Her story

Our snotty, sweet girl who is pure love.

Our Thanasis has a very special place in our hearts. It is hard to say exactly how old this girl is (yes, a girl!), but we think she is around four or five years old. Her story is both heartbreaking and touching.

She was one of the cats we took in, together with many other rescue organisations, when the fires broke out in the remote villages in the north of Corfu three summers ago. She arrived in terrible condition, but not because of the fires. The village was home to far too many sick and starving cats. In a way, the fire may have been both the worst and the best thing that ever happened to this amazing creature.

For months we believed she was a boy because that was what the rescuers who brought her to us had told us, so the name Thanasis stayed. Then, quite suddenly, she started getting rounder, and on the 18th of September, two years ago, she gave birth to Rapunzel and Flynn.

Because of her severe respiratory problems, she could not be sterilised, and while she was pregnant she could not safely receive the treatment she desperately needed. So the months went by as she lived in a cage with her little ones, still barely able to breathe.

None of the treatments ever worked, but our wonderful vets eventually found a way to sterilise her. That was especially difficult because she was absolutely terrified of vet visits. She would literally shake, vomit, wet herself, and almost faint whenever we tried to take her to the clinic.

Sadly, no treatment has ever completely helped, and she remains our snotty, sweet girl. But the love she has for everyone, her calmness and her gentleness amaze everyone who meets her. She is the pure essence of love, despite her fragile health. She still needs the vet to visit her for injections from time to time, and lately she spent some time in the clinic with severe pneumonia.

If you could become this girl's guardian angel, we are sure karma would reward you with a few brownie points. And if anyone ever considered adopting her, they would be the luckiest people in the world.