Cats Tales | June 2015

Cat’s Tales The Newsletter of Cats in Need, Cyprus | Issue 45 | 2015

Thomas, taken in “his” garden in the Isle of Man Story on page 3 Cats in Need Cyprus is a UK Registered Charity No. 1061206 Supporting the welfare of stray and sick cats in Cyprus

A Message from the Chairperson

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t is some time since the last newsletter and I can only apologise for this. My work pressures have prevented me from organising this for some months now. I hope you enjoy reading this latest edition, which is full of stories about the rescues that take place in Cyprus and also the pampered felines that have been so lucky to get a real home and a good life.

Cats in Need have been working with Ruth Mew as you will see from her story and we also are now helping Giota.

Giota is a Cypriot lady who has been caring for cats for as long as she can remember. She had a large colony of female cats that needed help so that the colony did not continue to in-crease. We have offered to help her and pay for 20 females to be altered. Giota’s story is included for you to read.

It is your kind and generous donations that allow us to help in situations like this.

Shirley Lovatt continues to look after the cats at Dassoudi beach, often without any help.

Shirley has had some health problems but continues to do what she can and Cats in Need help her keep the numbers down by regular spay/neuters.

Anita’s work continues too and as well as sending her equipment last year we have also sent over flea treatments for the cats and we have paid for some of her cats to be spay/neutered.

You will see that whilst we are a very small charity our work reaches out around Cyprus.

I hope that you will continue to help us to help the cats of Cyprus and their Carers.

Thank you so much.

Sue

Cats’ Tales is published by Cats in Need P0 Box 153, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM99 1GU E-mail: catsinneed@manx.net Editors: David and Valerie Forster

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Thomas‌. RIP

Sue reports on the sad passing of Thomas, a very special cat which she adopted from Cyprus in 2009

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e tragically and very sadly said good bye to Thomas on 21st May 2015 and I think you will be interested in his story.

Thomas was born in Cyprus as a stray and one day whilst still very young he was seen at the side of a beach road looking like he was injured with a broken leg. Michael Smoker was driving to work and noticed him, and he stopped to pick him up. This was a regular occurrence for Michael and his wife June as they could not bear the suffering that they saw every day since they moved to their dream country. Their lives were becoming anything but a dream.

It was Thomas’s lucky day however as Michael scooped him up and took him home. When the vet saw him it was decided that it was too late to save the leg as the break had started to heal and set itself incorrectly. June and Michael fell in love with Thomas and he became part of their family.

A Home in the Isle of Man

They were inundated with animals, both cats and dogs, and decided that the only thing to do was to try and re-home some to the UK, and this was before the 12 week rules we have now.

June and Michael have a website called www.cypruspridehouse.com and it was from here that they advertise and try to find good homes for their babies.

I came in to contact with June and helped

Thomas at Christmas 2005, while he was still in Cyprus her over many months by paying for some of the spay/neuter operations that were needed and then I decided to offer more help and bring some of the cats to the Isle of Man. This is when I first saw Thomas. His photo on their website was heart melting and June said he needed to be an indoor cat because of his disability and I looked for homes on the Isle of Man for him, but none were suitable.

He flew to Heathrow and my husband and I picked up the cats we were helping and drove 300+ miles (480km) to Heysham and then they had a 4-hour ferry journey.

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It was late when we arrived home and Thomas had a room arranged for him in the dining room so he could settle in.

At this point I still think I was meant to be looking for an indoor home for him.

The next morning he was nowhere to be found and I initially panicked. Where on earth was he? He was hidden inside the full length curtains and I could not see him. He was very nervous for the first few days and I spent hours sitting on the dining room floor coaxing him out from underneath the sideboard.

Settling in with Sue

After 4 or 5 days Thomas was getting braver and we started introducing him to other rooms little by little. After only a week I found him inside the small store we have. We have a double cat flap system and he had got through the first cat flap but had not managed to get through the second one in to the garden. I quickly scooped him up and put him back to the safety of the kitchen. After all this was an “indoor� cat. He started shouting loudly over the next few days and was

5 clearly asking to go outside… what should we do?

As Fast as Lightning

Thinking that he wouldn’t be very fast as he only had three legs we decided that we would show him the garden together and then bring him in again. We were wrong when we thought he would not be fast; he was like lightning. At first he sniffed and hopped along and was loving the scents and the fresh air. When we went to pick him up he was having none of it and ran and hid in the wood pile at the far side of the garden… there was absolutely no catching him now. At around 2am we decided to leave him outside and we left the patio house wide open all night so that he could come back in for food. (Bear in mind it is now November.)

