February 26th

This morning we failed to catch the second of the 2 Nautico kittens for sterilisation, so she must now wait another 10 days. This was frustrating as yesterday she was actually in the catch box, but our appointment with vet Miguel was for today. We MUST catch her soon or we will have more little feral kittens!

Good news is that her sister, although she has obviously chewed round her stitches, seems fine after her operation last week.

Other news is that our 2 visitors from Murcia, Froylan and Flofy, were re-united with their cat home on Monday, just for a few days, and are flying to their adoptants in Germany today. I am slightly worried as the little boy still had fungus when we handed them over, but I expect good news of them soon, and have been promised photos of them in their new home. Thank you to Mike and Jane for looking after them so well.

Chivers continue to eat well and talk a lot at Pam’s, and yesterday managed to see off her dog Rufus, who was NOT supposed to be in the same room. Chivers apparently trebled his perceived size, with fur and attitude, and terrified poor Rufus, who has definitely met his match!!! Fortunately Chivers’s foster home in Germany has no dogs.

Lucia and Cosmo are both still very nervous, but after about 20 mins each, we did manage to get them into boxes and off to Miguel last week for final vaccinations, and both are now ready to travel to their foster homes in Germany, where I hope, with lots of individual attention, they will start to make better progress soon.

Meanwhile Marty and Trixie kittens are both doing very well, and are lovely little cats that their adoptants are waiting impatiently for.

Fortunately on the transport side I had better news this week. Karin has found a new driver, their van is back in Spain, and she hopes to drive from the dog protectora to Germany on March 13th. We will have all 5 of our foster cats ready to go, and for the first time in over a year we will be able to have a rest from re-homing, assuming another cat needing help doesn’t turn up in the next 2 weeks that is! This will give us more time to widen the scope of our sterilisation programme a little.

For now, all is quiet, so we have time to fund-raise and take stock, AND enjoy the photos that come back from Germany of our VERY happy, re-homed rescue cats. This morning, Mary and I met another couple, who were asking why we send cats to Germany, and didn’t appear to believe us when we said they all had great homes. There will always be doubters who don’t want to listen, but I know that readers of this blog, will understand what we have achieved here, and how worth while it all is.

And in case you didn’t read my post yesterday, this lovely photos is of Smokey Boy, on the left.

February 13th

I’m just back from releasing one of the Nautico kittens after her sterilisation yesterday. It was a relief to catch the first of these now 8 month old kittens before she became pregnant. We will aim to get her sibling, we think another female, in about 10 days when vet Miguel will be back at the dog sanctuary.

I got home to this fantastic new photo of Tommy in my in-box. He looks VERY happy, and it is great that his new Mum is keeping in touch with us.

Yesterday was my second trip to see Miguel this week. On Tuesday we took Marty and Trixie kittens for their final vaccinations, and it was little Chibi’s turn for sterilisation. Next week we must catch the still rather nervous Cosmo and Lucia for their injections, and big Chivers will come too. He is now at Pam’s and enjoying being thoroughly spoilt by his friend of several years.

After giving Dawn sleepless nights crying in the early hours, he is being a very good boy at Pam’s! We think this is partly because he has adjusted to being inside and got over his castration, and because Pam has been at home a lot over the past few days so he is getting LOTS of company in the daytime. He has become a real cuddle boy, and has been watching TV and chatting to Pam on the sofa in the evenings! Today the plan is to introduce him carefully to Pam’s 2 cats. If all seems well then he will be able to mix with them a little. We must be careful because of his FIV.

Other news concerns our visitors from Murcia. Poor little Froylan is still covered in fungus, so now has some new foul pink medicine, which he tried very hard to spit out. Jenny seems to have cracked it by mixing it into very strong tasty tuna. We are really hoping this and regular baths with finally get rid of this infection. Strangely he still has all his fur so seems fairly unaffected by his little problem. Some of us who have spent time with him however have not been quite so lucky!

We still have no news of when the transports to Germany will start again from the dog sanctuary, and I am starting to look at alternative van runs. Until we get something sorted we cannot take in any more cats, apart from in an emergency. So the focus will remain on sterilising our ‘at risk of getting pregnant’ females.

I posted in November photos of Tommy in his new home , and hoped SO much that this would become permanent for him as he looked SO happy snuggled up with his Dad.

