Adopting a Greek cat
Discussion
HOGEPH said:
I owe you a pint should we ever meet for your kind act towards these two cats!
Kind words, thank you. The vet, Nikos, in Thassos, summed it up brilliantly. We were putting the world to rights, and I said 'you can never solve all the problems in the world' to which he replied, 'no, but too many use that as an excuse to not do their little bit'. We needed to give these two little girls a life they deserve. Callia, the elder one eyed girl, has spent six years getting pregnant, presumably struggling for food and warmth in winter, and not getting her missing eye dealt with. Yet all the time all she wanted was human affection. These two little sods have cost us a fortune. Worth every bloody penny.
bexVN said:
I don't know how I missed this thread but so glad I have found it now! These two cats are finally going to get the chance of a great life thanks to your commitment and generosity.
Here's hoping they have a long and happy life with to you guys now
That's the plan Here's hoping they have a long and happy life with to you guys now
They're getting there. Callia is now showing her face a little more, taking them outside on leads twice a day (you don't half feel a prat walking a cat on a lead!) and we've introduced little one to the smallest dog, and let them see them in the porch whilst outside.
It shall take time with Callia, she's had six years of being used to being an outside stray.
vournikas said:
bexVN said:
I don't know how I missed this thread but so glad I have found it now! These two cats are finally going to get the chance of a great life thanks to your commitment and generosity.
Here's hoping they have a long and happy life with to you guys now
+1Here's hoping they have a long and happy life with to you guys now
Couldn't have put it better myself
It's a wonderful story, and one that very much resonates with my wife & I. See, we've holidayed in the Greek islands nine times since 2004 and there's been four occasions I can think of where a local stray sort of became part of the furniture during the two weeks. We would have loved to have brought back each of them, but thought it wouldn't be possible.
So, if anything, you've not only given these two lovely cats a comforting and loving new home but also given new resolve to people like my wife & I to do exactly the same thing when we next go all soft over a cat on a Greek island.
Great work, guys!
Thank you Yipper.
Has anyone with cats got one of these by any chance?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/One-Fast-Cat-Exercise-Wh...
Melena, the young one, has more energy than she knows what to do with. Think she'd love it, but £200 is a lot to spunk on a 'may work'
Has anyone with cats got one of these by any chance?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/One-Fast-Cat-Exercise-Wh...
Melena, the young one, has more energy than she knows what to do with. Think she'd love it, but £200 is a lot to spunk on a 'may work'
A very crappy pic - iphone, also on zoom to capture her - of Callia (one eye) in on of her favourite sleeping spots, about 20 metres away from our bungalow in Greece. Odd to think this was taken less than 2 weeks ago, 1500 odd miles away, and now she's upstairs on our bed with Sarah, in (not so) sunny Nottinghamshire!
garythesign said:
Sportidge said:
With it being a Greek cat, you also need to be aware of the language barrier.... 
Have loved reading this thread. I feel heartened that there are people like you in this worldThe above did not receive the recognition it deserved
One eye is now on her food and water ban, as tomorrow she's going to the vet to get spayed, and have her knackered eye sewn up. Our vet must be driving a Bentley with the bills we receive!
Post op photos up soon, I was just saying to Sarah, I think her one eyed look adds to her charm.
Callia's home. Very drugged up, spaced out, and I think probably a bit nervous. We got her out of her box and she launched like a rocket to get out the room. When we caught her her nails were dug in to the mattress, and she wouldn't let go, growling away.
She looks a bit of a mess, but importantly the eye is sewn up. Bloodied fur, part shaven head, and stitches on show. She'll always be beautiful to us though.
And her better side -
She looks a bit of a mess, but importantly the eye is sewn up. Bloodied fur, part shaven head, and stitches on show. She'll always be beautiful to us though.
And her better side -
Edited by Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah on Friday 13th October 20:29
Japveesix said:
I love posts like this, good work.
Pretty much every holiday we've been on to Turkey/Greece/Spain etc we've had the same issue of wanting to take the cats home with us. Thankfully we eventually cured this desire (mostly) by getting the two most rejected, nervous and longest serving rescues from the local shelter (over a year in a small rescue cell) and saving them. Looks like it would have practically bankrupted us to bring any home anyway!
Elaborate on the saving of them? Unless I've misconstrued your post. Pretty much every holiday we've been on to Turkey/Greece/Spain etc we've had the same issue of wanting to take the cats home with us. Thankfully we eventually cured this desire (mostly) by getting the two most rejected, nervous and longest serving rescues from the local shelter (over a year in a small rescue cell) and saving them. Looks like it would have practically bankrupted us to bring any home anyway!
These two girls seem to be getting settled a bit more. When the builders are in I'm going to get a hole made at the bottom of the stairwell for them to come and go in to the front room, away from the dogs, as and when they please.
Japveesix said:
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Elaborate on the saving of them? Unless I've misconstrued your post.
We got these two, possibly mum and son but not 100% sure, as they came from a multi-cat home where they were abused/unloved (female only has 1 canine) and they just divided them into pairs at the rescue randomly. Molly is the calico and Gus the black male (we were watching the first series of Fargo at the time),We actually went in to look at dogs for my girlfriend's relatives and saw these two in passing, then 6 months later went back to look for cats for ourselves and were depressed to see them still there
It turned out they'd actually been there for just over a year and had very little interest as the male hid in a box the entire time and the female was simply terrified of people/noise/everything. We choose them over a number of super friendly sociable cats as we just felt so sorry for them 
Perhaps one day they'll pay us back by sitting in the same room as us for more than a couple of minutes or maybe even hopping onto a lap....
....but probably not.
