Sparky’s story
A big thank you to Anna and Jamie for making the difference for Sparky!
From Anna and Jamie:
We first saw Sparky on the first night of our holiday in Hydra. He was with some other stray cats from his colony, and looked much smaller and thinner than them – only a few months old (so born in the depths of winter). He looked like he’d always been sick and vulnerable.
We gave him some fuss and then carried on walking up the hill to our house thinking we’d take some food to him and his colony the next day. The other cats he was with had turned away, but he watched us all the way, until we disappeared round a corner. Half an hour later, when we were sitting on our terrace terrace, he appeared. I’d had a feeling he would – he’d realised that we might be nice people who’d help him, so we called him Sparky as he was such a bright spark!
He was obviously hungry and sick, with terribly matted fur, so we gave him some milk to keep him going and the next morning went to buy him some cat food, a brush, and some scissors to cut off the knots on his belly.
As Hydra is such a cat-centric place we thought that there must be a charity or organisation on the island to the help them. A quick Google search led me to Hydra Ark and I got in touch.
A Hydra Ark member got back to me and the next day we collected flea and worm treatments and eye drops from her, as well as the name of an antibiotic pill that you could get from a local pharmacist. I’d had no idea that you could get these over the counter in Greece – you need a signed prescription in the UK – so this information was invaluable. It’s called Vibramycin and a kitten only needs a quarter of a tablet every day.
Within a couple of days of crushing them up and mixing into Sparky’s wet food, alongside the anti-parasites and some grooming, he was already starting to look like a healthy kitten rather than the forlorn bag of bones who’d come to us to ask for help. He started grooming himself, which he hadn’t been doing before. By the time we left Hydra a week later he was strong and healthy, with lots of energy and ready for a summer of charming more visitors!
It took so little effort to make such a difference to this cat’s life. The wonderful people at Hydra Ark have such limited time and resources compared to the amount of cats who need a helping hand, and it’s something any visitor can do if they take a few minutes out of each of their days here. Hydra wouldn’t be the same without its cats, so rather than just reporting to Hydra Ark that you’ve seen one that needs help you can easily do the above yourself. It’s so rewarding to see how quickly and easily a difference can be made.