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01/10/12: Maya is a lovely female cat rescued from El Puche, near the river in Almeria. She was found with her litter of tiny kittens and helped by a kind Spanish lady. She is a lovely gentle cat, friendly to people and accepting of all other cats. She has even fed and looked after other tiny kittens that were not hers, and now it is time she found a forever home where she can be loved and looked after herself.

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We were 1 week after his arrival at the vet and he was super excited about him, especially since he came to us from Spain and not from a breeder. Still a bit thin but healthy (except for a slight ear infection). His coat is now also very great, was at first very dull. He has now truly arrived at home and screams even louder morning and evening for his food and as our Luna welcomes us loudly when we come home! What shall we say THANKYOU you for our lovely little soul!”

10/04/13: Valsy has definitely found his perfect home. This is the latest from his new Mum: “Valsy is at home… During the long journey he says nothing and I thought there is not a cat in the box… We separated both cats and Valsy first hid under the bed… after 2 hours we could decoy him out with food and he began to cuddle after eating (better gobble). If he is afraid he is running under the bed. Today noon we opened the glasdoor of the living room, after both cats sniffed each other nose on nose through the glasdoor… Todays evening they gave each other little careful kisses and this night he slept in the bed between us. We are extremely happy and we thank you dearly for this little sacred gift. By the way – now his name is Simba. And we are happy that he is not so thin as our Luna when she came to us. He is a little thin, But this we will solve and change…”

07/04/13: Valsy is about 4 years old and a few weeks ago his life was looking very bad. He had been abandoned near Mojacar, was slowly starving, and suffering from a bad cold virus. Then his luck started to change. First a kind Spanish woman took her him into her home for a few days, fed him and got him some antibiotics, then a kind English woman told me about him, and finally my friend Jayne, followed by Anthea and then Jenny all fostered him for periods of time. His last piece of luck came about a week ago, when a lovely German family fell in love with his slightly sad face and decided to give him a secure forever home. Valsy is a lovely, funny boy.

He DID have a bad virus and 3 courses of antibiotics were needed before we finally cracked it and he continued to eat well without drugs. He remained however quiet, more like an old than a young cat, but also very affectionate. I think he is still a little traumatised by his experiences on the street, and I’m hoping once he trusts that he is safe and settled again he will slowly get his mojo back. He still looked a little scruffy when I put him on the transport on Saturday. He had quite a lot of oil in his coat when rescued and he had only just started to take more pride in his appearance again. He is a lovely gentle cat and I am very happy that he has gone to a quiet, relaxed home. This is what he needs along with lots more love. Below is the email sent by his new Mum to Kerstin in Germany. I think Valsy has found his perfect home.

“We fell in love with the small Valsy. About us: We are a couple mid 40′s and live in Elchingen near Ulm in the 1st Sock a 2-family house in an approximately 100 m2 apartment with balcony. We had a small cat family (mom, dad, child). The parents went to the Rainbow Nation as early as 2011. For this reason, we then brought the little Luna from the shelter of white horn so that our beloved Maik is not alone. In the beginning it was pretty exciting, and Luna was quite peppery and lively. Now she is 3 years old and you can tell that she is calm and relaxed. In early January, we had to leave our Maik with only 9 years. Cancer of the jaw! We had let them operate last year, but still it did not help. What can we say: We suffer unspeakably about this loss. Maik was a very great cuddler and always nearby (prefer to Herrchens belly). The images and the description of Valsy have touched us so we have decided that super Valsy would fit us and our Luna. We are willing to give Him for the rest of his life, a beautiful home. Please, please get in touch with us and give us the chance to get to know Him. He may want to then come to us to Elchingen. We would feed him then very carefully and give him a good home.”

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Click on any the photos to view the complete gallery full size.

Click on any the photos to view the complete gallery full size.

11/05/13: The article that Chris published the other day on how to recognise a stray cat was written by someone else, and whilst there were some very good points, I feel that this person must have been writing from a country other than Spain, as from my 4+ years of working with the strays, I would recommend much more immediate intervention. Very few cats here are chipped and a lost or abandoned cat doesn’t fare well at all. They are often close to starving before a caring person helps them, and they are the lucky ones. Few find food and they must compete with the much stronger, more aggressive genuine ferals, of which there are so many here. To be honest, I have very little interest in looking for their previous owners if the cats are not chipped. I prefer to spend my time helping the cat, and then looking for a new family that will look after it better! This is the reality here in Spain. Lost or abandoned tame cats are easy to pick up. they are normally asking for help. Our policy is to look for a chip quickly and then get on with helping and re-homing the cat.

Ellie is a great example. Chris and I were about to eat one evening last week when some Spanish children knocked on our door. One had Ellie in her arms, and I didn’t need to understand too much Spanish to know what was needed. Ellie was full of cold and her eyes were very dull. I knew she was a stray even before I took her from the little girl. Holding her confirmed this. She was literally skin and bone! When I took her to my vet the next day, he confirmed that Ellie was a small adult of about 18 months, and this poor little sweetheart weighed only 1.45kg! She is completely tame and loves cuddles, to the extent of climbing up onto my shoulders. She has no aggression and welcomed Mercedes to share her balcony for a few days.

