HOW TO HELP

A gift from Santa Paws!  

An irresistible stocking-filler for cat-lovers, Nine Lives’ 2010 calendar features 12 of our feline supermodels, beautifully photographed by professional photographer (and ‘dad’ of four adopted former strays) Yiannis Mouzakitis and eye-catchingly arranged by graphic artist (and cat-rescuer extraordinaire) Spiros Karkavelas.

 

 

Unlike the souvenir ‘Kitty cats of Greece’ calendars commonly available in Athens, not only is each featured cat in our calendar neutered, vaccinated, fed a healthy diet and given necessary veterinary treatment when ill or injured, but every cent of profit made from the calendar goes towards the continued feeding and veterinary care of the featured cats and their four-pawed pals throughout the Greek capital.

 

The glossy A3-sized wall calendar, with captions, cat-facts and holiday dates in both English and Greek, costs 10 euros per copy (excluding postal charges).  For Greek residents, we can send your calendars via the Greek Post Office’s ‘Cash on Delivery’ system. To order, just email us at ninelivesgreece@gmail.com including your name, address, telephone number and  number of copies required, and we – with the help of the Greek Post Office – will do the rest!  

 

Residents of other countries, your payment can be made into our Alpha Bank account, IBAN number GR27 0140 1280 1280 0278 6010 729, BIC: CRBAGRAA (the account is in the names Kefalopoulou/Mataragka), but please email us with your order first, and we will confirm your order and the cost of the postal charges before you make your payment.

 

Our most grateful thanks for supporting Nine Lives and helping the stray cats of Athens have a happier New Year!

 

 

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. 

 

Donations

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 clean clothes, accessories, books, DVDs, working electrical equipment, household ornaments and kitchen items – that you can spare for us to sell at our monthly carboot sales.

 

If you wish to make a donation to support our work, please email us at ninelivesgreece@gmail.com

 

Adoptions

 

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 Mr and/or Mrs Right to adopt them. 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 our Adoptions page, 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

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. Please come along to do some shopping at bargain prices; every cent you spend on our stall goes towards the feeding and care of cats in central Athens, and part of the money made on every other stall goes to help SPAZ with its all-important work neutering stray dogs in the southern suburbs.

 

Buffet party: Every so often, we organise special fundraising activities. In October, we had a Bohemian Cats Buffet at Café Boheme restaurant in Kolonaki. For just 20 euros per person, our supporters enjoyed a delicious Mediterranean spread, a glass of wine and jazz-funk music chosen by the in-house DJ. A big thank you to Cassie and Mimis of Café Boheme for making this possible, as well as to all who turned up and helped make it an evening to remember. Watch this space for details of upcoming parties!

 

Film festival: Our next activity will be a festival of animal-themed films held at a bar in central Athens. Instead of paying for a ticket, guests will be asked to bring along tins of cat or dog food. The film evening is planned for early-March. For more details, email us or keep an eye on our website. 

 

Nine Lives cards: Our supporter Heather B, card-designer extraordinaire, has generously created a number of handmade greeting cards featuring our feline friends especially for Nine Lives. If you would like to buy an exclusive Heather B card (priced at 5 euros each), please send us an email.

 
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.