In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
This website
This website was created to help those, who selflessly rescue and care for cats in need.
A lot of this has already been happening on instagram and other social media. However Instagram is not made for this purpose, so the rescuers and struggle daily with trying to increase their reach to get donations, while at the same time constantly having to fight back against fake accounts, who steal their photos and videos to scam peolpe. (You will notice, that all photos on this website are watermarked with the rescuers name for this reason.)
We want to give legitimate animal-lovers a platform to raise awareness for their work and their need for help, and want to give those looking to donate a way to ensure that their donations reach the right people and will be used to provide necessary treatments to animals in need.
If you want to support us in our work, you can donate for the kitties in need, or even become an association member. If you are a Rescuer, you can make an account register as a Kindness for Kitties e.V. Rescuer upload your kitties to be featured on our website and supported through fundraisers and promotions.
The Rescuers
Most of the rescuers are individuals who love animals and have started to care for stray cats in their area. They use their own money to feed them and when they notice sick or injured cats, they try to catch them and get them to a vet for assessment and treatment. Some are well-known for their work and will be called upon by others, who find sick or injured cats. Since some countries have a very high number of stray animals, there can be an overwhelming amount of cats that need care and those costs far exceed what one person can afford. Thus, they turned to family and friends and later on to strangers for help. They often accrue clinical debt for the treatments that need to be paid off, otherwise they risk the clinic not accepting any new animals from that rescuer in the future. To be able to reach a wide audience of animal lovers who want to help, they created social media accounts to try and attract attention towards their need for help and the work they do.
All of our Rescuers will be Members of the Association. Rescuers are exempt from paying membership fees, but otherwise retain full membership rights, like the right to participate in the decision making process as association members. For fiscal resons, a written agreement will be put in place to ensure that only genuine Rescuers will be financially supported by the association.
How we work
We are open for Rescuers all over the world. Most of our Rescuers currently come from Turkey, but we are working on expanding to other countries as well. Rescuers who are interested in partnering up with us can register as a Rescuer on this website and are then able to upload their cats through the Kindness for Kitties portal to be listed under “Kitties in need”. We create a betterplace.org fundraiser for every rescuer, where their cats are listed. The donations that we recieve are transferred to the respective Rescuer in regular intervals using WISE. We are trying our best to keep fees low, so that as much as possible of the donations can be used for the kitties. Please keep in mind, that transfer fees and currency exchange fees may be deducted, depending on the location of the Rescuers.
All accounts and animals posted are verified. To ensure that our donations go towards the care and treatment of cats in need, Rescuers are required to provide proof for their expenses (vet bills, order bills, bank transfer documents), as per the Rescuer agreements. Since those proofs contain sensitive personal information on the rescuers and veterinarians, these will not be published by default, but will be available (with sensitive information blacked out) upon request. Some Rescuers may choose to publish uncensored vet bills and other documents. We always ensure that these documents are only visible to the public if the Rescuers wishes to do so.
We are also working on acquiring the permit in accordance with §11 of the German Animal Welfare Law to be able to support the rescuers in finding suitable adopters in Germany. Once we meet that requirement, we will start to set up an adoption process and help Rescuers and adopters in the preparations and in organizing the journey to their new forever home. We plan to cooperate with other animal rescue organizations who organize animal placements internationally to widen our network and share experiences. We will continue to provide advise to Rescuers and adopters as needed.
Where we work
On the situation of stray cats in...
... Turkey
According to the most recent data from the world animal foundation, the number of stray animals in Turkey has approached 10 million, with more than 200,000 stray cats in Istanbul alone. Information on the living conditions and implementation of government efforts seems hard to find, as sources vary wildly. Sites promoting the image of Turkey in other countries paint a very positive picture of communities caring for cats, providing food, water and shelter and of government programs funding treatments and sterilization in widespread Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs. At the same time, animal welfare organizations report sick and malnourished animals dying daily from neglect, untreated diseases, thirst, starvation or abuse. According to several of these sources, in some municipalities stray dogs were rounded up, and put into shelters with inadequate care (including neglect and withholding medical treatment) or released into scarce environments outside of the city. Similar claims have been made about cats either being put into shelters under bad living conditions, released in the outskirts of cities to starve, or just simply being killed, but I could not find clear sources for that.
