One kitten? That was last week……..

and this week we have two! How did that happen I hear you ask? Well it happened because this is Skopelos and there are cats everywhere. You may not see a person for miles if you’re out and about but you can bet your life you’ll see a heap load of cats and kittens. It seems that the ones out of town are more friendly and healthier looking, probably because they don’t have too many people around and live in groups with other cats. The ones in town breed like rabbits due to the lack of neutering (needless to say these two will be done as soon as they come of age!) and if they lose their mother or are rejected, then what’s to become of them? That’s how we came by Smokey in July.
I tried to find where the one who turned up on the doorstep came from but with no luck. He has been named Jasper and although he is the size of a small toy he has the attitude of a bull mastiff (except with Susie of course – the original tabby with attitude). The only thing that detracts from this ‘hard kitten’ attitude is that he likes to suckle any available piece of flesh whenever possible, and when I say any I mean ANY. Needless to say we all keep ourselves well covered when he’s around. So here’s a picture of the little stress head and don’t be fooled by  that butter wouldn’t melt expression, it’s all an act. So that was how we ended up with four cats but how did we end up with another one by the end of the week? Well, Sean came back from Volos on Thursday afternoon and as junior and I had walked to school all the rest of the week, I told Sean we should all walk together on Friday morning. Sean is a reluctant walker but junior insisted she preferred walking to driving in the car (that’s my little eco warrior) and so Sean agreed to a family walk to school. After dropping junior off we walked home a different way, which was Sean’s idea so he only has himself to blame for what happened next. Taking a side road off the main thoroughfare we saw a tiny kitten sat in the middle of the road and when I say tiny I mean minuscule. As we got closer we could see the kitten was very bedraggled with one eye closed which was oozing pus (I hope no-one’s eating as they’re reading this). We looked around to see if there were any other cats or kittens hanging around, there weren’t. Sean immediately went into stern ‘we can’t have another cat, we don’t have the room, we can’t afford it’ routine, which I did listen to before ignoring! I took my jacket off and wrapped the little kitty in to carry home. Once home, I cleaned him up (I’m assuming it’s a he but as he’s had rather a ‘dicky tummy’ I don’t wish to look too closely!) and got him some soft toys and a hot water bottle to snuggle down on. He’s now known as ‘little dot’ as that’s what junior said he looked like, I think he looks more like a rat but maybe that wouldn’t be such a good name! He’s looking a little less rat like now and has started to walk more like a cat rather than a drunken crab. His manky eye is still not right but it’s getting better, whether he’ll be able to see through it I don’t know. Here’s a pic of the little tyke – bless.

I know some people (Sean included) would say that there are hundreds of cats and other animals on Skopelos and that you can’t help them all. Well, that may be true but what type of person would I be if I walked past a helpless kitten in the middle of the road?
We are more desperate now for a new (bigger) place to live so that I can take in more cats (and dogs) – just don’t tell Sean!