Hi everyone - well another year has passed and we
have just finished a busy Autumn in Corfu. It was a
very successful visit and we have managed to
sterilise many cats.
It is time once again, to wish everyone who has
supported us this year a Merry Christmas and A
Happy New year and Very Many Thanks for
your help and support during the last year.
Dassia
First of all an update on the large cat problem
in Dassia. In our last update we made a
special appeal in order to help a lady in Dassia,
she always fed the cats in her area but as the
neighbouring hotels closed down, the local cats
moved in to where she was feeding and she finished
up with about 20-25 cats. With the help of The Ark,
CARE and AWWF donations, we were able to neuter 15
female cats and 3 males, some of the kittens were
too small to neuter. The lady returns to the hotel
regularly to feed the cats and has taken some of the
smaller kittens to her home.
|
A few of the Dassia cats enjoying their dinner |
more of the Dassia cats enjoying their dinner |
When I visited last week, before leaving Corfu Eleni
was still feeding about 20 cats as a few more had
moved in. We have provided her with a feeder so that
she does not have to visit every day and the cats
always have biscuits. We would welcome donations to
help with providing food in order to keep the feeder
filled up.
Leggits Story - Amongst all these cats in
Dassia were three very small kittens, which Eleni
now has at her home, one of them we later called 'Leggit'.
When we returned to the hotel the following day to
organise the sterilising we found one of the three
little kittens with a broken leg! It is
difficult to treat cats with broken legs unless they
are found very quickly after it has happened and
very few of the vets have X-ray machines in Corfu.
Fortunately we found this little guy within 24 hours
of his misadventure so Eleni insisted that she took
him to a vet with an X-ray machine straight
away. She returned with the little kitten later that
day with his leg in a splint, Eleni and her daughter
were very distraught and upset at having to keep the
little cat in for a whole month with his leg in a
splint. I offered to take the kitten to my house as
we have better facilities to cope with such a kitten
so he spent the month at my house.
The little kitten turned out to be the most
remarkable little kitten I have ever had to help. He
had to stay in most of the time and was supposed to
rest his leg!!!! Has anyone ever tried to get
a kitten to rest his leg??
I did force him to stay in his box for periods of
time for the first week but as he slowly got used to
the splint this became very difficult. I think this
kitten was more active and could run away from me at
speeds greater than any cat with four healthy legs.
He was so fast and ran around so much we called him
'Leggit' because that is what he was always trying
to do!!
After the month little Leggit's splint was removed
by the vet, and he had made a good recovery. The
bone had set and although it was not perfect (he has
a slight limp) it had healed well enough for him to
use his leg normally. He has gone back to Eleni's
house now to join his brother and sister and his
mother. He has a sponsor, thanks to Janet and Jeremy
and he will be sterilised in the Spring when we
return. We will remember Leggit for a long time, he
was such a character and Eleni and her daughter such
lovely caring Greek people.
If anyone can help us feed the cats in Dasia, your
donations would be very welcome.
|
Leggit - the first week resting his leg!!
|
Just before his splint was removed - charging
about the house |
Kalami
We have made a huge difference in Kalami now and
have reduced the numbers of cats considerably there,
the few cats that are living there this winter are
receiving regular food. Thank you to everyone that
has helped us achieve this and helped to make Kalami
a pleasant place to holiday. We still have a few
cats and kittens turning up there of course, and we
always will, like Ernie who we found in August, but
it does make things more manageable now there are
less cats breeding. Ernie, incidentally is doing
very well, he has a sponsor and has now been
neutered and has recovered very well from his hernia
operation.
Arillas
We are receiving many more requests from Arillas
to help with the cats and with the help of Marion
we are managing to get many more cats sterilised. We
would like to thank Sara who has been raising money
for us with the calendars that she has sold on eBay
for us. Many thanks to Sara and all who made bids
and donated to help the Arillas cats. Marion tells
us that she can already see a difference in the
area. Please continue to support us by sponsoring
some of the Arillas cats.
Kassiopi
We have quite a few cats in Kassiopi looking for
sponsors, many of our English friends who helped in
Kassiopi with the animals have returned to the UK
now and Kassiopi does not have so much help as in
past years. We have someone to get the cats featured
above neutered, so if some Kassiopi fans can sponsor
some of the above cats it will help.
eBay
We have a number of people selling items on ebay
with donations being made to AAWF and also buyers
making checkout donations. We would like to
thank those of you that are selling on eBay for us
and those of you making donations, we appreciate
your support very much. I have contacted some
of you but do not receive information of checkout
donators so if there is anyone I have missed,
thankyou very much for your support and do keep in
touch with us.
AAWF Facebook Page
Do visit our Facebook page that is run by Clare, who helps many of the Kalami cats
both summer and winter. She will pass on any
messages to us and post events and news from AAWF
and the Kalami, Agni area. Many people have their own page on Facebook
so do join us and catch up with updates on what is
happening in Corfu. Here is the link to our Facebook
page:
