Bus Station Cats

Whenever you are in a bus station or train station in Russia you are bound to see at least one cat. These are feral cats which are allowed to live in the buildings and are used for pest control. They are usually fed by the workers in the building and often you see them with new litters of kittens.

The first two photos are of a really sweet cat that we met in one of the Nizhny Novgorod regional bus stations. She was good natured but dirty. As she shyly worked her way up from the floor, to the bench next to Karen and gradually onto Karen's lap, Karen didn't have the heart to reject the request for attention. What's a little mud on your clothes when someone needs love?

The next photos were taken in the Train.Bus station in the town of Zavolzha. We had arrived at the station by bus in the late morning, and we were waiting for a friend to meet us when we saw these nice but shy cats.

This pretty kitty was resident rodent control at the city House of Culture where we hosted some First Nations American Cultural Concerts. She was happy to get attention from anyone who would take the time.

Update

It has been months since we have posted anything on this page. We were in the United States from September through November, and we have been busy with work and other projects since then. We do have a few new photos to share with our readers.

This first cat is neither Russian nor homeless. The photo was taken in Lowell, MA in October of 2006. We were out for a walk when we spotted this cat and took it's picture. We enjoyed the photo and thought that we would include it here

These next two phots are of a family of cats that live in a church run drug rehabilitation center near Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. We were visiting the rehab center and while we were being given a tour we spotted these cats eating their dinner in the Banya (a Russian sauna)