News & Events

News and Events Page

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Next week we’re hoping to catch this family of cats and youngsters for neutering.

They have lived in the garden of a villa in Caleta for a long time and when asked to help we said yes and thought we could help easily but now we can’t get access to the garden of the villa they used to get fed in.

A neighbour owns 2 of them ( she took them on when one of the older females gave birth ), so we need to be careful not to catch the wrong ones.

Although these cats have collars on they are not owned ( put on by a very kind couple trying to keep them safe and feed).

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Abbey and Ashley are on the mend, hardly any mange/sarna scabs on them now and I think the antibiotics I started them on for the sneezing and runny eye’s on Abbey are helping.

They are still very underweight but eating well and looking much better 🐾🐾.

They are such content kitts, they would make a lovely family addition when they are completely healed.

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URGENT URGENT FOSTER HELP NEEDED PLEASE. All these cats need neutering which Twinkle will do as soon as we can, but 1 sweet female gave birth to 6 kittens in the bushes in Llanos de la Concepción.

Mum had to watch and defend her new babies recently as a dog attacked and killed one of her kittens, they are just a couple of week old.

The photo of the kitten being held up was put into what mum thought was a safe place ‘ a car engine ‘! and the baby went for a 20 kilometre car journey. In this dreadful heat and wind they don’t stand a chance, and they aren’t safe. Please, please can someone foster mum and her 5 surviving kittens (in Fuerte)

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All of these cats (and I have many, many more that I don’t have photos of) need our help to get neutered. I can’t express how important and urgently we need to help them.

Twinkle’s amazing supporters donate and help us to continue and I know you can’t keep giving, but please share this with your friends and family so we can neuter them ASAP, we can’t wait until we have a budget for them because more kittens will be born and the cycle will just continue.

The cats are in lots of different areas, Caleta de Fuste, Tamaragua, Villaverde, Llanos de la conceptión, Lajares, I could go on. We are desperate. Please share and thank you for caring.

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As you may have seen, this apology has been published in the latest edition of Hoy and Fuertextra, which are 2 local publications in Fuerteventura. In addition as agreed in the courts we are publishing it on our internet pages.

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We have many cats and kittens that need homes, these cats have been socialised and would not cope well if at all if they were returned to the streets, so we need to find homes for them.

As you may know we do not have available funds to cover their transport costs from the island, which is sad as some have been offered a home in the UK.

We have started a fundraiser to try and raise enough money to fly as many as possible to the UK, the costs of travel are on a sliding scale, so the the more we can add to a flight the cheaper it is per cat.

If you could donate any amount no matter how small please

CLICK HERE

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2 more from a colony of cats, a little girl and a boy were caught and neutered yesterday.

That’s 5 in total so far from this group if cats.

Thank you Fuen for helping to make this possibly by catching and transporting them etc.

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This poor little guy was heard meowing for food and drinking from a pool.

Thanks to L & D who managed to trap him he had a night of lovely food and water before going to Bichos vets the next day. We could see he had mange which can be treatable and that was expected but sadly it was his other internal development /genetic problems that meant we could not save him.

At least his last night was the most contented night he’d probably had in a very long time .

RIP little man.

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Our darling little Romeo went to a really great home yesterday. It was hard saying goodbye but also happy to know he will have a wonderful home forever and never have to struggle to survive again. What a difference from when we took him in just a few weeks ago to where he is now

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Pipa is doing well after surgery to repair her broken ( split jaw ). She’s only allowed soft food and water for 2 weeks while she heals, today for breakfast we thought Pipa could manage some warm fresh cook shredded chicken, as you can see she couldn’t eat it quick enough. She’s taking her daily oral pain medication like a good girl and even though she doesn’t like the twice daily chin cleaning sessions she lets me do it without getting too upset with me. Such amazing creatures, you’d never guess how severe her broken jaw is. Thank you to those of you that has donated something to her vet bill, we can only do what we do because of you guys

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Thank you everyone for donating your items for us to recycle.

