Alan 'Chatty Cat'

Alan 'chatty cat'

Our team of UK volunteers who regularly trap in San Antonio came across a poor be-bedraggled black and white cat. He was so friendly and clearly loved people, but, amongst other things, he had such a bad skin condition that he was red raw from scratching. It was awful to find him like that and clearly it was upsetting for our Trappers Debs, Tracey and Sue who came across him. He was a lovely cat that had been coping with such a painful problem which must have been hell in summer with the heat and the flies.

He was taken to the vets and his skin condition was treated but they were, naturally, desperate not to put him back on the streets as they felt he just wasn't coping. But what to do? Good homes are hard to come by for cute pretty kittens in Ibiza, never mind older cats.

They took him back to their accommodation and he was named (after Alan Carr, chatty man, because he was so talkative). Our 2 other trappers, Sasha and Lorraine (Lorraine runs the Cat Protection Branch in Glasgow), decided they just HAD to get him to Scotland where they'd find him a loving home. So a plan was hatched. We decided we could try and raise money through our 'just giving' page for his journey costs, which was going to run in to £100's. Transport to Scotland was sourced and 'Alan' was taken off to the vets to be chipped and have his injections in preperation for the jounrey to a new country. 

Terrible skin condition



As the vet was preparing to put the micro chip in his neck Debs asked him to check just in case he was chipped. Now, dogs being chipped here is rare enough...cats, never. But all credit to Debs as the next thing – PING!! Everyone stood around open mouthed. Poor 'Alan' had, as the girls suspected, once had a home. The owners details naturally were on file so he was contacted and the girls drove over to him with Alan. Finally, after all his troubles, he was reunited with his owner who hadn't seen him for over a year. The strange think was that Alan was found in San Antonio town but had lived near Can Misses on the outskirts of Ibiza Town...so it was a mystery as to how he'd got so far away.

The biggest reward for the girls though was to see how the family dog reacted when he came in from his walk...both cat and dog ran to each other and 'almost' hugged. The dog had clearly missed his cat friend.

What a lovely happy ending it was for him...and his doggy friend! And proof that taking the time and effort to chip your pet is well worthwhile!

Update on our Re-homed Rescue Cats

If you regularly receive our newsletter then you will have heard all about little Peggy Sue who was rescued from the streets in San Antonio with a broken leg. Unfortunately she had to have it amputated but we managed to find her a 'forever' home with Jack Yap in Portinatx...so a wonderful end to what could have been an unhappy story.
Jacky keeps us up to date with Peggys progress (which you can follow on our Care4cats facebook page) and we're delighted to say she's doing wonderfully. She's been adopted by one of Jacky's older cats who makes it his job to look after her, plus she now has a young playmate too.
Take look on our Facebook page where you can see a video of her playing and photos of her trying to catch her first lizard!

Our other successful story concerned 'Bertha' a black cat that had been abandoned in San Antonio when her owners had moved out of the house and simply left her behind. Spotted by Debs and Tracey whilst on holiday she then went on the list for re-homing. She was such a lovable cat and living in the centre of San Antonio on the busiest road, we feared for her safety.
She was eventually re-homed by one of our volunteers, who regularly fed her, when she arrived one day to find the house being bulldozed. So Bertha, now called Sweetie, was taken to join the other 5 cats owned by our volunteer.
Interestingly enough, Sweetie always had a breathing problem. Originally we'd thought it was rhinitis and tried to give her a regular dose of anti-biotic. Almost impossible with a street cat. Once she was re-homed she was taken to Toni at Puig d'en Valls for a thorough investigation and it was discovered that she had a de-formed ribcage. Obviously this was from birth, but it meant her ribcage couldn't expand enough to take in the breath needed, hence her breathing difficulties. Oddly for a cat she has adapted to breath through her mouth (cats breath through their nose) so she copes well. She is now truly happy in her new home and feasting on sausages and cheese which are her favourite treats!

Do you remember Gerald? He starred in our last newsletter and was taken off the streets hungry, weak and with terribly matted fur. He was such a gentleman that he couldn’t survive on the streets of San Antonio and was constantly being chased off by the Tom's and not allowed to eat.
Sissy, who has been rescuing kittens on Ibiza for many many years, came to our rescue by taking him in with the aim to build him back up to full health (and fur!) and then re home him to Germany. The good news is that Gerald is now enjoying an idyllic life in the countryside of Bonn.
If you travel to Ibiza from Germany we are always looking for flight partners to take cats and kittens back to Germany were we re home them. It is a wonderful way of giving these cats a chance. If you think you can help then get in touch at care4cats1@aol.com

Preparations for next trapping visit

Although the October trapping visit is a fair distance away flights are already being booked by our fantastic volunteers. Care4cats just couldn't exist without these animal lovers who give up their holidays and pay their own flights to come here and work all hours in all weathers to trap and neuter the cats we know about.

