It's a hard life for the street cats on Crete

My family and me have 17 rescue cats and also try to help strays in our neighbourhood.

I first met Pascalin, Pascal's mum, near some garbage bins in my neighbourhood in 2009. She was so beautiful, a tuxie girl with a black spot on her face, that I fell in love with her. I fed her when I met her now and then. She was wild and reserved, and didn't let me touch her. Other people also fed her, along with other strays, but I wanted to help her more.

In 2011 Pascalin got pregnant (she must have also been pregnant before, but I didn't meet her that often to know). In May 2011, she gave birth to two lovely boys, Eretzoum and Pascal. I finally managed to catch her and get her neutered. After neutering, she became calmer and when her kittens grew older, she followed me to a friend's house, where she remained.

I also tried to tame her little boys. I was more close to Eretzoum than to Pascal, who seemed more independent. I met them by the garbage bins often, but they wandered about the neighbourhood too. A hard life, eating from garbage, facing daily dangers like cars or bad people ...

I promised to get them neutered, and I finally got Eretzoum sterilized in April 2013. He had moved to a block of flats along with other strays. A kind person must have fed them there. Pascal had no prominent residence, (I've mentioned he was wilder than Eretzoum).

A month after his neutering, Eretzoum vanished. I hoped, since he was so sweet, someone from the block of flats, had adopted him. But this is not how things are in Greece. Even people who care for stray cats, feed them outside. It's inevitable, since there are so many strays. We were different, we adopted many strays, and this is why we have 17 now.

In January 2014, I met the girl who was feeding Eretzoum and other strays, and she told me he died in May 2013... Probably he got a cold or another disease and he died helpless...

It had also been some time since I’d seen Pascal and I didn't know what had happened to him too. One night in November 2012, I heard cats fighting in our yard. It was Pascal meowing at our Stefan. "Pascal, you here?" I was worried, because he had crossed a road with many cars. My mum was also worried. We had 20 cats then. We couldn't adopt another one. As you can imagine, the cost is big, but more than that, most of the time we are concerned about our babies' health problems and deaths...

I also hoped Pascal would find somewhere else to live but he kept on coming back to us every day. I was very worried he would be hit by a car as he crossed the road so often. Finally, in January 2013, I managed to get him neutered and he has stayed with us ever since

Pics:
1) Tuxie Pascalin at my friend's house (unfortunately now she's left Greece and her cats, Pascalin too, live outdoors)
2) Darling Eretzoum who died helpless only 2 years old...
3) Pascal jellybellying
 

Efthimia

You can contact Efthimia at Twitter: @efthimiak 

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