Well, it’s been a busy month at Syros Cats – very, very hot and we can smell smoke from distant wildfires near Athens and on other islands. That’s a bit scary… I’m Junior, just reporting on what’s happening on our small Greek island. I spend a lot of time on my mum’s bed. I love it when she’s there with me, but she is up and doing for a lot more hours each day, than we cats. We need a lot more sleep. Often Jenny is here with me. We’re good friends, but not so good that we like to cuddle together – that’s way too intimate, I need my space!
We’ve had lots of visitors; they especially like to cuddle all the kittens who are living here at the moment. Mostly I just say ‘hello’ to check them out, then leave, unless they’ve brought interesting treats with them, of course, then I stick around. But I never trust the young children. I hate their shouting and jumping around. I never know what they are going to do next and some of them are really rough with us. I don’t like to scratch or bite, but sometimes it’s just necessary.
I do have a sin to confess though. You may remember Hailey? She’s a particularly nervy cat, very big and clumsy. Usually, we just agree to share space and leave each other alone, but in the week, I went outside to check things out and there she was perched on the top of the outside fridge, where they keep our food. Her legs were hanging over the edge and she was sort of coiled around a glass of water someone had left there. She was deeply asleep. I just couldn’t resist. With one quick and clever leap, I jumped on top of her and quickly off again. You should have seen the result – most satisfying – it’s not often you see a cat leap up with all four legs, high in the air and squealing. But that’s what Hailey did. As she jumped, she knocked the glass of water over, didn’t break it but got her fur very wet, which she hates. The great thing is, that by the time she looked around to find out what had happened, I was curled up all innocent on an outside chair. The volunteers rushed to help and comfort her, I’m not sure if they knew I was to blame, but they were all laughing.
My mum has had her family staying too. Her grandchildren are grown up now, so are nice and don’t annoy us too much. But the older girl is really allergic to cats and has to take tablets to stop her eyes and nose running. Of course, I’m really subtle as I like them and am happy to share my mum for a while. They don’t stay too long and go to the beach and out a lot. But I can’t resist making sure they notice me. If I can get into their bedroom, I make sure I wriggle around on their bed – leaving only a few tell-tale black hairs. If they get up for breakfast with our ‘mob’, the humans all sit down and eat together around 11.00, I like to walk over their laps, just so they remember it’s my house. They are nearly all vegetarians, so it’s not worth hanging round for treats – but sometimes visitors bring cat treats for us, then we all wake up.
Oh – I forgot to say. There’s another bit of good news, at least the humans are happy about it. There is a very sick and old cat here, who was rescued from Vari beach. He’s been here all winter and usually sticks around the kitchen. He has medication for a thyroid problem, which he doesn’t like, but he does like the regular food. About a month ago he disappeared. The humans searched everywhere; they were even crying because they thought he was dead. Then one day, they got a video call from the local vet. There was Mikis! Someone had found him, thin, miserable, hungry and crying, and had taken him for treatment. Of course, he’s at the surgery so often for check-ups and blood tests that they all recognised him. He hasn’t said much about what happened to him but he’s lost nearly a kilo in weight and looks dreadful. He’s on a special diet with lots of protein and four meals a day. I hope he’s learnt to stick around – it really is a good place to live.
