Pythias – The story of a Blind yet
Dynamic Cat
When I first saw, 15
years ago, a litter of blind cats
somewhere on a Cycladic island, I was so
shocked that I stumbled and fell.
However, I didn’t know at the time what
the future had for me…
Read more…
Πυθίας – Η Ιστορία ενός Αόμματου μεν
Δυναμικού δε Γάτου
Όταν είχα πρωτοδεί πριν από περίπου 15
χρόνια ένα τσούρμο τυφλά γατάκια σε
κάποιο Κυκλαδίτικο νησί, είχα σοκαριστεί
τόσο πολύ που θυμάμαι από τη βιασύνη μου
να μην τα βλέπω, είχα σκοντάψει και
πέσει κάτω. Δεν ήξερα βέβαια τι μου
επιφυλάσσει το μέλλον…
Read more…
News from Bank cats in
Amerikis & Stadiou ( Athens Centre)
Last November we released 2 more cats
from the horrible Athens spot which
after they were neutered, travelled by
our wonderful volunteer Magda to
Karditsa Animal Welfare who had kindly
agreed to take them in and keep them
until they had recovered. After they
were kept in special facilities for
feral cats, they were successfully
released to the surrounding area of
their shelter. Evi, The Karditsa
society’s president was more than happy
to inform us that they have become
members of the colony there and are seen
daily to roam around the green fields,
coming every day to be fed. We are more
than grateful to Karditsa society for
this huge help and also delighted that
at least 2 of them enjoy the freedom
they deserve. We have so far released 8
of them but there are more of them in
there. We are organising a
trap-neutering of 6 or 7 cats round
about early March and we hope that they
will also have a chance to live free in
the countryside as they deserve. To our
dismay, they could never be adopted by a
family because they are totally
unsocialised, having been born in an
isolated environment. Karditsa’s link
http://www.filokardi.gr/
URGENT REQUEST
I believe every Athenian
who has passed from Stadiou and Amerikis
streets (corner) in the heart of Athens
busiest streets, has noticed the
abandoned, derelict, neoclassic building
standing there at the junction of the 2
streets.
For a number of years
stray cats have been surviving in this
building, been fed by caring people.
Passing outside the building a few days
ago, we noticed that it had been
boarded up with some special plastic
material leaving no space for the cats
to get out if they wanted to, with dirty
green plates for water and old dry food
everywhere. Asking around, we were
informed that the building had been
taken over by Pireos Bank which will
renovate it. What would be the future
of those unlucky cats
then?...
Read more…
9 LIVES WOULD
LIKE TO THANK....
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Nine Lives Greece welcome you!
There are innumerable
stray cats in Greece. In almost every
part of the country – in the big cities,
at the island resorts, at the beachside
eateries and in the mountain villages –
you will see cats. Sometimes they look
healthy and well-treated; mostly they
are thin and shy, with runny noses or
eyes, scarred faces or torn ears,
limping or sneezing. Some are pets; some
are considered useful for catching mice
or cockroaches. But there are many more
that are simply seen as pests, like rats
or pigeons, which is why stray cats are
still poisoned in many areas, to ‘clean
up’ before or after the busy tourist
season.
We are a small group of
volunteers who try to promote
catch-neuter-release programmes as the
only effective, humane solution to the
stray cat overpopulation. We offer
practical aid to individuals and
organisations – helping them to trap
wild cats, fetching and carrying cats
from the vet etc.
As well as helping to
organise neutering programmes in Athens
and other areas of Greece, we provide
daily food and care for a large colony
of neutered cats in central Athens.
Because these cats are in danger from
packs of stray dogs, we try to find
good, responsible homes for as many of
these cats as possible - especially the
kittens, which would not otherwise
survive.
Feline groovy?
The 4th
Bohemian Cats buffet party takes place
7-10pm on Monday May 11 at Cafe Boheme (Omirou
36, Kolonaki). Tickets cost 25
euros for a sumptuous Mediterranean
spread and wine courtesy of Fine Wine,
Plaka (also bread from renowed Takis
bakery in Koukaki). The event is
organised by Nine Lives (a volunteer
group caring for colonies of stray cats)
in association with Cafe
Boheme, International Club of Athens,
and Foreign Girls Living in
Athens. After 10pm, funk soul and
jazz music will be played and Athens’
best cocktails available - we recommend
passion-fruitini! Come along for
an evening of fun and frivolity, all for
a very good cause. Let’s get frisky!
For info or tickets, please ring Cassie
on 210 3608018 or email
ninelivesgreece@gmail.com.
(Pictured
below is Gracie, a loving, affectionate
grey tabby for whom Nine Lives urgently
seek a good home – preferably without
other cats)
Diary date
Come and support Nine
Lives at the SPAZ charity carboot sale
on the last Sunday of every month at the
old Olympic airport at Ellinikon
(entrance from Poseidonos Avenue).
Shopping starts at 8am – come early for
the best bargains in nearly-new
clothing, books, DVDs, accessories,
household objects and much more. Every
cent from our stall goes to help the
cats.
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CURRENT
PROGRAMMES
Sepolia Athens:
Last December, one of our volunteers
bumped into a big cat colony in Sepolia
(area pretty close to Athens centre).
There were four five - month old
kittens, 2 very young ones and around 8
adult cats. Some of the kittens had cat
flu but otherwise they all looked fine,
as a caring lady not only provided them
daily with fresh food and water but had
also constructed a protected house for
them to sleep in, in the cold nights.
None of them was neutered. We contacted
Adespotologio who is always more than
willing to assist us and with Vivi their
volunteer, we trapped all 6 of the
kittens. The 2 very young ones were
immediately adopted and the other 4 were
soon after released back in their area,
neutered. A very handsome ginger white
long haired kitten was shouting for the
whole 2 day procedure, we were afraid he
will get a sore throat.
On the 17th of February 2009,
Adespotologio and 9 Lives visited the
colony again to trap the adult cats but
we got only a boy and a nice grey girl,
you can see her in the photo. There are
still, at least 2 more females, 2 boys
and a very sweet black white kitten.
Hopefully in a couple more visits, we
will have them all neutered.
Lycabettus Hill, Centre of Athens
In January we received an
email from Susan and David who live in
California and had just returned from a
trip to Athens and in particular from
Lycabettus Hill. They were awfully
distressed to see a big colony of cats (
rough estimate 12-14 cats) who looked
quite poorly and were begging food from
the tables. We soon after visited the
area and were equally surprised to see
all those cats and a dog! Up on the top
of Athens. It’s a great place for
animals, no traffic, almost no people
but their only source of food is an
elderly lady who is not in the position
to offer them anything else than small
amounts of food. We didn’t use the air
metro but we actually walked up there
which was a good aerobic exercise. We
had to go down the same way but now it
was easier as it was downhill but we had
to keep our balance because of the
screaming and bouncing trapped cats!
We trapped the first day
4 cats, 3 females one boy. Released them
and trapped 4 more of them.
We also contacted the
restaurant asking them to give us a call
if a cat was in trouble and provided the
old lady with food. We believe that
early March will be a good time for
another trapping visit.
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