News & Events

News and Events Page

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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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Wow a wonderful outcome for Archie who we rescued from down a very deep drain just 6 days ago. Read on to the end to see a message from his new mum. He appeared a bit wild at first but was just in shock.
Thanks to Lynne and Dougie for temporarily fostering him to make sure he was fit and well and felt safe. He was checked by Bichos clinic, deflead and wormed and now has a really good home with Kirsty. This morning she sent us a message to say his first couple of nights have gone really well. He only cried once last night when he got stuck under the bed, but got himself out, and this morning she woke up to Archie snuggled up and fast asleep under her chin. She’s totally smitten with Archie. What a wonderful happy ending for him

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Remember Dino or Dina from an earlier comment, we have found out she is a girl and called her Fluer.

Baby Fluer is now 224 grams. Hard to imagine just 12 days ago she was pulled out of the rubbish bin, tied up in a bad. She is so clever and has an amazing baby purr. We hope to be able to make her life complete and find her a great, loving home when she is 8 weeks. Donations towards her Royal Canine kitty milk would be greatly appreciated

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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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In the last few days we have managed to catch and neuter 2 females and 1 male from this colony of cats, we are continueing our efforts to complete the task of neutering them all

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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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You might want to turn the volume down before you click on this one.

Five very pleased to be released kitties, thanks to a friend of Twinkle who caught 3 females and 2 males that were on our list of cats that urgently needed neutering. Now they are all done won’t have to go through another year of mating, giving birth to many kittens that couldn’t all survive, and not to mention the fighting for food they all need.

Any donations to help us pay the neutering costs would be a big, big help. Plus we also want to carry on leaving water and dry food for these cats ( we have been doing this for several weeks to aid trapping them), we’ve been putting down 2 kilos a day.

There is no other source of food except rodents and water from swimming pools.

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Errol as this cat has been named was found with severe fungus infection under his chin and on his leg, which is why we were called to help, But once he was under anaesthetic the vet noticed he had a large piece of bone, probably chicken, stuck deep under his tongue. which must have been very painful, and which has most likely caused his immune system to weaken as you’d expect, and this could be why his fungus infection is as bad as it is.

These were taken by the vet as he operated to remove the large piece of chicken bone.

Errol was given the all clear by Antonio of Species vet clinic. The stitches under his tongue will stay in until they dissolve which will be about 20 days, by then the big hole under his tongue from the large piece of bone would have closed up and he won’t suffer anymore nasty infections. His skin has improved so much that Antonio says he he safe to go back to his spot, where he can be monitored by Judy and Debbie.

We also had him castrated and treated against fleas and worms so he’s now able to lead a more peaceful life without fighting for females and territory.

Our thanks to Judy, Hamid and Debbie for helping us to help Errol.

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We have been contacted to help a stray colony of up to 8 cats living around some holiday villas located towards the north of the island. Originally we were told there were only 5 cats but many more appeared.

Thanks to a wonderful Twinkle friend who is going to trap and transport them to the vets and look after them while they recover, our plan is to catch them in the next couple of days and have them all neutered to prevent more unwanted kittens being born.

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Firstly thank you to all our supporters for donating towards Calina’s big operation.

As suspected her eye did have to be removed but the long surgery went very well.

She’s not too keen on wearing the big collar or her daily pain medication but she’s recovering just great.

She needs to see the vet next week to check her progress but thanks to the skill of Bichos we think she’s going to recover just great.

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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

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These are the photos of the cats and kittens we rescued from the ruined house. 8 adults are still with Twinkle until we can find new homes.

Although they all had to be trapped,all but one is very sweet and friendly, they just weren’t used to seeing anyone other than their poor dad. Unfortunately the white cat had a huge internal head tumour, she was so friendly but any bright light caused her pain so we made sure her last night was clean and cosy, she could only eat liquid food so we mixed up some pain medication into Mercadona liquid cat food with mashed up chicken, which she loved, I think she had the best nights sleep in a long time.

Two of the females had obviously had kittens recently but because the kittens had not survived they had developed mastitis we’ve got them on medication and already they are looking and feeling more comfortable and in less pain.

The friend of the sick owner that initially asked us for help is trying to convince the man to accept professional personal help from the church and local authorities so he can be moved to a special needs home where he can receive professional medical and mental health treatment.

He is a good man at heart, that just can’t care for the cats or his frail self.

Please Click Here To Read Catherine's Short Responce