Our announcement about the visit will hit the press and veterinary clinics in September as we hope to get calls in advance of the trip. There is nothing more frustrating than having to tell someone they've called too late and we can fit no more jobs in. We then carry them forward to February when hopefully we have money to afford a follow up trip.
Many of the volunteers are regulars but only 2 of them are actually from Ibiza. It would be so much easier if we had more local volunteers as the work does often continue throughout the year.
Visiting from South Wales we have Sue and her son Steve. Both work for the Cats Protection there, with Sue having many many years experience. She has been volunteering for Ibiza trips since the beginning 10+ years ago! Now she has roped in Steve along with his work colleague Katie, and Jill...another die hard volunteer who again has many years of working with C4Cs under her belt. Finally Simon comes from London where he works as a full time trapper for Celia Hammond Trust. He's happy to work alone in the more difficult environments and, like the others, he's now been over to Ibiza several times. Together they make up several teams who cover all the jobs along the East coast of the island, and inland.
From the North West will come Tracey, Debs and Sue. They work full time but also run a small charity that rescues all types of animals. Since Debs brought Tracey on holiday 3 years ago and got her involved in trapping here, she's never looked back and is now on a mission, along with Sue, to trap as many cats as can be afforded. They work the West coast and inland, including San Antonio which has a huge amount of stray and feral cats.
In Ibiza we have Kerry, Jaki and Gina who help throughout the year when they can. Kerry and Jaki set up the trapping trips; dealing with callers needing help, organising supplies and acting as liaison whilst also trapping. Gina keep us all on track financially and manages the income we get from the donations made through the charity boxes we have out around the island, plus deals with the vet bills (our biggest expense.)
We'd love more Ibiza volunteers so if you or a friend do have th etime, just get in touch with Angela. If you know anyone who is feeding feral colonies, or needs help in trapping cats for neutering then please email us. We have to work on a first come, first served basis because at the end of the day we always run out of money!

Donations - our lifeblood

As with all charities, donations are our lifeblood. Without them, and our wonderful volunteers, we simply could not do the work we do on the island of Ibiza.
We're trying to get more and more collection tins out with businesses, but because we're such a small team with work and life commitments, it is slow going. However a wonderful success we've recently had is our 'charity' library that we set up in a very popular business in Sta Eularia.
The White Island Corner Shop is run by Sophia and Rod Ellington. Both are devoted cat lovers and have always supported the charity by hosting a collection tin. Gina, our finance volunteer, asked Sophia last year if she'd consider having a small library of books that people would then pay €1 to buy, or 50 cents to swap. All the money collected would be donated to Care4cats.
Even though they were short of space Rod and Sophia gave us the go ahead and one was set up.
We're very thankful that they did as it's proved to be a resounding success and we're very happy to report that over the last 12mths they have raised over €1097 - what a fantastic result!!!!!
We are so grateful to this lovely couple that we can't thank them enough. That amount of money will help nearly 40 cats have a better life through being neutered.
THANK YOU SOPHIA AND ROD!
If you live in Ibiza you can help support the two libraries we have operating, one is at White Island Corner Shop and the other is at Thomas Greens British Supermarket. Buy any book for 1 euro or swap one of yours for 50 cents. At Thomas Greens you need to choose to support us as your charity as he has 4 different boxes available.
Or perhaps you know or have a business where you think you could raise money for the charity. Just remember, every tin can help Ibiza's cats, so it is well worth it!
Here's a link showing the location of White Island: http://bit.ly/o1QT1h and one to Thomas Greens: http://tgibiza.co.uk/Web/
If you're a book lover then please help us by supporting these two libraries.

The heart-warming story of Peggy-Sue

In a colony fed by Maria, close by the market in San Antonio, Tracey and Sue spotted a 5 month old kitten with a suspected broken leg. She was a pretty little thing but clearly had a problem walking. She seemed to be holding it up constantly. When she was in the vets Toni could see she'd tried to walk on it but because she was putting pressure on her skin and not her pad it had ulcerated and become infected. He advised it had to be amputated. That gave us a dilemma. Although cats cope perfectly well with only 1 front paw, we could not put this kitten back on the street with 3 legs. The colony lived near a busy road in the middle of the tourist area, she'd not be able to dodge cars or people, plus her recovery time would be long.
What a problem. We were heartbroken. Even trying to get a home for a healthy kitten is bad enough...this little one stood no chance – or so we thought. Step into the breach Jacky Yap who has a holiday home in Portinatx that she shares with some much loved cats. We alerted their carer Jo, who looks after them when Jacky isn't in residence, about this kittens plight. She relayed the story to Jacky and they agreed to take her on. We were overjoyed that she could now have the operation knowing she'd have a life away from the streets. The alternative was too upsetting to contemplate.

Peggy-Sue (Peg Leg), as she's been christened, stayed with Toni until her wound had healed and her stitches removed, then she was taken off to meet Jo who would care for her until she got her confidence back before venturing outside to meet the rest of Jacky's cats.

Thank god for people like Jo and Jacky otherwise little Peggy would have had a very sad end - now she has a chance of a happy life.
Here we've shown a photo of her on the streets in San Antonio...you can see how she was holding her paw up. The 2nd photo is her first day out of the vets and at Jo's.
Check out our Facebook page where you can see a video of her starting to build her confidence and play. She's doing very well and walking without difficulty.

Geralds Story

In October the trappers were in San Antonio on numerous occasions and kept spotting a long-haired ginger and white cat that looked quite thin. They never managed to pin him down to a colony and because we can't take cats off the streets without authorisation he was left. This trip he was spotted again but was much thinner with matted hair and sad eyes. Maria was consulted (the lady who feeds many colonies in the San Antonio streets) she knew him and agreed he was not part of any colony and was often chased off by the other, more stronger tomcats. He rarely ate as Maria can not leave lots of food on the streets (complaints about it attracting rats from residents are common) so the cats have to eat what she puts down there and then. It was clear this cat had no way of getting regular food and was plainly ill. The girls where able to pick him up and he lay down with his head on Sue's lap, as if saying 'I can't cope anymore'. He was whipped off to the vet for a health check.

Gerald stayed at Toni's (our vets) for nearly 2 weeks, gradually building up his weight. We had him checked for deceases and he was clear. So it was simply a case that this cat had no survival skills for the streets. We were desperate not to put him back. Toni neutered him and took out clumps of his matted hair. We cleaned him up and his eyes started to shine again...he loved to play and even be groomed! However he was an adult cat with long hair...almost impossible to find a home for. Time was running out as he would have to leave Toni's soon. Jaki launched an appeal on Facebook and thankfully Sissi got in touch and said she would take him. Sissi has helped to re-home kittens to Germany for many years yet now is scaling back as she is leaving the island. Thankfully she has taken on Gerald and will nurse him back to full health so she can re-home him. I can't tell you how thankful for her help Jaki, Tracey and Sue are. He is such a sweet-tempered cat and very very gentle. If you know anyone in Ibiza that will give him a chance – do let us know! Poor Gerald. Contact us through email.

Trapping again!

The care4cats trapping volunteers were out last November when they did a fantastic job. This weekend the first of the 2 teams arrive to do a 'mop up' on the calls we had to do that through one thing and another couldn't be finished. Often it's because kittens are too young to be neutered, or females cats have just given birth...so a few months on the volunteers make a return visit.
In years gone by the charity has been able to advertise its visit and take on new calls from residents needing help. Sadly this time money is so tight that we fear we may not be able to do the cats already on our long list.
The assisted neutering programme we run is helping to alleviete things somewhat. This is where we offer to pass on our discount to people who are out of work of who simply can not afford to neuter cats they have taken in off the street. This is an area that is growing, especially with the economic crisis and thankfully we have great support from a number of vets on the island who are happy to help us in our endeavours. We feel it is better if someone can receive assistance rather than being faced with having to abandon the cat or kittens when they come along and then can't cope. So we hope, in some small way, this is helping to prevent abandoned cats.
So this weekend, arriving to this cold weather we're currently having, is a team from South Wales headed up by Sue who's been a regularly volunteer for many years, Simon who works with the Celia Hammond Trust in London city and of course Kerry who is an island resident. Kerry is also the co-ordinator for the trip and has the unenviable task of trying to get as many of the jobs done in the week as can be afforded.
The West side of the island has a team of two arriving on 7th February. Sue and Tracey from Wigan, who are now regulars, have been hampered somewhat by the lack of flights but will be able to make it for 5 days. They'll be supported by Lara and Jaki (who will also co-ordinate the jobs).
Lets hope the recent  rain stays away and that the temperature rises a little!