Rhodos cats

Before we even went to Rhodos, I knew we’d be seeing a lot of stray cats. As a cat lover, my cat radar is always active and naturally I noticed the street cats everywhere we went. Every town had them. What struck me is that I never really saw stray dogs even though I was told that they would be there as well. It was all about the stray cats on Rhodos for us. Some didn’t look great, many had scratched noses or other scars, but there were also cats that looked alright and seemed to be fed. From the start, my camera was pointed towards the cats we came across.

The first cats we noticed were the cats living opposite our hotel. There were about 6 to 8 cats there. There was food for them and water and there was one mum with her baby. The baby cat loved a cuddle, mum cat appreciated strokes as well…

We saw a lot of cats on Rhodos. There were black and white cats…

… and ginger (and white) cats…

… and black cats…

… and white cats…

… and white with other colours cats…

… and several more cats of other colours…

We had several personal encounters with cats. In Rhodos city, my daughter approached a mum and kittens. The mum wasn’t too keen on being touched, but especially the one kitten really wanted contact and proceeded to weave around my daughter’s legs…

Mr Esther, my daughter and I were at a Rhodos city park one afternoon and came across a mum and her kittens. They looked well and there was food and water for them. The kittens were keen on cuddling, one even spontaneously climbed into my daughter’s lap and tried to play with her earphones…

At one of the monasteries we went to, we came across a well-looking cat who was very eager to be touched, she followed us around everywhere…

I was curious to find out whether there were any charities on Rhodos that looked after the cats. I found one charity called ‘Kalithea Cats’. They operate locally in the town of Kalithea, and are mostly a charity that feeds and cares for local cats that come to them. People know to find them and regularly, when they arrive at the shelter in the mornings, they’ll find cats and kittens that have been left outside the enclosure. Cats are also brought to them from all over the island. My daughter and I were very curious to see this shelter, so we made a point of visiting it one morning, bringing some cat food with us to donate to them. The shelter is situated in a shady spot right outside Kalithea’s main tourist attraction, the Kalithea springs. As we approached, we saw cats lying around outside the enclosure (which is only used for cats that need special care)…

The enclosure is not so large…

… and the volunteers told us about their work, while also going about their business. The two main people seemed to be the English lady who also answers messages on their Facebook page (and replied to my request to come and vist) and a German lady. They both have been living on Rhodos for quite a few years.

In the summer they care for a lot of kittens, either without mums or where mums and/or kittens are ill. In the fall, at the end of tourist season when hotels and resorts close in neighbouring tourist hotspot Faliraki, many cats come to the shelter for food. They care for sick animals (there are regular disease outbreaks and eye diseases are quite common) and they care for animals that have been abused. They also try to have as many cats neutered as possible. Occasionally cats get adopted, sometimes even internationally, but they don’t have the resources to organize international adoption. They will allow cats to go if people can arrange all formalities themselves, but arranging all that takes some time. Some cats are also adopted to Germany through an organization called ‘Flying Cats’ who comes to collect some adoptable cats twice a year.

We helped out a bit with feeding the cats. I stood guard over the food of one spooked cat (who had been abused in the past and had a scrappy, half tail because it had been set on fire once) so that she could eat in peace without fear of her food being eaten by others. Spooky cat had been gone for a long time, the staff had feared she had died, and she’d only resurfaced recently so they were determined to have her eat as well as possible. My daughter alerted one of the volunteers to a wound in one of the cat’s neck. Not a deep wound, but it did need a little attention. And there was also time for cuddling the cats and giving them a little attention…

When we left again, we promised to donate some money (mentioning Kalithea cats in the donation) to help them buy food and other necessities for the cats…

So, for #InternationalCatDay I made my donation…

My daughter & I visited Kalithea cat rescue last week. They do great work for street cats on Rhodos. We're donating to them for #Internationalcatday https://t.co/agFDxHNwYu pic.twitter.com/CQLUfpcfVi

— Book of Esther Blog (@BookEstherBlog) August 8, 2018

I always knew I loved cats but now I have the suspicion that it could easily turn into something more, that one day I may turn into an old cat-lady caring for tons of cats myself…