The following morning there he was asleep on the chair in the kitchen. It was at this point that we knew he was not an indoor cat and we were happy that he could now come and go as he pleased.

He loved the garden, and we don’t know if he ever left it. We have around 5 acres and there was always plenty for him to do.

He loved watching the birds fly overhead; he even caught a young rabbit once and he was just so pleased with himself when he did this. He was cross with me when I took it off him.

His favourite place was his wood pile and this is an area where there are 50-60 felled trees all stacked on top of each other. There are many nooks and crannies and at the faintest sound of a visitor this is where Thomas disappeared to. He was scared of everyone else and even if a doorbell rang on a TV programme he would be off, at first anyway. Over time he

became more chilled. He became more clever too as he knew when visitors left as less than a minute after any visitors’ cars went down the drive, his little moon face would appear, he would shout and ask me if they had gone, and then he would come inside.

Every evening without fail he would be first at the lounge door waiting to be let in so that he could sit on my knee. He purred and pedalled with his front foot and god help anyone else that may want my attention. He growled like a dog at them.

A Full Recovery

After a couple of years I found a small lump on his side and the vet removed it.

When the test results came back they said it was high grade and the prognosis was poor, we should only expect Thomas to live a further six months. He made a full recovery despite pulling out all but three of his stitches, and lived a lot longer than the six months forecast.

We also knew that he had a heart murmur and we had this checked out every year, but apart from this he never went to the vets, he hated it. In fact he hated it so much a couple of years ago I thought it would be kinder to Thomas to ask the vet to come to the house to vaccinate him. Big mistake… Thomas took one look at the vet and broke his way out of a closed cat flap… he certainly waited a while be-fore coming in after seeing this car leave.

A Ticking Time Bomb

We had no idea he was ill; his illness was like a ticking time bomb waiting to hap-pen. I said goodbye to him before we went off to Cornwall for two weeks holiday and fully expected to see him when I got home. After a week we had a call from the

6 girls looking after him that when they saw him first thing one morning, he jumped off the back of the chair, cried in pain and ran out of the cat flap. They saw him over the next couple of days in his wood pile but he was moving and getting out of their way as he didn’t want to be caught. Other friends called to help but he hated strangers and retreated. I was receiving daily calls and we thought he had a spat with Ozzie, another Cyprus cat that had moved next door and was just staying out of the way for a few days. The girls left food out for him in case he didn’t want to come in.

Five days elapsed and I got the call I dreaded. The girls had caught Thomas and there seemed to be a problem with his back legs. They rushed him to the vets and the vet called me almost straight away: it was not good news. Thomas had a saddle thrombus which had emanated from a blood clot in his heart and had spilt and travelled down his spine blocking any blood flow to his hind legs. There was nothing that could be done.

We were still in Cornwall at this stage so we asked the vet if she would keep him comfortable until we could get back. We packed everything up and bear in mind we

had our three dogs with us, cleaned the farmhouse we were staying in and were on the road by 8.30am Thursday 21st May. It was clear on the M6 motorway that we were not going to make the boat we wanted to catch because of traffic jams so Alan dropped me at Manchester airport and I flew back to the Isle of Man. My friend Jayne picked me up and we drove straight to the vets.

Thomas knew it was me instantly and was moving his head up and down to make sure I stayed in his sight. He was clearly not well and had lost some weight. After quizzing the vet it was 100% clear that the only kind thing to do was to say goodbye to Thomas. I sat on the floor at the vets and he tried to sit on me but couldn’t as his back legs were gone, just paralysed.

He purred loudly and pedalled with his front leg, just as he did at home in front of the TV. We sat for a while and he seemed content and so happy to see me. After about 20 minutes the vet came in and we very peacefully said goodbye to Thomas.

He was at peace.

Thomas Ruled the Roost

In the weeks since Thomas died the dynamics in our house have changed a lot. Before we had instances of cats going to the toilet in the house and we experienced other signs of cat stress.

Since 21st May we have not had one accident in the house and we are so surprised by this.

We think now that Thomas ruled the roost and the other cats were scared of him.

They are not so scared now that he is watching over them.

His spirit lives on and we will always remember him, he was very special.

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Zygi Cats Prosper Thanks to Cats in Need Anita Dale Livaditis reports from Zygi on how Cats in Need has helped to trap, neuter and return 20 cats in the village.

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was so happy when Cats in Need generously offered to sponsor the sterilization of 20 cats for me recently.