In 2004 the Turkish government passed a law, that requires local governments to rehabilitate street animals, instead of killing them. According to this law, animals should be sterilizied, vaccinated and taken back to the place where they were found. Between 2004 and 2018 about 1.2 million street animals were neutered and 1.5 million vaccinated in Turkey. However, enforcement of the law is still problematic. While some municipalities made great efforts to improve the conditions of strays, it is unsure if all municipalities changed their ways of dealing with stray animals. Some communities continue to view strays as pests that they need to get rid of and there have been incidents of individuals sabotaging the efforts made to help, by poisoning the food at feeding stations.
In 2019 the Turkish Parliament created an Animal Rights Legislative Commission. Up until 2021 animals could only be classified as „claimed“ or „unclaimed“ animals. Claimed animals were regarded as a „commodity“ or „property“, whereas unclaimed animals had even less protection under the law. Animal abuse generally was only punished by fines, but not prison sentences.
Since passing a bill amending the Law of the Protection of Animals in 2021, municipalities have been tasked with sterilizing all stray animals. The Agriculture Ministry is in charge of complaints on animal cruelty and related matters. Killing an animal incurs a punishment of imprisonment from six months to four years. Animal torture is punished with six months to three years in prison. Those prison sentences however are not always enforced, since Turkish law allows individuals sentenced to less than four years to remain free under court supervision. This has recently happened in the case of İbrahim Keloğlan who trapped and repeatedly kicked a community cat named „Eros“ for 6 minutes, eventually leading to its death. The case has sparked great outrage in Turkey, as he was released after the initial trial despite existing video evidence of the act. After petitions called for a retrial, the sentence was increased, but his arrest was refused again, thus he remains out of prison. The case shows, that examining individual laws is not always sufficient in painting the full picture and that the public opinion of the people is important to bring about changes in the treatment of stray animals.
According to an interview in 2021 with Nesrin Çıtırık, the chairperson of HAYKONFED, a federation of animal protection groups in Turkey, 1,200 out of 1,389 municipalities still did not have sterilization centers and shelters at the time, even though the law for it had already been in order for 17 years.
In conclusion, while there have been great changes in legislature over time, it is hard to evaluate how well those are actually enforced. Many stray cats still have to rely on private rescuers caring for them, especially when it comes to necessary medical treatments.
Sources:
Exactly How Many Cats Are in the World in 2024?
https://www.haytap.org/tr/haytapfighting-for-long-term-change-for-animals-in-turkey
https://forgottenanimals.org/news/istanbul-stray-animals-deceitful-fairy-tale/
https://www.haytap.org/tr/chris-green-summary-of-turkish-animal-laws-pending-legislation
https://alltourstoturkey.com/street-animals-in-turkey/
https://api.worldanimalprotection.org/country/turkey
https://www.dw.com/en/istanbuls-forgotten-dogs-struggle-for-survival/a-16997550
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/prosecutor-to-appeal-cat-killers-release-191799
https://anatoliatoday.com/turkey-to-retrial-a-brutal-cat-murder-case/
... North Macedonia
Let me preface this by saying, that it was extremely hard to find official sources for data on the numbers of stray cats (or stray animals) ,the ways animals are treated or the implementation of laws concerning animal welfare, especially regarding stray animals in North Macedonia. The fact that hundreds of thousands of stray animals exist, but no official sources can be found on ways that the government helps to reduce their suffering, speaks volumes about how much the government cares about the problem.
North Macedonias “Law on the Protection and Welfare of Animals” (originally adopted in 2007) focuses mainly on farm animals, and just touches on the topic of wild and stray animal without going into much detail. It does however state that “In every possible case and under all circumstances, everyone should act in a humane and caring way towards the animals” and, that violations of the law will be punished with fines. It appears that no crimes against animals (including abuse, torture and murder) are punished with prison time in North Macedonia. And from reports, even fines seem to be rare/ not given. Making the written law ineffective without enforcement.
