The Kats of Kotor...this post for serious cat lovers only.

There are many stories behind the cats of Old Town Kotor.  The main belief is that the cats saved Kotor from the Bubonic plague.

One story is that cats came over on ships and when they arrived, speedily cleaned up the rat problem in this waterfront town.

The other story is that the cats were here and when rats arrived on ships, the cats got rid of them.

Whatever.  It does seem that these cats know they are special and have just a bit more of the usual cat-i-tude.

Random Cat Photos from Old Town Kotor:

Another story a local told me is that its considered good luck to get a cat from Old town and bring it to your home.  While we witnessed people of all ages talking to, petting and feeding these felines, we did not see any attempted Cat-nappings.

We do visit the cat museum as proceeds from admission and gift shop sales go to benefit the cats ... and it's very interesting for us friends of felines.

And we do buy a can of cat food and witness it being woofed down by several cats ... no fighting involved.

There is a specialty gift shop in Old Town with all things cat ... and Cats of Kotor T-shirts are sold everywhere.

From the Cat Museum:

Cats were special in World War I with various countries that took part:

There are collections of stamps from around the world that depict cats:

There are newspaper clippings from many countries where a cat made the headlines:

This cat saved a dog from drowning

This was a cat show.  The owner won the cats weight in some kind of valuables:

This car was about to run over this cat.  When the cat leapt to safety it landed on the driver's head and the cat got its justice:

The story here is that the surgeon was operating on a little girl.  

The cat attacked the surgeon fearing that he was harming the child:

Mama cat is awarded a medal of bravery for saving her kittens from house fire:

These are just some of the medals awarded to cats for things like community service and bravery:

There are all sorts of cards and postcards through the ages that depict cats doing human things:

These cats, for example, are in school and appear to be paying little if any attention to the teacher:

These cats are doing a variety of human activities:

Doing the laundry:

Relaxing/playing at the beach:

Going for a ride in the carriage:

Movie stars are posing with cats:

There is fine artwork framed and hung depicting cats:

There are all kinds of jewellery for humans depicting cats.

If this museum depicted modern times it would, unfortunately, have things like silly costumes for cats to wear.

While cats have clearly captured human hearts over the centuries, they are sadly amongst the most neglected and abused animals in our communities, so we were glad to see this museum doing its part to educate humans and to help the cats of Kotor.

You can support the work of the cat museum for only 2 Euros by enrolling your cat as a member of the museum.  This website describes how:

The Cattaro Cat Museum

We did see copies of certificates posted in the museum.