Worldwide Veterinary Service

TWINKLE TRUST ANIMAL AID

SPAY AND NEUTER SCHEME FOR FERAL CATS, FUERTEVENTURA April 2005

Areas Worked

Based at Los Estancos with cats coming in from:Caleta de Fuste, Costa Calma, Corralejo, Nuevo Horizonte, El Cortillo, Puerto del Rosario, El Matoral, La Calderetta and various other areas.

Duration

April 6th until 27th 2005 (neutering took place 9th –16th)

The Team

Veterinary surgeons:
Nicola Finn
Aoife O’Sullivan
Fiona McGuckinVeterinary nurses:
Fay Holliday
Dan Robinson
Vicky Withers
Daniela Christ

Catchers/helpers:
Liz Wraight (Cat Recovery)
Debra Lamb (Cat Recovery)
Mirjam Kirschsieper
Carol & Jimmy Sawyer
Mary Holland
Keith Castle (PR and DIY)
Alan Rivers (PR and DIY)

Local Support in Fuerteventura:
Fermin Silvera Perera of Turicomplex
Nicola & Werner Arenz (Kitz ‘n’ Katz)
Barcelo Hotel
Leahn Stanhope
Jenny Platt
Lynne Granger
Suza

Project Co-ordinator:
Jenny Billimore

The Project

We have just carried out our 20th cat sterilising trip to Fuerteventura. APRIL 2005MALES CASTRATED ……………………………………………… = 97

FEMALES SPAYED ……………………………………………… = 118

CATS & KITTENS THAT RECEIVED TREATMENT ONLY = 17

CATS WE HAD TO PUT TO SLEEP ………………………………. = 06 (5 positive for FIV/LuKV and 1 with renal failure)

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TOTAL 238

* We also sterilised a female dog from El Matoral.

In total since 1995 we have sterilised 2797 cats (1310 male and 1487 female)

How our week went

This trip we had the largest veterinary team ever, three vets and four veterinary nurses, as well as two great ladies that monitored the cats pre and post surgery. I’m so proud of the way everyone worked, as usual every cat was given a nice clean warm bed to lay on during his or her stay and all were given food and water after recovery. Having such a vigilant team makes my job so much easier, I can get on with the day-to-day planning and know that for the first time in some of these cats lives they are getting the best treatment they could wish for (even if some of them do try to literally bite the hand that feeds them).

On this trip 5 cats had to put to sleep because they were suffering from advanced stages of feline leukaemia &/or feline AIDS, we cannot afford to blood test every cat and restrict our blood testing to only cats that are sick or cats that we re-home. One of the cats that we wanted to re-home is a beautiful Siamese female, she was picked up by a TTAA catcher and because of the unsafe area that she was from we decided to try and re-home her and her 3 young kittens. We sterilised mum and had found homes for two of the kittens but just prior to re-homing Mirjam took mum to the local vet for blood testing and we were surprised to discover that this cat was positive for Feline Leukaemia. This disease can be passed on from mum to kittens. As it is not possible to test kittens for this virus until they are 4 months old we had to quickly find a foster home for this little family, where they could be kept away from other cats. Lynne Granger of Corralejo has helped us out in the past and she very kindly is fostering this mum and her kittens . Mum is still very healthy and has recovered from her operation, we hope to be able to find her a new home that understands the needs and requirements for taking on a Leukaemia positive cat. We must wait another 2 ½ months before we can blood test the kittens, we really hope they are negative and can be re-homed.

New Cat Café Installed

We are pleased to mention that during this trip Keith & Alan have installed a new cat café in El Castillo. El Castillo is a beautiful and as yet unspoilt part of Fuerteventura situated on the north west of the island. The café has been installed in a small complex of 11 apartments that are situated along the beach.

