Varaždin's abandoned cats
Autumn 2024
Around Varaždin, like almost everywhere, there are too many abandoned cats living semi-feral lives who only survive due to the actions of empathetic and warm hearted people who help with food and shelter. So it has been for one 'colony' for many years deep in the local Forest near to our home. A group of people had put together a pile of pallets and boxes under a rudimentary roof to provide a dry place and some shelter from the cold European winters. They organised themselves such that regular food was delivered so the cats grew to about twenty in number. Despite a programme of TSR (Trap - Sterilise - return) there seems to be no shortage of weened kittens abandoned to their fate. Most die of cold, disease, starvation and predation (Dogs, Pine Martens, Jackals) so the numbers fluctuate wildly. There are currently about five surviving around 'our' local colony , this is their story....
1. The handyman who put this together has not been seen for a long time, we heard he became very ill. A lady who had been struggling to help the cats, Jasmina, showed me the poor conditions endured by the cats. We embarked on a project to improve things...
2. The shelter had a kind of communal area, let's call it a terrace, where the food bowls were located. The roof had mostly collapsed and left little space or shelter - these three were determined however!
3. With some heavy duty plastic panels scrounged from friends (Thankyou Hans and Ines) and a few fence posts and cable ties, we tried to improve things but the more we looked, the more rot and fungus we found. The project looked like it was about to grow.
4. Despite our efforts to improve things bit by bit, an event happened which changed that view. "Brownie" turned out to be an un-spayed female and promptly delivered three beautiful kittens. We increased the food deliveries and improved the bedding arrangements. Sadly all three suffered violent deaths on the same day, the shelter offered little protection against predators - probably pet dogs in truth. We were upset but now determined to fix this in any way we could.
5. Friends Hans and Ines came up trumps with some big 4" timbers which were used to build a basic frame, they also donated a large number of plastic panels which were set aside for water-proofing the roof. All the innards from the original shelter were mostly rotten, stinky and wet through, all were discarded.
6. Another pal, Dave Middleton, had upgraded his back yard in Sveti Urban and donated a large pile of super-heavy plastic decking boards, he helped out with his power saw, delivered everything with his van, man-handled all this stuff into the forest - and he was supposed to be on his holidays. Thanks Dave you're a star. We bought some yellow shuttering boards from Bau-Max for the walls and set to building with what we could put together.
7. The floor goes in, built on Euro pallettes sitting on a dry membrane which carries the plastic plank decking seen here. The sides were later shielded with plastic panels to keet the moisure from entering from the sides.
8. The roof goes on, built with shuttering panels covered with rubberised waterproofing and topped off with plastic panels. Three walls are now in situ.
9. International Rescue.... Yours truly from UK (left), Hans from Netherlands (middle), Patrick from Canada (right) plus Silvija From Croatia (behind the camera). The sweat and muscle needed to clear the building site and shift it all 100 metres to where a trash container would be delivered - was much appreciated.
10. The original builder of the earlier shelter, Nenad Božičković, clearly put a lot of work and materials into it. We hope to do him proud with our new version.
11. Things are moving along now and the bulk of the construction work is now in position. All donated materials are doing a sterling job, everything is sitting on bricks and is covered by plastic panels to keep out the damp.
12. It's finished. This is the left side and the front showing the access door (for humans) and the access to the "terrace" (for cats).
13. Right side and rear view.
14. Right side and front.
15. The "Terrace Restaurant" (4 stars). The walls are insulated with polystyrene, the access from here into the rest of the shelter is through a gap in the Perspex windows (left). The mesh dome is used to keep the flies off the tinned food. The cats learnt to hook that off in no time!
16. With the access door open - the 'dormitory' section has 4 polystyrene lined and straw filled plastic boxes which proved an immediate 'hit' with the residents, probably the cat treats within helped in the process of acclimatisation. All the walls and ceiling are lined with insulation which keeps condensation and dampness to a minimum. The ramp is to assist less athletic guests get out of the dormitory.
17. 'Tabby' gives her approval of the amenities and facilities.
18. This is 'Simba', our longest serving resident. He's big but is not the Alpha.
19. This is 'Brownie' it was she whose kittens were killed. We caught her and got her sterilised, de-wormed and vaccinated. We kept her at home for a month in an attempt to domesticate her but she showed no signs of that and grew increasingly timid. We released her back to the shelter but we haven't seen her for two months. It feels like we failed her, sad.
Update December 2024: Brownie started showing up again recently and has re-inserted herself into proceedings. She's not in the colony but lives somewhere nearby and comes to eat. She lets us pet her now (a little) so we feel like we've been forgiven.
20. Say hello to 'Tabby' (how unimaginative!). She arrived in the summer and went through the TSR process. This time we released her after 48 hours and she is as confident around us as she always was. Don't put your fingers anywhere near her. She was the Alpha cat until 'Bully' arrived (see below).
21. Maintaining our imaginative method on naming cats, this is 'Grey'. She arrived last autumn with (probably) her sister. The sister was killed within days and we decided Grey was far too small to compete for food, shelter or withstand a winter. She has also been through TSR and we kept her. She has become a member of the family now and enjoys domesticated life. This is why we thought we could domesticate Brownie but it seems you have to catch them as kittens and before they go feral.
22. Say hello to 'Bully', our most recent arrival. He came as an intact male and proceeded to fight with all the others in a bid to dominate the scene - which he did, hence 'Bully'. TSR seems to have sorted him out such that the lack of testosterone has allowed the others to approach now.
23. (December 2024) Say 'Hello to "Sixty", our new arrival at the forest cat colony. She just plain walked up to us as if to say "can I join your gang?". She immediately set up home in the shelter and showed she is no feral cat. She's confident and enjoys a cuddle. She's also covered in mouse-trap glue which has removed most of the fur from her rear end, we guess she sat in the trap. She was taken to the vet on day 2 to check her out and get some de-worming and anti-parasite guff. It cost us £60 to find out there's absolutely nothing wrong with her. Hence the name.
Roll of honour.
A special mention for Jasmina Jelić. She has been steadfast in her support of this colony of cats for far longer than the rest of us. Jasmina cares for other cats elsewhere and she also walks pound dogs to give them a chance to escape their surroundings from time to time. Bravo Jasmina!
A word about Nenad Božičković. I've have neve met him but he was the builder of the previous construction which he put together for about fifteen cats. His ad-hoc construction stood the test of time, it certainly took a lot of effort to dismantle it. There are a few bits of it contained within the new shelter. Well done Nenad, a labour of love.
Lots of materials and practical help from Silvia, Dave Middleton, Hans Van Hoek and Patrick Galeski helped make this project come to realisation.
Kudos to all.