posted by Michel on Feb 6

As we arrive here, we’re always a bit anxious about what animals will cross our path that need rescue. Usually, we don’t have to wait long until they do … This time, we decided to adopt two cats from the CARA Animal Clinic in Manila, Pola and Dayang-Dayang. They had been there the longest (over a year) and deserved a break. Not all rescues go well and the challenges of running an operation that is still in the early phases of construction, well, proved too much of a challenge really and Dayang showed us that there was still a way out that we hadn’t thought of. A few weeks later, an emaciated female doggie named Ginny performed the same trick and proved that, contrary to popular belief, it WAS possible to escape through the rotating food bowl system. However, the next day she returned by herself, while the shy and ever watchful Dayang remains at large, although we do occasionally catch a glimpse of her. So we’ve put out traps and leave food at a few spot in the hope that we can still catch her.

Pola and Dayang-Dayang check out the hotel room

And the good news is … we DID!!! After managing to elude our traps for 2 weeks, finally Dayang was caught using one of our “raccoon traps” that was sent to us by dear friends and supporters in the U.S.

One day I was coming back from the Sebaste Fiesta, when I noticed an emaciated and mangy looking old dog walking by the side of the road. I stopped and had a word with the apparent neighbours who proclaimed that the house the dog belonged to was for rent with the owners living 45km down the road, with no provisions made for the clearly aging dog. The next day I picked her up and it became apparent she was in dire need of some serious help.

Literally: on the road to recovery!

The sad face of an abandoned old dog

A more mundane task was to improve the interior of the cattery so that the resident cats can behave like normal cats do as much as possible, i.e. scratch, climb and play around. We placed three tree trunks with a few small platforms and provided some climbing facilities and lying space that even our 3-legged Frosty can reach. Although our younger cats seem to use it more that the older ones, the facilities seem to have been received well. Hopefully this will keep them not only happy, but also mentally and physically fit!

Cattery interior with plenty of climbing opportunity