Would you donate your holiday to animals?

I am what you would call a 'crazy animal person' and I say the word 'crazy' because usually when people hear what I do for animals they think I am crazy. I am always commended for my actions, so I can only guess the crazy part stems from the perspective of the listener who would not invest their time into the actions I do.

This article is more of a tribute to the kind lady who dedicates her entire time and money to the cats of Rhodes. Whereas I only give up the time when my busy life will allow.

I would like to tell one of my stories which happened this year in Lindos a little town in Rhodes, one of the Greek islands. I have been travelling to Lindos for around 18 years now. It is my favourite spot on earth and where I feel my most happiest

Every year I come here I like meet up with the lady who runs the charity GCWS Rhodes. I usually book 7 days here with my girlfriend but this year I went alone. On my second day I had arranged to meet up for a cup of tea and a catch up, I was informed she was waiting to pick up a 3 week old kitten that had been dumped (sadly this is all too common). She was overloaded with sick animals and would not be able to give as much time to the kitten as she would like. I was asked if I would be happy to have the kitten stay with me while I was there and nurse the poor thing back to health.

Of course I said yes and to be honest I would be glad of the company. When the little kitten got brought up to us by a wonderful volunteer, he was in such a bad way :( I was told that this could go one way or the other.

I rushed back to my apartment to access the situation, it was clear the kitten was malnourished, covered in fleas and dirt. The poor thing was so weak It could not stand, eat and was struggling to breath. My mission was clear; I had 6 days to bring this kitten back to good health and find a suitable home.

The video below shows the state he was in when I got him (Please be aware this video is quite upsetting) But I promise you he pulls through! :)

Day 1: The first thing to do was to try and get some food in to him, I was fortunate I had packed a box of Royal Canin veterinary diet feline convalescence support which was to be donated to the charity. This is a milk powder you make which contains all the necessary ingredients a young kitten will need. The poor thing was too weak to eat so I was forced to syringe feed him every few hours.

Little by little he slowly started swallowing the milk but for the first 24 hours he never once cried for food.

Day 2: Today was bath day! The poor little thing was riddled with fleas so it was time to remove those pesky critters. He seemed to enjoy the bath and was happy to let me wash him, once he was dry I put 2 drops of flea treatment on the back of his neck.

Day 3: Even though he was taking his food better I still had concerns about his breathing and arranged another meet up with Andrea in the morning who gave him a small injection of antibiotics. By the end of the day he was showing signs of improvement. To build up his strength, I let him have a nose about on the apartment floor.

My last few days of the holiday was an absolute joy!! Everything seemed to be going well, I started adding a salmon paste to the milk which the little fella was crying and literally grabbing the syringe from my hand to shove in his mouth. He would climb up his caged to be let out and would go off exploring the apartment. When he was finished he would climb on my chest for his little catnap.

I think he knew it was soon time for me to go :(

Final Day: This was the day I was dreading all week, to say goodbye to my little mate and leave this beautiful Island. I knew my work here was done, the little kitten had made a full recovery and stood a good chance of a happy life. I was picked up by Andrea and went to her house for a spot of lunch. Now the kitten could be fed by the bowl and no longer needed hand feeding he could stay with her until a suitable home could be found.

Me saying my final good byes :'(

Here he is in his new foster home waiting to find his forever home :)

This was just one week of my life that saved a life, it breaks my heart that there are hundreds of thousands of little matey's roaming the world, I accept that they cannot all be saved but without people like Andrea in the world far more of them would suffer.
I hold a special place in my heart for the starfish story: