Just to show that some feral cats do have...

...the enjoyment of a Christmas dinner! Here are the Sta Eularia posse enjoying a lovely meal of turkey courtesy of their feeders Susan and Michael. They also dined on roast beef too! Sadly though...no sprouts (Susan - how could you not allow them the delight of a crunchy sprout!?!)
Hope you all had as good a Christmas dinner as these lucky cats!

Can we like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that helped our Charity throughout the year and hopefully we'll welcome some new volunteers in 2010. Don't forget there're many ways you can help so do get in touch and if you can make a donation to help keep our neutering programme going we'd be very grateful.
Have a very happy New Year everyone!!  See you in 2010!

The Story of Clarence...

...so called because he is a little cross eyed like the lion!
Clarence has lived in Santa Eulalia for about three years. He's a bit of a tough guy, but a wonderful father to the many kittens he has fathered with the lovely Gemma.
We, as feeders of this colony, were very concerned about his ears. They were black on the tips and obviously cancerous.
When Angela (the founder of care4cats) was in Ibiza in February this year we asked for her help to get the poor boy sorted out.
This was no easy task. Angela met us with a basket to trap him, no luck off he went. The next day Angela brought a cat dropper basket. A success! He was caught.

We didn't think we would ever see him again as his ears were so bad, but we had great news; he survived the ear operation and castration and was on his way back to us when he'd recovered.

The vet had removed the tips of his ears to cut away the cancer and he looked a sorry sight for a few months with the stitches in his ears. Now he now looks so much happier and is fit and well. He has the most beautiful blue eyes. We still can't touch him but he looks at us with such affection.

By the way that is not a tic on his head in the photo it is a piece of meat!!!
With thanks to Angela and all from Care4Cats for giving this little fella a chance to have a better life.

Susan and Michael

November TNR Trip

November saw us return to continue to Ibiza to continue with our TNR program (trap, neuter, return) on Ibiza. We estimate there are over 1000’s of abandoned or feral cats living in the wild...so we always expect lots of calls and this trip was no exception. Along re-visiting the regular cat colonies to neuter any new cats that have been abandoned we also got over 100 calls from residents desperately needing help to TNR feral cats/kittens that’d turned up on their property. Many are happy to feed these cats but of course don’t want more kittens born. Given that a female cat gives birth twice a year from the age of 6mths to an average litter of 4 it’s paramount that they’re neutered.

This year it was great to welcome new volunteers from Ibiza (Kerry, Jo, Tess, Lara, Jaki and Terry) which was absolutely fab and a help to the UK volunteers who, along with trapping for 10hrs a day, also have to navigate around a strange island! Overall we managed to help 95% of the people who called and neutered over 350 cats - plus rescued 3 tiny kittens that had been dumped by the river in Sta Eularia. So a good job was done by all.

Watch out for Angela's full report - coming soon!

The photo above shows the new team of volunteers trapping cats in a cat colony in the San Jose area that are cared for by Glenys. We trapped and neutered 10 adults and kittens - so hopefully no more unwanted kittens will be born there!

In the Christmas spirit of giving can we ask you to kindly spare a thought for these poor cats on Ibiza who have only the charity there to help them. We currently receive no help from the authorities on the island or any charitable organisations. If you'd like to help you can donate online on the website and all donations are gratefully received. Without them we couldn't continue our work. Thank You so much!

Nearly there!

Coming towards the end of a very hard week now as the team start to wind up operations on their work trapping and neutering feral cats.

As usual a large amount of calls were received from people who were caring for feral cats and worried about more being born. Added to that are the large number of cat colonies the charity know of around the island and which they try and keep on top of, as sadly, there are often new cats that are dumped.

Amongst incidents already being reported from the team are the rescue of a rabbit (which unfortunately didn't make it due to Myxomatosis) and a small kitten that was lying in a gutter having been hit by a car that thankfully did survive after intensive care by Toni, the vet in Puig d'en Vals.

