I’m the only cat here at Syros Cats that has come from another island. I was born on Andros, it’s about two hours away on the ferry. When I was very small a French lady took me in, she lived in the mountains and in winter it’s very cold and wet. Us cats hate wet… but she went away for a bit to her flat in Athens. She left us food and we were comfortable, but I got bored, the other cats didn’t want to play, so I took a walk and found a couple of young humans who befriended me. I decided to take a chance and follow them back to where they were staying. They were helping at an animal rescue place called Magic Mountain. It’s famous now, because someone called Ben Fogle made a television programme about it! I like watching television, all those moving pictures and sometimes birds and mice to imagine chasing… even though I don’t understand all the words.  Just think – if I’d stayed, I might have been a television star!  But I digress…

The young humans let me stay and looked after me in their room until I became bigger and stronger. But lots of scary dogs live on Magic Mountain, they make a lot of noise and some of them chase cats. So, I was really careful to stay close to my new humans. I had a lot of sniffles and they gave me tablets until I felt better. I don’t really mind; I’ve had a lot of tablets since then. I guess I just got used to it.

One day, they put me in a box and told me I was moving to Syros. Of course, I couldn’t tell them that I had an owner who was coming back, so I took a chance and went with them. I liked them, they were kind and I thought they would do their best for me. In Syros, it was all about cats – lots of cats. I stayed in my humans’ room for a while, had trips to the vet for vaccinations and I was spayed. All those babies are such a problem and I’ve been told that rearing kitties is such hard work, even if you’ve got regular food. Soon, I went out to explore. It’s nice here, lots of trees, bushes and places to hide and play.  I soon found my place among the resident cats and made a few friends – but on the whole, I prefer to be on my own.

I heard from my humans that the French lady had gone back to Andros and was looking for me! There was some talk of her taking me as the humans who rescued me were travelling to places where I couldn’t go. But thankfully they decided to leave me at Syros Cats, and I’m very happy here. They send me money every month to help with my food. I’ve used a few of my nine lives.  I still get regular sneezy fits and have to take tablets, I had to have some surgery at the vet hospital because I had a growth in my tummy, which nobody, including me, knew about. But I got better quite quickly. A few weeks later, I felt really sick and went off for a couple of days, hoping I’d get better, but I didn’t so I went home for help. Of course, it was off to the vet again. I spent nearly a week that time in a cage on a drip, but my human carers came to visit every day, so I didn’t feel too abandoned.

I’m a big cat now, a tabby with some ginger streaks in my fur. I have a special relationship with one of the long-term volunteers here.  She looks after me well. She makes an infusion of sage for me to inhale when my breathing is bad – I really like that and she cleans my nose for me every day.  Sometimes I still have to take tablets, but I’m used to that and don’t make a fuss. I like to play – to chase anything that moves, but I can’t be bothered with hunting, it’s much too much hard work. Basically, I like to sleep in the sun or spend time on my carer’s bed. It feels really safe there, especially when I can snuggle up to her. I can look after myself, so I only let a few special cats on the bed with me.  If I’m not inside at human bedtime, my carer comes to find me, I feel I really belong here now.

I think I’ll stay!