This is a great photo that I took of Adalita at 6 weeks, when she first came to Almerimar.

The recent pictures from Germany show a very contented little cat, and I’m really pleased to hear that she gets to stay in her foster home. However I think my earlier picture shown better just how beautiful she is! Adalita actually comes from a mixed litter, but it seems that she got her full share of genes from her Siamese parent.

This news led me to wonder what was happening with our remaining 2, Lulu and Coreena, that Dawn and Nick fostered for over 2 months, and also Carmen and Ferdi, my cat Saidi’s Grandkids.

I was therefore really pleased to get this further news from Martina in Germany:

“Lulu and Coreena are together in Mainz ( 50 km from here ) they live in their foster home with a dog and do not have any fear !only the dog is afraid of them…;o) they are so lovely and wild…playing whole day long, like to sleep on the neck of her fostermama….;o) tomorrow somebody who is interested in them will visit them, i tell you about the result !
for carmen and ferdi i will ask for more news…they are in switzerland ! a few days ago they told us, that both cats are cute and not so shy…:o)
martina”

Here’s hoping that we get some really good news about Lulu and Coreena soon; it would be great if they could stay together as they are such good friends … like sisters. Actually, as I have written before, Coreena is the sister of Carmen and Ferdi and Saidi’s 3rd grandkid, so I have a particular reason for wanting her settled as well!

Latest Update: 090106
Adalita has a home! I have just had this email from Germany:
“Adalita stays in her foster home :o)) they are so in love with her !!!
Martina”

Martina in Germany sent me these photos of Adalita, one of our Almerimar kittens looking pretty chilled in her foster home. She did however comment that she was looking a bit like a little Bhudda! Adalita seems to have developed this little belly since she came to Almerimar, maybe as the result of too much good food. It’s actually quite cute, but let’s hope as she gets older she becomes a little more slimline!

She certainly seems to be getting on well with her new housemates!

This is a great picture to start the New Year with … a beautiful, happy cat!

I wrote about 10 days ago that Smokey Girl was causing problems in Germany and biting her new parents. I knew that she was a nervous animal and we all hoped that things would settle down, and that her foster home would not reject her. The fact that her new parents are both psychologists had to be a plus, and it seems that things have settled down.

The news from Germany is now much better, and as you can see from the photo, biting has been replaced by cuddles. This is fantastic, and I am now hoping for more news that Smokey Girl’s new parents will keep her permanently, as this is definitely one cat who doesn’t need any more change in her life. Fingers crossed!

We were REALLY worried about him in the 2-3 weeks leading up to Xmas as we hadn’t seen him at all and feared he had been scared off. I was therefore very relieved to see him again and to be able to report that he is healthy and no thinner. This means that he has found another kind person to feed him, is a good hunter, or is sneaking back to eat the dry food we put out when his tormentor is not at large. However this is not a good situation and I remain worried for the future of this beautiful animal.

We did catch Monty last spring, with the hope of finding him a home via the cat rescue and German organisation. He was castrated, and had all his vaccinations but showed no sign of wanting any human contact in the 3 weeks he spent at the Casa, so we decided at the time that the best option was to set him free and continue to look after him. This seemed a good plan until recently when I realised how vulnerable he is to more aggressive animals.

This afternoon I went out to feed tha Alcor cats around 5pm and found Monty and little Mimi (my Saidi’s daughter) waiting for me. They were just starting to tuck into their food when Monster Moggie appeared again and literally chased Monty into a tree, followed him up and attacked him in the branches, at one point leaving poor Monty hanging by 2 paws! I shouted at the interloper, who eventually came down from the tree, leaving me to then coax Monty down for his supper. Both Monty and little Mimi seem really terrified of this brute, SO I have decided that one of my aims for January is to try again to get these 2 off the street.

Monty in the last 3 months has decided that he does like being stroked, which is hopefully a sign that he might respond better to humans if we try again. He certainly shouldn’t be hard to catch. Mimi will be more difficult but she is no more wild than her kittens that we did manage to grab and take to the Casa, and who are now in Germany.

