Help to save Olive the Cyprus street cat

First off, thank you for caring enough to click on this link and for taking the time to read. That's one step more than hundreds of other people who passed Olive by in the street when she was dying and needed humans to care.

On holiday in Cyprus for my cousin's wedding, we had just finished pottering around the city of Nicosia when we noticed a cat curled up in a shop doorway. Being the animal lovers that we are, we had been carrying around a bag of cat food feeding all the strays we had seen, so we went over to pop some biscuits and water down. As we approached, the cat looked up and we saw she was clearly blind in one eye. She didn't seem interested in the food and water we had put down, she seemed so lethargic and unwell. I sat down beside her to give her a stroke and she tentatively stood up where we realised she wasn't bearing any weight on one of her legs. She limped over to me, outstretched her bad paw and placed it gently on my leg. I truly believe she had seen the first bit of kindness in humans in her life and was asking for our help.

We looked at each other and knew instantly that we couldn't leave her and were straight on the phone to all local vets whose numbers we could find. It was a struggle finding one open (why is nothing in Cyprus ever open??) but eventually a vet who wasn't in work agreed to come into the practice especially to meet us. We ran around the streets asking in every shop and cafe for a cardboard box and when we eventually found one, we took the cat with us on an 0.8 mile walk in the blazing heat to the vets.

The vets were wonderful and we had a good discussion about the stray problem in Cyprus and the vet was just as disheartened by it as we were. It was refreshing to see someone who cared, and whilst she agreed that many people don't; she seemed positive that she was seeing a shift in the younger generation as more youths were starting to bring stray cats in for care. We had the cat (named 'Olive') checked over, given pain relief, X-Rayed and admitted into the vets for the night. The cost of this in addition to the call-out fee? €105, which the vet discounted to €100 for us (only £85). The X-Ray independently cost just €35. We couldn't believe it. We realised at this point that whatever treatment the cat needed, we could potentially afford with some donations. With help of a GoFundMe; we had the power to save this cat's life.

The X-Ray revealed what we suspected, a broken leg. I asked the cost of fixing it and they said it would require surgery which would be around €500. Still considerably cheaper than in the UK. But then what happens? Let's say the leg was fixed; what was her future then? Turfed back out onto the streets, blind with a weak leg? Having to survive day after day in the blazing heat with very little water and food? We wondered if the kinder option was to euthanise...?

Olive is only a young cat and despite the huge amounts of pain she must be in, was so friendly and well behaved at the vets. She has a lot to offer and could have 15+ years of life still left to live. The vet recommended we reached out to charities for help, though warned that the stray problem in Cyprus is so huge that finding any help would be really difficult. However I had a contact which I knew if ANYONE in the world could help me, it would be them.

I contacted The Pack Project, a charity who work overseas saving stray cats and dogs and rehoming them in countries such as Germany, France and Britain. It was from The Pack Project where Fig was rescued and in the time I spent getting to know TPP team (over zoom and many many Whatsapp messages), I realised that these guys were grafters and never let an animal down if it was in their power to help them. I spoke all day and night with Laura the director and founder of the charity, who although at a friend's wedding herself, was on her phone messaging her connections on Cyprus. She assured me that we could save this cat and get it sent over to the UK to be adopted. She knew what she was doing having done this hundreds of times before and seemed really positive. She never made out I was being silly, or it was 'just one cat', or that the life of this stray didn't matter because there were so many other strays anyway. EVERY life matters to TPP. Laura suggested setting up a GoFundMe to cover the cost of the vet bills and travel and so this is where we are at now.

Olive is being collected from a TPP volunteer in Cyprus, who is taking her back to the vets tomorrow (Monday 26th) to have her leg fixed. Once well enough to travel, transport to the UK will be arranged where Olive will be allowed a second chance at a happy life where we hope she will know nothing but love, peace, contentment and the feeling of a full belly.

The overall cost of the surgery and transport to the UK could end up totalling £2,000. I've no doubt some people reading this will think I'm crazy for even attempting this but if you had all been there, you'd have understood. I have over 1,000 followers on Instagram and if everyone donated just £2, that would be the target goal reached. I am not asking for a lot from people, please please donate the minimum!!! I would just like as many people as possible to donate the minimum. One less bottle of coke or one less packet of biscuits from your next shopping trip. That is ALL I am asking and it would mean the world to us, and to Olive.