Ellie has now been with us for almost a week, and she is eating ok, enjoying high protein kitten biscuits. Her appetite is not huge which to me is normal for a cat that has almost starved, but each day she looks a little better. She is on her 3rd slow release antibiotic injection, and now has bright little eyes. Her favourite pass-time for now, apart from cuddle, is resting, and she loves the afternoon sun. I think Ellie was rescued just in time by some children who cared, and whilst I cannot normally take in cats myself, Ellie was small enough and sweet enough for me to help her here for now. She is not strong enough to go to a cat rescue home yet, so I am looking for a foster home for the next 2 weeks, where Ellie can continue to build up her strength. It will be at least 2 months before she will be ready to travel to a new home in Germany, as she is far too thin for vaccinations at this stage, and may also need sterilising. All this we can do in good time. Now she needs to put on at least another kg before I would put her little body under any more stress.

I think Ellie will be fine now. I believe she was abandoned, and I am very very happy to have been able to help this little darling. She is so so sweet!!!

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In Her New home

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24/04/13: This beautiful female of about 10 months already has a home waiting for her in Germany. Today I took her out of SOS Pechina to finish preparing her for the 11.05 transport. When I first saw her in the rescue centre a few weeks ago I thought she was a nervous cat, but last week I realised she was just afraid of the other cats there. She likes people and is happy to be stroked, so I am sure she will settle well into a proper home again. For now she is hiding from the other 4 little cats that I also took out today, but I’m hoping she will start to relax more in the next few days.

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Click on any the photos to view the complete gallery full size.

Interesting to see that two of the rescue sites have recently set up their own transports. Time will tell if this has any effect on our business transporting pets to the UK from Spain. It’s certainly a lot quieter at the moment. Rescue Centres are saying that they are not re-homing as many cats and dogs at the moment, and people are not exactly in a rush to move to Spain with their pets (although we have had a steady number of enquiries). It is still busy though with people moving back to the UK from Spain with their pets, and we have noticed an increase in people that used to live in Spain all the time but are now going back and forth between the UK and Spain, either to work or just for a change of scenery and to go places that are busy! We have more long term return bookings to take people’s pets back and forth than ever before.

The bitchiness, petty mindness and bad business practice continues unfortunately. Really trying to stay out of it as really not at all interested. I just don’t see that there is a ‘right way’ to do animal rescue. Of course there are rules, regulations, best practices etc but really if one rescue wants to raise funds from donations to fund a transport and another wants the adopter to pay is one right and one wrong? If a transport company wants to take as little time as possible over the transport to minimise the time a pet spends on the van, while another prefers a more sedate approach is one right and one wrong? So long as both are certified and put the animals welfare first and the customers know exactly what they are getting when they book surely that is what matters. Ditto with shared cages. For our own part we travel with enough cages and flight boxes for one per dog but if three pets live together and normally travel together and it would stress them to be apart would it be right to separate them into their own cages? In my view no. Others may disagree. What is important is what he owner thinks and wants and is comfortable with.

There are some real issues that need to be addressed. The transporting of dogs that haven’t been Leish tested. The irresponsible transportation of unsterilised dogs and cats to other countries. The over hasty transportation of rescue animals without their behavior having been assessed over a reasonable period of time. Personally I think people would be better served looking at these issues rather than who re-homes more dogs, who is the best transport company etc.

For our part we have no illusions to grandeur or desire to be the best at all. We are very very comfortable with the way we do things. We have the relevant certifications and licenses. We are in the process of sorting out a TRACES transport on behalf of a number of charities who are TRACES registered and we have a Testimonial Page and ongoing repeat client base that says we satisfy enough people’s requirements.

Future Transports

May

The transport in May will leave Spain on the 18th May, arriving in the UK on the 19th May. We will leave the UK again on the 22nd May arriving back in Spain on the 23rd May.

At present we still have two places left. I say ‘still’ but this transport has been fully booked twice and twice we have had people cancel. People need to take a LOT more care when booking their pets transport to be honest. To book and then find out the pets are too young to travel is just incompetent and causes all kinds of issues, not least for people that have been turned away because we were full.

June

The transport in June will leave Spain on the 8th June, arriving in the UK on the 9th June. We will leave the UK again on the 11th June arriving back in Spain on the 12th June.

The third person space is available for anyone looking for a FREE trip back to the UK.

We currently have 9 spaces available on this transport.

July

We have two transports in July

The first transport in July will leave Spain on the 6th July, arriving in the UK on the 7th July. We will leave the UK again on the 127th July arriving back in Spain on the 31st July.

The third person space is available on both of these transports.

We currently have 15 spaces available on both of these transport.

News

PETS Transport Scheme

Again there seems to be some confusion as to the use of the PETS transport scheme. In brief it can only be used for the transportation of a personal pet, when the transport is necessitated by a move (permanent or temporary) by the pets owner.

A rescue animal can not be transported under the PETS scheme, and requires an additional health certificate.

Bosnia

Bosnia is looking good. We don’t require a different type of transporter license or personal visas.

The date remains the 17 June to the 23 June. Have to say it is nice not to be involved in anything other than the logistics once all the dogs are confirmed and the driving!

Next Transport Availability

2013 Schedule & Availability

More Information

Transport Details
Transport Schedule
Transport Costs
Pet Passport Requirements
Transport Checklist