On December 26th my wish was granted when I received this email from Germany:
“Hello Sandra. we are the foster-home for Tommy. We really like him and he is such a lovely boy. We are very happy with him and don´t want to miss him in our life! We will do our very best for a good life and a healthy future!! He should never search for new people who love him!”

This is the happiest ending for my biggest rescue to date. Tommy is a VERY special cat and deserves a long and happy life. Thank you to everyone who has helped to save him and give him this chance!

This is a fantastic picture of Tommy with his new Dad. AND to think this lovely old cat was outside on the rocks for years. I really don’t now believe that Tommy started out life as a street cat, so it is SO brilliant that he now has a loving home and can continue to catch up on his cuddles!

Tommy is definitely my save, or mine and Kerstin, Nicola & Erika’s, although he does also have to thank Pam, Jean and George for feeding him for years on the rocks.

When we found out that he had FIV (cat HIV), I was unwilling to have him put down, because I had fallen for this beautiful old bruiser and believed SO strongly that he deserved a life. I actually met Nicola and Erika for the first time when I knocked on their door to cheekily ask if they would foster him for me, because I was desperate to save him and had run out of options. Chris had, to be fair, paved the way by explaining what I am doing here with the strays, and I knew they loved animals and wanted to help.

I researched his illness and took advice. I found out that FIV (similar to human HIV) is not easy to transfer, and requires a deep penetrating bite, so as long as Tommy was kept away from other non-FIV cats he could potentially have a long, healthy life, as FIV is actually less likely to develop into aids than HIV. He was also no risk to Nicola’s little dog Joey.

We did eventually let Tommy mix with some of the other cats, including our rather nervous siamese, Keba (whom he made feel safe), as it became quickly obvious that this loving old boy wasn’t going to bite anybody, and he was very happy to have the company.

Nicola and Erika looked after him brilliantly for 6 months, I visited him most days, and Begona our vet helped us with his minor ailments. Kerstin in Germany then, after lots of effort, found him a new home, with a new friend, big Socks another FIV positive cat, and found him a flight partner to Germany so that he didn’t have to suffer the stress of the 24 hour van transport.

For now this new home is still officially a ‘foster’ one, but as Socks apparently likes him, his new Mum wanted to just adopt him in the first place, AND these are pictures of him having a man nap with his Dad, I await news soon that this will be a forever home for Tommy.

This is everything he would want. A quiet home, without too many cats, and the love and affection I think he was missing for years. At Nicola and Erika’s it was too risky for him to mix with all the baby kittens, so he didn’t get the chance to snuggle with them on the sofa. This looks just perfect for him.

I know that there are more stunning looking cats, but if we hadn’t already had my feisty cats, Mori and Saidi, and little Oscar, then I think Tommy would be our cat now. He is such a charming, lovely old boy, and I SO wish a long and happy life for him now. He is definitely one of the special ones.

For more photos of Tommy in his new home, please click here.

SO here is Tommy our lovely old FIV boy chilling out in his new home in Germany.

He’s looking very at home, and that does appear to be the family bed he is lying on, which I think is always a good sign. He is still on trial but things are looking very good, as the main criteria for his ultimate adoption is that he gets on well with the existing cat Socks. I can’t see there being a problem at all from these photos!!!

News from Germany over the past week is great:

MOST important is that big Tommy is getting on fine with his housemate Socks, so we are now very hopeful that his ‘trial’/foster home will turn into a permanent one. This is very important as Tommy, being FIV positive, can only really live with other FIV positive cats to rule out ANY risk. FIV (similar to the human HIV) is not contagious, but could be transferred if Tommy bit another cat. Of course knowing Tommy, this is incredibly unlikely, but there is always the risk that another cat may bite him prompting a response. Anyway, all is looking good for the future for Tommy right now.

Ginger Jasper is also settled in his foster home. Cony reports that his foster parents are ‘very, very fond of him’, so I am hopeful there; maybe there is a chance that they will decide to keep him.

I also have photos of Pippa looking happy in her foster home, and she has another Spanish boyfriend, Leo, who travelled on the transport last week, to keep her company.

AND the news of Snoopy and Luke, is that the older cat in their ‘trial’ home is coming around to liking them, which means it is looking more promising. Melanie, their foster Mum, would like to keep them if Murphy her old boy is ok with it.