As usual its been a story of scrapes, climbing hills, scaling walls, trekking through woods and trying to outwit canny cats who just know you're there to trap them! The experienced team of volunteer trappers (Angela, Sue and Jill) were this year joined by Luke (a veterinary nurse) and Simon (who traps cats for the Celia Hammond Trust) who all travelled from the UK. From Ibiza were some new volunteers which was great! The more we have the better! Kerry lives in Es Cana, Jo from Portinatx, Jaki who's been helping since May living in San Jose and then Lara, Terri and Tess who have all recently moved to Ibiza. It's great to have people volunteer who live on the island as it helps the charity to continue the work throughout the year, funds permitting. There's so much to do like getting businesses to host collection boxes, raise the profile of the charity in the press and spread the word about the work we do through leaflets and cards.

If there's anyone out there who feels they'd like to get involved then do get in touch! Call Jaki on 971 801588 or email here.

Angela is back in the UK for a short time before heading over to Greece where she also heads up a cat charity. Once she returns I'll be back to provide more info on the numbers of cats helped during our November visit.

By the way - our photo at the top of the page is of Bertha a loving cat that patiently waits for her owners to return to the house were they left and abandoned her. She's a sweetie and although not a young cat has lots of love to give. If you know anyone who can give her a home do please let us know.

Getting Ready!

The bi-annual trip to Ibiza by care4cats needs a fair bit of organising and that's been taking up time over the last few weeks.
One of the important things we've managed to do is to produce leaflets printed in 3 languages (English, Spanish and German) so we can inform everyone on the island about the charitys work. Interestingly more and more Spanish residents are finding out about the charity which is good news as often they are feeding colonies of cats that keep on growing yet feel they have no where to turn for help.
care4cats are keen to work with anyone feeding cat colonies as we can be sure they're in a safe environment with regular food and someone looking out for them. Once these colonies are neutered we keep in touch with them so we can stay on top of any new cats that turn up, usually because they've been abandoned. This is a happy solution all round.

Ibiza is an island full of good hearted people who take the time to feed cat colonies out of their own pocket. It's a hard, and expensive job, and often they fall victim to other people who abandon their cats thinking 'ah someone is looking after them...so they're OK'.
One lady in San Antonio, Maria, has been feeding colonies of cats all around the town for 20 yrs or more and has never missed a day. Until a few years ago she had no way of controlling their numbers and has often suffered abuse by residents because they feel she encourages the cats to live in the town. Sadly people are totally ignorant and don't realise that cat colonies start by someone abandoning a domestic cat that is un-neutered.

So...we have lots of new cages to transport cats, plenty of newspapers to keep them comfy whilst in captivity, dried food, tins of meat and of course tuna...always a favourite for trapping difficult cats.

The team of regular volunteers from the UK and Es Cana are, this year, being helped by a small number of new residents which is great. And as they're all from the San Antonio side of the island then it means this area can really be concentrated on.
The announcement of the visit is in the newspaper and calls are coming in thick and fast...as always, it's going to be a busy time!

July Trip to Ibiza

In the heat of July Tracy, Debs, Angela and Jaki set about trapping and neutering as many cats in San Antonio as could be managed.
This 'extra' visit was all down to Tracy and Debs who had already visited the island in May.

Feeling that there was so much work left to do and fearing for many of the cats, they decided to use up the week they had off work in July to travel to Ibiza and continue to help the cats around San An.

Putting together the information from various sources, including their own from wandering the streets and noting the cats, they reckoned there were a good 8-10 colonies of cats in the town...all of varying sizes.
There were two main areas to concentrate on in the town and both had at least 8 or more cats in number. Some cats spotted in May also still needed to be caught. Some of the females had given birth to many more kittens that were running inbetween cars, others were already pregnant. It was a situation that was quite dire.

The other area was a derelict house were the cats had previously been homed by an old lady who had now died. They were being fed by someone...but had not been neutered. They were living in the garden of the house.

Finally the 'active' list also included cat colonies that Maria fed, a local contact. She had spotted new additions that needed to be trapped and spayed and at least one female had two small kittens one that had a bad infection of the eyes.

