The Cats of Greece

By Clem Latham

Delphi is definitely where I first noticed that Greece has a lot of cats. And I mean a LOT. After having seen two cats at a rest stop on the way to the Delphi, I just kept seeing more and more to the point where I started counting! I believe that by the time we left Delphi (having spent less than a full day there in total) I had seen around 25 or so cats. Considering how small of a city it is, that’s quite a lot! One important thing to note about these stray cats was how friendly they were. The strays of Delphi would come right up to passersby and meow at them and were very receptive to petting. As much as I wanted to pet them all, I was very wary about the possible fleas they might’ve carried. I later learned from our tour guide Steve that it is part of Greek culture to not get their strays spayed/neutered, which of course leads to stray populations only growing over time. It has to do with a desire to not take away the animal’s “manhood” so to speak. The people of Greece do feed and give water to all of these stray cats, so in a way, they're an important part of the community. I interact with a decent number of stray cats back home in America, and the difference both in their behavior and how we view them culturally is stark. In America, strays are very cautious and scared of humans, no matter how long you may feed them for. It’s also considered the right thing to do to get them fixed. However, as mentioned before, Greek cats are very lovey-dovey with anyone who dares give them the time of day!