Hamlet

Hamlet is a cat that originates from over at the maisonettes.  Nik got this photo just before Hamlet  started showing up at our house.  He thought this might have been Mikey's Mom, but when I took a good look at the picture, I was pretty sure this was a Tomcat.  There is a possibility he is Mikey's Dad though.

Hamlet is from the maisonettes

 The maisonettes are circled in red

Could Hamlet be Mikey's Dad? 

For a Tomcat in the summer season, he was awfully nice to the other cats who come to our garden to eat, which is highly unusual.  When we coupled that with how poorly he looked, we started thinking he might be sick.

Our friend Ron, who helped us build our balcony pet enclosure, told us about a friendly Tomcat he and his wife Ann named Tiger, who started coming to his house and was very sick.  When he got Tiger to the vet, they found he had feline pneumonia.  From the way Ron described Tiger's symptoms to us, they sound a lot like Hamlet's.

Hamlet is quite ill

We are going to try and trap Hamlet so we can get him to a vet and get him some medicine.  He is eating (he loves full fat yogurt), but it is a struggle for him because of his labored breathing, and he is awfully thin.  We are concerned about him, because feline pneumonia is a life threatening disease that can progress quickly.  We had hoped to trap him this morning but he didn't show up, so we will try again tonight. 

Please keep Hamlet in your prayers.  He is terrified of us, quite ill, and probably quite young.

Thank you. 

In the Absence of Ideal Solutions, We Take Rosie and Fuzz to the Shelter

We decided to take Rosie and Fuzz to the shelter at the end of last week. 

Fuzz and Rosie in the carrier before their journey to the shelter

It was a hard decision, and we are not entirely comfortable it it.  It came down to weighing up the options, though none of them presently available was ideal. 

Rosie and Fuzz came from the Park

It would be nice if we were weighing up between good and better.  But in the absence of people willing to step forward and offer homes to these cats, and because we do not have the appropriate land for a sanctuary yet, and because our house is full, it seems always to come down to weighing up between bad and worse. 

Taking them to the shelter is not what we wanted

I had started picking Rosie and Fuzz up and putting them on the table to feed in the mornings, because I wanted them to get used to being handled, so they could be adoptable.  They weren't thrilled with the idea of being picked up at first, but it wasn't long at all before they both warmed up to the idea, seeing as how it meant they would get special delicious kitten food that they wouldn't have to fight for, and they no longer had to worry about being pushed away from their plates by Baby's older kittens (who seem to have bottomless stomachs). 

Getting to know Fuzz

Soon after they got accustomed to being handled, they started meeting me up at the top of the park with the other older cats in the morning.  This upper area is a lot closer to the dangerous seafront road.  This development started making us even more nervous than we already were for their safety. 

Many of the cats meet me at the upper level of the park in the morning

How we would have loved to have brought them home with us to live! 

Seeing how quickly they were growing, and knowing the preference of people for kittens over cats, we decided Rosie and Fuzz's best chance to be adopted would be at the Paphiakos Shelter, whose policy is a no kill one for cats - before they get any older. 

The kittens at the park are growing up fast

Fuzz has grown a lot

But being the smallest they often get pushed away from the food plates - that's Rosie in the middle

Soon after we took them to the shelter, two friends told us they would be euthanized there.   There are many rumors about shelters and it is difficult to seperate fact from fiction.  And animal lovers can understandably fear the worst.  But Paphiakos has assured and reassured us they have a no kill policy for cats.  They cannot say the same for dogs. 

We trust that they are telling us the truth at Paphiakos and we trust that Rosie and Fuzz will be safe there, safer than they will be at the park where the cars are a danger, illness is a danger, and poisoning is always a fear.

We are still searching for affordable property in the area for a private sanctuary, and we have found another piece recently that is relatively affordable, but our reservation is it will not be big enough, being only 2.5 skalas as compared to the 5-6 we really need for the number of cats we are intent on relocating. 

We are still looking for agricultural land for a sanctuary for the cats - this one at 5 skala is perfect, but very expensive at about 350,000 USD

But until the day comes we are able to afford and secure an appropriate piece of land, we are unfortunately forced now to decide between bad and worse. 

We have 27 cats in the house at the moment right now, and more living outside

I miss seeing them every morning a lot.  I know Squiggles misses them, too.  I have not been able to get Squiggles to warm up yet to a touch.  If I had we would have kept the three of them together.