Overall it was hard work. Extremely hot weather, crowds of holidaymakers and 4am starts (when it was quieter and cooler) through to 10pm finishes.
However great work was done. All of the female cats caught and neutered were pregnant so more unwanted kittens were prevented from being born.
A number of kittens were rescued...some going to a new foster home; Kevin and his girlfriend had answered an advert in the Ibiza Sun and it was great to know we had somewhere to put 2 very poorly and scared kittens to be cared for before re-homing them.
Also a number of tom cats were spayed - one needed medical attention for a very bad case of mange.

Care4cats also got a call from Charlotte who had phoned on behalf of the lady that owned the stables where she stabled her horse. Maria had a number of cats abandoned on her property that all requiring neutering. Thankfully they were all caught and when they were released Maria donated €150 to the charity! Wonderful!

Charlotte also gave a home to a tiny kitten rescued from the derelict house and you can read about her story in the article below.

So a successful trip...but there's still so much more to do and a huge list of cats to work through. Care4cats are back outon the island in November when they'll pick up where they had to leave off.

None of this would have happened though without the drive and hardwork of Debs and Tracy.

Remember - if you think you could act as a fosterer or want to help the charity in some way then do get in touch!

Fabulous Fundraising!!

Care4cats are pleased to say that a marvellous €150 raised has been raised by the lovely people at The Old London Tavern in San Antonio bay.

Steve and Dave (with the help of Marlayn too) held a charity night that raised the much needed funds.

With their help it means another 6 cats can be spayed...so more happy street cats and less unwanted kittens.

We can't thank them enough for their efforts!

Well done everyone!

A day in the life of C4C

Last week C4C had an email from Andrea, a holidaymaker who had been staying at a hotel in San Antonio bay. Andrea was very concerned about a feral mother cat and her kitten who she had seen on a regular basis around the pool area of the Hotel. She explained that they both looked very underweight and the kitten was scratching an awful lot.

So C4C despatched a volunteer to visit the hotel and investigate the situation. Having got permission from the 'cat loving' Hotel Director the hunt was on for the kitten and mother. One concern, however, was that the kitten was still very young and so very dependent on it's mother. The mother was described by the Hotel staff as extremely protective of the kitten and also very wary of humans so she rarely came into the pool area. She tended to sit on the wall or in a tree watching the kitten. This could make trapping her quite difficult.

This was a potential problem; we couldn't take the mother without the kitten and we didn't want her to fret if we took the kitten to the vets without the mother.

In the end the decision was made quickly when we spotted the hungry kitten.
As the mother was not around and the kitten needed to be checked over by a vet it was decided to take it quickly to the vet whilst leaving a trap, under constant observation, in case the mother returned.

Within a couple of hours the kitten had been checked over, de-flea'd, had the usual vitamin injection and antibiotic all C4C rescues have and was able to be released back in the hotel before 'mum' knew he'd gone!

Now - the next problem!
The kitten was underweight and needed feeding on a regular basis. Stuart, who managed the pool bar (where they both hung out during the day), was happy to feed them each day and supply fresh water.
The Hotel Director was more than happy to give permission for this to happen and so a hasty 'cat cafe' was set up and food provided to the Hotel so that both mum and kitten could feed in peace each day.

A return trip to the hotel by C4C confirmed all was well...and although we'd just missed the kitten at the 'cat cafe' the Hotel Director and staff confirmed he was looking much healthier.

C4C will return later in the year to try and catch 'mum' so she can be neutered and returned to the Hotel which is a lovely safe environment for her and kitten to live, as well as being full of caring staff.

Andrea very kindly wrote to the Hotel Director thanking him for his co-operation which is so important to C4C when they are operating on private land. It is also refreshing to find Hotel people who care about feral cats and are happy to have them around.

Thanks Andrea! And thanks also to Toni, the Hotel Director and Stuart!

