Holiday Rider Checklist: Kittens

Mama popped up out of the blue from the dark hedge on our second day. I had just uttered the words, "wonder if we'll see some stray cats?" and jumped up when I got a huge meow in response from behind me. There was Mama, never letting us near, sussing us out, were we friendly or would we rage her away. Obviously we ignored the explicit rule in the villa book and Dave went and grabbed a few scraps for her, tiny wee bits. The last bit was bigger and she suddenly ran off with it meaning only one thing.... kittens!

A few minutes later she returned with all four beauties in tow. They were mighty, feisty street cats with epic personalities, she trusted leaving them with us a few times when she went off to hunt and they trusted us enough to hang around and play but never enough to be stroked, probably just as well to keep a healthy distance from horrid humans. I worried about leaving them at the end of the week but as I was leaving I heard the folk that had just arrived at the top of the hill shout to each other if they'd fed the kittens yet. They will be fine and I'm making a donation to the local Ark Foundation to help the cats and dogs across the island but that plan didn't do much to stop Tess and I spend a week debating how we could take all 5 home.

Mama, the most excellent cat mama in Greece.