Kathy's Thomas

My name is Thomas. I am a cat, well actually I am still a kitten but I am very big for my age. I have got a black coat but my ears are brown and I have a little white star on my neck.

My mother told me I've got brown ears because my father was ginger. I don't know if that is true because I never saw my father. He died before I was born. I'll tell you all about him another time.

I was born in Istanbul; it's a terrible place if you haven't got a human to look after you.

I used to have two brothers and a sister but they all died; run over by cars. My mother was run over when she tried to save my sister.

It was a terrible time for me. I was only seven weeks old and I didn't have a home or a family. I was very frightened and very lonely. We used to live in a big old house with lots of other cats, but, when my mother was killed the big cats chased me away.

A very nice man found me and took me to his house. He had another cat, his name was Charles, and he was old and miserable. He didn't like me so the man used to lock me out on the balcony. It was better than living in the street and at least I used to get fed regularly but it really wasn't much fun I can tell you.

Charles used to bite me all the time. He wasn't a street cat like me. He used to live in America with his human. When they came back to Türkiye his human had to pay $2.000 to bring Charles with him.
He used to boast to me about how special he was. I really didn't like him very much. He was always picking on me. He told me I didn't have any manners, that I was dirty and rough.
That may have been true but it wasn't my fault.
I asked him to help me but he just scratched me.
He used to tell whopping great fibs as well. You know once he was too lazy to go to the toilet in his litter tray so he did it on the floor. When his human came home he told him I did it and I had to go and sit outside for two hours.
Another time he jumped up on to a shelf and knocked a glass ornament on to the floor, yes, you guessed, he told his human it was me.

He wouldn't let me eat until he had finished and usually he ate all the best things and just left me what he couldn't finish.

His human, whose name was Mehmet, said I was a problem and that he would have to find another home for me or I would have to go back to the streets. He said he couldn't keep two cats and Charles belonged in the house, I was just a guest.
I was very worried because I didn't want to go back to the streets; it really is quite horrible not having a home and family of your own.

Anyway a few days later I heard Mehmet talking to another human, he told him he had found a home for me with a woman who lived in a place called Izmit.
I had never heard of it, neither had Charles but he pretended he knew where it was.
I think he was a little bit jealous of me. He didn't want me to have a home and a human of my own.
He told me that Izmit was even worse than Istanbul, that there were thousands of cars on the roads, all driven by raving lunatics who used to play games with each other to see how many cats they could run over.
He said that people didn't keep cats in their homes, only in the backyards.
This was certainly true in Istanbul. Mehmet was an exception; Charles said it was because he had lived in a foreign country for such a long time. Foreigners generally like animals. Turkish people don't like us very much. They are too poor to think about us as pets. We have to work very hard and then they give us some food every night. It isn't a lot because there are so many of us but it is better than having to live in the street.

I was very nervous about going to Izmit but thought it might be a good adventure.
The next morning Mehmet put me into a shopping bag and took me on a bus.
I was very frightened I don't mind telling you. It was very dark in the bag and I could hardly breathe. I wanted to go to the toilet but Mehmet wouldn't let me get out. Every time I put my nose over the side of the bag, he pushed me back.
I decided that I didn't much like him after all.
I was very worried because if I went to the toilet in the bag then I wouldn't smell very nice and the woman wouldn't want me.
Maybe Mehmet would just leave me in the road. I didn't know any one in Izmit. all my friends were in Istanbul. Maybe the cats in Izmit would want to fight me.
I hadn't really learned how to fight properly because my mother died before she could teach me. I didn't really know how to look after myself; I was too young to be "streetwise". I don't really know what it means but Charles told me I wouldn't last five minutes on my own because I wasn't this.
Finally we got off the bus. I felt very sick. Can you imagine being squashed in a smelly old bag for two hours, desperate to go to the toilet and hardly able to breathe? It wasn't fun. The roads were all very bumpy and my breakfast kept slopping around in my tummy.
Anyway, once we got off the bus, Mehmet had to walk for about ten minutes.
If you thought the bus ride was bad, you should have been in the bag with me while he was walking.
I was being swung backwards and forwards and shaken from side to side. I couldn't get a firm grip on anything. I kept crying to be let out. I was sure I was going to be sick.

At long last we reached the place that he was taking me to. He put the bag on the floor and then I heard a door close. I poked my nose over the side of the bag. Mehmet wasn't there. He had gone. My first thought was that he had left me; my second thought was to get out of the bag as quickly as possible and find a toilet.
I looked around, there wasn't a litter tray in sight so, I am ashamed to say, that I did what I used to do when I lived in the street, but you must remember that I was very desperate and I was also very young, I'm two months older now and can control myself a lot better.

Suddenly the door opened, I searched around for somewhere to hide. There was lots of tables and chairs, the tables had machines on them, I didn't know what they were but I did recognise the telephones and the fax machine; Mehmet had some in his home and Charles, who always knew everything, told me what they were. I couldn't find anything to hide behind and all the cupboards were too high for me to reach. I just crawled under a table and hid my face in my paws.

When I peeped out I saw a woman, I could smell her, and she smelled wonderful. Then she looked down at me and gave me a great big smile. I will never forget that moment: she looked at me and said "hello Thomas (that's what Mehmet called me but my mother called me Fikret) my name is Kathy, you are going to come and live with me so I hope you like me" Like her, like her, I was in love. She got down on the floor and tickled me, then she picked me up and kissed me, she actually kissed me.
No one had ever kissed me before. My mother sometimes licked me and I had seen Mehmet kiss Charles (that's how I knew what a kiss was) but I never thought anyone would ever want to kiss me. Charles told me I was too dirty to be kissed. He didn't know everything after all.

This woman picked me up very gently, she kept stroking me and tickling my ears, she was speaking to me very softly; it was wonderful.
Then she took me outside. We went across a road. There were a lot of cars but I wasn't frightened; she held me very carefully.

We went into an apartment block and she carried me up the stairs.
She took me inside a great big apartment. It was huge. She put me down on the floor and said
"Well Thomas, this is your new home, I hope you like it"

I will tell you some more of my story next time

Bye for now

Love Thomas xx

Would you like to add your comment about this article? Click here!

Editor's Picks

Antalya Antalya, one of the most breath-taking places of Turkey, because of its spectacular location... more...

Traveling by Bus Every corner of Turkey can be reached from the bus station, or Otogar as it is called here. more...

Best of windsurf spots Recently the number of beaches providing windsurfing facilities has increased and shores are embellished with colorful surf.. more...

Anatolian Civilizations Museum The museum is located southeast of Ankara Citadel and is composed of two Ottoman Buildings. more...

Trattoria da Rosario Trattoria da Rosario is a small but special Italian restaurant hidden amongst the trees in Koşuyolu, Kadıköy. more...

Hamams in Ankara Would you like to take a bath in Karacabey Hamam of 15th century or Şengül Hamam of 18th century? more...

Latest Articles