Cat cafe's in Fuerteventura

[Janeyk]

That's a brilliant thing to do  and it's so heartwarming to see, well done them!

[clarenmax]

What they are doing is wonderful 

[Gillian Harvey]

Thats brilliant 

[maryas]

That is so fantastic

Mary

[Millys Mum]

Its lovely that all the neutering done by ex pats is starting to show in small areas, stil alot to be done but it must have been nice to go to a resort and not see starving cats  the stray cat/dog problem puts me off the idea of going to many european places

[Claire_smc]

Also lovely to read about Elly who left her farmhouse for the charity after she passed away so they wouldn't have to work from the hotels. I love the idea of the Cat Cafe's, so simple and effective, pretty much everyone I know befriends a stray cat or five when they go on holiday, and I'm sure they'd all love to have something like this where they could put some kibble down to help them It's just a shame that in most resorts the hotel managers try to get rid of the cats

[Tiggy's Mum]

Although it's sad to see the PTS figures, it is also good that they can spare the cats from hiding in a bush to die in pain 

Yep, it is sad but 5 cats from 345 is pretty good going, especially given that these are all 'street cats' with no home and without regular veterinary care.

Have you looked at the website Mark? So inspiring, the lady that started he charity went on holiday there 15 years ago and was so sad to see all the sick, homeless animals so she took it upon herself to do something about it.

http://www.twinkletrust.org/why_was_twinkle_started.html

In April 1995 Andrew Storey and myself, Jenny Billimore, first visited Fuerteventura for a one week holiday. Little did I know at that time how my life was about to change forever. Throughout the week we witnessed countless cats and kittens dying in the grounds of the holiday apartments, most of them looked as though they were suffering from cat- ‘flu' and many of the kittens had such badly infected eyes they could not open them.

At first we tried to help by putting down some food each day and washing the kitten's eyes, so at least they could see but each day we found more and more in need of help. We knew without veterinary treatment many of them were going to die. We tried in vain to make it down to the beach or to the car and carry on with our holiday but in the end it was impossible to pretend that this was anything ‘but' a holiday. I felt so helpless and desperate. I was only able to give them temporary relief and knew as soon as we returned home many would be left to suffer alone.

When it was time for us to leave the apartment and fly back to England, we were both overwhelmed with sadness at the thought of leaving so many sick cats and kittens. As we boarded our return flight home, I made a promise to the cats that I would not forget them and would come back. Once back home I would spend my lunch breaks at work, trying to contact as many animal welfare groups as I could find to see if they could or would go and help these poor Fuerteventurian cats. I was getting more and more desperate after each organisation I contacted said they same thing ‘they did not have the funds or the staff to help'.

So one month after returning home we went back to Fuerteventura to bring home a little black female cat that we just could not forget about, whom we had called Twinkle. As soon as we arrived we went back to the complex where she lived and we found her lying at the bottom of tree, trying to take shade from the blazing sun. Sadly since we had left she had caught cat- ‘flu' and despite spending four days in the local vet's, she died. The day after her death, I approached the complex owner and asked what was being done about the cat situation, I was horrified when he explained their inhumane methods for controlling the cat population but I was grateful for his honesty, it made me even more determined to help all the cats that I had to leave behind.

As nobody else was able or prepared to carry out humane cat control, I took it upon myself to find some volunteer vets and helpers and raise the money for a cat sterilising trip if the complex owner would help me get permission. The owner not only helped me gain permission from the local authorities in Fuerteventura but he also offered us free use of some accommodation and a place to carry out the operations.

By the end of our second heartbreaking visit to Fuerteventura we decided to bring home another little black cat that we had grown to love and a five week old kitten that had been brought into our apartment by a member of the complex staff after she had heard that Twinkle had died. Nothing could replace Twinkle but as we still had all the necessary quarantine paperwork it seemed the least we could do was to try and give these two little orphans a chance. But, as if life hadn't been cruel enough our second little black cat died just three days after being released from quarantine, this was due to an ear infection that she developed during her six months quarantine. We had called our second black cat Twinkle because they were so alike in every way. It is in memory of our two Twinkle cats that we called our little charity Twinkle Trust Animal Aid.

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Those are interesting figures, a great achievement and refreshing to see a rescue publish PTS figures. 

[Mark]

Although it's sad to see the PTS figures, it is also good that they can spare the cats from hiding in a bush to die in pain 

[Tiggy's Mum]

This is excellent! 

I think we need a Purrs list of approved holiday destinations.  This needs to be on it. 

It's great isn't it  Every time I saw a cat I was checking it's ear (the tipping wasn't always immediately noticeable as they only took a tiny bit off) and was smiling when I saw they had been touched by Twinkle Trust's kindness  They do trap/neuter/release 'holidays' twice a year for anyone that's interested. http://www.twinkletrust.org/volunters.html Last one was in March this year:

In March we carried out our Spring stray cat neutering campaign, it was a great success, we were able to help 345 cats during the week.

Cats caught & treated by the Twinkle volunteers:

        • 165 females sterilised.

        • 152 males sterilised.

        • 023 cats received treatment only.

        • 005 cats were put to sleep *

* 2 had kidney failure, 1 had advanced cancer of the nose, 1 had a large amount of fluid in her chest, 1 had advanced cancer of the ears as well as an abdominal tumour.

Additional cats sterilised by Bichos Veterinary Clinic of Fuerteventura were:

• 4 female cats.

Since Twinkle started helping the cats in Fuerteventura in 1995 we have sterilised over 6014cats. This figure does not included all the cats treated or sterilised by the local vets in Fuerteventura in-between our campaigns, which would probably make the total well over 6800 cats.

 

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

This is excellent! 

I think we need a Purrs list of approved holiday destinations.  This needs to be on it. 

[JackSpratt]

Love it. 

[Mark]

That is a great idea - so I wasn't the first with the name then 

I have heard that they don't do anything during tourist season but cull them when the visitors have gone 

[Christie]

That's super! We befriended 2 cats when we were at Lanzarote over Christmas and they were lovely, although covered with fleas...

[Shirley]

What a brilliant idea, Helen. Such a pity it can't be done everywhere, especially Greece where the locals believe 'an animal should go to i'ts maker intact '!!!!!!   

[Tiggy's Mum]

I've just come back from a weeks holiday in Fuerteventura, saw a poster on the noticeboard about the 'cat cafe's' set up by a UK charity which were located on the complex.

All the stray cats I saw were neutered/spayed by the charity and had their ear tipped to show this. Such a brilliant cause and instead of feeling sad and upset by all the strays with no regular source of food and breeding out of the control the cats were all well cared for and will not be having unwanted babies 

The cat cafe's weren't just in our complex, we saw others when we were out and about in the town - since the charity started after a visit by the founder 15 years ago they have neutered over 6000 cats  As soon as I got back I made a donation to them as I was so impressed with what they do - the cat cafe's are a fantastic idea and combined with the neutering campaign they have undoubtedly prevented so much suffering 

http://www.twinkletrust.org/