Yours look amazingly settled for just two weeks! It's taken a year for these two to get that far, maybe we should have rescued some Turkish kittens after all!
(disclaimer - our cats are mega and super rewarding and my favourite things in the world but they are also really hard work and we genuinely base our entire movements and routines in the house on where they are so we don't frighten or stress them unnecessarily - it's bizarre)
They are getting there, but I worry about 1 eye, as she has always been an outside cat. She's now got a trouble free life, but we worry she may think we're imprisoning here - no letting her outside either ATM, due to her ops. All litter tray trained, which is a good thing. In the bungalow in Greece, which we needed to keep her in on the last night, she pissed on the mattress, before we left it was swiftly rotated 180deg. Don't tell them, we wouldn't mind going back again!
My best friend also had a Molly cat.
The local vet suspects one eye is inbreed. She has a deformed bone on her chest between her two front legs, which worried us a bit. The vet suspects it's a random defect from her mum and dad being related.
Next step, get them used to the three dogs, and vice versa..... wish us luck.
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Japveesix said:
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Elaborate on the saving of them? Unless I've misconstrued your post.
We got these two, possibly mum and son but not 100% sure, as they came from a multi-cat home where they were abused/unloved (female only has 1 canine) and they just divided them into pairs at the rescue randomly. Molly is the calico and Gus the black male (we were watching the first series of Fargo at the time),We actually went in to look at dogs for my girlfriend's relatives and saw these two in passing, then 6 months later went back to look for cats for ourselves and were depressed to see them still there
It turned out they'd actually been there for just over a year and had very little interest as the male hid in a box the entire time and the female was simply terrified of people/noise/everything. We choose them over a number of super friendly sociable cats as we just felt so sorry for them Perhaps one day they'll pay us back by sitting in the same room as us for more than a couple of minutes or maybe even hopping onto a lap....
....but probably not.
Yours look amazingly settled for just two weeks! It's taken a year for these two to get that far, maybe we should have rescued some Turkish kittens after all!
(disclaimer - our cats are mega and super rewarding and my favourite things in the world but they are also really hard work and we genuinely base our entire movements and routines in the house on where they are so we don't frighten or stress them unnecessarily - it's bizarre)
They are getting there, but I worry about 1 eye, as she has always been an outside cat. She's now got a trouble free life, but we worry she may think we're imprisoning here - no letting her outside either ATM, due to her ops. All litter tray trained, which is a good thing. In the bungalow in Greece, which we needed to keep her in on the last night, she pissed on the mattress, before we left it was swiftly rotated 180deg. Don't tell them, we wouldn't mind going back again!
My best friend also had a Molly cat.
The local vet suspects one eye is inbreed. She has a deformed bone on her chest between her two front legs, which worried us a bit. The vet suspects it's a random defect from her mum and dad being related.
Next step, get them used to the three dogs, and vice versa..... wish us luck.
king nuts you two' and laughed his head off.#The most disconcerting part of bringing them home was at pet-check in. They made us take them out their carriers, so they (the boxes) could be scanned. Good job they were calm, they could have bolted. They should maybe instead take them in to a room to remove them.
Japveesix said:
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
She is gorgeous. Such amazing markings! I'll show Sarah your post, she'll love it.
They are getting there, but I worry about 1 eye, as she has always been an outside cat. She's now got a trouble free life, but we worry she may think we're imprisoning here - no letting her outside either ATM, due to her ops. All litter tray trained, which is a good thing. In the bungalow in Greece, which we needed to keep her in on the last night, she pissed on the mattress, before we left it was swiftly rotated 180deg. Don't tell them, we wouldn't mind going back again!
My best friend also had a Molly cat.
The local vet suspects one eye is inbreed. She has a deformed bone on her chest between her two front legs, which worried us a bit. The vet suspects it's a random defect from her mum and dad being related.
Next step, get them used to the three dogs, and vice versa..... wish us luck.
Good luck!They are getting there, but I worry about 1 eye, as she has always been an outside cat. She's now got a trouble free life, but we worry she may think we're imprisoning here - no letting her outside either ATM, due to her ops. All litter tray trained, which is a good thing. In the bungalow in Greece, which we needed to keep her in on the last night, she pissed on the mattress, before we left it was swiftly rotated 180deg. Don't tell them, we wouldn't mind going back again!
My best friend also had a Molly cat.
The local vet suspects one eye is inbreed. She has a deformed bone on her chest between her two front legs, which worried us a bit. The vet suspects it's a random defect from her mum and dad being related.
Next step, get them used to the three dogs, and vice versa..... wish us luck.
Molly pissed on our bed a number of times as she was too nervous to go anywhere more public I think (we kept them inside for close to 6 months in the end as they were so anxious about life in general and we were worried they'd run away if they weren't totally settled in the house first). She also did a poo on the floor by my side of the bed and buried it with my clothes - that'll teach me to leave stuff lying on the floor I guess.
Fortunately we're far past that stage now but it was very stressful for a while and we still have a lovely thick weave rug wrapped up in the roof that we've cleaned and aired many times now but it still has a slight hint of cat wee to it as it was used many times before we realised as it just soaked up the smell - nice. Too nice to get rid of but too cat wee smelly to use, first world problems.
Also, Melania is only 4-5 months old, and has a thing for catching toes. At 4am. When you've been on the coping juice the night before. Send. Her. Back. To. Greece. NOW!!
HOGEPH said:
Happiness is a bed full of rescue cats... 
When I first got Wilson - our 50KG Dobe x Viz, I let him on my bed, as I had a sense he needed the comforting, to feel at home. Then the little b
d figured out how to open door handles. It's door knobs all around now! My favourite breed is also rescue. Up to 5, and told her that's it!
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