I first saw Cwtch halfway through June, behind a gate in what seemed to be an abandoned work yard, with his mum and three siblings. I immediately contacted my friend, who volunteers for a local animal protection charity, whose main “work” here in Pescara is sterilising the street cats. She came out to assess the situation and to see how the cats could be helped.

We both agreed that the place they were in was ridiculously dangerous as it was right on a main road, but, sadly, the society were (and actually still are) completely overwhelmed with kittens, in a period of the year where, annually, adoption requests literally grind to a halt as many Italians take long, extended holidays. There were absolutely zero foster places available, either, as many foster homes are students who are only here from September to June, and the society were already responsible for over 50 cats and kittens who were awaiting their forever homes.

We decided that the first step forward would be to have the mum sterilised and then see what we could do regarding the kittens. The council veterinarians are responsible for sterilising the street cats but here, in Pescara, they only give appointments once a week, on a Thursday morning. Typically, the day I found these guys was a Thursday, so we had to wait until the following Wednesday to find out if we could get an appointment the following Thursday.

Tuesday rolled around and out came the communication that the department responsible for sterilising the street cats was going to be closed for two weeks! It was now going to be over three weeks between finding the cats and sterilising the mum, all while she was being chased and mated by local male cats.

After a nail-biting two week wait and an anxious Wednesday morning, my friend finally confirmed that she had managed to get an appointment to sterilise the mum and she’d meet me that evening with the cat trap to catch her. We honestly thought that it might take several hours for the mum to enter the trap, especially as the trap was on the pavement, so she’d have to come out from behind the gate at a time of day when quite a few people are passing. Luckily, she was pretty hungry after not eating since Monday (we’d stopped feeding her in the hope that we’d get an appointment) and it wasn’t very long before she went in the trap and went off to be sterilised.

Then there was the question of what to do with the kittens.

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many people with cat traps around here, and those that do have the traps are using them almost constantly, either to trap cats or to house cats awaiting sterilisation or waiting to be put back in their territory after being sterilised. There were no traps available to help me get the kittens – all I had was a cat travel box. After the mum was taken away, I left the kittens to calm down and came back later in the evening to see what I could do to catch them. They were used to my presence and used to me giving them food, but they were in no way human-friendly and I couldn’t even get within touching distance of them. I set up my cat box with a cover over it, tuna and other strong smelling food inside and the door just slightly open with the gap pointing towards the side of the gate. The kittens decided that they weren’t in fact hungry at that present moment and all they wanted to do was play. It was over an hour and a half before the little tabby decided he wanted to check out what was inside the box. As soon as he stepped towards the back of the box, I silently lent over and shut the door, quickly picking up the box and taking him back to my house. I left him in my bathroom and went straight back to see if I could get any of the others, but unfortunately, they decided it was time to sleep so I couldn’t get near them. I reluctantly accepted defeat and went home.

At home, I was prepared for a battle (and to have my arms ripped to shreds!) but after being wrapped in a towel and cuddled for a bit, Cwtch quickly adapted to being a house cat and became the most affectionate little kitten. After vet checks, worming and flea treatment, and a couple of weeks of love, he was adopted by a family with a little girl.

I still feed the kittens and the mum, along with other cats in that area, but when the mum was re-released on the Thursday evening, their behaviour changed. They stay further inside the work yard now so we’ll have to see how it goes with them in the future. I’m hoping I’ll be able to trap them and find them homes where they can be farm cats – but that might just be a dream!