Please help us celebrate Christmas together at Villa Kitty
We’re running on empty. That’s me, and the staff of Villa Kitty. Nothing left in the tank. Sadly, Villa Kitty itself is not running on empty. Far from it. Villa Kitty is running at almost150 cats and kittens over capacity. I dread the moment when the count hits 500 felines. It’s not far away.
I wanted to deliver this newsletter to you on 7 December, like a great big birthday card, the day on which we celebrated our first anniversary in the new Villa Kitty. It took us over two months to move everybody from the old to new premises but that first moving day into the new Nursery was a monumental milestone to be celebrated. Best laid plans of mice and men and cat people...
When you work on the front line of animal welfare, planning and schedules are often ripped up as soon as they are conceived and long before execution. Bali is still in a turmoil of comings and goings, with new laws coming into effect and continuing uncertainties on this complicated and often frustrating island. The only constant, and I wish it wasn’t, is the steady acceleration of calls for help from people leaving Bali permanently without their family pets and from tourists arriving on holiday to confront the reality of the hard and cruel life of a Bali street cat. Villa Kitty remains the only sanctuary for the abandoned, injured and mistreated and the only resting place for those frightened companion cats who suddenly find themselves torn from their loving families and safe homes.
We’re overwhelmed. We’re exhausted. Our systems are broken. An example:
Dr Tyas, our brilliant and compassionate senior vet, wishes to move the kittens who have had first or first and second vaccinations out of the Nursery, into the Quarantine Building. The 43 kittens in the nursery are crowded and we’ve been told, more to come, but the Quarantine Building is literally packed to the rafters. In fact, the corridors are stacked with cages. No Silent Night here. Our strategic planning for a capacity of 350 cats and kittens seems laughable now.
In the past, we turned to Sunset Vet to take in the babies for which we had no room, but the cost of this can no longer be borne. In November our vet bill topped Rp 80,000,000, sadly because we start each month in debt, and that’s unsustainable. What is also unsustainable is the fact that we currently have 487, cross that one out, it is now as of today, 494 cats and kittens in residence. That number of 500 looms large.
Long term, the belief is that our free sterilisation program will impact the huge numbers of pregnant cats and homeless mums with infants that cross our threshold. Already we have upped our operating days to three per week. If we can make it four, plus the one extra day per month given by Bali Pet Crusaders, we could sterilise 2,000 cats per year. You can help us: Donating makes it possible for us to provide the local community with free sterilisation for their cats and to run our education programs promoting sterilisation and vaccination. Of course, the vaccination program is essential. How wonderful it would be to rid the island of the killer feline virus, PANLEUKOPENIA. It’s been done in other places. It can be done here. With money, we can educate and operate. It’s simple.
Please, help us celebrate our first proper Christmas together in the new Villa Kitty by making a donation toward our sterilisation and vaccination work.
Even the tiniest amount makes a difference to the lives of these vulnerable animals. We are keenly aware that, for many, 2022 has been an unkind and difficult year. We understand that there are constant calls for your kindness and generosity. We realise that Christmas makes demands on hearts and wallets over and above the rest of the year. Yet I know, as I visit the rooms and buildings and corridors and cages of Villa Kitty, that the needs of this multitude of felines are as real and urgent as ever and that we must do everything in our power to ensure their safety. We will never stop caring and loving.
A bright spot: we had a wonderful visit from an Australian veterinarian eye specialist. He came with five of his family and friends. While Dr Colin spent time with our two vets, consulting with them about the cats lined up for him to examine, I showed the group around. It makes our hearts swell with pride to hear visitors say how happy the cats and kittens are (oh yes and those 45 noisy doggos) and how clean the whole place is, with no odour.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for giving. Every donation fills my heart with hope. Perhaps, with your help, we will no longer run on empty.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Henzell
Founder
Villa Kitty Foundation