This week, I took time out of my schedule to get to know the feral cats that live around my neighborhood. At my new house, one of the things I first noticed was the sheer number of cats behind my house. My host brother Abdel and I went on a walk looking for the cats and kittens that live in abundance throughout Macaracas.
Three or four cats live behind my house, and all have a tabby coat and shorter fur. My neighbors told me that sometimes cats here are called mitcho, or mitchi if they're particularly cute cats. In other parts of town, I've seen orange cats and tuxedo cats to black cats. You will can find not only feral cats but also feral dogs in my town. In other parts of Panama, feral dogs have the larger population, but in Macaracas, wild cats are abundant.
When I first saw the cats roaming around, I tried to get them to come to me, but the majority were very skittish. I toss food to the group of tabbies that live behind my house and leave them my leftovers when I have them. As a result, they'll now come every time they hear me set down a plate, and sometimes they'll eat from my hand. However, many people here consider them pests, as the cats tend to eat people's chicks and chickens from their coops.