Little Geisha

When the C4C team was out trapping in San Antonio in the early hours of a July morning they started at a derelict house that had been identified by Angela (founder of C4C) on her last visit as having a number of adult cats needing to be neutered.

We pulled up outside the house and whilst myself and Tracey unloaded the traps and cages from the car Debs went to investigate where the cats might be.

A few minutes later we looked up and there was Debs walking back to us with a raggedy little kitten which had runny eyes, acute diarrhoea and the sniffles.

This little kitten, who Deb's nicknamed Angel, had struggled forward from under some undergrowth calling out for attention as if her life depended on it...and sadly it probably did.

The photos show the before and after:

the first one shortly after she'd been found when she was on her way to the vets. Look at her sad eyes.

the second is after she'd spent a few weeks being cared for by Charlotte

She was very tame so Debs was able to cuddle her very easily so we wrapped her up in a soft towel.

'Angel' was taken to Toni the vet for a full check up whilst the wheels were put in motion to find a safe place for her to go in the short-term whilst attempts were made to re-home her either on the island or in Germany.

Luckily the kitten wasn't too bad health wise, although like many street kittens she was underweight. Also lucky was the fact that Charlotte had contacted C4C to help catch and neuter some cats living wild at the stables she used for her horse. When Charlotte heard about 'Angel' she kindly agreed to foster her short-term until we could get her to Germany.

Fast forward a few weeks and Charlotte and her husband Danny were so much in love with her that they decided to adopt her! This was fantastic news for all concerned!
If kittens can be re-homed on the island that is by far the best outcome.

So now little Angel has been re-christened Geisha which is a beautiful name for this very loving kitten. Charlotte says Gheisa is full of fun, enjoys being cuddled and loves to distract them when they're trying to work! She is also helping Charlotte's other cat Isis grow in confidence as she has always been quite a shy cat.

Charlotte has sent some lovely photos which we've scattered throughout the story...hope you enjoy them as much as we did. It is so heartwarming to see a previously unloved, unhappy kitten struggling for survival become a much loved part of someone life. This last photo is our favourite! How cute is that?!

Remember always...if you'd like to offer a cat or kitten a home, or be a short-term fosterer than do please get in touch! We'd love to hear from you.

A Very Happy Ending!

During the week care4cats spent working in San Antonio enevitably there were occasions when kittens were found. Some were motherless and others were in a dangerous situation near major roads and so needed rescuing.

One of the lucky kittens rescued was little 'Toni' a beautiful siamese kitten that had been found by a lady shopkeeper in a compound at the rear of her shop. Toni was motherless, hungry and trapped in the compound, as it was impossible for him to escape to get food as the walls were too high for a kitten to get over.

The lady was feeding him when he was discovered but of course didn't want to continue too long with the responsibility. Also, the shop was closed all day Sunday which was far too long for a kitten of his age to be left without food, water or company.

It was very likely that if he was left in this situation he might not get any food and starve.

Thankfully a home was found with Sabine and Klaus in Cala Llonga and little Toni was rescued from a hard life fraught with difficulties and taken to a home full of warmth and love.

Beforehand he was checked out by our vet Toni in Puig d'en Valls (who he is now named after!) who confirmed he was a boy, about 8 weeks old and a little too thin for his age. We worried a little about his big tummy but all was well after a few days when he settled down into a routine on kitten food.

This little chap is now on the way to full health and is loving his new home! Sabine tells us he is very intelligent, affectionate and enjoys being carried around resting on her shoulder. As he's a siamese he's also enjoying having a chat too!

We've included lots of photos as we think he's such a cute kitten! Enjoy them...especially this one where he's taking a nap!

And remember - get in touch with us if you feel you can give a cat or kitten a home, it really is So rewarding. Contact Jaki via email

URGENT APPEAL!

Care4cats has come across three abandoned cats that are living in empty houses in San Antonio...obviously left behind when the tenants moved out. Now they wait for their owners to return, which sadly will probably be never.
Two of these cats are so loving that it's a tragedy to see them without a caring owner so we're desperately searching for a home on Ibiza for them. All they want is a lap to sit on and an owner to cuddle up to. Can you help them?

