Last October, I raised an amazing £652 to help The Greek Cat Welfare Society (Rhodes) from the people who love Pawz for Thought and my Facebook friends. I am off to Rhodes again at the end of the month and will be donating to the charity again while I am there, so if anyone wants to donate a small amount, it would be very, very welcome. I don’t anticipate the huge success of last year, but every penny counts.

Being the 'crazy cat lady' of Pawz for Thought means that when I am on holiday in Greece, I usually find a holiday cat within hours of arriving (or they find me!). Visiting Lindos 18 months ago after a long absence, we were surprised to see there were more and more cats that had ear tips missing, indicating they were neutered. They looked fit and healthy and there were very few kittens around. I remember the days when Lindos was full of very ill looking cats and kittens that could hardly see. We found out that it was due to the work of the Greek Cat Welfare Society. They have a trap, neuter, return programme and also run feeding stations in a couple of resorts. We decided we wanted to help. 

Last October we met Andrea who runs the Greek Cat Welfare Society at the vets in Rhodes and were able to buy a huge amount of drugs and medical supplies desperately needed to run their neutering programme. The donation was very gratefully received and meant that many more cats are now safely neutered and won’t be adding to the population. They are also healthy and live a better quality life. We also went to the wholesaler and bought food to start their winter feeding programme which started as we left the island at the end of October. Winter for the cats means no tourists to feed them, very few restaurants open and very little food. It costs 20 Euro to buy a big sack of dried food that could last a winter feeder 2 weeks. We fed a couple of feral colonies in Lindos every morning and evening too while we were there, getting their fat reserves built up before the winter hit. We also gave some of these cats flea/wormer treatment and antibiotics because we noticed they had flu symptoms. 

We also visited Kalithea Cats while we were on the island. This is a fabulous area near the beach that has become a sanctuary for lots of cats! It was the most wonderful place. They have a small enclosure where they are fed every day and have shelter, but can come and go as they please. I bought food for them last year from my own donation and would like to also help them, now that I have seen how amazing it is.
Like last year, the money is all going into Pawz for Thought's bank account first (so it is all above board and not going into my personal bank account) and then I will be given the funds that I raise to take with me to Greece. 

 
GCWS do a fantastic job keeping their numbers down and improving their health, improving the lives of hundreds of cats. Pawz for Thought has a firm neutering policy and neutering over 50 feral cats in Sunderland was one of the first things the charity did, so it is wonderful to see that the Greek cats are getting help too. Greece wouldn't be Greece without its cats and I adore the country and its culture - I rarely holiday anywhere else!!! For the last 24 years I have seen so many disadvantages cats but at least in some places, they are now being looked after. Can you help?

This is a link to my story last October from the Pawz website -

http://www.pawzforthought.org/index.php/news/492-our-cat-co-ordinator-helping-the-cats-in-rhodes-greece

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