AND FINALLY news of Gizmo the ‘devil’, black siamese is that he has settled well, has a new mother figure in his home, AND a new baby kitten (Gremlin) as playmate! This is all quite amazing, as this little panther boy was REALLY feral. However his new mum loves him, and will give him all the time he needs, and as she said to Kerstin, when she agreed to give him a home, it was a little devil that she was after, and not a snuggle cat! She has now completed the contract and he has a permanent home.

It is always particularly rewarding to me to manage to re-home, the more difficult cats, either because they are more nervous or because like Tommy, they have health issues. It is great to know that there are so many lovely people out there who really love animals, and who will accept into their homes the slightly more difficult, but to me, equally lovely, ones.

Great news from Germany is that it looks like Tommy, our FIV positive, charming old boy, does have his forever home. Socks the other BIG boy in his home “likes him”, so he will get to stay!

This is fantastic news as Tommy is one of our biggest rescue stories to date. For more on him, please click on his name in the Tag Cloud.

Great news this week that a foster home has finally been found for Tommy our FIV positive old Tomcat.

This has taken a long time, not helped by summer holidays, but it seems that Kerstin has found him a very special foster home, where he can stay as long as he needs to. Tommy has FIV, which means he is immuno-deficient, but he can in fact live a long and healthy life, as the condition is not as serious as the human equivalent. I made the decision after his positive blood test in April that I wanted to save Tommy because he deserved to have a chance of a happy life, and Nicola and Erika have looked after him brilliantly while we waited for the right home in Germany.

If you want to see photos and video of this beautiful character cat then please click, or click on his name in the Tag Cloud to see all my posts about him.

Tommy will be off to his new home on October 20th via Air Berlin. Kerstin has also found him a flight partner, so he can travel to Munich in style with less stress, and Pam has volunteered to go on a shopping trip to Alicante to drive him to the airport. Things seem to have fallen into place. I will send him on his way with some bags of his favourite Hills food, so that he isn’t too cross on arrival, AND as you can see from these photos he has a new friend waiting for him, also FIV positive but looking good.

Meet Socks who at 8kg is even larger than out 7kg boy. I think they will make a great pair, and his new family are waiting impatiently and are already in love with him.

Tommy is one of our biggest rescue stories, but I think is worth everything we have done for him, and that includes Pam feeding him and patching him up for years on the rocks. He is so loving, I am sure he must once have had a home, so it is high time that he had one again. Enjoy the photos and watch out in about a month’s time for new ones of Socks with Tommy.

Now we have 23 foster cats!!! This was not planned but our numbers have swelled since Tracey and my visit to the dog protectora to see vet Miguel yesterday. I knew that there were 4 lovely kittens who had been stuck in a dog cage for about 3 weeks, and Nicola had agreed to take them for a while, but when we arrived we found 3 more cages with a total of 10 other cats and kittens, all of whom had been deposited up there over the weekend.

Sadly we could not take them all, but we did come away with 7 of the kittens. The original 4 are now rushing around at Nicola’s with the rest of the tribe, loving their new found freedom, and I believe already have at least a foster home waiting for them in Germany, so will be on the next transport.

Tracey and Kev have kindly taken 3 smaller kittens, and these I will take on re finding them new homes via the lovely girls we work with in Germany. Tracey reports that all are well, and that both son Jack and large dog Lady were very excited to see them arrive as both love kittens.

All these 7 kittens are tame and very friendly so have obviously been treated well, and given lots of attention but however kind they are at the protectora, spending most of the day in a small cage surrounded by dogs is not the best place for a cat. We urgently need a home for a nursing mother and her 2 tiny babies. She was crying to be let out, but I have no home right now to take a large cat. I am however happy that we have been able to help Jos with the 7 we have taken as he and Miguel do so much to help us.

On the transport front, I am hoping Jos will be able to give me 6 boxes as we have a lot of cats ready to go. The good news in the last week is that we now have real homes for Lutz, Luki and Mimi, as well as for Goldie, Gizmo, Luke and Snoopy, and we have a free foster home for one other cat, which will probably be Ginger Jasper, who although loved by Pam’s cat Capone, is continually arguing with her 2 older females.