In order to gain some information to share with you, I had to contact animal rights groups and organizations already working in North Macedonia, so those will be my sources.
Numerous sources claim that there are more stray animals than people living in North Macedonia. However, there are very few animal rescue organisations and the country does not have a strong animal rescue culture. Most animal welfare seems to be done by private people or organizations from other countries working in macedonia. Similar to other southern and eastern European countries the government tries to get rid of stray animals by capturing them and either killing/euthanizing them or putting them in shelters with bad living conditions and inadequate standards for hygiene and care. The managers of those shelters are often people with friends in politics who get money for managing the shelter, but do not get monitored, so the money often gets pocketed instead of being spent on the animals. From what I could find, no official shelters exist for cats. The shelters that do exist in North Macedonia are run by indivduals who are passionate about helping cats. In some cases these shelters are supported by (usually foreign) organizations, in other cases not even that.
There appear to be no government-run Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Programs and only few private organizations who organize neutering programs. One of the private organizations that run a neutering program is Angelcats Sanctuary, who depend on donations to be able to offer neutering for strays. They neuter about 650-850 cats per year with the help of donors. Recently two municipalities within the Capital city of Skopje have approved to spend money on neutering a limited number of stray cats. It stays to hope that in the process of becoming an EU-Member state, there will be further progress regarding animal welfare in North Macedonia.
Contrary to other countries, where the percentage of people having a positive view on cats or dogs may be higher, the overwhelming majority of people living in North Macedonia view strays as pests and do not feel sorry if they starve, freeze or get killed in accidents. The locals seem to be somewhat more inclined to feed stray dogs than cats, leaving the cats to scavenge in the trash for food. This also explains why there are more efforts to help stray dogs than stray cats in North Macedonia. Rescuers feeding stray cats even face backlash in forms of verbal abuse and possibly even violence. Self-built cat houses to provide shelter get vanadlized, because the people do not approve of helping the stray cats.
Sources:
https://www.esdaw.eu/stray-animals-by-country.html
... Indonesia
Indonesia is another country with a huge population of stray animals. There are an estimated 11,5 million stray cats living on the streets of Indonesia. According to data by the State of Pet Homelessness Project, 76% of cats and dogs in Indonesia are homeless. Only 16% of cats that do have a home are sterilized, meaning that free-roaming or abandoned pets are a huge part of the problem.
In addition to the dangers of disease, starvation, abuse and injury, cats and dogs in East Asian countries face the threat of being captured from the streets (pets are even being stolen from their homes) to be crammed in cages and eventually brutally slaughtered and sold as food on the extreme markets. Every year millions of cats and dogs become victims of this grueling act of cruelty (You can read more about it HERE, be warned, the descriptions are graphic and the photos truly gut-wrenching). Pretty much every step in the process goes against Indonesia’s Law 18 from 2009 on Husbandry and Animal Health, where it states that capture, placement, transportation, and slaughter of animals should be free from fear and torture and that ill treatment, torture and misuse of animals must be avoided (Article 66, animal welfare). However, when we come to chapter 12, that pertains to penalties for breach of various articles of that law, there is no mention of Article 66. This conforms to reports that despite law 18 being in effect since 2009, the first time that dog meat traders have been prosecuted in Indonesian history was just a few years ago in 2021.
The practice is linked to perceived health properties (according to investigations by FOUR PAWS, eating dog meat is sometimes even recommended to patients by local physicians in Indonesia) and beliefs that eating cat meat would bring good luck. It is also linked to religious events and festivities events, as well social gatherings and alcohol consumption. As the popularity of pet ownership increases, so does the awareness for animal welfare and outcry against such practices.
It is mainly the younger generations that vocally oppose the dog and cat meat trade and call for a national ban. As of January 2024, more than 50 cities, regencies and provinces across Indonesia have introduced bans on the trade, however a national ban is not in place, so the practice continues in other parts of Indonesia (including Borneo and Bali).