White Cats and Cancer

Fuerteventura boast that it has 365 days of sunshine a year, which is great for the holiday makers but not so good if you’re a white cat or have a white nose or ears. It’s not uncommon for us to treat cats with various stages of skin cancer (this trip we had 5 cats that needed their ears amputated), if the cancer is caught early enough we can amputate the ears and hopefully stop the cancer spreading. One such white cat this trip came to us suffering from cancer on the ears, although this cat had a feeder she told us that she did not want the cat back with no ears. We felt it was not fair to put this cat to sleep and carried out surgery on her ears and she made a full recovery. She has now become a new member of the cat gang/family at Los Estancos. Please remember if your cat has any vulnerable white spots please apply sunblock to your cat as necessary and help prevent the cancer developing.

Facts not Fiction

Many people believe that female cats can only get pregnant once a year and always have 4 kittens and that siblings will not mate, etc. etc. so here are a few facts:

• Male and female cats can be sexually mature by 6 months of age (sometimes even younger).
• Females can have as many as three different litters of kittens a year (especially in warmer climates like Fuerteventura).
• A female can give birth to upto eight kittens at any one time (some may not survive).
• A male and female cat from the same litter can mate (they have no idea they are brother and sister).
• Feline AIDs , Feline Leukaemia and “Cat-flu” cannot be passed onto humans but can be passed onto other cats.
• All kittens are born with blue eyes but the colour can change at 12 weeks of age.
• Kittens are born blind, deaf and helpless.
• A cat’s pregnancy averages between 63 – 70 days. There is no medical or psychological advantage in allowing a female cat to have one litter before she is neutered.

A Step in the Right Direction

Many local Spanish people have a large number of feral cats that live on their land, these are working cats and need to catch their own food (normally ground squirrels, rats, mice and cockroaches). Although these cats are owned they are not considered as pets and are only kept for one purpose, which is to keep the vermin population down. In the past the owners believed that if their cats were neutered the cats would no longer hunt, but thanks to our work and some local supporters the owners can now see that having their cats neutered does not stop them from hunting and keeps the cat population under control.

‘Hobbiton’ Cat Refuge Center / Kitz ‘n’ Katz of Fuerteventura

Hobbiton is the only rescue center on Fuerteventura for cats, they still have a large number of cats & kittens in their care and are desperate for help in all areas. This organisation is only too aware how important it is to have cats sterilised. Although already having a full sanctuary they still took in 3 very small abandoned kittens for us at the end of our trip.

There are so many people that contribute towards our work, I cannot list everyone but please except my deepest gratitude, you really do make it possible for us to help our feline friends of Fuerteventura.

I would like to say a very special thank you to our Twinkle members/friends that send donations or have set up direct debits and everyone who volunteers a week of their holiday to participate in our trip, your hard work and compassion makes all the difference.

And a massive thank you to everyone else that donated supplies. money and their spare time.

• Muriel & Brian of Gran Canaria for the donated trap, Kevin Barnfield of Eschmann Ltd for the tremendous donation of an autoclave, Marchig Animal Welfare Trust for a lifesaving £500 grant, Fort Dodge for donated Ketamine & Torbugesic, Bayer for the donated Droncit, Drontal and Advantage, Merial for a generous donation of Frontline, Pfizer for a donated bottle of Domitor, Britannia Airways for 10 kilos of free excess baggage, Excell airways for 20 kilos of free excess baggage.
• Jane Bulmer and friends for raising £260 at a coffee morning. Mirjam Kirschsieper & Francis Decker for help re-homing Fuerte cats, raising funds, getting us some great items donated and for driving to & from the south of the island, Leahn Stanhope for assisting TTAA during our week and for looking after 3 cats and 3 kittens that needed re-homing/fostering after we returned to the UK. Jenny Platt for preparing and serving the team with a delicious meal and drinks on the last day. Keith and Alan for their help with the DIY and PR work. Lynne Granger for helping us catch cats, for promoting the work of TTAA and for providing much needed foster care to unwanted cats and kittens in Fuerteventura, I am especially grateful to Lynne for fostering our positive leukaemia Siamese cat and her kittens. Barcelo Hotel for the free use of three apartments. Turicomplex for the free use of three apartments. Keith Kenny of Island Seekers Ltd for giving us the permission for installing our new cat café.
• WVS (Worldwide Veterinary Services) for providing us with advice, support and new veterinary contacts.