Agia Marina Stray Cats Need your help!
Our beloved stray cats constantly need additional support to survive.
Specifically for feeding, population management (by selective sterilisation) and healthcare intervention.
Why the Stray Cats Need your Help
The support process is ongoing, but we especially need to maintain the continuity of adequate feeding and welfare of our cats, when the tourist season ends in Agia Marina, Aegina Island.
Making a Donation in cash
You can find our donation boxes in different places in Agia Marina:
- La Cerveceria Restaurant
- Kypos Restaurant
- Compass Restaurant
- Nikos Restaurant
- Akrogiali Restaurant
- The Pharmacy
- My Tiny Sanctuary Artist Shop
- Matiá Art Gallery
- Kelly Sorrou, Veterinarian (Aegina town)
The Needy Cats Story
Agia Marina is blessed with approximately 400 cats and kittens throughout its area. They wander freely here, and you’ll always see a couple of cats or kittens here and there. They are all unique, very friendly, and contribute to the charm of Agia Marina.
During the tourist season, they feed off the restaurant’s leftovers, chase mice and love life. Many tourists treat them with affection and also support them…but when they leave…when the restaurants are closing for the winter…the impact on these cats is huge – the human population in the area drops from around 1,500 to 250.
It’s heartbreaking to see the decline in this ‘out-of-season period’.
These same adorable cats progressively change their appearance and behaviour. They inevitably become skinny due to malnutrition, leading to vulnerability to sickness and disease, physical fighting to survive (resulting in infected wounds), and low resistance to the life-threatening cold winter climate. The cats obviously continue to procreate during this period, with kittens born into this hostile environment.
Recognising these challenges, a small group of ‘like-minded’ volunteers was established in 2022 to address these problems.
They named the group ‘Needy Cats’ as a non-profit working group and established 3 focus categories:
•Feeding
•Sterisation
•Healthcare
Community education is also an ongoing focus category
Each of these categories have many facets, and robust solutions are continually being implemented, and improved.
The initiatives that have so far been implemented are working well, and a level of sustainability is slowly having an impact
There’s a huge cost implication to sustain all these initiatives, and the group need to work relentlessly to raise this essential financial support.
Your donations to our cause would help to ensure these beautiful island cats and kittens can fulfill a normal life all year round. Your gift will be used wisely to maximise the cats welfare and wellbeing on a daily basis.
How do we care for cats?
Feeding and watering
We maintain 12 feeding points (zones) around the village which is around 2 sq km, and ensure rations for each colony every day of the year.
Nutrition is key to health and survival, particularly in the winter months.
The resident villagers do their best to feed the animals around them, but there are some parts of the village that have very few residents.
Based on this knowledge, and after many surveys, the 12 feeding points (zones) were identified, to ensure we can feed all the vulnerable cats.
That represents over 600 Kg of biscuits and over 100Kg of wet food yearly.
Sterilisation
This is a huge part of our workload, and is an intricate and expensive process.
This element is key, in order to keep the number of cats of the village stable. It protects vulnerable females and discourages fights and injuries sustained in competitive males.
The team is constantly observing each zone’s cats, and takes this essential action as appropriate.
Sterilisation statistics
| 2024 | 195 |
| 2023 | 175 |
| 2022 | 45 |
Healthcare and Cat Welfare
We identify sick and injured cats and, where possible, administer medications for the necessary recovery period. Antibiotics and worm treatments are the main expenses incurred. In extreme cases, veterinary intervention is required, and the cat is transported there as a priority.
All of these requirements incur significant costs across a population of 400 cats.
Our volunteers freely offer their time and skill, and in critical situations use their own money to benefit cats in need – Needy Cats.
In order to maintain this necessary level of care, they really would appreciate any financial donation you would be willing to pledge.
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And get to see what we do thanks to your support all year long.
Thanks for your support
Some of the cats we supported since we started