We call two of them Big Bertha and Princess.
Big Bertha is most definately the boss and is always first in line for snuggles and tickles. In fact she'd rather have an ear rub than food!
Princess, a beautiful long haired black and white cats, definitely likes her food, but is always there for hugs too. She was spayed in May when we discovered her and was pregnant - so thankfully we prevented kittens being born.
Bertha is older and we reckon has been spayed. She's most defintely the boss and keeps all the other 'feral' cats that visit her 'patch' in line.

The third cat is a shy and slightly nervous Siamese. He's a boy...and very sad.
He loves tuna (which Bertha has decided she doesn't like) but never pops next door to say hello to the lively twosome. He would need a very patient owner to bring him back to the loving cat he was.

If you feel you can help give one, both or all of these cats a loving home please contact Jaki who would love to introduce you to them. Or leave a note on the blog and she'll get in touch with you.

We've posted a photo here of Bertha looking very enigmatic! I think she's wondering why we're taking her photo and not tickling her ears!

Well Hello Dolly!!!

BREAKING NEWS:
NOBBY IN NAME AND SEX CHANGE SCANDAL!

You'll remember our story of Nobby - the kitten found in the drain (see it earlier on in the blog) well it looks like there's been a recent shocking development!
Warren, owner of 'nobby', told us:
We took the kitten formerly known as Nobby to the vet again yesterday. The first thing we asked the vet was what sex is it? He declared the kitten is a "Senorita"
This is several weeks after he told Judy that he could tell its "a chico by its face" and pointing at its non existant male genitals after she had told him she thought it was a girl. The kitten is now called Dolly.

And here she is...looking very girly!

Preparation for the visit

The week has been busy preparing for the visit to the island of Debs and Tracey who are giving up a week of their holidays to trap, neuter and return (TNR) cats in San Antonio town. Angela is also arriving to help for 5 days inbetween fund raising activites she's inolved with in the UK.

Supplies needed to be gathered so off I set to collect at least 10 transportation cages from the store-room at the Zodiac Apartments in Es Cana that Bonnie kindly allows the charity to use. As you may or may not know Ibiza was in the grip of a major heatwave...just the weather for humping heavy cages from storeroom to car! Still I lost plenty of calories..so all was well!

Next it was over to the newspaper pressing factory that allows us to take mis-printed newspapers. These are vital to put inside the cages so that the cats are comfortable and clean during their captivity. They often have to spend 24+ hours in the cage as being feral they can't be handled.

Then covers for the cages had to be sourced and organised. These covers are important as they're used to put over the cages immedietely the cats are caught in the trap. It helps to calm them down - so the cages are always kept in darkness.

Finally it was off to buy some food supplies: dried food for feeding the colonies of cats, tuna for trapping and tins of meat for the tame cats living on the street.

Tracey and Debs arrived Saturday night and we all met up on Sunday afternoon to plan our assent on San Antonio. Just with our rudimentary knowledge we reckon there are at least 10 colonies of stray/feral cats in the town...so a lot of work to do over the coming months.

Ibiza Heroes #1

Care4cats has come across a number of people on Ibiza who take the considerable time and trouble to feed colonies of stray cats and offer affection to those looking for love. Without these wonderful people it would be difficult for these cats to survive, and, as it's always hard to re-home stray cats, it allows them to have a decent life in the wild.

To start us off through on our recognition of these caring people is this lovely story of how 2 holidaymakers got involved with Ibiza cats.

n.b. we haven't mentioned the location to ensure the cats are safe...but if you'd like to know more please get in touch with Jaki who will explain how you can meet everyone.

Our Furry Friends in Sta Eularia

In November 1997 we were on holiday in Santa Eulalia and came across a beautiful white cat, obviously homeless. So we went back each day to feed him and another little grey cat we came across. I'm sure you'll understand we worried about going home and how the two cats would be.
On our last day it was pouring with rain, but off we went armed with four tins of cat food.
On our arrival there was a lady completely covered in a mackintosh feeding the white cat. I said “Excuse me do you speak English” she replied “yes I do, this white cat I call Arthur is going to a home in Germany along with the other cat” She was paying for both of them to travel over. She told us her name was Michele. We gave her the cat food. It was such a relief to know they were both going to good homes
Twice every year we returned to Santa Eulalia for a holiday and to the 'spot' where we discovered even more cats had been abandoned, including two beautiful tortoiseshell kittens. They were quite happy living by the river getting regular feeds from Michele and another lady who took it in turn each day to make sure they were looked after. Sadly they were also brought more cats, one found in a dustbin, one in the boot of a car...etc
4 yrs ago we moved to Ibiza. By then Michele was leaving Ibiza so we took over feeding the cats. At one point we had 12. Sadly this year 3 of the old ones have died so we're now down to nine, all have been neutered or castrated thanks to Angela from “Care 4 Cats” who also helped Clarence with his cancer of the ears. Angela caught him and the vet who solved the problem, he is now very happy and even though he's lost the tips of his ears he looks adorable. Josephine is our eldest girl at twelve (see photo)
We also have 4 living with us from this spot. We took Lulu, a little black kitten left there, then last year a kitten in a very poor state that we didn't think would survive but he has and is now a big healthy boy, we adore him he's called Ricardo. Later last year somebody left a lovely grey she cat by the river and in December a kitten was left too. Both were so affectionate we could tell they had lived in a home. We told care4cats about them, who said to take them to be micro-chiped and have the rabies injection and they could go to Germany to be re-homed. Unfortunately the kitten was too sick to travel and we feared the other one may be infected so we kept them in our spare room for several weeks waiting to see if anyone could accompany them to Germany. As time went on, we fell in love - so here they stay.
4 days a week we go down to 'our spot' and feed our little family, the other three days another person goes. We live quite a distance from it and it takes a half hour to get there. When we do we shout a cats name and they all come running to us. In the summer we get asked a lot of questions about the cats by holidaymakers who love to watch us feed them.
“Are these cats wild?” They will be if they don’t get something to eat!
“What’s the matter with that cats ears?” Poor Clarence is so proud of his new appearance, he thinks he is so handsome, and so he is.
We never take holidays together, Michael and me. It is impossible as we have our 4 at home to look after and our 'stray' cats, who wait for us at 3’oclock each day - they are very good time keepers!
The last young cat to be left by the river, is about seven months old a little ginger girl. She has been neutered by Care 4 Cats. She is very affection and loves to sit on your knee and be tickled. In August she is going to Germany to be re-homed, she will be accompanied by the daughter of Michael who runs the Care 4 cats in Hamburg. We would love to take her home with us but our four keep us busy.
Some days especially in the full heat of summer we think what a long walk as we get so hot, but when we arrive we know it’s worth it to see them all running up to us. We spend 100 euros each month on food for them. Christmas Day they have turkey and roast beef...and No they don’t wear party hats!
So if you'd like to take a stroll and meet our furry friends get in contact.

care4cats says: There are many loving stray cats just desperate for homes...so if you can re-home one of these loving cats please get in touch or leave a comment with your email address.

A holidaymakers view

I visited Ibiza in May and thought i would have a nice relaxing break in the sun. Well I was mistaken, I was overwhelmed by the suffering of many, many cats and kittens. I was unable to walk on by, like so many people do. So it started off first with a trip to the local supermarket, purchasing loads of cat food. We would go all around San Antonio feeding the numerous cats. But then came the next dilema, how could we leave the cats/kittens who were in a bad way physically. Numerous had flea allergies - missing fur, bleeding from sores. Others had the tips of their ears missing and were black at points and bleeding - showing the signs of skin cancer. Then there were the tiny kittens living on the streets, some as young as 6 weeks. As if this was not bad enough, they were not healthy bundles, they looked extremely poorly with cat flu - 2 tabbies looked like they were going to loose one or both their eyes. And the others were weak and sneezing. So that was it the holiday was over and the work started. We got some cat baskets and 2 traps, and with the help of Jaki, set about catching some of the cats and kittens.They were taken to the vets and treated and if old enough they were neutered. Some were fostered by people on the island others were returned. But at least they could not have any more babies and continue the cycle of misery.We were so overwhelmed with the misery of the cats that we have arranged to go back out with the charity in July to get more cats neutered, hopefully this will help to reduce the suffering.

