGINNER

I was always under the impression that Turkish people were not great lovers of dogs and cats, that is until i came to rent off this lovely Turkish family....
They have a small dog of their own which lives indoors, they adopted a lovely street dog who an English lady left behind.. Also they have a 16 yr old cat and took on 5 kittens that were abandoned last year, sadly 4 died of cat flu.. The one remaining kitten has been looked after, injections, wears a collar and rarely strays from the house, however this morning the cat after being let out to do his call of nature in the garden, didnt come back.... The husband was out searching and calling for the cat.......... 3hours later he returned broken hearted after finding the little cat had been killed, not by a savage street dog(as people call them) but by some hoteliers dog who had been let out without a lead.....
The poor guy is still upset 4 hours later and has found out that this dog has savaged 5 other cats in the same way......... Surely something can be done, i know its natural for dogs to chase cats, but next time it could be a child, you never know........ I have walked past this hotel and the dog is always very vicious, i know it is there to protect the property, but it should be on a lead when let out.......................

sapper

Sorry to hear this but as authorities will not do anything people take it into ttheir own hands and suspect poison these type of dogs but other dogs eat the meat also.

shirleyanntr

Gradually a more enlightened approach towards animals is coming to the fore.
Animals are victims of superstition...many turks will not pray in a house where there is a dog...and many believe that angels will not come into a house where dogs are.
Cats are a little better thought of....!!
This weekend i heard a man telling people in a house that animal fur causes cancer...and he was being taken seriously. Of course i couldn't let it pass but who will they believe?
There is a programme on TV(cant remember which channel) ..Can Dostum..life friend...which is a competition for owners and their dogs in obedience...but the great thing about this show is the dogs are mainly rescue dogs from the street. They also advertise with short videos dogs that are in need of homes.
So its getting a bit better.

Yildez

Yes Shirleyanne you're right but it's slow work!! My husband, a rational (well fairly!) and educated man told me last week that swallowing animal hair causes cancer! After some discussion he admitted that it must be superstition and laughed about it, but if he believes such nonsense what hope is there?

When he came to the UK he was very worried about living in a house with a cat - within an hour of arrival he was completely entranced by my Devon Rex and was completely under the paw! By the following day it had become "our" cat and after a month Rigby was in danger of becoming the fattest oriental cat in the world as Omer was feeding Whiskas on demand!

Omer's proudest day was when he woke up on the settee to find Rigby sleeping next to him - when I pointed out it was because the radiator was cold he refused to believe it! Rigby was now his cat and his best buddy (hmmmmmmm cupboard love - Rigby knows a sucker when he meets one!!)

Anyway the point I'm supposed to be making is that most Turks are unfamiliar with cats and dogs - pet ownership, and especially inside the house, is still very new in Turkey. However like all the rest of us they soon succombe to the patter of tiny paws (or large ones!) and become just as besotted with their feline and canine friends.