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Boat 20 (our other boat) gone
We could talk forever about losing boat 20. It was a decision made by the city council, water authorities and others to close the cat boat on march 20th 2006. This was a very sad day.
It is terrible that no-one reacted to this decision, the cats were both victims and losers. Until the very last moment there was hope that the decision would be reversed ... this was not the case ....
There was no law against keeping a catboat. When we explained to mrs. Jacobs, from the water authorities, why it was so important to keep cats on this boat 20 ... no discussion ... a foolish argument.
For one and a half years we have been busy to keep the boat running. We could have had twice the space if boat 20 was still here. Now we had to streamline possessions because we simply didn't have enough space anymore.
The little kitchen and reception desk from the catboat was now packed full. Instead of expanding, needing more space for administration and of course housing more cats, we were now short of space, thanks to the water authorities mr. Frankfurther's decision ... Why?
We are still wondering why. He said that we were not dependent solely on water for our existence ... the same old story.
In a world where so many sad things happen, there is a little group of people who want to help many homeless cats. The cats cost the city council nothing. In fact we help he city council because in principal it is their responsibility.
Nobody really achieved anything. Mr. Frankfurther's decision was already made: The Boat Must Go.
We collected about 20,000 petition signatures, e-mails, all from people in favour of keeping the catboat; people wrote a lot of letters to the city council, politicians, mayor Job Cohen ... but to no avail.
We really do not understand this foolish, unnecessary, disappointing, sad, de-motivating decision.
I can only speak for myself but bit by bit I have lost my faith in politics.
The catboat carries on and we hope that one day we will have more space to help more cats.
I want to thank everyone very much for putting effort and energy into our action.
From volunteers to cartoonists, banner makers to tow-away companies, lawyers, a few politicians, the photo-copy shop, signature collectors, e-mailers and letter writers ... too many to mention.
Gordon
Gordon has been working for donkey's years on the catboat. That is why we are incredibly grateful: no Gordon, no catboat. He is there every afteroon mainly for the tourists ... he speaks English. Most of the time he is giving tender loving care, painting and drawing with a cat on his lap. Cats feel comfortable with him. There are also cats with more difficult (hissy) characteristics.
Gordon is also the artist "Catanya". He makes little statues but mainly paintings and drawings of (guess what) cats.
Many catboat cats are painted by him, as you can see in our booklet. He was even in an english newspaper with his impression of Rembrandt's Nightwatch.
Years ago he painted a portrait of mrs. van Weelde. Now they have made a copy of this and placed it on her grave. Last july we visited the grave and admired the painting. It is beautiful.
10 Cats all at once
In may we received 10 cats from Utrecht. There were 72 cats, 32 already adopted. The owners could not take care of them anymore.
What struck me was how dis-orientated they were, flea riddled, skinny, none were neutered. After injections, identity chips, flea treatment, worming and sterilization everything was in order.
Two of the cats, Stuka and Ello, had damaged eye-sight, and were very afraid. For 2 weeks Ello needed eye treatment, Stuka took two months. They were the only two needing eye creams 3 times a day. The vet said that their eyesight was damaged, maybe each cat would lose an eye in the future. Only time will tell.
Not a good outcome diagnosis but one can still get old with one eye and if no-one wants to adopt us together, we stay on the catboat. Now Stuka and Ello are growing up, it is nice to see that they are real mates, like real friends sticking together.
With the 10 cats came 3 kittens: Cool cat- a beautiful red female; Esprite - a scared 3 coloured kitten; Didi - a tabby.
All were adopted very quickly. All three kittens were together with an older female, Kappa, a tortoiseshell. Cool cat and Esprite were adopted quickly. Didi was left with Kappa, maybe believing Kappa was her real mother? Finally someone adopted them both.
Another tortoiseshell cat is Jeans, a scared loner, not mixing with others. Although we tried, she remained alone in her cage. After a while she relaxed more, becoming more approachable, quite affectionate and mixing better. Jeans was later adopted.
Roxy and Vanz, also nervous and afraid, obviously needed medicine. This resulted in Roxy recovering faster than Vanz. Eventually Vanz recovered, although periodically experiencing sneezing bouts, but he was eating, drinking, playing normally. We hope he will soon be adopted.
The last cat was Replay, a beautiful blue/white very skinny scared cat. We hope she will find faith in kind people. (and she did)
Hera
Hera a shaved persian was adopted by a couple from Amstelveen on sunday the 1st of May. Once in their house Hera was restless and crying for a day and a night looking for ... and eventually she found love and attention, she settled down and felt at home ruining the couch sharpening her claws etc. The cat is happy and so are we.
A thankyou to all our vets
Most of the time vets help us, but there are a few clinics which are special for us.
Clinic IJhavens always helps us with advice and treatment. The catboat donation collection box was sadly stolen from them.
Clinic IJburg helps us too by donating the money received from nail clipping.
Just a few weeks ago we picked up a little cat needing an operation on a lump. They operated nearly for free.
We also want to thank the Amsterdam animal hospital, available 24 hours a day. Recently they operated on a cat with a broken elbow who needs three weeks rest. She is sitting with me at the moment.
Jumper helps us
The owner of the Jumper Animal shop, mr. van Schooten, had the idea to put a donation box in his shop. Anyone wishing to donate could do so, leaving tins of food, cat's sweets, dry food and all kinds of toys, scratch boards and animal carriers. We thank you mr. van Schooten and your clients for all effort and donations.
Techni-Cal
We want to thank Techni-Cal cat food for their donations. Techni-Cal contains all vitamins and minerals that the cats need, without unpleasant after effects. For every kind of cat, Techni-Cal provides the dietary necessities.
Colour drawing competition - Christmas Edition 2005
This year we had two winners: Chantel Vastenburg, 10 years old, from Amersfoort and
Stef Dekker, 4 years old from Alkmaar.
Chantal made a beautiful soft coloured cat, which the adult judges chose.
Steff drew a red cat with a black head which the children's judges chose. Both are beautiful and we hope that this year many children will join in again.
The prize: a Catboat T-shirt. Maybe Steff's T-shirt is rather large because he is still only four years old.
(This is the end of the translation ... this is Ruth Wearing translating and thanking Rene and Kevin for volunteering their time and help. Well done guys.)
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