Other good news today is that a foster home has been found for our beautiful old Tomcat Tommy, with another FIV positive old boy. We will be looking to fly him over to Germany at the end of October. This will separate him from his new love Keba, which is not now forbidden, but in the long-term their new friendship is not really sustainable as finding a home for these 2 together is highly unlikely. In the meantime, having agreed that there is no risk of infection for Keba, these 2 are enjoying each other’s company.

Other news is that Lucy kitten has recovered from her bug which may in fact have been ‘female’ as she actually came on heat very early, Mouchou and Baloo, our other little black devil kittens are confirmed as boys, Beau is appearing for breakfast and strokes every day in Calle Alcor, and Lucia our remaining rock girl is doing well and is still next on our list for a foster home.

Next week we need to get Gizmo back to Miguel for his final jabs, and his 3 siblings Lucy, Mouchou and Baloo to start theirs. Lucy continues to be very friendly with little Pippa so I am particularly keen that she is ready to travel with her on the next transport at the end of October with her friend.

Also urgent for next week is the sterilisation of our little grey Nautico female. Her kittens are big enough to manage without her for a couple of days, and apparently can now be stroked, which is good news as they are next on my list.

Overall we are making fantastic progress with the stray cats here in Almerimar, and in addition we are managing to help others from the region. I am very keen therefore to ensure that all of the cats fed in the port are sterilised before the next breeding season which will be upon us in a matter of weeks. We can then concentrate on re-homing the remaining tame semi-ferals, rescuing the next lot of abandoned kittens and hopefully widening our area to include other parts of Almerimar.

One of the problems here is that a lot of the Spanish people do not sterilise their own cats, merely dumping the kittens they produce or letting them run around the streets. This obviously adds to the stray population, which is why Jos at the protectora is trying to establish education programs which I may get involved in later in the year. In the meantime we are definitely making a difference, and always grateful for any support.

If you want any more information on any of of the cats mentioned, please click on their names in the Tag Cloud for previous posts or feel free to contact me via this blog.

Time for another update on our now 18 foster cats, although that may actually be 15 as it appears that 3 of them may be staying in Almerimar!

Pedro and Pablo have travelled to Germany where they were pronounced gorgeous by everyone, but our numbers have increased by little girl Chibi, whom Nicola fell for up at the dog rescue, and by another kitten rescued by Jean and George. Chibi is about 6 weeks old and is making a lovely little playmate for baby Felix. Nicola now thinks that she will give a permanent home to both. It is also looking more and more likely Ginger Jasper will get to stay with Pam as her youngish male cat Capone loves him, and has a new lease of life and energy playing with his new friend.

Since my last update Gizmo the devil kitten has successfully been caught again and taken up to vet Miguel for his chip and injections. He was singularly unimpressed, and shrieked and fought extremely hard. I need to commend Karin’s skill and bravery in managing to both extract him from the transport box, and hold him down whilst the deeds were done. He did however succeed in further registering his anger by spraying liberally all over me! The joys of animal rescue know no bounds!!!

Last week we also had a slight scare, as Gizmo’s little tabby sister, Lucy, went right off her food, became very hot and started to sneeze and cough as well as developing a bad stomach. We did manage to get some antibiotics down her, but she too had a visit to Miguel, to be checked over. This time Elka helped Miguel, holding Lucy wrapped in a towel, while she had a thermometer stuck up the usual place, her eyes and gums checked, and more antibiotics injected. She was pronounced not SO bad, with normal colour and temperature, and as Nicola is managing to get more antibiotics down her she is now eating and starting to play again. Once again I was really grateful for the help of Miguel at the Protectora de Animales (dog rescue) not only for his free consultations, but also for his skill and care in dealing with some rather feral cats.

Meanwhile love is in the air, although slightly forbidden love! Keba our rather feral siamese has decided that she is very fond of our big, softy Tomcat Tommy. He appears to feel the same way and is proving to be a calming influenced on this rather beautiful, but very nervous (and possibly previously mistreated) girl. Tommy being FIV positive is isolated, but they are chatting to one another and blowing kisses through the partition, and Tommy for one seems to be loving having another cat for company, albeit from a distance.