Thanks also to Debbie and Fuen for being at Parc Hollandes market again this morning.

We would love more items so If you’ve got any unwanted clothes please contact us, we can turn your garments into cat food

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Mummy cat below that had 3 beautiful babies.

On Wednesday we paid for mummy to be spayed at Bichos and thank goodness we did! During the operation the vet discovered she had a nasty cyst on her ovary, if Left it would have grown and if she had become pregnant again it could have been lethal. Mum still doesn’t have a home but she’s being cared for and fed by the very kind lady that looked after her and her kittens when they needed help.

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Part one of story below

Remember this clever mum that found a nice safe place to give birth to her 3 babies. All 3 kittens now have great homes.

The white and the black / white we’re lucky and homed together to a very special home and the strawberry blonde also found a very good home.

They are all doing really well. On Wednesday we’re hoping that we can have mum sterilised now her milk has dried up and before she becomes pregnant again.

I wish we could have found a home for the gentle mum as well, but where she lives she is cared for and feed by some nice residents and at least if we spay her she can relax and not have to worry about fighting off the stray Male cats trying to mate with her and her search for a safe place to keep having her kittens will be over.

Please donate to her neutering costs if you can.

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Our other emergency on Monday evening was 11 year old, Handsome Henry. He was attacked by a dog and has suffered a broken shoulder and has air in one lung. He does have a microchip, which is how we know his name and age but the owner has left the island and returned to Germany. So far we have been unable to get a response from our messages but we’re going to keep trying all possible options.

He was clearly loved, he is neutered and microchipped but his owner left Fuerteventura about 6 years ago. Remarkably he was attacked in the same street he used to live in. For now he is in our temporary foster cage, to rest and recover from his injuries and shock. I must add the owner of the dog acted in a very responsible manner, not only phoned us immediately and took him to our vet at Bichos but has offered to pay his vet bill.

HENRY UPDATE<

Henry had his check up a few days ago, the vet is very happy with his progress. No more air in his lungs and he can come off his pain medication this weekend. He still has a limp but he’s such a happy cat and has even learnt to play now. Can anyone give Henry a caring, peaceful home. He would give so much back. He is 11 years old and black and I know most people won’t be interested but he would repay you with love and gratitude. Plus he is in great health for a cat his age.All donations towards Henry vet bills would be a big help.

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Well it wouldn’t be kitten season here in Fuerteventura without at least one evil act of putting live kittens in the big rubbish bins, and this isn’t the first and I doubt will be the last.

We had a call on Monday evening to say this poor new born baby was heard crying and pulled out from the rubbish bin and removed from the bag it was tied up in.

Along with this only survivor were his dead siblings, they were covered in blood, their mothers blood from giving birth we believe. No sign of the poor mum I’m very sad to say, what must she have gone through or be going through.

When baby was found less than 48 hours ago he was just 114 grams, already he is 130 grams today. Poor baby never even had the chance to be cleaned by his mum after birth or have milk.

Thank you Frank and Amanda for saving this new born kitten and getting him to our vet for urgent milk and a check over, and to Debbie who is fostering him until he is weaned, recovered and has felt how kind life can actually be.
We welcome any help to cover his veterinary fees and the fees of those very likely to be coming in very soon.

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This street mum cat was clever enough to find a kind lady that allowed her into her home where the mum immediately give birth to these 3 very pretty kittens.

The kittens are just a couple of days old, mum is such a gently soul. You’d think the cardboard box and blanket she’s been given for her and her babies was the best gift ever.

The kind lady that has given refuge to the family can’t keep them, so has asked for our help.

In 8 weeks the kittens will be ready to be homed and so would the gentle mum after she has finished feeding her kittens and been sterilised by us.

Please contact Twinkle if you can offer a safe, loving home.

