Welcome Luke and Luna!

In early December, two of our Cat Guardians looking after a colony of 25 cats in Pagos alerted us to two young kittens in poor condition, who had appeared in the colony. Young kittens at this time of year are particularly vulnerable and their chances of survival out on the streets, in cold, wet weather, are pretty low, particularly if they are already sickly and malnourished. So we stepped in and welcomed them for a temporary stay at Syros Cats. Here’s their story so far:

Say Hello to Luke!

Black-and-white Luke tries to be a ferocious lion and hisses at you when you approach him. But it’s really just a defence mechanism; after all, everything must be so new and strange! Deep down, he is learning to love cuddles and is becoming a bit of a softie. When he arrived, Luke had severe diarrhoea, fleas and ticks, and was very dirty. The severity of his diarrhoea meant that our volunteers had to bathe him regularly to keep him clean. His condition is improving gradually and with special food and supplements, we are hopeful he will get stronger and stronger. Luke also has a fungal infection, a common problem with kittens, so he is being treated every three days with anti-fungal spray. Sadly, due to the fungus being highly contagious, Luke has to be kept separate from his beloved Luna, but we will reunite them as soon as it’s safe to do so. They seem to have formed a strong bond and look out for each other!

And little Luna!

Like Luke, grey-and-white Luna was also sickly, dirty and infested with parasites when she arrived. She has also lost one eye, we assume due to an early infection as a young kitten – again a very common occurrence when kittens are born to sickly mothers. She too is given food supplements each day, but so far has avoided the indignity of regular baths and treatment with anti-fungal spray! We’re delighted to say that she is also gaining weight – always a good sign! At the moment, she is friendly and sweet but quite nervous and dislikes being held, but we’re hopeful this will change.

It’s still early days for these two youngsters, but there are encouraging signs of improvement and that they will be able to be returned to their colony. The fact that they now have a good chance of survival underlines the importance of our growing network of local people supporting us in our work and alerting us to cats in need. With the best will in the world, we cannot be everywhere, so local knowledge is vital and can mean the difference between life and death for kittens like Luke and Luna.

Help us to help them!

We’d be grateful for any donations to help us support our Cat Guardians, many of whom are funding their colonies themselves – no mean task in the winter months when food bills rise! If you can help us, please donate here.