Once back in England with our two cats and little dog (all serving their six months term in prison), we sat watching a program on television about cats and to our amazement we discovered that our boy Smudge was actually a Turkish Van (we had never even heard of a Turkish Van, like so many people we had either seen or heard of many of the other breeds of cats, but a Turkish Van?).

We always knew there was something extra special about Smudge -his knowing and loving way - tilt of his head when you spoke to him - his call when he came into a room looking for you for his cuddles - even the way he washed our dogs face and ears.

Smudge feared nothing and we believe this may have contributed to his death. A fox would pay regular visits around our front garden and Smudge did not approve of this and on several occasions sent the fox packing with its tail between its legs. Sadly one day, May 29th 2000, Smudge, we believe he gave chase after the fox and was very tragically killed on the railway line. We were devastated to say the least.

Shortly after the loss of our beloved Smudge one of our sons decided it was time we became computer literate and as he had bought himself an updated model he set up his old computer in our home.

To cut a long story short, it did not take me long to find out about the Turks, their introduction into the UK, the folklore etc, and through the wonder of e-mails I was able to find the names of breeders and other caring people wishing to find homes for Turks. I thought this was the answer, we would offer a home to one or even two of these beautiful cats. This did not turn out to be the case, we now had two dogs and three cats, it was going to be to much to expect an older cat to settle into this household, the answer was to buy a kitten, which we eventually did, not for showing just for loving.

Now getting to the point of why I am writing to you, having now joined the CTVCA I am wondering if anything can be done to help the plight of the Turkish Van cats in Cyprus that roam the streets and beaches particularly in Larnaca, and rely on kind souls who go and feed them whenever they can.

We are at the moment on holiday here, yesterday we went to look in an area called Mackenzie Beach where there are many restaurants, my son had been to one of the restaurants and told us he had seen a Turkish Van around that area, we went along to investigate, it wasn't long before we found a kind English lady and her husband feeding a few of the hundreds of strays around the area.

We got into conversation and I explained what we were looking for, she was amazed and immediately took us to a pile of wood and rubbish nearby to show us a Queen with her three kittens who were exactly like their mother. The lady said she thought it was strange that all the kittens were so alike and thought just maybe the mother had given birth to triplets.

We would love to hear from any one who could give help or advice; we are quite prepared to do anything we can to help these beautiful cats that are leading such a miserable existence.

In Larnaca there is an extremely caring Veterinary by the name of Zikkos who we feel sure would give all the help he could.

Our thanks to Pat for this article

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