In September next year, my friend Laura and I will be taking on a huge challenge, and are currently training for The Three Peaks National Challenge.

At the beginning of this year, I decided to invest in myself and over the past 11 months I have gone on a journey of self-discovery, including lots of yoga with The Soul Sanctuary. I’ve always wanted to challenge myself physically and mentally and finally feel in a place to do this after years of back pain and low mobility.

The Soul Sanctuary is a wonderful space, helping and supporting people to connect with their inner warrior. It provides a safe space for like-minded women to connect and grow. They support a wonderful charity called Whiskers of Hope, which is a neonatal kitten rescue and foster care organisation based in Mauritius.

I am a huge animal lover so being able to support a new charity that is close to my heart, already doing wonderful work and that has big ambitions to make a difference means a lot.

Whiskers of Hope founder Jeanne-Marie has provided great information on what the charity has done, currently doing and their plans for the future, please take a read to see what a difference this is going to make to the little fluffs in Mauritius.

I would be so grateful for your support to help raise funds and awareness for a worthy cause. Together we can make a difference for these animals, giving them the chance at safe, loving homes they deserve. Every donation brings us closer to creating a safe haven for animals who need it most.

Thank you for your support!

Victoria

About the charity:

Whiskers of Hope is a neonatal kitten rescue and foster care organisation based in Mauritius.

We are committed to saving and caring for the most vulnerable kittens, those who have been abandoned or are too young to survive on their own.

Our mission is to provide them with the love, medical attention and nurturing they need to thrive.

The situation for stray and dumped kittens in Mauritius is severe, with countless kittens being abandoned right after birth. Initially, we set out to rescue and create a safe space for all strays, but due to housing restrictions in our rented villa, we shifted our focus to neonatal kittens. Thankfully, the kind villa owner agreed to allow us to foster these delicate babies, ensuring they receive the specialised care they require.

Once the kittens are rescued, they stay with us for 8to 12 weeks. During this time, they are:

- Nurtured with round the clock care

- Sterilised

- Dewormed

- Vaccinated

After this, we begin the adoption process. However, we do not place the kittens with just anyone. We carefully vet all potential adopters by asking them questions to ensure that our kittens go to loving and responsible homes. The adoption process is thorough because we believe that after investing so much love, time, effort, each kitten deserves the best possible future. So far, we have been fortunate to find wonderful adoptive families, many of whom still send us updates and photos of the kittens in their new homes.

Our accomplishments:

To date, Whiskers of Hope has rescued 1 cat and 14 kittens. We have successfully completed 11 sterilisations and vaccinations, and 10 kittens have found their forever homes. Currently, we are caring for two fragile neonatals and a kitten named Nelson, who is still waiting for his perfect family.

In addition to neonatal rescue, we also feed stray cats in our neighbourhood at night, with the goal of catching, sterilising, vaccinating and releasing them to prevent unwanted litters.

How donations help:

The donations we receive are vital for covering the various expenses that come with rescuing and caring for these kittens. This includes the cost of kitten milk, cat food, litter, vet bills, feeding bottles, sterilisations, vaccinations, deworming, and hygiene products like wet wipes, tissues, training pads, and sanitiser. Our Gofundme goal is to import an incubator and colostrum which are currently unavailable in Mauritius, and purchase cages to help capture and sterilise the stray cats.

Our foundation may be small but our dreams are big. One day, we hope to open a full scale cat sanctuary where we can continue to rescue, nurture and find homes for even more vulnerable kittens and stray cats in Mauritius.