This is my article published in the Euro Weekly News this week, in praise of the lovely German people who at times adopt problem cats. Since I wrote this article, Albi, pictured has found his forever home. A kind lady is adopting him and Finbar, featured in my previous post.
I have been asked so many times why people in Germany want our Spanish street cats. Surely, people say to me, there are strays in German to be adopted. The answer is of course there are some strays there and farm cats, but there are far less than in Spain, Hungary and Greece, from where cats are homed by the German organisation I work with. I also like to think it is because our Spanish cats with their lean, more feral look, are more beautiful!
Of course another reason is that our strays arrive in their new homes fully vaccinated, blood tested and, if older, sterilised, and with the support of the charity behind them if there are any problems. They also come in an amazing array of colours and breed mixes, and at times include pedigree or almost pedigree cats. Siamese cats in particular are not valued here in Spain in the same way, so we have many beautiful siam-mix cats that you would never see wandering about the streets of Germany.
The best explanation however to all of this is that the German people love animals and identify with the plight of the many strays across Europe in countries where animals are treated less well. Is it so hard to believe that there is a lot of kindness out there? I know this to be the case, because whilst some adoptants do go for the beautiful siamese cats or the cutest blue-eyed kittens, other people fall for very different cats.
As I wrote last week, we have already home 2 beautiful FiV positive cats, and whilst I loved them both, I will admit their beauty is mainly in their characters. Both are big old bruisers from the streets, and neither are in the first flush of youth! We have also homed a kitten (admittedly gorgeous), who could barely open his mouth to feed, an epileptic cat with a partially paralysed leg, and 5 kittens to date who, when they arrived in Germany, were hissing, spitting little devils! I have also seen other cats, including a blind one, find homes when I look at the German web site.
There is a lot of cruelty out there, but around the world, there are also many kind animal loving people.
Albi