Where animal welfare is concerned, no two days are the same.  You never know what you are going to find, or what tears you might shed either.  This was no exception on one particular morning in May '17.  After starting early in the morning, we got to the fourth colony along the backstreets or Ermioni, as there were quite a few pussycats here.  They know our car sound and come running, which is not always a good sign, but this street isn't too busy.  The cats had food put down, but then looking across the wasteland, there was another pussycat, that we had never seen before.  My heart just winced with pain when I saw this cat. She couldn't run like the others, so naturally there was something wrong with her.   She was a girl and I called her MARTHA.  He mobility was to drag herself along her stomach as best as she could.  She made it, but I cried.  She only had half of one back leg and the other leg wasn't much good either.

Once she finished eating, I had to assess the situation in terms of what might be wrong with her.  I posted her on social sites and it was interesting as a friend of mine, thought it might have been her cat who went missing over a year ago.  But it wasn't.  MARTHA was taken to our local vet, but this was a wasted exercise, as there wasn't much the vet could do.  So a good friend of mine by the name of Nikos, who lives in Kyparissia, suggested that I drove, taking MARTHA with me, to get a full examination from his specialist vet.  I didn't hesitate.  I had to give MARTHA every chance going.  Equally, following my social media activities, a home was waiting for her in the UK.  A young couple wanted to adopt her, so I had to try and get her better.  

In Kyparissia, the specialist took full control of her situation.  She had many X-Rays, examinations and more.  It was suggested that perhaps she had been shot.  Then when the x-rays were fully examined, this was not the case.  Yes she only had half a back leg, but this specialist thought that with the right medication and cortisone injections, she could self-heal her other damaged leg.  After a couple of days, I brought her back home.

MARTHA unfortunately was not a human friendly cat, so I kept her in a large cage, I didn't like doing this but I didn't have much choice.  It was my only solution as she still had to have cortison injections.  As time went by, sadly I had no further contact from the adopters in the UK, so for me, it was cruel keeping her safe in this restricted large cage.  It was decided that she would be released back to her colony, which would allow her to continue to live in the environment she knew.  Not ideal, because you want to take them all away to safety, but that is impossibe.  For a few weeks after release, MARTHA wouldn't come anywhere near us. She was so wary, but then she had a change of heart.  She then decided to follow the rest of her colony and came to eat heartily with them all.  Equally as time progressed, MARTHA was putting weight back on her damaged back leg.  She is a lovely pussycat, but not a human friendly cat.  Sometimes your heart is in the right place, but as long as she is monitored, she is perfectly safe where she is. MARTHA continues to be fed and watered and with her own clan.

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