How’s the life in a cat depository - Interview

Hi Markéta, how did your love for cats even start?

Hi. When I was little, I used to spend almost every weekend in the country, by my grandparents. They had a small farm with a lot of animals, and of course, they had cats as well. It drew me to them already at that time. It might have been their independence, that bewitched me. Then, when I once saw how my grandma took new-born kittens from the cat and went off to drown them, something broke inside of me. Since that time, I’ve kept watch, when the cat will have its litter and crawled through all possible shelters, only to find the kittens sooner than my grandma. This way, I managed to save several litters and the kittens got to be given away. So it started, I was about 8-years-old then. At that time, I probably completely fell for cats :). When I was 11, I found a grown kitten with inflamed eyes and a terrible cold on a walk. I took it to my grandma to take care of it and to cure it. Unfortunately, she forbade me to do it and made me take it back. Nothing helped. When I was returning the little one back where I had found it, I swore to myself, that I would never allow this to happen again. Well and that was the beginning:)

So, that was the beginning of rescuing cats without a home for you? When did the first one come into the depository?

This was in 2008, when I first moved with my cats to Prague and got to know the chairwoman of our shelter. I went on my first rescue mission with her. It was a kitten that fell into a shaft, which was difficult to access. After several hours, with the help of nice policemen, we managed to pull the kitten up. I’ve nursed him with great care and put him into a new home, where he’s been happily reigning until today :).

Since that time, you have been running a depository for abandoned cats?

Yes, at that time, my “depositoring” began. There are usually about 15 cats at my place. But this includes even my own cats, that I had already at the time, when I’ve started.

And what it’s like, in such a depository?

After a cat is admitted, it spends a minimum of 14 days in quarantine, depending on its health condition. If everything is all right, it is let out among the main cat pack. It is vaccinated and neutered. Then I look for a new home for it. Both cats directly from the street come here, as well as from our shelter, which is located outside of Prague. From the shelter to my place, come mostly cats that need special treatment, examination or care. Since I cooperate with an excellent clinic called Well Vet in Prague, we can provide this together.

How does it look like in a depository? Most people will probably not picture anything specific under this term.

A cat depository is actually a regular household. The cats live here like they were really at home. Contrary to a classic shelter, this has several advantages. There are fewer cats, so they receive more individual care. This is also connected with the fact that the cat’s nature can manifest itself better. One is then better at judging into which permanent home the cat should be going. Also socialisation of shy cats is easier.

Well, and what does all this “depositoring” entail?

A lot of things. It includes capturing of cats and kittens. With stray cats, it takes a very long time. Most are in bad condition or gravid, I took care even for cats that had been hit by a car. Many cat colonies are, unfortunately, close to a busy road. I spend a lot of time at the veterinary. At home, I am running around among the patients with pills, injections, and I am always watching subconsciously, whether one of the cats is not behaving differently than usual. Of course this also includes deworming, vaccination or neutering. In spring and autumn, there is an influx of kittens. People bring found, orphaned several-day kittens. Then you feed every two hours, you almost don’t sleep and you are trying to find a surrogate lactating cat. Among all this, you are trying to take care of the timid cats – to cuddle with them, so that they get used to people – I call them “shiers”. Then it is necessary to hunt down a quality photo of the adepts for a new home and to advertise for them. But when a cat is successfully placed and I get news and photos from its new home where it is happy, it is worth all the time and energy.

With all that, how do you manage to work?

Fortunately, I have flexible working hours and for a portion of the day, I work directly from home, so it is possible to combine it. Earlier, when I used to go to work for eight hours, it was worse. I had to take cat orphans to the office with me, during the lunch break I had to go home to check up on the ill ones and to administer medication. Sometimes, it used to be a real rush.

How is the operation of the depository paid for?

Depositories and shelters operate especially owing to donors. People contribute financially, as well as with food, litter, textiles, disinfections. Without them, the operation would be basically impossible. Specifically, the monthly consumption at my place is about 40-50 kg of cat litter, 300 cans, 20 kg of granules. When you add the costs for the veterinary, then a person with a regular income really wouldn’t be able to manage.

When you were starting with the depository, did you know what you were getting yourself into?

Well, I did have a certain idea about the operation of a depository. I only didn’t count with the number of my cat occupants to grow as much. I thought, that to my own, four cats, I would have about three depository ones. But some rescued cats can’t be placed into new homes, whether it’s because of health or psychological reasons. So they stay with me, where in case of need, I can provide them with immediate medical health care and they are legitimate members of the household.

And would you do it again?

Even though that my working and personal schedule conforms to the cats – you can’t even leave for a vacation – I would do it again. Cats enrich you immensely and it is worth their rescue.