Alongside Keba, her 4 rather wild kittens are making slow but steady progress. Gizmo and Lucy have been with the tame kittens for a couple of weeks and Mouchou and Baloo (2 more little black devil boys) are spending some time out of the study too, and all are letting Nicola touch them. Keba we believe was the owned cat that used to be kept shut in a car most of the day, and was then abandoned. She is very nervous of humans, having probably been mis-treated, but is learning to trust again, including that she can live inside but also have freedom to move around, and chose where she wants to be.

News from Germany is that Luke and Snoopy have a definite foster, hopefully ultimately permanent home in Germany, and Gizmo’s new home has passed it’s inspection visit. These 3 will definitely be on the September transport.

My plans for this week coming include re-focussing on catching big Beau, making plans for the remaining cat on the rocks, Lucia, hopefully catching our remaining known, intact female in the port for sterilisation, and getting Keba in a transport box for her next lot of vaccinations, which are in danger of becoming overdue. I am also hoping for more news from Germany of homes for our remaining kittens, in particular Lutz, who although now castrated, is still bullying the smaller kittens.

For more information on most of the cats mentioned here, and photos, please click on their name in the Tag Cloud.

Thought it was time for a quick update on all our foster cats … we currently have 18! This includes a beautiful new 6-week old kitten that Jean and George have taken in, and that I have yet to meet.

Firstly Nicola and Erika continue to do a fantastic job, currently fostering 11 cats! Tommy is our big loving FIV positive tomcat, who is still waiting for the right new home. This has proved difficult over the summer due to holidays and kitten fever, but I am hoping for some good news soon. I love this old cat, but he is a small risk to other cats so really needs to live alone, and he needs an owner with the resources to treat any ailments fast, as he is immuno-compromised. He is becoming our toughest to re-home and our most expensive rescue to date, but I for one think he is worth ALL the time and trouble.

Then there is Keba, the very nervous siamese, and her 4 rather wild kittens (1 tabby girl and 3 black siamese, we think boys), rescued from Darsena 2. Gizmo, mentioned in the latest phlog, is the most aggressive of the 4 but amazingly due to some rather nice photos I managed to get of him, he appears to have a home waiting in Germany already! We are finding this hard to believe as we are not even convinced that he is tamable yet, but his prospective owner understands wild cats, has 5 other big cats and sounds perfect. Now we just need to catch him again and take the little ‘devil’ back to Karin and Miguel to start his injection.

I also heard today that Snoopy (who bit me yesterday!), and his slightly sweeter brother Luke have people interested in them, who also understand and accept that Snoopy is still a little nervous.

Meanwhile Baby Felix and little Pippa continue to play and grow, and Lutz from one of our earlier rescue litters has joined the throng, to help balance out the wild and tame kitten numbers, and protect the smaller ones from Gizmo! He will be off to Miguel on Monday for castration, and being a rather beautiful half siamese (new photos to be published tomorrow), I am sure he will find a home soon.

Pam still has Ginger Jasper, who may actually get to stay if he makes friends with her 2 older female cats. Capone her younger boy already loves him; they play lots and Capone, who had grown into a rather fat lazy cat, is already losing weight!!!

Jean and George meanwhile still have Luki and Mimi, the sister and brother of Lutz, little ginger Goldie female, who will travel to her new home in September (photos to be published tomorrow), and the new kitten.

And finally, Pedro and Pablo who we took from Jos’s dog rescue, where they got stuck in a small dog cage, having been left by their owners, are off on the transport to Germany this Thursday, initially to a foster home. These 2 are not strictly Almerimar cats, and Jos has sorted all their vet treatment, but I was happy to be able to help them with foster home here, and send them to the great girls in Germany, who I am sure will find them a great home too. Tracey and Kev, and now Dawn and Nick have found these 2 adorable.

Ok that’s all for now and 18 is quite enough, and are stretching our resources. Pedro and Pablo go on Thursday, but we have yet to rescue big Beau, the last cat from Calle Alcor (who will go to a rescue home in Almeria initially), and Lucia the remaining rock cat, a pretty white female. In addition, Jos has 5 more darling tame kittens about 2 months old, sitting in a big cage in the surgery, desperately wanting to get out, and whom I would love to help. A shortage of foster homes is the biggest problem at the moment, so if anyone can help even for a couple of weeks, please do get in touch.

AND if you would like to read more about the cats mentioned in this post, please click on their names if they appear in the Tag Cloud or use the search facility.