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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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