Education | Street Cats of Vis

Feeding street cats

Are you visiting Vis and falling in love with our street cats? Are you tempted to feed them? We think this is fine: the cats will surely love the extra food and attention. Here are some best practices so you don’t upset the cats or the local humans. Residents complain...

Emergencies

What to do if you come across a cat in distress? If you have time to stay with the cat until you can get help, that would be good. If the cat is so badly injured it can’t move, it would be good to try and place it in some kind of temporary safe space, making...

Adopting in place

Street cats depend on humans for food, either through direct feeding or by scavenging for scraps we throw away. They also need drinking water and shelter, which is sometimes hard to find. We encourage people to adopt in place, which means becoming a caretaker for a...

Dumping

People abandon cats for various reasons. Some want to rid their neighborhood of the consequences of unchecked breeding when the population gets out of control, some decide they don’t want a female cat around (pregnant or not), and some people cruelly separate...

Castration

Intact (non-neutered) male cats display several behaviors that can cause problems for humans as well as for other cats. Yowling, marking territory with pungent-smelling urine and fighting with other cats are common nuisances. Fighting can lead to serious wounds in...

Finding kittens

You’re out walking and you hear high, squeaky meows – sounds like kittens in distress! What should you do? Nothing, just yet: the mother is probably nearby. She might be moving all of her kittens one by one to a safer place, or out hunting for food. Mom is the best...

Population control

Cats are prolific breeders, so if left unchecked, a cat population will quickly grow. The only humane way to prevent uncontrolled breeding is through TNR, which stands for Trap, Neuter, Return. Read about the vacuum effect here. We practice TNR on Vis. A vet comes to...

Dangers for street cats

Street cats face many dangers, mostly from humans. Road accidents and intentional harm (drowning, dumping, poisoning, shooting cats with air rifles…) take the lives of many cats and kittens each year. Fighting with other cats for mates and resources can lead to...

The adoption process

What makes a cat a candidate for adoption? Not every street cat is socialized, so the wild ones are of course best released where we found them after sterilizing. We always keep kittens or try to find foster care for them if our space is full, and for other street...