Squiggles misses Rosie and Fuzz

Playing at the park

It often adds up like this for us:

WORST:  We could leave them on the streets where they can be killed by cars, poisonings, or cat flu

BETTER:  We could take them to a safe shelter where they have a chance (even if small) of being adopted.  They will be cared for, we trust, for the remainder of their natural life. Kittens will have the best chance of adoption in this situation.

BETTER:  We can still hope for foster homes.

BETTER STILL:  We can go forward and build a sanctuary where we will relocate and look after the cats with appropriate space, also making them available for adoption to qualified homes.  We plan on doing this in any case, God willing.

IDEAL/BEST : We can find suitable, loving, safe, stable and permanent homes for all of the cats.


We ask for your prayers for Fuzz and Rosie that they will be well looked after at the shelter, and will be able to stay together and make many friends, and that a kind and loving person will adopt them both and give them the loving, permanent home they deserve. 

Please pray Rosie and Fuzz will find a good home

It wasn't a happy day to take them to the shelter. It was a sad day.  And we don't feel great about our decision.  But we would feel even worse if something happened to them at the park such as happened to Zsa Zsa or Tweeny or Tweets, or all the others we lost before we started this blog.  For now, that is what it comes down to for us, deciding between two not so hot options.

Rosie

They are the first of the street cats we care for that we have ever taken to a shelter.

It was a difficult day.

BTW  Paphiakos is collecting cans for recycling to raise money for their shelter.  If you live in Cyprus, please save your cans for them and see their home page for drop off points.  

Mikey's Sibling - One of the Missing Kittens

The first day we heard Mikey's cries, we heard other siblings crying as well.  One voice originally came from across the dangerous seafront road we live on; one we could hear was farther down the neighborhood, along the same road, but getting smaller and smaller.  We don't know what happened to that kitten.  Then we heard one coming from under my car.  This could have been the same one who we heard across the road, and it crossed the road (whoa!).  Or it could have been a fourth kitten.  We don't know.  But the kitten that was under our car we do know is now living in a lumber pile over at the maisonettes, and though we have seen it, and have been feeding it, we have not been able to catch it. 

The kitten that was under our car

Mikey's sibling now living under a pile of lumber alone

These pictures we took the other night.

This little kitten is awfully young to be on its own and alone for so long.  Little Mikey is so needy, it is hard to imagine how this kitten is coping with all its stress and no comfort of a mother, or the nutrients of its mother's milk. 

Too young to be alone

and likely very afraid

On a more positive note, this kitten has been eating the food we have been putting out for it and that is good. The other positive thing is that it is staying put and not wandering around in dangerous places like the road, also enabling us to know where to put the food.   (Also please know, I am referring to the kitten as "it" because we have no idea at this point if it is a he or a she, not because we think of it as an it.)

Meet "Mikey" Tyson

Remember this little guy?

"I used to bite"

Well, he has been living upstairs in the 2nd bedroom with Arsinoe and Tweets' kittens since the night he got back from the vets:

Arsinoe is in the little house with one of Tweets' two kittens, the other kitten is in front

Starlight and her kittens still live in the master bedroom, but we can open both bedroom doors now without concern, and they all can run around back and forth and have a very amusing kitten party.  When they need time out we just close the doors. 

Starlight

Starlight with Sophie and Cosmo

Mikey Tyson, the once feral biter, is now as sweet, cute, lovable, (and sometimes loud), as can be. 




Sweet

Cute

Lovable

 

(and sometimes Loud)





 Mikey

The Cats Are Waiting for A New Generation Of Better Human Beings - Artist Raul Gubert and His Cats

The Cats Are Waiting for a New Generation of Better Human Beings, by artist Raul Gubert,  copyright 2012

We are featuring some of artist's Raul Gubert's paintings today because we think they are deadly accurate.  From our experience we have come to understand that we do not have a cat problem in Cyprus. We have a people problem. We would say this is true the world over.  Every problem comes down to a people problem.

One thing we love about great Art is it keeps you honest.  A really great work gets under your skin and brings you face to face with your true self, the one sometimes you are running away from, or the one that has been lost as you go through the tedium of day to day living and forget what's important and become a kind of zombie.  When you are confronted with a truly great work of art,  you walk away from it different, changed, more in touch with your present self than you were before you viewed it.  If it is a truly great work, you will walk away from it more honest, but not always more happy.

That is the value of great art and that is why we build these little (or big) churches for it we call museums, because there is something sacred and religious about it - like the light of Christ reflects our true nature back to us, often making us want to run from ourselves, so does great art reflect back to us the current state of our souls.

Raul Gubert is an artist we met through FAA.  He is from Italy, but is currently residing in Ireland. We are proud to call him a friend.