Let’s leave the topic of the meat trade and come back to general animal welfare in Indonesia and have a look at how society views stray animals and what the government does to reduce their number. Indonesia is a majority Muslim country, meaning that generally people view cats slightly more fondly than dogs. If you ever visit Indonesia, you will be able to see plenty of stray cats on the streets. While some Individuals feed them and may also make efforts to trap,neuter and return (TNR) them, as well as treat sick or injured animals, many view the stray/feral cat populations as pests and will not refrain from absue (typically described abuse involves kicking, poisoning or throwing hot water on cats as well as taking away kittens form their mothers). The majority of people in Indonesia do not consider sterilization of animals a beneficial practice, many local veterinarians also don’t recommend it. This results in people abandoning their pets or their pets’ offspring rather than sterilizing them, especially since affordable vet care is mostly limited to big cities.
According to Article 77 of Law 18, the Government shall provide places for animal health in all territories of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. And while there are government-owned shelters in Indonesia, as well as some free monthy TNR-events in some sub-districs, it is by far not sufficient to manage the immense numbers of stray cats.
Thus there are numerous animal welfare organizations like LAI or Bali Pet Crusaders who are working on implementing more wide-spread affordable and/or donation-funded TNR programs.
Sources:
https://api.worldanimalprotection.org/country/indonesia
https://letsadoptindonesia.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHUjoJzP1jY
https://www.dogmeatfreeindonesia.org
https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/ins98701.pdf
https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/international-tnr-spotlight-lets-adopt-indonesia/
https://jakartaglobe.id/news/local-organizations-fight-animal-cruelty
... Greece
According to recent data from State of Pet Homelessness Project and Animal Action Greece, there are an estimated 2-3 million stray cats living in the country. Only around 22% of cats are actually owned pets in Greece. According to the State of Pet Homelessness surveys almost half of all owned cats are not neutered and only 27% microchipped (despite microchipping of pets being mandatory in Greece). A proof of concept model by “Zero Stray Pawject” on dog populations on the Island Aegina could demonstrate that through education, creating incentives, subsidizing microchipping and neutering, as well as announced widespread controls (with warnings and fines issued for those that did not comply with the law), a significant reduction of abandonment and reduction of the overall number of stray dogs could be achieved. The great success of this program was only possible with the help of municipalities and authorities, that worked together with non-government Organizaions (namely, the Zero Stray Pawject, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and the Bodossaki Foundation) and local veterinarians.
Zero Stray Pawject have since founded Zero Stray Academy to train municipalities and authorities to spread their efforts across Greeece. In May 2023 they were working with 105 municipalities. Their Project on Aegina has managed to have an impact on new legislation, as can be seen in the introduction of the Law 4839 in 2021.
This law mandates microchipping and registration of pets in a national registry to prevent abandonment. It also states that DNA testing can be used to identify the parents (and thus also the owners) of unmarked abandoned pets, promotes the adoption of stay pets and regulates breeding among other things. Owners have the option rehome or to surrender their pets. An owner that surrenders a pet shall not be able to acquire another pet for a period of 3 years. Owners who abandon their pets will be punished with imprisonment for not less than one year and a fine, as well as being listed in offenders register and will not be allowed to receive animals or hold a position that affects the welfare of an animal for at least 10 years from the date of the criminal conviction. Illegal trade of pet animals is also punishable by imprisonment and a fine. Cases of animal abuse should be reported through a digital application and can be done anonymously. Mistreatment, Abuse, Killing, Torture and Abandonment of newborn animals is punished with fines ranging from 5,000 euros to 50,000 euros per animal and incident, depending on the severity of the offense.
The law also includes rules for shelters to ensure that all animals that have been taken in can be seen on the shelter’s website and be visited in person, are provided sufficient food, water, shelter, suitable exercise areas and standards of hygiene.
While all of this reads like great efforts on paper, it seems that actually implementing and enforcing these measures in reality is where progress stalls. Reportedly, there are too few shelters/kennels, who can only house a few hundred cats and dogs (sometimes under unspeakable conditions), while thousands continue to live on the streets and continue to be exposed to the elements, to hunger, thirst, disease and the risk of falling victim to abuse and accidents. Non-government organizations are repeatedly stepping in, to save animals from these conditions. It is important to remember that any law is only worth something, if it is also applied in reality.
