The myths surrounding sterilization

In Greece, and particularly in the rural and island areas of Greece, many people are against the sterilization and feeding of cats because they believe that when a cat is sterilized and well fed it will no longer hunt. The cats in these areas are important elements of keeping the mice population under control, but, unfortunately, this attitude has created colonies of unhealthy and malnourished cats who give birth twice a year to litters of kittens that often do not survive. The truth is that the ancient nature of a cat is to hunt whether hungry or not.

The coordinator of our Center, Litsa Passari, took five kittens at the age of two months to live in her garden. This family of cats has food available twenty-four hours a day, they are sterilized and vaccinated and they are fat and healthy. But, everyday they bring gifts to Litsa—mice that they will play with for hours and finally eat or not—but the mice are definitely no long able to bother Litsa’s neighbors.

Below are photographs of her lovely kittens, sterilized and well-fed, engaged in a thousand-year-old activity—the hunting of small creatures.

Help us help the dogs of AZI

Many of our recent posts are about our cats and our cat projects. Now we would like to tell you about three sweet dogs in our care.

With the help of the Municipality of Amorgos we are preparing a temporary kennel for the dogs who have come to stay with us.

Bob, Akira and Arangon were living in an area far from our Center. Their kennels were in serious need of repairs and so, with the help of the Municipality of Amorgos, we were able to move them closer to our Center and greatly improve their living quarters.

Bob, one of the three dogs in our care. Click on the picture to read his story

Bob, one of the three dogs in our care. Click on the picture to read his story

The Municipality has provided us with an enclosure in Katapola where we have begun to clean the area, expand the fencing, cement the grounds and soon we will spread gravel so that the dogs will stay dry in their shelters and free from mud in the rainy season. Finally, the Municipality will give us trees and plants to help shade the animals during the intense summer heat.

The total cost of this project will be 800 euro and, since we are a non-profit organization, we rely entirely on donations in order to achieve our goals.

Won’t you consider becoming an angel to these dogs in need and make a donation to help keep them safe and healthy. Or, even better, consider taking one of these beautiful creatures, for, they are available for adoption.

We need your support. Please Donate. Even one euro is valuable to us and to the animals in our care. We are so grateful to have many online friends. If each friend gave only five euro we would be able to complete our kennel project and continue our struggle to care for the animals of the island of Amorgos.

VISIT BY DR. VASALAKIS

Dr. Dimitris Vasalakis came to work with Animal Zone International’s Center over the weekend of 4-5 of February.

Many members of our local community brought their animals to the Center for examination and vaccines and even for grooming. Also, Dr. Vasalakis examined, vaccinated and sterilized all of our cats, which meant that he had a very busy and a productive weekend.

Amorgos does not have a permanent veterinarian so these visits from Dr. Vasalakis are vital for the animals and the health of our island and we are grateful for his help.