Raul has the quality of work that stands out among the crowd and keeps us honest.  We believe one day we will see his work in museums.  Thank you for visiting our blog, Raul, thank you for caring about these cats you have never met, especially Zsa Zsa, and thank you for your encouragement.  Nik and I wish you much success. 

What a Night - Looking for the Siblings

Last night we awoke to an ear splitting chorus of kitten mews and  yelping.  Our new little friend was outside in his carrier, isolated from the other cats because of his ringworm, awaiting his morning visit with George and Christina, our vets.  We have no idea who started the heavy metal chorus, but apparently this kitten has two, perhaps three or more, very tiny vocal siblings wandering the neighborhood looking for their mom.

The one with the teeth

It was so loud I was sure our neighbors would come out to complain. 

We could hear one of the kittens getting farther and farther down the road with his cries.  Another sounded like it was across the road.  As we went searching and unintentionally made noise with our big clumsy feet, they would become deathly quiet.  At one point, when we returned, we found one had made it to our yard, maybe because he was attracted to the mewing of his sibling in the carrier, and he had gone up under my car, somewhere in the engine or wheel well.

Kitten #2 was under here somewhere

We got food and a trap and pulled the crated sibling up close to the car.  We sat for ages.  Finally, how, we don't know, the sibling disappeared and we could then hear him at the maisonettes next door.  We have been trying to capture him/her ever since.  He is now the only one we can hear aside from our biting fighter in the crate.

We sat for ages

Tonight, we were creeping around the maisonettes with a flashlight totally trespassing, and we saw the sibling, and got it to eat some food, but we could not catch it.  It has wedged itself between two wooden fences.  Our best bet now is to gain its trust with food and keep going back hoping it will come to us.

Nik thinks he knows who the mother might have been.  He has not seen her since yesterday morning.  She lived around the maisonettes.  Obviously something has happened to her, or she would be with her young kittens and they wouldn't have scattered like this. I believe he has a picture of her, but right now he is getting some much needed sleep. 

As we sat outside last night with Sylvia and Amber, we had a visit from Sundance.  Today we had a visit from Big Van.

Sylvia kept us company last night and has been following us to the maisonettes

Right now I will leave you with  more  pictures of the kitten from yesterday.  We are able to handle him now.  A day with our vets, George and Christina,  seems to have done the trick, as he was handled all day.  Now he is rather docile and cries whenever we leave the side of his carrier.

More Than I Could Chew

I wish I had a picture for you of this one.  Nik took the camera today, so I will get one for you when he gets home from work.

Earlier this morning when out in the garden, I heard a tiny kitten crying.  Desperately yelping over and over, like they do when they are frightened or some such.  I checked all our cats inside and everyone was fine.  I thought it sounded like it was coming from inside the house next door, where a young family with three children is vacationing.  "Maybe they picked up a little stray kitten," I thought.  Later I saw them trying to get something out from under their car with a broom handle.  Thinking back, I don't think they were trying to be cruel.  I think they just needed to back their car out, so if there was a kitten under there, it was good of them to get it out before backing up.  But at that point I was still thinking that maybe their new pet stray kitten had gotten out of the house and crawled up under the car. 

But just now, hours later, I went to turn off the garden hose and I heard the same yelping begin and it was coming distinctly from our garden.  In fact it was super close to me.  I bent down to get nearer to the sound and sure enough in the corner of our garden behind a large blue garden pot hid a tiny pale orange kitten that was the color of Bette and Amber, and just a little smaller than Sophie was when we found her.  I reached down behind the large pot to pick it up, no easy task, and I learned the true meaning of feral.  This kitten is 100% curry phal.

pale orange like Bette

pale orange like Amber

and a little smaller than Sophie was

He/she (who had time to ask?), bit into me and would not let go.  I mean would not let go.  I sat there wondering how on earth I was going to detach this biting kitten from my tender epidermal.  And when it saw that it was getting nowhere with me, it just clamped down harder and began squeezing my skin, tendons, veins, and everything else underneath between it's tiny teeth.  Let me just say, it really made me appreciate Sophie.

The poor angry darling is covered in ringworm but doesn't appear to be starving.  We'll get him/her into George and Christina our vets tomorrow to see what's going on.  And meanwhile little Mike Tyson is outside in a very large dog carrier in case the Mom and author of this super featherweight orange prize fighter comes around.  George, Christina, get out your gloves...

Remember Nik's hand the night we caught Jazzy?  Well that's what my hand looks like now, only the female version.

Now Nik and I will have his and hers photos

  I guess I bit off a little more than I could chew.  Hmmm.  Ouch.