Thai Cats

This cat can't even

This is a Thai cat---named Tea---who lives in the wholesale fabric shop in “Second China” (Chinatown) that is owned by a nice man from India. This cat speaks fluent Cat and does not care what you think. I love him.

I like cats. You know that. I met a lot of cats in Thailand and fell in love with them all; cats that live in Temples, cats that live on the street. Plenty of cats with three-quarter length tails with a kind of a knobby-nub on the end. Restaurant cats and shop cats, cats that went about their cat business, cats that were too cool to acknowledge my very existence. Or, you know, just cats. Being cats. In Thailand. Wearing fur coats in the extreme heat.

I very much wanted to bring them home with me, forgetting for a moment that I already live with two perfectly fine Rescue Cats---I prefer that term to “Box Kitties”—who would not be at all amused to suddenly have Siamese siblings. (See what I did there? A little play on words? Thailand was once known as Siam, so technically you could refer to all local Thai cats as “Siamese.” What do you mean - it’s not funny if you had to explain the joke? Pretty sure it’s still funny.)

Except for Tea, most of the cats I saw in Thailand were “strays”, but they were being fed by the local shop owners and treated with more respect than you’d expect. Perhaps the gentle treatment of alley cats has to do with the Buddhist ethical concept of “making merit.”

Restaurant cat

Per Wikipedia, Merit is the “beneficial and protective force which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts or thoughts” and is an important part of Buddhist life. I’m formulating a plan that will turn “Crazy Cat Lady” into “Extreme Practitioner of Buddhism.” I think I’m on to something...

Temple cat

Cat Cafe

Cafe Cat

Shop cat

The cat I brought home with me