Sources:
https://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/case-study-zero-stray-pawject/
https://www.zerostraypawject.org/who-and-where-we-are
https://www.animalactiongreece.org/advice-and-welfare/greek-legislation/
https://www.miao-mani.com/en/knowledge-base/greek-animal-welfare-law/
https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2023/04/04/stray-animals-greece-open-wound/
https://hieshowcase.com/3939/news/greeces-ever-growing-problem-with-stray-pets/
https://www.iefimerida.gr/poli/dimos-ziroy-epiheirisi-diasosis-skylon-katafygio
... Bulgaria
Similarly to its neighbors of the Balkan Region, Bulgaria is another South-eastern European country with a huge stray animal population. It is home to an estimated 300.000 stray dogs (according to ESDAW), and even more stray cats. The true number of stray cats in Bulgaria is unknown, as there has never been a population survey conducted. Stray dogs are a much more visible problem to the public, which is also the reason why programs to reduce their numbers often (not only in Bulgaria) get priority over programs aimed to humanely reduce the number of stray cats. It is suggested that the number of stray cats is on the rise, partly due to the decline of the stray dog population. The main reasons for the increase in stray cats are pet abandonment (often also abandonment of unwanted litters), free-roaming unneutered owned cats and feeding of stray cats without implementation of neutering programs.
Only around 17% of owned cats in Bulgaria are neutered. In a scientific survey, more than 80% of respondents who had lost or abandoned a cat, reported that their cat had not been neutered. When unneutered pets get lost or are abandoned, they reproduce unhindered, with the survival rate of the kittens mostly being dependent on the availability of food and shelter. The general attitude of the Bulgarian people towards stray cats leans more positive, and the majority of respondents of the survey agreed, that neutering of stray cats has positive effects and should be done. Still, police statistics indicate that cruelty towards stray animals is on the rise in Bulgaria.
There is a lack of education as well as a lack of legal obligation that contributes to the growing number of stray cats. The Bulgarian Law on Animal Protection (passed in 2008, last amended in 2011) only mentions stray cats once (chapter five, Article 56), they are not included in the national database and municipalities often ignore the issue of stray cats. Since the amendment in 2011, animal cruelty has been declared a crime punishable with prison time up to three years and a fine. A “zoo police force” has been established in 2016, however they are “only permitted to get involved in cases of animal abuse, when an animal is murdered, when animal fights are held without a permit, or when an animal poses a danger to the general public”. Only very few cases of animal cruelty get reported and most of them remain unsolved. Convictions are typically handled with just monetary fines.
In 2021 the cases of Mila and Sleepy made the news, two stray cats who shared a sad fate. On separate incidents, just days apart, the cats were shot and then wandered the streets, Sleepy for at least ten days, the pregnant Mila for one week, wounded and ignored, until they got the help they desperately needed. I could not find any information indicating that a police investigation had occured for either case. Thousands of cats share a similar fate on the streets of Bulgaria.
Four Paws is one of the main non-government organizations that support better development and enforcement of laws against animal mistreatment and have successfully implemented neutering programs for stray dogs and cats in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. At this time, animal welfare in Bulgaria relies heavily on organizations like this who work together with pet clinics to try to provide vet examinations, vaccines, neutering surgeries, microchipping and everything else needed, funded with money collected through donations.
Sources:
https://www.esdaw.eu/stray-animals-by-country.html
https://vagabond.bg/bulgarias-street-cats-220
https://www.globalanimallaw.org/database/national/bulgaria/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888705.2023.2186787
https://margaritaarsova.medium.com/animal-abuse-in-bulgaria-5ef011aaa502
https://bnr.bg/en/post/101473326/animal-cruelty-in-bulgaria-remains-unsanctioned
The Importance of neutering / TNR
The total number of cats in the world is estimated to be between 600 million to 1 billion (some sources estimate the number to have even exceeded 1 billion now), with around 100 million of those being wild cats (cougars, servals, leopards, tigers, etc.) and around 480 million stray cats. Populations of stray cats grow rapidly if not controlled. While mass culling are one way to effectively reduce stray cat populations, they are highly inhumane. There are many organizations that aim to spread Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Programs around the world as a more humane way of reducing cat populations. However, in order to be effective, the number of neutered cats in a colony needs to be high.
