14/07/2026
A heavy one, but it needs saying. 🐾
Last night a couple brought us a kitten they'd found in Kalamaki — a baby with an injured eye. We explained gently that we're not a shelter, we were already at full capacity, and that a vet was the right next step. They left.
Half an hour later, we found that same kitten alone in the middle of the road outside our cafe.
We want to be really clear about something: this wasn't an act of love for animals. A true animal lover doesn't take a kitten away from where its mother is feeding it and then abandon it somewhere unfamiliar. If you're not in a position to help from the start, the kindest thing is to leave an animal exactly where you found it. And if you do step in, see it through — a vet visit, treatment, and returning the kitten to where it was found would have cost far less than what happened here.
The kitten is now safe and being treated at the vet. We have cameras covering the area around the cafe, and behaviour like this isn't something we'll stay quiet about.
For anyone who doesn't know: there is no shelter for cats on this island. Every rescue, every foster, every vet bill is carried by volunteers, out of our own pockets, with no institutional support. What you see in our catio is only part of the picture — there are more cats and kittens being fostered behind the scenes that we simply don't have room to take on right now, even though our hearts want to.
This is the reality of Zakynthos. Tourists come, fall in love with the island, and go home. We're still here every single day after that, picking up the pieces. We're doing our best. We just need people to do theirs too. 🐾
