Lucky Lakis… plays faster than his shadow

Today we have a bittersweet story to tell you.

Bitter, because fate was so cruel to a kitten. But also sweet, because this kitten is not struggling with his fate, because it was rescued and because it hopefully has a long, beautiful life ahead of it.

Our Greek friend A., who normally lives in Athens but spends the summer on Andros, sent us this terrible news on September 2nd, just a few days before her departure back to the mainland:

„I wanted to go to the café to enjoy one of my last days on Andros in peace. No, it wasn’t meant to be. This poor little thing smelled of death. Blind, dirty, hungry, thirsty. I found it outside the village, on the side of the road. I gave it water. Tomorrow to the vet. And then what? Then what?“

 

She continued: „It’s a boy, I call him Lakis. He ate and drank, and I bathed him, but didn’t touch his face. Apart from the bad eyes, he also has a big hole in his lower lip. He can’t go back on the street.“

 

The next day she took him to the vet, where he was to stay for the time being and be stabilized. Our other friend A. could then take him in – out of necessity; she already has quite a few animals of her own.

Together, however, we let another idea grow. What if Lakis became a traveling cat?

However, many requirements must be fulfilled for this:

  • A. has to take Lakis with her to Athens because he needs our vet there, who has more facilities. He also has to go to Athens anyway, iff he gets a flight.
  • A place in a foster home in Germany must be found.
  • Lakis must recover sufficiently to be able to travel.
  • We need a flight companion, because none of us will be traveling to Andros in the next few months.
  • The whole thing has to happen as quickly as possible. Preferably as soon as Lakis is allowed to travel, because A. already has a cat in her very small apartment who is not particularly keen on other cats.
 

Not easy tasks, but not impossible either. And in the worst case scenario, he would have to move to A. on Andros, but at least he would be spared to go back to the street.

We had already experienced on Jörg’s trip in the summer (and also in previous years) that our Athens friend A. is very committed and that it is great to work with her. So we decided to try together to make it possible for blind Lakis to leave the country.

A. therefore took Lakis home with her a few days later and presented him to our vet in Athens the next day.

 

He had to be hospitalized there straight away. Although Lakis is still so young, he already had a lot of bad teeth. The open lower lip was the result of severe inflammation. What the poor thing must have already suffered!

But now he was in good hands, and the doctor also gave us hope that everything, including the lower lip, would heal well.

A. was able to take Lakis home after 8 days. He did not have an operation on his eyes as they were not watering or otherwise conspicuous. The other treatments were already stressful enough for the little one and the antibiotics had done a great job in the meantime.

In the meantime, we were able to do our bit for the departure plan in Germany, because we found a place in a foster home and were able to get hold of a flight companionship for the end of October. You can’t imagine how happy we were about both! Or can you?

Now all that remained was for A. to nurse little Lakis up so that he could set off on his big journey!

She made him as comfortable as possible and finally let him feel like the small, young cat he still was – free from all worries and pain! The fact that he is blind doesn’t bother Lakis at all; he probably doesn’t know any different.

So please enjoy the following series of pictures with us, which show Lakis‘ carefree enjoyment of life and his health, which is improving daily, as he waits for the day of his departure.

(The cage was always open, of course, but at night Lakis had to stay inside so that the curious little mischief-maker didn’t get himself into trouble unobserved).

 

Well, and then travel preparations were made: the travel box was prepared for the flight, a spare box was ready (in case the travel box needs to be cleaned again before the flight), and a travel bag with everything that might be needed until departure – spare inserts, cable ties to secure the box and much more – A. leaves nothing to chance!

And Lakis also checks everything again to be on the safe side:

 

Sleep one more night at A.’s place, …

 

… then it was time to get up early to get to the airport on time.

 

Lakis was accompanied by Ella, a cat from a Greek animal welfare organization, who is blind in one eye and was eagerly awaited by her adopters in Berlin:

 

Check-in and the security check went smoothly, the flight took off on time and even arrived at its destination a quarter of an hour early!

Both travelers were in good mood, …

 

… Ella was picked up by her family and Jörg grabbed Lakis to take him to the foster home.

 

Here are a few pictures of Lakis‘ arrival. He explored his room slowly and cautiously due to his blindness, but he was completely fearless and even accepted a few cuddles.

 

He also found the food bowl quite quickly.

 

The first information from the foster home is excellent! He eats and plays and is already climbing the first levels and twisted the foster staff around his paw in no time at all, …

 

… but can also make it clear what he wants: “I’d like a lot of that now!”

 

Incidentally, the vet probably made a mistake when issuing the pet passport. She wrote not Lakis as his name, but “Lucky”.

Nomen est omen?

Pictures say more than words, and moving pictures more than photos. We have compiled his still short time since September with us for you here. And as you will see – Lucky Lakis plays faster than his shadow…

 

Now it’s time for the examinations and tests that we carry out on all our foster cats. Of course, we will also focus on his eyes.

Please keep your fingers crossed with us for Lakis‘ future!

And you are not forbidden to fall so in love with the little one that you want to adopt him when the time has come for this!

If you would like to support us with Lakis‘ treatment, you are very welcome to help us with a little of the vet bill in Athens:

 

You can find our account details here: Bank account or PayPal.

Many thanks in advance!

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