The cats of Kotor

By Sue Preston

THE good people of Kotor, Montenegro, on the Adriatic Coast, think the best thing that

ever happened to the town was when cats decided to jump ship and make the

medieval town their own.

WHEN the cats abandoned their shipboard duties of keeping mice and rats away from

the food stores and snuck ashore more than a century ago, they quickly

adjusted to life on land and set about dispatching Kotor’s rodent population.

Today, cats are Kotor’s unofficial mascots and a symbol of good luck. The beautiful

UNESCO heritage-listed old town in this small Balkan country, once part of the

former Yugoslavia, has hundreds of cats living amongst its maze of narrow cobble-

stoned streets.

Officially they are street cats but the town shares in looking after them, leaving out

bowls of food and water every day.

I’d arrived in Kotor aboard Azamara Onward on its 10-day cruise along the Croatian

coastline from Athens to Venice and, like many aboard, I am keen to see how the

descendants of those original deserters are faring.

It was a blistering hot day in August and most cats were sensibly tucked under shady

bushes or buildings but there was no mistaking the love affair Kotor has with its four-

legged residents. There are wall murals featuring cats, gift shops offering all manner

of cat memorabilia and even a small Cats Museum.

Seeking relief from the heat, I stumble into the Cats Museum, located in the middle

of the Old Town near the ancient monastery of Our Lady of Angels.

Inside, all the exhibits were devoted to cats – engravings, antique books, coins,

medals, illustrated postcards, greeting cards, old photographs, board games,

cinematographic posters, sheet music, records, old advertisements, children’s story

books and stamps.

There were amusing tales, like the cat who used to replace a hen in her egg-sitting

duties every time the hen left the nest and many testimonials to the bravery of cats.

But of course, Kotor recognises that the number of cats cannot be allowed to grow

unchecked.

For that reason, a registered charity, Kotor Kitties, has been set up to raise funds for a

targeted and sustained program to spay and neuter the street cats. To date it has

sterilised more than 16,000 cats through its Trap, Neuter, Return program.

As my day in port at Kotor drew to a close the temperature started to drop and more

cats emerged from the shadows to sniff out whatever bounty of food had been left

out that day.

I’m sure it’s a harder life than most of our treasured domestic pets enjoy but for

Kotor’s cats, it’s a good life for a street cat, descended from a feline sailor.

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