We welcome: 1) suggestions as to where cat feeding stations are needed and
2) volunteers who will guarantee to look after the feeders, keeping them clean and provided with (high quality) dry food and water.
The system cannot work unless there are people nearby who are willing to take responsibility for the feeders in different areas.
Eco Hvar of course will do as much as we can to help supply the necessary foodstuff and in any other way that we can .
The aims of the cat-feeding project
We are trying to provide adequate food for as many cats as possible, to ensure that the cats have a chance of living healthily. An important part of the project is the sterilization programme. In recent years, the local authorities on Hvar, as elsewhere in Croatia, finance cat sterilizations to help reduce the numbers of unwanted cats in the environment. Some authorities pay for males and females to be sterilized, some for females only. Taking stray cats for sterilization requires careful planning: the cat has to be caught in the morning and taken straight to the vet. Most importantly, after the operation the cat has to be taken into a safe environment for a day or two until it has recovered enough to return to its old haunts. The local vets cannot provide after-care unless there is an emergency.
Some people do not like animals, and cats in particular. So one of our aims is to help prevent the cats from being a nuisance, by reducing the numbers of unwanted cats and providing basic facilities for them.
Healthy, sterilized cats who are used to being handled have a better chance of finding a good home, so of course the best outcome is for the street cats to be adopted and given the right conditions for a good life. Some stray cats on Hvar strike lucky and move into a life of safety, comfort and even luxury. When they do, it can be difficult to imagine them scavenging for food and chancing their luck in the uncertain world of homelessness. The ginger cat in the picture below is a good example, the only clue to his previous life in the wild being the notch in his right ear which shows that he was sterilized under the programme for strays.
How to help
If you want to help the island's stray cats, please read the detailed information in our article 'Cats: How to help when needed'.
REALISTIC OFFERS OF PRACTICAL HELP TO EXTEND THE CAT-FEEDING PROJECT WILL BE GRATEFULLY RECEIVED VIA EMAIL This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
November 2023.
