It has been a month since my last update, and coincidentally it is about a month since little Fleur (featured post) came into our lives. Actually maybe this is not a coincidence as this little darling, at least for the first 2 weeks, needed watching 24/7 owing to her badly broken leg!
Now Fleur is rushing around and playing with my big boys, just like any kitten. In fact there is no stopping her, and each day she becomes stronger and more adventurous. We await the results of her latest X-ray but Miguel was very happy when he examined her on Friday, particularly in that her healed bone has continued to grow at the same rate as her undamaged ones, so she has two matching legs!
Looking back over my last update, I have further news on the cats I mentioned then. Rufus & Robin and Tigre are all happy and loved in their new homes, and big Chivers DOES have his forever home sorted, and will move there in the next week, along with his little girlfriend from Hungary. Meanwhile a more suitable home has been found for little wild Nelson, and the latest news is that he is settled and doing fine with his new Mum. Please search on their names for more information on them all and their latest photos.
The transport to Germany was unfortunately cancelled in July, but I still managed to get 3 cats off to Germany on Saturday, thanks to Erika’s husband Frank, who took them with him on his Air Berlin flight to Dusseldorf. Thanks to foster Mums Erika and Jayne, of course to Frank, to Chris for driving them all to Malaga, and to Martina who picked them all up in Germany, AND to Air Berlin for being such a great airline with regard to transporting animals. Julio, Benny and Olli are all cats from PAWs Mojacar, who have yet to feature in posts on this blog, but I will be catching up with my photo posts during this week. Watch out for them as they are all beautiful cats.
Also since my last update, here in Almerimar we have 5 news cats, and 2 dogs for a change, all currently being fostered. Only the dogs were actually rescued in Almerimar but all are welcome to our help. One little dog has already been adopted by a kind Irish lady, having been picked up near the beach by an Englishman, who contacted me via this blog. His new Mum fell in love with him instantly and is sponsoring him while he waits for his passport to the UK. This will take 6 months so in the meantime a lovely German couple have taken him into their home.
We also have a small brown puppy, also currently officially in foster care, but rumour has it that his foster parents may keep him as he is SO cute. Fingers crossed as I heard yesterday that the protectora already has 300+ dogs. Thanks to Pam and Mary for turning dog ladies for a few days to sort these 2.
On the cat front I have been extremely busy. Last week I made 2 trips to vet Miguel at the protectora with different sets of cats and kittens, one trip to Begona our vet here with Julio, Benny and Olli, and a trip to Miguel’s private clinic in Almeria for Fleur’s X-ray, as well as spending Tuesday in Mojacar with Diane from PAWs meeting and taking photos of more of the cats up there, meeting up with another lady in Mojacar on Thursday night, to collect 2 more beautiful kittens (Zita and Vivi) for fostering here, and finally getting up around 6am on Saturday morning to help get the 3 cats on their way to the airport.
This week I am planning to catch up on my blog and records and get all the information and photos to Germany. I will then be back with Miguel hopefully next Monday, with more kittens for their next vaccinations.
Fortunately I have had less calls and emails asking for help in the last couple of weeks, but we are searching for a foster home for a new tame male siamese mix, who has turned up near an English couple’s house near to Mojacar, and I met up with Marco from Berja yesterday to lend him one of our catch cages.
I still have 2 litters of kittens, that are being looked after by the ladies who feed their mothers, that I need to start processing, and another wilder mother and kittens being fed by an English couple near Mojacar. I need to contact all these people this week, and add these cats to my plans.
Friday last week brought some slightly bad news for AlStrays in that we had our first FeLV positive blood test. This means that Lucy, a beautiful while female, carries feline leukaemia but as she is asymptomatic, she does have a chance of a good life. She does however now need a home alone or with another FeLV positive cat, which will make things more difficult. We have decided that she deserves her chance, and Jean and George will keep her apart from their other cats until she is ready to travel to Germany. I already have a foster home for her there, but she needs a flight partner as the stress of the 24 hour transport to Germany would not be good for her immune system, and her presence in the van would be a risk to the other cats.
Our other 2 news cats are the kittens Amber and Joe, both cute and rescued separately in Roquestas. More on them in a later post.
Enough! It has been a very busy few weeks for me. I currently have over 40 cats on my ‘to be helped list’, between here and Mojacar, and that is not counting the 3 litters of kittens I have yet to meet, and a colony of cats in Roquetas I have recently been made aware of. In addition one of our old street cats from Almerimar, Pretty Boy, has developed a rather more tame, affectionate charater since we took his manhood away, and he is now on my list for re-homing. SO watch our for lots of photos and updates over the coming weeks, and please get in touch if you think you could help us with fostering, or perhaps a small donation.
AND FINALLY, the photo is of very black Balu, one of our ‘wild ones’ in his forever home in Germany. He is slowly becoming more tame, but is still at about 1 year old, not too sure about people. He does however have a best friend in the older cat he now lives with and is very happy in his little world. A big thank you to his lovely parents who have given him his home, and once more to the girls in Germany whom I work with, and who spend hours of their spare time helping our Spanish strays.
Balu & Best Buddy