Unneutered owned cats that are allowed to roam outside also contribute to the growing of feral populations (e.g. male owned cats getting female strays pregnant, who will then birth kittens into the stray population). A female free roaming cat that gets pregnant is at higher risk of being abandoned during pregnancy, or in other cases the kittens get abandoned after birth, if the owner of the cat is unwilling to care for them. Therefore it is important that all cats that are allowed to roam free are neutered, to prevent them from further aggravating the situation of strays.
The chart below demonstrates the population growth over just a few years, when starting out with just two unneutered cats. There are many similar charts with similar numbers that underline the importance of intervention to reduce or if possible even reverse the growth rate of stray cat populations and in turn reduce the suffering of stray cats.
Neutering is the blanket term for both castrating (male) and spaying (female) animals. Cats are usually neutered at around 4-6 months old, but can be neutered as early as 6-8 weeks of age. The American Veterinary Medical Association encourages Spay and neuter of healthy kittens at 2 months old or as soon as they weigh 2 pounds. Neutered cats are unable to reproduce, since the testicles/ uterus and ovaries are removed. Added benefits are:
For male cats:
- A reduced urge to roam and fight, thus reducing both the chance of catching FIV (a virus that is spread by saliva, usually from bite wounds during fights), and the chances of getting run over or otherwise hurt
For female cats:
- A greatly reduced risk for breast cancer (especially if spayed before their first heat cycle) and no more risk for infection of the womb (pyometra) or ovarian cancer
- No more heat and no more risk that stems from pregnancy and birthing
Kittens spayed at younger ages have been shown to have fewer surgical complications and recover more quickly. In general the procedure is very common, small and complications are rare. Both male and female cats live longer, if they are neutered.
The price of a neutering surgery varies based on the country, the sex of the cat, the age and other factors. It generally ranges from around 40€ up to 500€. Some animal welfare organizations working with veterinarians, are able to offer low-cost neutering programs (often fully or partially funded through donations) in order to increase neutering rates in places where the number of cats has gotten out of control. To reduce the total population of stray cats over time, at least 70% of cats need to be neutered, the more, the better. At the same time, the dumping of (especially unneutered) pets can reduce the effectiveness, meaning that reduction of pet abandonment, increase of neutering for pets and TNR for stray cats need to go hand in hand.
Many organizations do not only neuter the cats they trap, but also vaccinate, test and/or treat them, once these cats have been trapped and brought to a veterinarian. After the necessary veterinary actions are completed, the cats can either be returned to their trapping location, relocated to a more controlled feeding location, or fostered/adopted. Which of these options is chosen depends on the circumstances at the initial location, the availability of other options, the condition of the cat (e.g. a blind cat or one that is unable to walk can not be returned to the street) and the behavior of the cat (e.g. a friendly cat may be easier to find a foster/ adopter for, while a feral cat that is not socialized, may be better suited to go back to living in a colony, preferably in a controlled area with a dedicated feeder).
Sources:
https://icatcare.org/app/uploads/2020/03/ICAM-Humane-cat-population.pdf
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/neutering-in-cats
https://www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/cat/neutering-your-cat
https://www.alleycat.org/move-to-earlier-age-spay-and-neuter-gains-momentum/
https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/preventive-medicine/optimal-age-spay-neuter-cat/
https://totalwildlifecontrol.com/critter-facts-control/nuisance-cats/
https://www.katzennothilfe.de/the-cat-pyramid/?lang=en
https://www.veto-tierschutz.de/magazin/tierschutz-aktiv/kastrationen-fuer-den-tierschutz/
https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/pet-insurance/cat-neutering-costs/