Paws in the Sand: Beachside Stray Cats Seeking Kindness

It was a fine Sunday morning. The sea was tranquil, and the sand was still filled with flowers falling from the tree line-up on the front shore. We decided to go early to the beach to avoid sunburns for the kids, when the sun is high up in the sky, this could be damaging to some extent.

The crystal clear blue water was inviting, and the sunrise made a great view over the horizon. The kids jumped out of the car and excitedly ran into the water. They love the beach and swimming very much.

After a couple of minutes had passed. I saw a gray cat lying on the sand, stretching her legs, and she seemed to be sunbathing. I came nearer to her and I was trying to say "meow" and was observing her reaction. I was surprised when she got up from the sand quickly and rubbed herself against my feet. She was very friendly and adorable.

Another baby cat came nearer to us. He was black, a bit nicer but not as friendly as the gray one. Then they started roaming around, lying and playing on the sand.

More minutes passed, and I wasn’t expecting to find a little community that made my heart both ache and swell with affection: the beach’s stray cats.

There they were, eight or maybe ten of them roaming around the seashore. Their eyes were alert but also hopeful. They blended into the scenery so naturally as if they belonged to the seashore. Some were sitting under the shade of the trees, others curled up on the sunbeds, and others padded softly towards the beachgoers. Tails high, and their tiny paws leaving prints on the sand.

They weren't shy about what they wanted. They approached families unpacking their picnics. They seemed to know where to find kindness and who was kind to them, where a hand might drop a piece of fish or bone to them.

I knelt and offered some fish and rice to them. They had a little feast of what I offered to them, and they all looked adorable and grateful for the meal. There was a thin, tiny ginger, slender white cat, a black pit-eyed cat, and a gray friendly cat.

It was clear that these stray cats had formed a colony, surviving and living together in that unlikely home between the sea and the sand. They shared not only the beach and the given tiny bones but also resilience. Life wasn't easy for them. I can see it in their tiny frames and unhealthy, dull-looking fur and weary glances.

Some beachgoers ignored them. Some scolded them away. It made me wonder how many people pause to see how these cats live their lives and how we might do more to help.

As I left that morning, I glanced back at the cats settling again into the sand, bathing in the sun's warm rays and their paws tucked beneath them.

If you ever find yourself on a beach like this, remember the stray's paws in the sand. A little kindness can mean the world to them.