note from care4cats: we try to do everything we can to care for the street cats of Ibiza...please help us continue and reach our goal of never having to say no by donating online whatever you can...thank you for your concern.
Also, if you'd like to work with our friendly dedicated team of volunteers - then get in touch. We'd love to welcome new faces!

Kitten rescued from a drain - San Jose. Ibiza

We received an emergency call from some friends of ours who had discovered a kitten trapped in a drain near the post office in San Jose village. Stephen rushed round with a cat box and towel to house the little chap (who turned out to be a boy) when the kitten was successfully freed.

Thankfully Judy and Warren said they'd keep him and he is now sharing a home with their other rescue cat Sunny Jim who is getting used to having a new playmate.
A very happy ending to a story that could have easily had a sadder outcome.

After much debate about a name that suits him...he's now been christened 'Nobby' after Nobby Stiles!
He's a beautifully marked tabby with blue grey eyes...so he's definitely goning to be a looker!

If you think you can re-home a kitten or cat then do get in touch with Jaki at care4cats as we're always looking for loving homes for loving cats.

Update on June Visit to Ibiza

Care 4 Cats visit Ibiza twice a year in February and November to humanely control the large numbers of cats on the streets.

In June there was an unscheduled visit by 5 Care 4 Cats team, who, ostensibly on a short holiday, decided they could not ignore a lot of female cats that would shortly be pregnant, so Sue and Dave John, and Deborah and Tracey and Angela, although not all in Ibiza at the same time, decided to do some trapping and neutering with the local Ibiza vets. It was nice to think that another 30 cats were not going to produce offspring as a result.

One sour note was that Angela, going to collect €124 from Penny in Es Cana who had held a sale for us in May, found out that a con woman had already approached Penny saying that she was from Care 4 Cats and had to collect the money raised. Penny gave it to her and that obviously paid for her groceries that week. We suspect this is at least the second time she has done it, and would like to warn people not to give money to a tall, thin, German woman, that rides a bicycle! Please give all monies for Care 4 Cats only to Angela.

To learn more of Care 4 Cats work, they now have a website http://www.care4cats.co.uk/. In about one month’s time there will be a section on it for Donations on line for anyone that would like to contribute to the work. If you’re an animal lover who cares about Ibiza’s cats you can help by becoming a member. Your annual donation will help towards neutering 1 cat – see website for details.

Donations are so important to keep this valuable work going on Ibiza – Can you help?
Do you have a business (bar, hotel, shop) or perhaps a holiday villa you rent out where you could host a care4cats collection tin? It would be a great help in raising money! Please contact Jaki on 625997009
Do you know anyone who travels to Hamburg regularly and could help by taking cats to be re-homed as part of their luggage allowance? No involvement is necessary – care4cats organise it all and the cats are met in Hamburg. If you do please contact Wendy on 971 335226
Can you help as a volunteer on care4cats next trip we need drivers, administrators etc? Or provide old towels or curtains? Just call Jaki on the number above for a chat about how you can help

Next visit is November 9th for 1 week. Calls can be made to me from Sunday 8th in Ibiza on 660 187 591. Please don’t leave a message, as Angela may not have time to call you, so please call again.

Care4cats first post

This is the new blog of care4cats - a charitable organisation helping our feline friends on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza, Spain.
We hope if you find us you will follow our progress on Ibiza as we try to maintain the numbers of feral cats and if you live on Ibiza we'd love to hear your stories about any cats you may have rescued and re-homed.

So if you find us...please stay with us as this new blog updates you on the valuable work of care4cats.