Growing Support 22 April 2008

Two days ago I went to Rhodes to collect Wee-D (the cat that broke her leg and had to be taken to Athens for an operation - see "The Cost of Saving a Life" blog update on the 13th of April). She was standing on the vet's table with a shaved leg miaowing loudly which I interpreted as happiness to see me though the vet told me she hadn't stopped talking since her arrival from Athens the night before.

She had travelled by taxi to Rhodes port, then on a 15-hour ferry-trip to Pireus and a taxi to the surgery for the operation. She stayed at the surgery for 3 days while she was being supervised and then travelled all the way back to Rhodes and home to Symi. The experience must have been traumatic to say the least for a cat that has never been further than a few metres away from my yard!

She is recovering well and she is even more talkative. She doesn't like being left alone and despite the two pins in her leg, she hobbles about all the time trying to be next to me.

While I was at the vet surgery, I told the vet all about FAROS and our work to bring voluntary Greek vets to Symi. He was thrilled with the idea and offered his unequivocal support. He even asked whether he could come as well as one of the next FAROS voluntary vets (he has been working on similar schemes on the island of Kastelorizo). But he didn't just wish us well; he was very keen to help out and offered to order all aneasthetics for us at a trade price which was extremely generous of him.

The vet has been particularly pleased that our initative is not just for the strays but also includes pets and farm animals and agreed with FAROS about the importance of raising awareness and encouraging people to take animals to the vet by offering a free service. In the past days, I was also told of two more vets on Rhodes that have expressed their support for FAROS. Having Rhodes vets would reduce travel costs substantially and we are thrilled that our ever expanding list of voluntary vets now includes vets from Rhodes.