19/02/13: Jasper and Petra also travelled on the January transport to their new family in Germany, and from the first both were ‘brilliant cats’, friendly and lovely. I now have some photos of them in their new home. See the latest gallery below.
15/01/13: Now I have the first photos of Rory from Germany. He is with foster Mum Agne until Saturday when his family will collect him, and is looking VERY relaxed. Check out the new gallery below.
01/01/13: Today I received the first photos of 2013. These are are Rowley (now Odin) and Miya now Lea) in their new home. They make a beautiful, cute couple!
30/12/12: The very latest news is that Crystal, Rowley, Tia and Miya all now have families in Germany, AND it is time to introduce the last 3 kittens from this beautiful litter. Jasper and Petra have the same beautiful long fir as their siblings, while brother Rory has semi-long fur and gorgeous markings. Already there is interest in Germany. I am waiting for more news, AND after these beautiful cats there is a younger litter waiting to be re-homed as well! Mother IS now sterilised which is good news as, although she and her boyfriend are producing wonderful kittens, we don’t need an endless supply!!!

Click on the photos to see them full size and have the option to download them.

09/12/12: Latest news of this beautiful litter is that Rowley is also now reserved and 2 more of his lovely sisters are also on the transport this weekend, one of whom already has an adoptant. enjoy the photos of Tia and Miya. They are almost identical!
17/11/12: Latest news is that Rowley now has a foster home in Germany so will travel with his sister 08.12.
16/11/12: Crystal and Rowley are 2 beautiful young siblings now about 8 months old. They were born to an owned cat, whose mother kept the whole litter. She is now returning to the UK to live and has asked Matt to re-homes these 2. Great news is that Crystal already has a forever home in Germany waiting for her, and I have a feeling Rowley won’t have to wait too long for his!

Click on the photos to see them full size and have the option to download them.

Handsome Jasper

Handsome Jasper

Handsome Jasper

AND just so that you understand why I am SO fond of Jasper, and was VERY tempted to adopt him, here he is as a little darling just before he travelled to Germany, and then soon after I rescued him with his little broken leg! Jasper was one of the sweetest, most loving little kittens we have rescued, and Tracey, Jenny and I all loved him!!! All our rescue cats are special, but Jasper is one of my very special ones.

02/02/10: I last published photos of Jasper in green fields in July. Now this beautiful boy is enjoying the snow at his country home! “Greetings from Jasper ( brother of felix ) !! he loves snow as u can see ! ))) what a perfect winter he has …;o)))) His parents love him so much ! every morning and evening he goes with his mom to the sheep, which belong to the family too .. and if he does not like the weather, he rocks the house…;o)))happy boy !!!!

The great girls in Germany find all of our cats lovely homes, but some like Jasper are especially lucky. He couldn’t have found a more perfect home for a cat. He lives in the middle of the country with fields in front of his house. Fantastic and well deserved as Jasper was one of our sweetest strays, whom I completely fell for when he first limped out of the rocks holding up his broken leg. Now he looks big and strong and incredibly happy!!!

All the cats that I am involved in helping are special in their own way, and all, to an ardent cat lover, are welcome and beautiful. Some rescue cats however are, for particular reasons, more special, and some find their happy forever homes really ‘against the odds.’

AlStrays only started at the beginning of 2008, following Chris’s sterling effort in running a sponsored half marathon, to give me the initial funds. Slowly during that year our initial neutering program for females, expanded to include a re-homing program. In the meantime stray cats were still being fed in the port, and one litter of kittens that had been dumped by the sea, grew up into big strong, friendly ‘rock cats’. Most have subsequently been re-homed, but the ones that I remember with more emotion are the tougher stories, where the cats and kittens were in trouble or at serious risk, and I know that we have literally ‘saved’ them. All the cats that I am about to mention, feature on my blog alstrays.com, and you can find their stories easily by searching on their names.

Pepe, my first injured rescue kitten, had half his tail bitten off. Little Jasper (pictured), came limping out of the rocks one very rainy, windy day, with his 4 siblings, and with an obviously broken leg. Marty (left at the protectora on another horrid day … wet, wet, wet … hence his name!), also needed a plaster. All of these 3, were lovely little fellows, and tugged hugely at my heartstrings. Had I needed to foster them, I think I would have never let them go. And then there are the 4 ‘special ones’.

Chivers and Tommy, our rock Tomcats and rivals, were both diagnosed with FIV (cat HIV), which made them harder to re-home. Tommy’s case is the most special as he was my first FIV cat and at the time I was advised to put him to sleep. I loved this old bruiser on sight however, and fought for his chance. With the girls in Germany, and a great foster home here, we found a happy ending for this most loving gentle old boy, who I now believe was never a feral cat at all, but an abandoned tame one, forced to live outside for far too long.

Another of the ‘special’ ones is Smokey Boy. He was found initially with badly damaged paws, then later at the cat rescue, we then used, had epileptic fits, contracted a serious bacterial infection, and suffered nerve damage from a serious bite. I brought him back to Almerimar skeletal, and with a permanently, paralysed lower leg. Again there were doubters, but having taken advice, I knew we owed him a chance of life. He now lives in a fantastic home with 4 other lovely cuddle cats and every time we get photo updates he look happier and more beautiful. Animals cope well with disability and there is no need to give up on them.

