City Kitties Travels: Gatitos Puertoriqueños

There is a strong Puerto Rican connection to New York, so I felt it is only appropriate that I share some of the pictures of the cats I've met on my trips to Puerto Rico.

As much as I LOVE kitties and other cute animals, it is important to remember that a lot of the cats featured here are strays. Like New York, Puerto Rico has a huge homeless animal population. The first time I went, I was very surprised at how many skinny dogs wandered on the beach, in the streets, and generally just followed me around. This is why it is important to adopt! There are too many cats and dogs that need a home to buy your pet in a store.

I was Sunset in Aguadilla this past January. My boyfriend and I decided to stop at a little rest area with a look out over the ocean off the highway to watch the sun go down and apparently Sunset had the same idea! She mostly kept to herself and didn't seem too thrilled when I tried to take a picture, so I left her alone.

We spent a night in Old San Juan and saw a lot of cats there, especially in one plaza where there weren't a whole lot of people. They were more friendly than Sunset, though the picture I got of one of them makes it look a little intimidating.

On our first trip to Puerto Rico, we stopped by Rincon because my boyfriend, a seasonal surfer, wanted to rent a board and check out the area's infamous surf. We didn't end up renting a board (long story!), but I did get a shot of the cute cat that lived at the rental shop.

And finally, here is a cat who lives at a shell shop in a boat in La Parguera. The owner of the shop is a diver who finds her shells around La Pared. She makes souvenir-like trinkets and jewelry out of them. Her cat tends the front of the boatstore while she smokes cigarettes (... why a diver would do that, I do not know...) and watches television in the back.

I can't wrap up a post about the Puerto Rican cats and the importance of adopting from shelters without a picture of quite possibly the cutest dog I have ever encountered. We were sitting on some random beach south of Aguadilla on the last night of our stay this year and this little dog just desperately wanted to be our friend. It sat with us the whole time. I would have taken it home with me if I could! And, for your enjoyment, the pic also includes my knee, grossly distorted in size by the camera. I guess it gives some scale in the picture so you can see how little the dog was.