Doing TNR and feeding cat colonies by yourself can not only be exhausting, it can be very expensive, so I was delighted and grateful when Cats in Need offered to help. It was a big help. And just in time, as several cats at my house were coming of age.

Dimples, one of the delectable Candies, who croaks like a frog Cats in Need donated my traps once upon a time, and they have helped me a lot since I began doing this in 2011.

Please, if you would like to help Cats in Need help people like me in Cyprus, they welcome donations, and they are wonderful folks. I get a lot of emotional support from them too, even a hug or two.

Cats in Need: a very worthy cause.

Punky , perpetually surprised, a wonderful mother figure

Crackers in bed is a great habit

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The Cats in the Village

By Giota Anastasiou

Sue writes: Here is a story from a new lady that I have offered to help. It is written by a Cypriot lady. This is a turning point as this is the first Cypriot (as opposed to an ex-pat) that we have been able to help.

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ithout Cats in Need and Sue I am not sure I would be able to continue helping stray cats. With her help, she offers my cats more quality of life and helps me deal with the continued increase of stray cats.

The Story Before Sue’s Help

I can’t imagine my life without cats. I used to sleep with them and spend my whole day with them as a child. I live in Kellaki (a village in Limassol) where very few people love and take care of animals. So it was never a dilemma for me when the first stray cat approached my house’s garden 25 years ago. But what happened next was something I could never imagine. The one cat soon became five cats and then a couple of weeks later they were ten in total. Where have these cats been? I was wondering.

I started buying dry cat food and feeding them. As a family we were never in a great economical position, but I couldn’t even imagine chasing them away or ignoring their hungry huge eyes. But the problem didn’t end there. Day by day more and more cats would come to my garden asking for food. The more I would feed, the more would come. But I had no choice… I had to help them… In a period of two months I was feeding around 30 cats. It felt like the cats of the whole village were gathered in my garden.

It seemed very rational to me. They couldn’t find food anywhere else. The problem became bigger when a couple of months later the female cats started giving birth to kittens. All of a sudden the cats became countless.

Today: Continued Increase and Chlamydia in Kittens

I soon realized that spaying and neutering was the only way to prevent the rapid increase of kittens. But something like this would cost me a lot. In the meantime I lost my job and our economical condition became stricter. I decided to save money and spay a cat whenever I had the opportunity. But then a major problem appeared – Chlamydia. Infected mums would pass it on their kittens. This resulted in kittens having problems mostly with their eyes.

When I open my front door

9 So I had to make a choice. I decided to postpone sterilization and help these who suffered. The last years the family’s financial situation is even worse. The food for cats and the emergency cases made it impossible to sterilize any cats.

So the number of cats began to grow again. Today I feed 60 cats and the number keeps going up every few months.

Sometimes opening my door feels like I am entering a cat sanctuary.

Kittens with Chlamydia Veterinary attention was required to avoid any serious results and sometimes the eye infection was so bad that surgery was necessary to avoid any spread in the brain. Continuing to buy food for all these cats, I couldn’t cover the cost of both treatments and spaying/neutering. I needed help, but who would help me?

And still the numbers grow

Help from Sue

All of a sudden, when I started feeling desperate, Sue appeared and as a “Deus ex machina” offered to pay the costs to spay/neuter my cats. And I am saying this because I didn’t ask for Sue’s help.

Actually she heard about me and she approached me herself, messaging me and telling me that she is willing to help me. I believe this is wonderful and relieving to know that there are people out there that willing to do whatever they can to help, not only those who ask for help but also those who don’t know how and who to ask for help. I can’t describe how grateful I am for this offer. I love cats and I am proud of what I am doing, even though it’s not an easy task.

Cats in Need gives me the opportunity with this offer to keep doing what I love, keep helping these poor little souls and changing their lives for the better.

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Cats in Need Help Mandry’s Fund Ruth Mew reports

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andry’s Fund was set up specifically to help Cyprus cats. If you have ever been on holiday to Cyprus, you cannot fail to have noticed the many feral cats hanging around hotels, fishing harbours, bars or wheelie bins scavenging for food. You may have even slipped a few scraps to one of them. So what happens when the holidaymakers go home?

growing numbers is controlled and there are fewer tiny kittens living on the streets with no shelter or food. Trap/neuter/ release, as this is known, is vital. Not only does it help to control the number of cats; it also prevents fighting and sexually transmitted diseases.

Mandry’s Fund is not a re-homing charity and has no shelter facilities, but simply wishes to help those cats born into the feral lifestyle.

