HOW TO HELP

There are many ways in which you can help us to help the stray cats. If you’re based in Athens, you could volunteer as a feeder, transport cats to and from the vet, adopt a cat or kitten, or simply join us at our next fundraising party. If you live further afield, maybe you would like to help us by donating some cat food, signing up to our campaigns, and helping us spread the word about the importance of neutering and responsible ownership of cats. 

 

Make a donation!

 

 

Nine Lives’ neutering programme costs nearly 10,000 euros per year, while our feeding costs are around 600 euros each month.  

 

If you would like to make a monetary donation to help us in our work, our Alpha Bank IBAN number is GR2701401280128002786010729, BIC code CRBAGRAA

 

The account is in the names of Eleni Kefalopoulou & Evgenia Mataragka.

 

Please include your name and address so that we can send you a receipt along with our grateful thanks.
 

Donations of cat food, spot-on anti-parasite treatment (eg Frontline or Stronghold), cat-carrying cages, cat hospitalisation cages, cat traps or any other equipment are most gratefully received.

 

We also warmly welcome any saleable items – such as books, clean clothes, accessories, DVDs, household ornaments and kitchen items – that you can spare for us to sell at our monthly carboot sales.

 

If you have items to donate, please email us at ninelivesgreece@gmail.com

 

Shop for the strays!

 

Nine Lives cards: Our supporter Heather B, card-designer extraordinaire, has generously created handmade greeting cards honouring our feline friends especially for Nine Lives, priced at 5 euros each.

Nine Lives 2012 calendar The 2012 Nine Lives Greece - Oi Eptapsyhes calendar features gorgeous photographs by pet photographer extraordinaire Carlo Raciti, who donated his time and skills entirely free of charge for this project, as a labour of love. .


Nine Lives  to a Tee! Support our work with a stylish cat T-shirt by graphic designer Stefanos Koltsidopoulos. For further information...click here.

For details about how to purchase these items and other Nine Lives merchandise, please email us at ninelivesgreece@gmail.com.

 

Adopt a cat!

 

We would love to find good homes for all the cats we care for. Most of the cats in the colonies which we feed daily are, despite often having lived rough for years, extremely friendly and easily adapt to being house cats. Indeed, almost all of them started their lives as pets, being abandoned when they grew older, less cute or more of a responsibility, or when their owners’ circumstances changed. 

At certain times of the year, we are inundated with newly dumped kittens that desperately need homes – with the threats of dogs, cars, illness and poison, few kittens survive to adulthood on the streets. But we also have more mature cats that are looking for adopters. Some are older, getting less nimble on their feet and less able to cope with cold nights perched in trees or hiding under cars. Others are in the prime of life: healthy and cuddly, but not streetwise enough to survive. Some specific cats are featured on Adoptions page of our website, but there are many, many more looking for a warm bed and a family to call their own. 

 

Fostering: If you can’t offer a permanent home, maybe you can foster a cat or kitten for a short period. We are always looking for people who can take on young kittens until we find them long-term homes. Equally, we often need places where cats can stay to recuperate after surgery or during medical treatment. 

 

 

FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES

Join us for fundraising fun!

 

Carboot sale: On the last Sunday of every month, we take part in a carboot sale organised by SPAZ charity at Athens’ former airport. It runs from around 8am until around 2pm, and items on sale range from secondhand designer clothes to DVDs to seasonal decorations. Come along and shop for bargains; donate items for us to sell, or set up your own stall in aid of Nine Lives!

 

Book sales: Three times per year, we hold our popular Nine Lives book sales. Second-hand books, mainly English titles but also some Greek, German and French, are on sale at bargain prices, while homemade cakes, coffee and tea are served to browsers. 

 

Buffet party: Twice a year, Cassie and Mimis at Cafe Boheme in Kolonaki generously host our fundraising Bohemian Cats Buffets. The ticket includes a delicious Mediterranean spread, wine and jazz-funk music chosen by the in-house DJ.

 
STRAY CATS DO'S & DON'TS

Do act if you see kittens or cats with runny noses and eyes sealed shut with puss. This is cat-flu, a disease that requires immediate and long-term treatment. Try to wipe the animal’s eyes clean with Tobrex drops from the chemist, and take to the nearest vet for a course of antibiotics.

 

Do report poisonings to the police. Poisoning companion animals is illegal under Greek law (law 3170).

 

Do take ill or injured street cats to the nearest vet. If you cannot find a vet – or if there isn’t one nearby – contact the local animal welfare group (Greek Animal Welfare Fund has details for groups in many areas of Greece, email gawfgr@otenet.gr or ring 00 30 210 384 0010).

 

Don’t be frightened that you might catch rabies: the disease has not been seen in Greece since the 1970s.

 

Don’t feed stray cats from your restaurant table. You could irritate the owners or other customers, which could result in the cats being harmed.

 

Do keep leftover meat or fish and feed it to stray cats by the nearest rubbish bin or at the kerb underneath a parked car.

 

Do keep a bag or box of dry cat food with you to feed to any hungry strays you meet.

 

Do try to make sure that stray cats have access to clean water (in summer, they usually drink from dripping air-conditioning units).

 

Don’t give cats or kittens milk. It will give them diarrhoea.

 

Lastly, and most importantly: DO encourage all cat-owners and stray cat-feeders to get their animals neutered. It means a healthier, longer, less dangerous life for the cat, and is the only proven, long-term solution to the stray animal problem.