What will be needed are foster homes for a few weeks, and particularly in Mimi’s case someone with time and patience to get her confidence. Monty I do think will be easier, but I’m not too sure how he will respond to being shut in anywhere, and I definitely think he needs space and access to outside in any final home we find for him.

I want to try for these 2 special animals because we are so fond of them and have already invested so much time, so if anyone feels they might be able to help up, please get in touch. I’m aiming to take recent photos in the next week and put together a catch plan, so will post again on this soon.

At the beginning of 2008 we had 4 healthy kittens (3 males) and Monty the beautiful Siamese who was being a great uncle to them. We also had the occasional visit from Big Daddy the father of many. Now at the end of the year we only have 1 kitten left. SO where did they go?

I have to admit to finding it very tough that I can’t protect the strays more, but it is difficult when they are too wild to be caught, and when nature has a habit of being at times tough. The first 2 boys left early in the year, and as we had managed to catch one and castrate him, I can comfort myself that we had tried and it had made no difference to him disappearing like his brother. We still had the little female, and her beautiful black brother AND Monty until about 6 weeks ago, when a new male appeared on the scene in Calle Alcor.

This big tabby cat we have named the ´monster moggie´as, although friendly to humans, he has chased Monty for one all down the street. I can’t work out if he is protecting the food we put down or is after the women. Little female (Mimi) has already had one litter (Carmen, Ferdi and Coreena … all now in Germany), and recently a large tabby female (we think abandoned) has also turned up.

The sad thing is that monster moggie has a new collar and so a home, and looks incredibly well fed. I have only seen Monty 2 times in the last few weeks, and although he seemed fine last week, I worry about him, and about what has happened to beautiful black Raffa. However I know that we do our best to feed and protect them, and I do know that there isn’t much we can do about natural territorial instincts and in-fighting.

My aim in the next few weeks is to catch little Mimi cat and the new tabby female with a view to getting them both off the street, along with Monty if he puts in another appearance. Here’s hoping our boys all manage to stay healthy and find food elsewhere if they have been scared off. I’m still putting down loads of dry food so maybe they are coming back at other times in the day to eat. I’d love to have a web-cam in Calle Alcor to check out all the diners!

It IS tough, but I’m hoping in 2009 with help from Germany we can get some more of these lovely creatures off the street to a better life. They just need to let us catch them first!

27/12: “georgina will go to her new home today ! i´ll meet her foster home ilona on the half way to köln and then georgina and i will drive to frankfurt :o) the woman who visited her new home this morning is sure, that is such a great place ! big appartement, big balcony, lovely old cat, lovely people…i´m so happy for georgina !!”

27/12: “sandra, i just came home from my trip with and for georgina…she can speak very loud, i think she does not like driving by car so much…;o) but she is so cute ! her foster home was very sad to give her away,,,but we all are so happy for her ! her new daddy is so in love with her and she likes him too i think, she gave him hugs from the first moment she saw him :o)))”

Kiri has been more lucky as it is only about 6 weeks since we rescued her from an empty rental property where she was left by her English owner who moved out. Apart from a not great week in foster care in Germany, where she appeared to hate all the other cats, all has gone smoothly, and I am not at all surprised that this beautiful little creature has found a home so fast.

26/12: “Hello Sandra, I just have brought Kiri to her new home, a large appartment with a balcony + net and a couple without children, a lot time at home…
In her foster home she did not like the other cats at all - she was bossing around …. now she will educate her new parents I presume ;0))))
funny, beautiful girl”

All great news. Here’s hoping for some more soon, as 3 of our Almerimar kittens are still awaiting permanent homes, as well as the 2 little wild kittens and both Smokey Girl, Smokey Boy and Jassa.

News from Germany is that Smokey Girl is causing a few problems.