Catching the Feral Cats

This poor cat is typical of those living around the restaurants in Cyprus If they are lucky, they may continue to get fed scraps by restaurant owners or one of the small local volunteer feeding groups, but many have to live on their wits. Some get poisoned, run over or simply do not thrive due to lack of care. In the meantime they continue to breed and so the problems escalate.

Catching the feral cats is no mean task.

Volunteers are often scratched or bitten.

Even worse is the fact that they cannot catch all the cats. Equipment is vital to help with this task. The volunteers have traps, but once a cat was caught in the trap, their only way of transporting the cat was inside the trap. This is not ideal. It is heavy and awkward and takes a lot of space up in a vehicle.

Trap/Neuter/Release

Mandry’s Fund helps the feral cats of Kouklia and Mandria in the Paphos region.

They concentrate on neutering as many cats as they can. The cats are operated on and then released back in their own environment. Yes, they still have problems surviving, but at least the problem of ever

A cat restrainer cage with side panel for transfer

11 Finding Homes

Although Mandry’s Fund does not predominantly re-home cats, they do of course try to find homes for those they can, in particular, the very young babies.

She is in the trap. Now we can switch her to our new basket.

There is a cat restrainer cage which provides an easy transfer from trap to cage. It is small and easy to transport.

Equipment is expensive and Mandry’s Fund have enough problems raising the money to spay the cats they catch. An appeal was made to Cats in Need.

Sue, the Chairperson, responded immediately and agreed to fund the cost of a cage. Unfortunately getting a cage delivered to Cyprus costs a lot of money so a further appeal was made for someone travelling to Cyprus to take it with them. A kind per-son has offered to help and this will be delivered in April.

Thank goodness for social media.

By October 2014 Mandry’s Fund had neutered 67 cats from the areas of Kouklia, Mandria, Timi, Ayia Barbara, Ayia Kyriaki Church and Paphos Universal. Bearing in mind how many kittens each female could have produced during that time, that is a lot fewer little furry babies having to fend for themselves on the streets.

A table top sale raising money for Mandry’s fund

Raising Funds

Mandry’s Fund volunteers work very hard to raise funds. They hold frequent sales and hold coffee mornings. In fact they will do anything they can to help the dear homeless cats. Visitors from the UK and other parts of Europe visit and support, often making donations which helps us to get more cats spayed. You can follow Mandry’s Fund on Facebook.

Two kittens that were vaccinated and homed

Our sincere thanks to Cats in Need for your help and to all the people who support you and us.

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Our stories all have happy endings, thanks to Cats in Need

Sophie Ptchopoulos reports on a year in the life of Club Pyla’s cats Loulou

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his lovely little cat arrived at Tsialis Hotel at the end of June, such a sweet cat and in October an English couple came to stay for 3 weeks and fell in love with her and wanted to take her to Malta with them where they live.

Popeye

21 days after her rabies injection and with a heavy heart I took her to Larnaca Airport yesterday. The new owners Jill and Philip called me on her arrival and she is fine and have called me again this morning and she is exploring their house and slept on their bed last night.

Popeye turned up here in June last year, a young kitten about 6 weeks old on his own with a bad eye which I believe he was born with. At around the same time a mother cat and two more kittens, Billy and Panther, arrived and I believe that he was her kitten also but she did not want him.

He had been to the vets twice including his spaying and the vet had treated his eye under sedation but we all agreed in the end to remove his eye as he was blind in it anyway and since he has been back has coped no differently than if he had two eyes.

Loulou In the car on the way from Malta Airport to her new home

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Poppy

Toddy is much better now. His wound has nearly healed completely; he is eating well and does not go far, unlike before when sometimes I did not see him for two or three days. He is 10 years old now. He spent six weeks at the vets, who said it was either a snake or dog bite.

Last Thursday this dear little friendly female turned up and she is pregnant. I passed by the vet yesterday to see if there was any money left and there is enough for one male who I would have taken today but I told the vet about the pregnant female and he said to bring her in, which I am going to do with a heavy heart but it needs to be done, as Jimmy is saying he is going to take her to the village.

It really has been a busy three months with the cats this year, Popeye’s eye has healed nicely and Toddy’s wound also is fine and his fur is starting to grow over; he will still have a scar I think though. My thanks to Sue and all the people from Cats in Need.

Without them none of these stories would have had a happy ending in 2014.

Valerie adds: Sophie has been making an average of two trips to the vets each week, and all the cats in the area are spayed and neutered.

I would like to add my thanks to Sue and Cats in Need for making all this possible.

Whisky, by Valerie

This is Whisky; he is my favourite cat at Club Pyla. He turned up a few years ago, and, as you can see, has had a hard life.

