Happy Luna!

Anyone involved in re-homing cat or kittens to Germany will tell you how hard it is to see them go. Even though they're going to the wonderful Carmen and Michael in Hamburg who work hard to find them loving 'forever' homes you still miss them. This was most definitely the case with little 'Luna', as I'd built up such a bond with this lively black kitten whilst fostering her that it was hard to take her to the airport and leave her with Monika who was accompanying her to Hamburg. See the story here.
Michael and Carmen found her a home very quickly...though anyone seeing Luna would have had their heart captured immedietely, such was her personality. One of the reasons why this sweet kitten just couldn't live her life on the street...she needed someone to love.
It was fantastic to get Michaels email a couple of days after she'd gone telling me she'd found a home with a young couple and that the woman had always had black cats from being small...so knew them well. I was thrilled!

When you've fostered you love to find out how the cats or kittens are doing in their new home. Although it doesn't always happen that new owners send photos to Michael when it does it sort of helps complete the circle.
So imagine my surprise and delight when this morning Michael emailed me some photos of Luna happy in her new home!
I was over the moon to see her and especially loved the photo of her in bed with her owner! Isn't that where every cat should be? Snug and cosy warm?
I just had to share them with you - hope you like them as much as I did!

How a stray cat can touch your heart...

It all started one day in March 1997. I walked every day to the Rio for exercise when suddenly around a bench was a slim, beautiful female calico cat who mewed and mewed. It suddenly struck me she was begging for food and I felt awful because I had nothing to give her. So the next afternoon, hoping I would see her again, I took a basket full of food and milk: and there she was, waiting for me. I’m sure she understood me when I promised to be back again the next day. After 3 or 4 days I decided to call her Minette and that's how a wonderful and very long love story started.

As the weeks went by I realized she was growing fatter and fatter; by mid April, there couldn't be any doubt: she was pregnant! Two weeks later, to my dismay, she vanished. I had grown attached to her so every day I returned sure she would reappear. Then in early May there she was; my Darling Minette. She was half dead with hunger and ate so fast the food was gone after only a few minutes. For more than a week things went on like that until I realised she’d had her kittens, but where was she hiding them?

Then one day she came along with a lovely white male cat with large blue eyes. Unfortunately I realized he was deaf and dumb. But this didn't stop him being so sweet to Minette and sticking close to her. I named him Arthur! I tried to follow her to find out where the kittens where being hidden, but she was too clever.

One day, she wasn't there as usual, so I started calling her and after a few minutes she came with a kitten in her mouth. How surprised and emotional I was that she now trusted me enough to introduce one of her babies: a teeny tiny little thing. Minette was so proud and that's how I found she was hiding 4 kittens in the gaps in the stone wall: 3 girls and a boy, the girls like the mother, the boy all grey and striped! Little by little they came out to play at the place! Sadly one of the little females vanished after only a few weeks. The 3 others were happily growing up though, coming every day with Mum and Dad. I baptized them: Joséphine, Pupuce, and Tiger.

When the kittens were 3 months old Minette and Arthur were neutered and ‘mum’ decided the kittens were old enough to fend for themselves. In November, getting worried about them spending winter outside, I was able to find, with the help of a German lady, a home for all the family in Germany. Minette and Arthur were more than happy to travel by air to Hamburg and their new home. The kids were something entirely different!After almost losing 3 fingers from my right hand and the left one savagely scratched I decided they just didn't want to leave me, the island or their home! And so they stayed, managing to survive the first winter and all the subsequent ones.
Pupuce died when she was 7 years old, the poor thing had a brain tumour and it really broke my heart when I had to take her to the vet to put her to sleep. Tiger, the little brother, was adopted by a Swiss couple and now lives with them, so this left only Joséphine...the lovely tri-coloured, green eyed, 13 years old Joséphine.

Michele Dussan

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!

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.