Bono was another case. He is a beautiful siamese, persian cross, at the time of rescue, unable to open his mouth to eat. We fed him for over 6 weeks by syringe, before he could eat at all on his own. He now lives with a lady doctor who flew over from Switzerland to take him home. Fleur, who I wrote about last week is the 4th special rescue, with her badly broken femur. The other 3 I will feature more in the coming weeks.

Others I call my ‘moment in time’ rescues. These are the ones who are only alive today, because, someone came by at that moment, and not only cared but actually did something to save them.

Oscar is the most beautiful, gentle cat. He was drowning when friends heard cries, and were able to fish him out. Chris and I fostered him and then adopted him, and I am so grateful that he was saved, and that his rescuers chose to take a walk at that time on that particular evening. Baby Felix was also saved when other friends were out late at night and their dog sniffed him out in the bushes, age 2 weeks. Pippa meanwhile was heard crying from a rubbish bin, near where a friend had parked her car, Trixie was rescued literally from the jaws of a dog, and Strolchy was caught, just in time, by a busy road, where his 2 siblings had already been killed.

All these cats now have happy lives, and were saved either because people wouldn’t give up on them, or because at that ‘moment in time’ when they were in huge trouble, somebody cared enough to act. These are Alstrays’s biggest rescues. To the special ones we have not just give a better life, we have given a life. A big thank you to everyone who has helped them, AND to those people, who walked past at that ‘moment in time’ and were willing to help. Some cats, despite their 9 lives, really are alive against the odds, because the right people came along just when they needed them and did something. We need more of the right people, so if you can help, we would love to hear from you.

Great photos from Germany of lovely Jasper in his new home. He was one of the 5 abandoned kittens that we rescued from the rocks just after Xmas, and travelled to Germany in March. I had a really soft spot for this little man as he was SO sweet natured.

When I first saw him he was holding up his front left leg, which our vet confirmed was broken, so the little darling had to have a big caste for 2 weeks. He managed brilliantly, rushing around on it and bashing balls, and every time he was at the vet he was a brilliant patient.

I think if little Oscar hadn’t come along, I would have tried to persuade Chris to give Jasper a home. It is therefore particularly lovely for me to see him looking so happy. He has a great home for a cat, in a house with a garden, and in a country setting. A perfect life for this special chap, who is now not so little and looks fantastic!

“Tabitha is well too and very in love with guapa (cat) who lives at her new home )”

22/03/09: It is now just over a week since 5 of out cats arrived at their new homes in Germany, and almost a week since little Bono travelled to Switzerland. So far, bar the odd sniffle and runny eye, everything seems to be working out fine for all of our little buddies, and the emails from Germany make great reading and put any concerns for these lovely animals’ futures to rest. (If you haven’t already read the many posts on these cats and kittens, please click on the individual names in the Tag Cloud.)

The first real news was last Sunday 15th from Martina, who had picked up Bonny, Felix and Tabitha from the transport:

“hi sandra, 1,5 hours to late…but all arrived well near frankfurt ! first felix went to his new home…i nearly was crying, when i separated him from bonni….but felix jumped around and was very curious, the other small cat had some fear of him at first…but not for long…and went to him, to give him a kiss ;o)he forgot his sister at that moment i left the house with her…bonni was not so happy about that…but in her new home…she was running around, playing….wanted to kiss the other cat (Blacky), who was very upset…but very curious too…and became friendly…;o) i visited the cats for 2 hours and i´m sure, they will become friends !!

tabitha ( wow, she is so nice!) is in her new home too…all are well and happy i think !”

And later that evening:

“as blaky saw her..shock !!!!!!!!! she wa grumbling so loud…thats why i waited there for about two hours…bonni showed NO reaction of blackys grumbling….gave kisses to her foster mum…now her real mum…and was playing…blacky was always 50 cm behind her…a view minutes ago eva called me…and could not belive, what she saw…they were slepping in one bed, nose on nose…peace ! ) i worried…for nothing !!!”

“tabitha is really nice..i was so surpriced !!! guapa who lives already in mannheim ( from an organisation in katalonien ) needed a friend….she was waiting all day long on the door to the garden….for male cat moppel, to visit her every day…she was very friendly to him from the first second…so i´m sure, she is happy to meet tabihta…”
long long day…but a happy one ! )

And regarding Charlie, I has this from Kerstin last Sunday:

“Anja’s cat “Coco” and Charlie kissed each other this afternoon but that seems to be not really 100% okay for him… Her “Tiffy” and Charlie playing together who is hissing at last who looses the play… and her “Jack” is very wary… and creeps for 2 m to sleeping Charlie. He sleeps again in the hammock of the Bananleaf… Looks very positive and she thinks that next time it will be a little bit loud and crashing and then all will be quiet and they will like each other… so she hopes…

She wrote that he is very small… even still smaller than her “Tiffy”… and he is very tired but he played with her fingers for some minutes, too… There were a lot of mice (her fingers) under the bed-blanket… that was a fantastic game for him… ;o)”

And on the 18/3 more updates:

Re: Charlie: “I think he is happy… He is the king in his new home… )))) And Anja is very happy about him…!!!”

Re: Jasper: “hi sandra,, jasper is very happy in his new home…at night he changes his bed often…from mom to daddy…to son…;o) all are totally surprised about SUCH a cute cat….and because he was so in love with little winni in his foster home…they think about taking winnie too…;o)))”

Meanwhile we heard early on the 18th about Bono following his flight to Switzerland: