Huisdieren in de Oosterpoort

[English version of the article below] Een tijdje geleden ben ik door Obed Brinkman geïnterviewd voor de Oosterpoorter, onze wijkkrant. Samen met Poek mocht ik vertellen over Cats of Groningen.

Nadat de Oosterpoorter vrijdagmiddag op de deurmat verscheen, heb ik al verschillende reacties gekregen. Sommigen hebben mij laten weten dat ik hun kat heb gespot, en gaven mij hun namen. Anderen besloten om een kat te uploaden, zodat ik deze kan toevoegen aan de kaart. De reacties zijn enorm leuk om te lezen, en ik hoop ook vooral dat jullie me blijven mailen!

Lees hieronder het artikel geschreven door Obed Brinkman. De foto is ook door hem gemaakt.

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ENGLISH VERSION

Lisa lives in the Van Sijsenstraat, together with her boyfriend and her two cats: Poes and Poekie. Lisa is a real catlover and she is the founder of 'Cats of Groningen': a website on which she tries to map all the cats living in Groningen city. This is quite a task, because there are many cats (so far 254). I'm visiting her for an interview.

How did you get the idea to start this website?

"It started last summer when I was delivering mail. I met a lot of cats in that neighbourhood and my boyfriend noticed that cats always spontaneously come to me. He suggested to make a photo book of all the cats I encounter, but that wasn't quite what I wanted. Then I thought I'd put them all on a map, that way you can see how many cats live where. That's how it all began."

Lisa is putting all the cats from all the neighbourhoods of Groningen on a map. She does this while studying History and volunteering at the cat cafe, ‘Op z’n Kop’. In our neighborhood, she counted 77 cats so far. On her website you can see where the cats live, and see a photo of them. Sometimes people recognize their cats and give Lisa the name of their cat.

Do you actively go out to spot cats or do you meet them at random?

“I actively go outside to spot cats. When I leave the house for a lecture, for instance, I leave 15 minutes early just in case I see a cat. That way I have time to stop and take a picture. By the way, I never put the house numbers on the pictures and if people don’t want their cat on my website, they can just let me know and I will take the photo and information off the website. But this hasn’t happened yet.”

Where does your love for cats come from? Did you have cats growing up?

“Yes, I grew up with cats. A house without a cat is not a home to me. When I moved out of my mothers house, I lived without a cat for six months. It drove me crazy, so I decided to take in Poes as a small kitten. My other roommates weren’t so happy with that, so eventually my father took her in for a while. Now she is back with me.”

Poes is not Lisa’s only cat, she also has Poekie. Poekie was born in Friesland and loves to cuddle and snuggle. She has a food-allergy and is on a diet of horsemeat and pumpkin. The plan is to get her on normal cat food again, but from a brand that she isn’t allergic to.

For now Lisa will keep putting all the cats on the map. “Maybe I’ll make a book about it some day, but for now I really enjoy doing this. I would like it if people would contact me when they recognize their cat.”

You can find Lisa’s website here: www.catsofgroningen.nl

#catsofgroningen #deoosterpoorter #oosterpoort #huisdierenindeoosterpoort