Daphne – An Aristocratic Cat

11/07/11: About 5pm the Mori Waggon and drivers finally got home, after some hold-ups on the Motorway north of Murcia. This makes the first transport in our fantastic new van officially over. Thank you again to the drivers, and as for the van, the men have high praise for it. It is the perfect size, easy to drive, and generally pretty comfortable. There are also no worries about the air conditioning not being good enough to keep the cats cool. Chris said that their bottles of water left in the back were certainly not warm when they came to drink them! We chose our cat car well and I look forward to sending many more cats to Germany in it. Thanks again to anyone who has been involved in helping these 36 cats, here and in Germany.

We did have 2 escapees, funnily from the same box! Schielie came out of his box in the first hour, so was put into the spare box intended for TigerII, being picked up near Antes. Tiger consequently ended up in Schielie’s somewhat rogue box, and managed to escape from it also. Fortunately Chris knew Schielie and Tiger is very tame, so no harm was done. We will be looking at how to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future. Other than this slightly faulty box, everything went pretty much without a hitch.

10/07/11: Our first transport in our fantastic new van is over from the point of view of the cats. Chris and Mick handed them over to Katzenherzen around 10am this morning in Germany, and most I hope will have by now arrived in their foster and permanent homes and be out of their boxes. Once we had the van, everything has gone very smoothly, and all the cats are well. I am happy for the cats that this ordeal is over. For our drivers there is still a long way to go. Chris and Mike were turning straight round after a stop for breakfast, and have the equally long drive home again. They will be able to stop more on the way back if tired, but I know they are both keen to get this over with too!!!

09/07/11: Today is a HUGE day for AlStrays. As of yesterday we now have our own van and today Chris has set off with 36 cats driving our FIRST transport to Germany in the Mori Waggon! This name is an affectionate tribute to Mori our first cat pictured below. He has been a part of our lives for close to 5 years now, and finding him thin and hungry at the bottom of our street as a 7 month old, began my love affair with cats. He IS the start of it all and the reason why so many other cats have been saved.

Today’s cats travel from AlStrays itself, from 5 of our partner rescues and from 2 individuals who have contacted me directly. They are from across the Almeria region and as far from Almerimar as Lorca.

Thank you to all the people who have helped these cats in any way, including Monse, Alondra, Matt, PAWs, Mandy, Gordon, Adrian, Uwe and here in Almerimar, Pam, Iain, Liz, Kev and Tracey who have fostered some of them for me, AND to the people who are helping to fund the Mori waggon, AND to Miguel my vet, Miguel Angel, Isabel and Mayke from the local protectora, and to Katzenherzen in Germany and all the foster homes and adoptants over there, AND of course to our 2 drivers Chris and Mick. We are a great team!!!

In the Mori waggon today are: Charlie, Struppi, Schielie, Tiger, Clementine, Comet, Muffin, Midge, Saffron, Korma, Bertie, Rufo, Dado, RonRon, Paul, Newman, Diana, Pati, Neus, Pascha, Aitana, Olivita, Margarita, Gertrud, Nemo, Maki, Mare, Miso, Sushi, Tommy, Papper, Finn, Lilly, Poppy, Tiger 2 AND Arthur!

I wish them all long and happy lives!!!