Cats or Rats?

I heard before I came here that there were a lot of cats in Jerusalem. That is an understatement. The amount of feral cats is unbelievable. Instead of having squirrels, we have cats and more cats and kittens and more kittens. Some of them seem cute and soft and sweet and you want to take them home. Others look scrawny and have a scary look in the eye and have clearly have had a rough life. Now I know why the state department recommends the rabies vaccine which Julia and I still have to get. Someone told me that the British brought cats to get rid of the rats. I don't know if that is true but I think I prefer cats to rats. Julia points out every cat we see right now - which on an average walk might be 6 or 7. I'm sure she remembers the few cats we had in Capitol Hill which would come up and purr and rub against our legs. Not these cats. Most run away as we approach and the few that just sit and stare at us as we get close kind of scare me - especially if we are walking Bob. Every time I go to dump the garbage, I'm afraid a cat will jump out from behind the dumpster. The garbage is probably where they get most of there food. I'm sure a few people put food out for them but I'm not going to do that - I don't really want these cats close to our door.

I think I'll make our appointment today to get our Rabies vaccine.