He is now safe and well and loves his little packets of food. He eats as much as he can. He has become a lovely old cat and is much loved. He is so content it is wonderful to see.

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Tales from the beach

Our precious Hoppy

By Ann

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met Hoppy about 2½ years ago, when I first started looking after the bunch of street cats that live behind the Dassoudi swimming pool car park. She had already lost one of her hind legs then, but she did not seem to mind. She was very agile and friendly to humans, but of course at a low rank within the cat community due to her disability.

The following spring she got spayed, and the vet recommended her to have somebody taking care of the leg at a later stage once she had fully recovered. We are very happy we were now given the opportunity to take her to the vet again to make her more comfortable. She will not now run the risk of catching infections on her leg any more, which was a constant worry in the past. With the support of our dedicated

vets she has already undergone surgery in March and is now recovering. We hope to find this charming creature the loving home she deserves, where she will get all the cuddles she has been missing out on over the last few years. She would make a wonderful companion as she is so friendly, and deserves some-one who will give her the special love she longs for.

Cornflakes

By Shirley Lovatt

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o you remember Cornflakes? He is a beautiful cat. He got sick in the early part of last year and had to stay in the vets. He had treatment and made a recovery, so he went back to the beach as he had been there since he was a kit-ten. He was 9 years old, the star of the beach. All the tourists loved him. He sat on the wall and posed for photos, and then suddenly he wasn’t there anymore.

We looked everywhere for him but there was no sign. We were told that someone said he should have a home, but he was so happy there and loved the kittens.

He was always with them eating and sometimes lying with them. We work so hard for these cats and get so attached to them it really is heart-breaking when they suddenly disappear.

If someone wants to give a cat a home we are pleased and hope they are happy, they do deserve it (but please let us know). We think he must have found a loving home as he was such a lovely cat. There are only two of us doing the cats now, Marion and my-self. Marion loves it and helps me be-cause I am not good on my legs.

Valerie adds: Shirley does endless good works looking after the cats. She is so dedicated and has a real gift with cats of all ages. The cats are very lucky to have her. Our thanks go out to her.

Manx Tales Further Adventures of Baz

News of the kittens who were rehomed in the Isle of Man

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By Anna Hemy

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i folks, Baz here again, or you can call me Mr Bazil Hemy King of the Cronk if you like. (For those of you who don’t know, a cronk is a hill in the Manx Gaelic language).

Anyway, update on my last update. You will recall that the last time I was in touch I had a trainee called Simba, a fellow moggy I was trying to train in the life and trials of a cat. Well, Simba would not pay attention, so he had to go. That is why his mum and dad sold their house and moved to Ballasalla on the other side of the Isle of Man. However, not to worry, there are plenty of other cats to keep in check, as well as dogs, and those pesky seagulls are still around. I see them off, especially when they make ice cream on my mum’s car. I have to be very careful because the new giant sized dog over the road can jump over my fence though and jeepers can it run. His name is Dobby and he can’t catch me - hee hee!

Silver Lining

My dad took me to the vet a few months ago and I have been informed that I have asthma. A trip to the doc every now and

then and I am fine. Also I get loads of attention when I visit Mr Vet, so every cloud has a silver lining.

Off Went the Van

A few months ago I went on an adventure. I went exploring in a big van thingy.

The next minute the door shut with a bang and off I went in it. I ended up in some far away land miles away from my mummy and daddy. I’d like to tell you where I was but I haven’t a clue and, boy, did I have a long journey home. It took me a whole night and day but, me being Baz, I made it back. The moral of this story cats is: don’t get into vans with strange men.

Ciao for now and see you next year.

Baz

Our Stories

Supporting the welfare of stray and sick cats in Cyprus

I’m Dimples. Read how Anita Dale Livaditis is helping me and the other cats in Zygi.

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I’m Toddy. Read how Sophie is helping me and my friends who live around the Club Pyla Holiday Apartments near Larnaca.

I am one of the many cats in Kellaki who are being helped by Giota Anastasiou.

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This is Cornflakes, one of many of the cats looked after by Shirley and Marion on Dassoudi Beach in Limassol.

Hi, I’m Baz, one of the cats who came to the Isle of Man in 2009. You can read of my latest adventures.

We are two lucky kittens from Kouklia and Mandria near Paphos, who have been helped by Ruth Mew from Mandry’s Fund.

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Cats in Need Cyprus | PO Box 153, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM99 1GU Telephone | +44(0)1624 619180 Email | catsinneed@manx.net