Haircut time for the overgrown lion

A few weeks ago I was asked to take one of the cats on my feeding round for Nine Lives to one of their vets. His name is Tadjio, and he has a skin condition which causes some of his long fur to fall out, in some cases trailing along the floor which could obviously be uncomfortable and dangerous. 

Tadjio is a very friendly cat and also a champion wrestler!  He challenges (often unwilling) feline competitors to street matches and is invariably the winner. These bouts are always amicable though, and Tadjio is friends with the other cats who live in this abandoned house in Plaka:

So I delivered him to the vet, and a couple of days later picked him up and released him, to see that he'd been given a proper lion cut! For those of you who don't know what that term refers to, a simple youtube search will provide hours of entertainment. Of course Tadjio's trim was not vanity based, but he seems very happy with his new style and I'm sure it will serve him well during the sweltering summer months too.

And here are the all important before and after shots!

Tadjio before;

Tadjio after;

The middle section of his 'mane' fell out before he had the haircut, when it grows back he will look even more regal!

A tale of two kittens

I am currently awaiting news of a very sick kitten I took to one of the Nine Lives vets last week. I found the little black bag of bones in Anafiotika, sitting in the middle of the path with it's eyes glued shut with nasty green goo, and the same sticky substance around its nose and mouth. I called Eleni, president of the charity and she came to the rescue almost immediately with a basket for me to get the poor kitty to the vet in.

Last I heard the little kitten wasn't eating much but has turned very wild, needing to be sedated before being examined or given any medicine. I'm hoping that it's a good sign that he now has enough energy to put up a fight! I will post here as soon as I am updated on his condition.

A couple of weeks previous, just a little further up the road in Anafiotika, I met a kitten in very different spirits...

The little black and orange girl lives with many other cats and kittens in the shady courtyard of an empty taverna, complete with twisting trees, perfect for curious kittens to climb!

She scampered up and looked to be almost waiting for me to take a photo, as you can see from the picture perfect pose!