If you’ve ever visited Greece, then you know that wherever you go, you’re always followed by cats. And if you thought they were domestic cats just taking a walk, or simply feral cats, they actually aren’t. The vast majority are strays.
Greeks are familiar with having cats around, in the neighborhood, and they even provide food and water for them in corners here and there. Cats know it, and they form groups that live in each neighborhood, enjoying the care of friendly neighbors.
However, much as it looks really cute to have cats around when you’re walking down the street, stray cats still are an issue that has not been tackled properly.
With limited funding for neutering and spaying, the cats keep reproducing and, thus, perpetuating the problem.
Local vets and non-profit organizations take on neutering/spaying, but the issue still exists.
A young mom of two, Christine, opened her balcony door to do some cleaning-up. When she lifted a box, she realized it was heavier than she expected, so she decided to take a look inside.
Inside the cardboard box were two kittens. Christine had no idea if they had been born there or brought by their mother, but they looked very weak.
She knew that she had to keep them warm, with temperatures in Greece at the time being as low as 42 degrees at night. So, she took a cat carrier, filled it with blankets, and left it next to the box.
“I made sure not to touch the kittens because I know that if you touch them, the mother can smell it and get really angry. She could abandon them after that,” Christine told us.
The next day, she saw that the kittens were in the carrier, which was a good thing, to begin with. So, she went on to leave out some food, as she was supposed to.
Christine’s oldest son, 3.5 years old, was excited about the kittens and he wanted to adopt them, but Christine knew they still needed their mom. She agreed to adopt them, but she decided to do so after the kittens had weaned.
Sadly, the kittens started developing problems with their eyes. As Christine explains, eye infections are common among kittens, so she booked an appointment with the vet to have them checked up.
The day before the vet’s appointment, Christine went to check on the kittens, and she found one of them lying in the same position for more than two hours.
She knew something was wrong, so she took it in her hands and realized that its pulse was very weak. Without being able to reach the vet, and by doing some internet research, she started feeding it sugar-water.
After hours of trying to keep it warm and feeding it sugar-water or honey, she knew that the kitten was only getting worse.
And that’s when it hit her. She’d try her last resort – her breast milk.
Christine, who also has a 6-month-old baby, had a pump at home, so she pumped some milk and used a syringe to feed the kitten.
The little baby started moving only moments later. The young mother was shocked and she couldn’t hold back her tears.
Later that day, she took the kittens to the vet, who said that, although it is not advisable to give human breast milk or really any kind of milk to kittens, her care was what saved the little animal.
The two kittens are currently recovering and receiving medical treatment. The family will be keeping both babies at home forever.
If you’d like to learn more about syringe feeding kittens, check out a video below!
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