Our Love For Cats

So as I wrote many weeks ago, most cats in Israel, and there are a lot of them, are feral. This has annoyed me as I'm very used to American cats who for the most part are affectionate and would prefer we humans live outside in packs rather than in our cats' homes. But I have gotten used to them for the most part. I avoid walking by dumpsters or garbage bins after dusk to avoid a cat launching itself at my face because it is scared. I've stopped thinking of them as rats and instead have been trying to appreciate that they live in packs and are afraid of humans for a reason, that they didn't ask the Brits to bring them on a boat and deposit them in a foreign country. I've started seeing them as cute and am focusing less on how skinny and skittish they are. But what brings it all back home for me is when they are hungry. There is a small pack of feral cats who live in the courtyard of the apartment complex we live in, and there are residents of the complex who feed them. It seems like lately they aren't being fed as regularly, and they have been quite hungry. Two days ago I was leaving to go run some errands. The path I take to get from my entrance to the courtyard happens to be where they are fed. As I walked down the stairs I heard cats crying, and when I actually got to the bottom and to the door 3 of the cats were inside the entrance by the mailboxes, crying at me very loudly. I was surprised that they had ventured inside and took it as a clue that they must be particularly hungry and unhappy. I felt helpless but went ahead and left, deciding that I would buy some cat food at the store. When I returned someone had given them some cooked rice, and I poured some dry cat food on top of it. I felt better about the whole situation. Today when I was leaving, the same thing happened. The cats were prowling around their food bowl crying loudly. I just have a soft spot -- for cats and most other animals who are suffering in some way -- and don't apologize for it. When I saw their empty bowl I immediately turned around to go back up to our apartment to get more food, totally not thinking about the 5 flights of stairs before me. I gave them the food and they dove right in, and the cat who appears to be the leader of the pack kind of came towards me with a softer, nicer meow (I swear the cat was thanking me :) I was out for several hours, and as I walked home I was thinking about the cats and how a self-centered person might expect the cats to recognize him or her upon arriving home and lavish that person with nuzzles and kneads. When I walked through the courtyard and saw a very empty food bowl and no sign of the cats, I couldn't help but smile. I figure they were nestled under some bushes on a soft bed of leaves, sleeping and dreaming with fat and full tummies. And that's the best cats like these can do, so that's all we can ask of them. A good lesson to be learned for us humans who often expect far too much from others and from ourselves, based on what we want and not what the other person is actually capable of. Our cats are living a sweet life in Cincinnati this year, and to do right by them I must look out for others like them who are less fortunate, and maybe we will appreciate what we have when we return to the States a little bit more. I sure do miss them....