They are all so beautiful

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This poor adult female cat was kicked out of her home when the female owner realised her cat was pregnant.

Thanks to some kind neighbours that took pity on the mum and her 3 starving kittens they now get feed each day.

Twinkle were asked to help get them all neutered before they all began mating.

I’m so pleased to be able to say all 4 girls (mum and her 3 kittens) have now been sterilised. This was a huge team effort by the caring ladies that have taken to looking after them, for trapping, transporting them to our clinic and looking after them so well while they recovered and to Judy for running around making sure everyone had our cages and helping me get everything organised.

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What can we say but THANK YOU EVERYONE.

On Monday with the help of two very strong men we went and dismantled the shed, then transported it to where it needed to go and then not only put it back together but reinforced it and modified it so there is now a cat flap, a shelf inside and the glass windows were removed and fitted with mesh and galvanised metal to ensure its escape proof but well ventilated.

It took from 9am until 7.30pm from start to finish to complete the “mission” on Monday and the guys worked really hard and the results are fantastic .

The shed was very kindly donated by Julie Elliott and is pur-fect to house the lucky five cats as they adjust to their new surroundings.

In all it only cost twinkle €120 including materials, labour and petrol, so we have a bit left from your donations. This money will be put towards the vet bill at Bichos vet clinic.

On Tuesday we took Willow, Harry, Toffee, Milly & Caramela to their new home and their new mum is settling them in & now finally they can begin their new happy ever after.

Thank you all so very much for making this possible. Without Julie and the shed, their new mum, 2 strong men and our supporters it wouldn’t have happened. Very grateful & proud of what your kindness and teamwork can do

From This

To this

Looking forward to exploring

Enjoying the new view

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Is this really a house?, a home?, you might ask ! Yes it really is for 1 poor unwell man and his many cats.

We were asked to help some cats 2 months ago in a non tourist area. Directions were very vague but we went, unfortunately we couldn’t find the “house” or the cats we were told of. Unable to get any more information we had to give up.... but the story of 20 starving, unneutered cats kept playing on our mind. When friends/volunteers Catherine and Suza offered to help catch some cats for neutering last week, I gave them them what little details I had. With Catherine’s “never give up attitude” and Suza’s brilliant help & local knowledge, plus long phone calls in Spanish in the dark whilst bouncing down dirt tracks to nowhere, they saw an old ruin way off in the distance close to an unused beach, far from civilisation, electricity, water and any sign of life. By now it was almost dark as they reached the run down house. Still on the phone to the person that originally told us about the situation, they were told to call out to the occupant, out of the darkness a frail man appeared and after explaining we were asked to help his cats he let us inside.I say inside but there is no roof to speak of just torn and weathered tarpaulin and a front wall with a padlocked door. Inside were 9 live cats, 2 live kittens with inches of bird droppings covering the floor and everything else and rubbish everywhere, they found dead kittens and other decomposed matter that could not be identified. By now it was completely dark, stepping anywhere or moving things out of the way to search was lethal. But by 1.30am they had caught all but 2 of the cats, 1 being a mum with crying kittens in a difficult get to corner and a clever ginger that took off.

After a brief pause and stepping outside to catch their breath they went back in ( having to use their phones as touches) and managed to trap the mother and then went diving into goodness only knows what, to reach in and get the 2 live kittens. With the ginger cat nowhere to be seen, they promised the man they would return the next day during day light, to try and catch the last ginger cat.

Once Catherine and Suza had managed to navigate out of the middle of nowhere through the darkness they made it back to Twinkle's facility where we immediately set about assessing and feeding the cats and settling mum and her 2 new born kittens still with their umbilical cords attached into a foster cage. I’ve never seen such a more relived and happy mummy Cat, when we put her in her nice clean bed with her babies she snuggled up to them and instantly started purring and padding away at the soft donut shaped bed and set about giving her kitts a wash. Story continues below

Please Click Here To Read Catherine's Short Responce