“Hello Sandra,do you have an idea what to do? Smokey Girl is biting her foster mums badly, often without warníng and she occupies the sofa. Nobody else is allowed to sit there anymore.
I gave the women many tips, but they now do not know what to do. The women are very nice and will do everything which could help, but we also wanted to hear your opinion, because you know the cat longer than we all do. Cony x”

The answer that I have sent back is that Smokey Girl is a nervous cat and also a street cat, the latter of which I think is very important. These are my replies and I guess my views on this cat’s problems:

“When Smokey Girl was in the street in Almerimar she was very friendly to us all, but when she first went to the Casa (cat rescue) she became VERY stressed and would try and bite me when I tried to stoke her, and her fur was falling out. Then she made friends with Gila and was fine and put on weight. Maybe now she is just stressed again by all that has happened in the last few months. We know that 50+ cats in the cat rescue was too many, and for some cats this was harder.”

“When I first met Smokey Girl she was only maybe 4 months. I was going to give her a home but then I saw her playing with another kitten in a garden in our street, and thought she HAD a home. Only this summer did we learn that she was a stray. So yes she was friendly but she was born on the street. She had kittens and had to look after herself and them. My second cat Saidi is a little similar. When we gave her a home she was very territorial with our cat Mori. She, I think had a home once but she had been on the street for 1 year + and had 2 litters of kittens that we knew of. Now she is lovely but still more of a fighter and very nervous of new people.

I think Smokey Girl needs time to become friendly and for her the sooner she gets a permanent home the better as each change may be difficult for her. I know that Saidi would find it really hard. When I gave her a home she had known me in the street for 6 months so I was ok and she was very affectionate with me.. But she did not like my husband for some weeks. Now they are good friends.
I really think that Smokey Girl just needs more love and time. All people are not kind to the street cats, so they need longer to trust a person, and Smokey IS a nervous cat.”

I know that Smokey Girl CAN be a lovely cat, so I hope things sort themselves out soon for her, and once again I am SO impressed by the German organisation and how much they all care about the cats. Cony has replied with a “1000 thanks” and will pass on my “useful” information. Isn’t that great?

Everybody who met Jassa loved him because he was SO sweet and affectionate. He used to put his paws on my shoulders, when I saw him up at the Casa, so that he could give me a kiss and be stroked. Now it seems he is being equally loving with his new foster mother, and also is trying to be with Mimmy cat.

Mimmy cat apparently liked Jassa when they were both at the Casa, but as poor Jassa caught a cold she went ahead to their new foster home in November. Now it seems that she has become a little territorial about her new home, after having to share her last one with 50 odd others. Jassa then made the situation worse on his first night by trying to get into bed with her.

Now Mimmy cat looks very sweet and I hope she will be very happy, but if she continues to cause trouble, I would recommend that the foster mother keeps Jassa and sends Mimmy off to pastures new. I may be very biased but Jassa is SO gorgeous. Anyway here’s hoping things settle down and that they become friends again. Jassa I’m sure would like to stay as he is looking very at home in these new photos from Germany.

Update 20/12: Great news! Eddy gets to stay in his foster home for good, as they love him! I’m also rather impressed by Eddy’s cosy bed in the latest picture from Germany, particularly as it has a Royal Canin logo. Royal Canin to me is the best cat food and what I feed our 2. Looks like Eddy has scooped a very comfortable and healthy lifestyle.

13/12: I’m so impressed with the German organisation that is finding homes for so many of our stray cats from Almerimar and from the cat rescue home. I have posted recently about Olli and Lilli, but I’ve also now received photos of another of our Almerimar cats, rescued by Jean and George, who will be staying with his foster parents in Germany permanently bacause they have fallen for him!

I have a feeling that quite of lot of the ‘foster’ homes are actually trial homes as Tinkerbell (now Lilli) also got to stay.

The next 2 pictures are of more happy cats that are in their new homes in Germany from the last shipment. I didn’t know Mimmy or Marina very well, but met them both up at the Casa, and beautiful Jassa (who we all did know well and love) is to join Mimmy on Tuesday, as they were good friends.

I’m looking forward to more pictures soon of the cats that we sent on their way yesterday. They have all arrived safely as you will see from the comments on my previous post.

All good news.