Any animal lover who has been to Greece, or probably even knows about Greece, knows about the incredibly large number of cats who call Greece home. But you may have visited and want to help them. This is the way: Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR). Read this post to learn how TNR saves lives.
You will have heard stories. You will have seen pictures.
There are a lot of them. They are beautiful. They seem to bring a bit of extra magic to the country.
Unfortunately, for those of us who stay permanently in Greece, the situation with the cats is less magic and more tragic.
Due to the high numbers of unsterilized cats, thousands of kittens are born every year. With the increase in number of cats, so increases the number and spread of disease.
There are not nearly enough rescues around to help all the cats of Greece. There are not enough adopters for those who need homes. There is a gap in the government programs which are supposed to help the cats. So a lot of the time, it falls on individuals to do what needs to be done to help make a difference.
Trap, Neuter, Release
Ask anyone in animal rescue, and they will tell you, the most important thing is Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR saves lives).
TNR is exactly what it says: trap the cat, neuter (sterilise) the cat, release the cat. Sounds easy enough. Unfortunately, government programs that are supposed to be running TNR programs in various municipalities in Greece are ineffective. Speaking from experience, we have been on our municipality waiting list for over 2 years.
In those 2 years, countless kittens have been born to the ever growing number of unsterilized female cats.
That is why, like us, many people opt to TNR privately, without government assistance and out of pocket.
Putting The Trap in TNR.
The cats of Greece are often accustomed to people to the point where you can simply pick them up and pop them in a normal cat carrier. Then off to the nearest vet.
This is not always the case though, and many cats need to be carefully caught with a trap.
After we had collected as many cats as we could by hand, we realised we had a need for an actual trap. We luckily found one for 50€ and promptly had it shipped to us.
It’s not a lot of money for a trap, and certainly not when we look at how far this one trap has gone.
In 6 months, our 1 little trap has caught and helped no less than 20 cats. After we had caught a number ourselves, other cat lovers in our town asked to borrow the trap. The one simple trap is certainly making the rounds, and we can only imagine how many more cats can get the help they need if we can obtain even more traps.
The right com-meow-nity
On average, it costs around 60-80€ to sterilise a cat in Greece. This depends on location, cat gender, and the vet.
At these prices it becomes harder and harder to maintain the ability to Trap, Neuter, Release cats, especially when it’s up to a few individuals alone to cover the costs.
For a few very lucky people, the right vet makes all the difference. Some vets have such a love of animals, but also cannot do all the work themselves. They will, however, offer amazing discounts for those who bring in strays for help and TNR. These vets will TNR 3 male cats, or 2 female cats, the price of 1.
This means that as little as 30€ is all that’s needed to TNR a cat.
Released with love
Trap, Neuter, Release literally saves lives. It is part of our motto that TNRing just 1 cat makes all the difference. Here are some benefits of TNR, along with the obvious.
- Obviously, TNR reduces the number of cats on the street, which is the start of how TNR saves lives
- Obviously, reducing the number of cats reduces the amount of disease
- For female cats, TNR is a life saver. While unsterilized, living on the streets, females are targeted by unsterilized males. This leads to fighting and unfortunate situations for many cats.
- Pregnant females require more food and safe places to raise babies. Living on the street it’s not easy to come by the right food, or safe spaces. Many females suffer physically in order to grow and raise kittens.
- As a result of high cat populations and the diseases that come with it, kittens are at high risk of infection and horrible deaths.
- Unfortunately, as is the case in many places, not everyone loves animals. Too many people still remove neonatal kittens from their mothers and dispose of them cruelly.
Many people in Greece still believe that sterilizing animals is cruel, so nor enough people are willing to do it. But it is with love that many of us are doing TNR. While releasing animals back onto the street is not always ideal, we cannot keep them all and the simple act of TNR is really making a difference.
Poster cat for Trap, Neuter, Release
An example we love of how TNR changes the lives of street cats, is the case of one of the most beautiful street cats we have ever seen.
In May of 2022, we came across a very sickly looking female cat. She was easy to identify as she was pure white, with 1 blue and 1 green eye. Clearly she was stunning, underneath all the sickness.
She was clearly nursing kittens, so couldn’t be removed for treatment. Instead, we went back every day, twice a day, to feed her extra to help her nurse, and to treat her externally and feed her medicine.
After almost a month, and very little improvement, we finally found her kittens (who had been born on private property we couldn’t access). They too were sick, infested with ring worm and eye infections.
We decided that, as the kittens were old enough, removing them was best for them and their mother. Then we took mom in for TNR.
It wasn’t even a few weeks later, when we found a completely different cat had taken over. Her fur was clean, she was fatter, no more sores or blisters. She became absolute perfection.
Even now, a year later, she is still absolute perfection. We see her every day, and she is living her absolute best life, even if it’s on the streets.
TNR saves lives
Animal lovers all want to help animals, sometimes we just don’t know how. TNR is the way.
30€ is all it takes to change lives and make Greece a better and safer place for all the cats that call Greece home.
TNRing just 1 cat makes a difference.