We Won't Give Up

Does anyone speak Swahili? If so, can you give me a speed course? I ask because I’ve tried speaking in English, I’ve tried in Indonesian and I’ve performed mime and interpretive dance. The fact is, nobody listens when I cry, plead and rant that “Villa Kitty has no room for more cats and kittens!” Swahili is my next option. Aaaaaaargh!

We opened our December 2022 newsletter with these words: “I dread the moment when the count hits 500 felines. It’s not far away.” It is far away now; in the past!

Last night I begged for a rescuer to keep a kitten overnight, I begged because we now have 521 cats and kittens but I got the usual response “the villa owner forbids any cats or dogs”.

This was barely a cat: it was a tiny frightened kitten that needed to be kept safe for the night. This kitten is a baby. No matter how you look at it, a baby is a baby. A baby cannot fend for him or herself and whilst Villa Kitty is here to do this, our Nursery has exactly forty infants who are in need of our sole vet assistant to attend to their needs. Just one night so our vet could be ready for an early morning arrival. This fell on deaf ears. It is devastating that a piece of real estate is thought more vulnerable than an infant.

Since 1 January we have taken in 79 kittens and cats. My maths isn’t great but that is 4 kittens every day for 20 days. Many of the babies arrive without their mothers, terrified and crying. They miss their mother’s special milk and her stimulating tongue. What they miss most is the warmth of her body, the beat of her heart. Our staff cannot replicate this. We offer the best cat milk replacement and the softest teats, but many of these babies cannot survive and our best has not been good enough.

Athena died at 4.30am Friday 13 January The staff member on duty came to tell me early that morning. Athena was suffering and he made the decision to allow her peace. My heart was broken. The tiny girl had arrived ten days earlier with a broken back leg. We assessed: baby Dominik was saved. Dominik also had a broken back leg plus a shattered tail which would eventually require amputation. He stayed in Sunset Vet for four weeks and then Villa Kitty for another four to build his strength for the operation.

Could we do the same with Athena? Our bill at Sunset Vet was -and is- massive and until we reduced it we could not add to the number of cats we had there. She couldn’t go. I torture myself with the thought that with a little more money, a little less debt, Athena might be alive today.

Our staff are not at fault: it is the sheer weight of numbers. Special-needs kittens, like Athena, increase the load enormously.
The Nursery staff work 24 hours a day in three eight-hour shifts. They work so hard to save these babies' lives. Too many kittens arrive with health issues because they’ve been dumped in garbage bins, dropped in ditches and left on the roadside without food or water. They arrive dehydrated and malnourished.

New kittens spend at least their first two weeks in the observation area, often longer because they cannot be vaccinated until they are at least 4-5 weeks old and have been brought to good health.

So when we are hit with the feline virus Panleukopenia, brought in by one kitten just over a week ago, our unvaccinated kittens are at risk. This is why we plead with people to keep dumped kittens away from Villa Kitty until we can get this virus under control. This is why I need your help with Swahili!

We mark areas on maps where diseased kittens have been found, which may not be where they contracted the virus but still necessary. We separate unvaccinated kittens from the moment they arrive. If they are showing no symptoms two weeks after arrival, we proceed with vaccination

As I write, our vets are in the community, vaccinating cats from the local families who cannot afford to pay for the vaccine. We work tirelessly in our efforts to rid this island of the pernicious virus. And we have added more sterilisation days, offered free to all cats. Other communities have managed: we won’t give up.

Please, don’t give up on us. I don’t care if you don’t speak Swahili: support Villa Kitty by donating. Help us stop the spread of this feline virus panleukopenia. Every death matters, as every life matters.

Villa Kitty is committed to preserving life. With your help, we can. Please donate.

Thank you,

Elizabeth Henzell
Founder
Villa Kitty Foundation