This is of course definitely not just a problem in Slovenia, unfortunately. But with the many small villages where almost everyone has a small farm at home, there are cats everywhere here. That’s fine in itself, of course. They keep the mice away. The issue, however, is that the »owners« do not have them spayed/neutered. And that’s where it goes wrong. Because a cat can easily have a litter of 3 to 7 kittens several times a year. Just count how many cats could be born in a year in a village where there are at least ten to maybe a hundred walking around! Many of those kittens don’t make it. They are run over by cars or tractors or caught by a fox. And even worse, dumped somewhere or killed by the »owner«. As a big animal lover, this makes me really sad. Especially since I’ve always had cats myself. Just before Christmas I, unfortunately, had to put my sweet Cheetah to sleep, and the vet told me about a campaign to sterilize/neuter stray cats.

Because I rent two holiday homes up in the vineyards, I knew that there were a few cats roaming around that were fed for a while by temporary tenants. I took three cats to the vet to get sterilized/neutered. Normally, this surgery costs about €60, but because the municipality partly financed the surgeries, the price was just €20 per cat during the duration of this campaign. Fortunately, two of the cats had already been sterilized/neutered, the third has been sterilized when I brought her in. When a stray cat is helped in this way, a very small piece of the ear is cut off by the vet. In this way, you can see that it is a sterilized/neutered cat. I didn’t know that, and I would like to share this information here. This prevents people from catching and taking stray cats to the vet, where it is not necessary.

I honestly don’t know how this is done in the Netherlands, but I would like to urge everyone to check with their own vet or municipality whether there are also such campaigns, and of course, make use of them! This certainly also applies to readers who live in Slovenia, because these campaigns are held here regularly and in different municipalities. Because how can you save 100 cats? By sterilizing one. And this is really true.

I was even able to borrow a trap from the vet to safely trap the stray cats. Fortunately, I was able to gently stroke two of the three and then grab them to put in a transport box. After the procedure, they have to stay inside for a night (in the garage for example) and the next day you can release them in the same place where you caught them.

I now feed the three cats in the vineyard every day and have posted pictures of them in various cat lovers’ Facebook groups in the hope that I can find them a good home. Unfortunately so far without success. If any readers are interested in giving them a home, please contact me. But keep in mind that these are stray cats that are not (yet) used to people. They have to stay indoors for at least a month to get used to their new environment before they can possibly go outside again. You will have to have a lot of patience and gain their trust. That takes time. I would therefore prefer to place the black long-haired male (about 8 months old) together with the brown tiger female (about 2-3 years old) so that they can support each other when they have to get used to their new environment. I can now pet both of them, so I’m sure they can become great house cats.

The white/tiger female is probably not suitable for rehoming because she is super anxious and went completely crazy when I caught her and also later when she had to stay inside for a day and night after the procedure. I absolutely can’t come close because she starts hissing right away :(. Hopefully, there will be people who will take action as a result of this post, and then I will be completely happy, even if it is just one!