Greece is well known for its large cat population. You can see cats roaming wherever you go.

The mission of our member league Nine Lives Greece is to improve life’s condition of stray cats in Athens helping them through neutering and feeding programmes, vet care, treatment and adoption.

Volunteers are dedicated to the human reduction of the stray cat overpopulation through trap-neuter-return programmes covering the lack of intervention of local institutions. Each year they get hundreds of stray cats in Athens neutered/spayed (1,700 cats in 2020 alone), greatly reducing the numbers of unwanted kittens born each season and ensuring in this way a healthier adult cat population. Recently, the TNR project has been expanded in areas that border the existing colonies volunteers are looking after, already 20 stray cats have been already neutered and included in the project.

Furthermore, volunteers help more than 500 street and abandoned cats in central Athens through a daily feeding programme, routine anti-parasite treatment and veterinary care for ill or injured felines. They also try to find responsible homes for as many cats and kittens as possible.

As most of the time it happens, the association operates only with their own economic resources and the support of donors, as they do not receive state funding or assistance.

Recent activities

Greece had a very difficult time last summer. The extremely hot and dry weather initiated a series of wildfires all over Greece, including Athens that hit thousands of people but also thousands of animals. Nine Lives’ volunteers were active on site visiting all the burned areas, looking for any injured animals to save and leaving to the healthy ones food and water. They helped with rescue, transfer and foster activities of animals in need as happened for two blind kittens who had to evacuate the home they were previously fostered in because of the fires or for a tuxedo cat with severe respiratory issues and a grey male with burned paws and eye infection.

❤️ Help NINE LIVES continue its work for ATHENS STREET CATS ❤️