Extension Project 2019
2019 is an important year for all the cats in our shelter at Aldea Felina. After many years of living in our broken, damaged house, we have decided enough is enough, no more waiting for the town hall to provide us with the shelter we deserve, we need to make the best of what we have and do it ourselves. Our cats deserve the best, and with your help they will get it. Our first project is very exciting, take a look at what we have achieved so far.
After more than 15 years of talks with the Denia Town Hall, we have given up waiting for them to provide us with a safe, certified shelter for the abandoned and rescued cats of Denia (and the surrounding towns we cooperate with). Back in 2001 Aldea Felina began in the broken-down, disused railway house we are still occupying, where a group of homeless cats were being cared for by a local resident. Since this time, we have grown from strength to strength; rescuing, castrating and rehoming hundreds of cats and kittens each year. Now, nearly twenty years later, still in the same small building, with no water, electricity or waste disposal facilities, we have had enough!
Lots to do
Our project is to give the cats more space and quality of life, making the shelter a better temporary home for our cats waiting to be adopted.
After our cry for help in January of this year, asking the public to help us find a new outside sleeping area for our adult cats, we were contacted by a very kind group of cat lovers. Francis, Chantal, Didier, Sonia and Luc got our project off the ground by searching for a container for our outside area. Working with our shelter manager Luisa, we made a plan to extend the outside living areas for our teenage and adult cats.
What a difference!
We have a new stone and concrete base for the floor, new fencing and view protection, dividing doors, mesh roofing and a weather protected house for the teenager cats.
Now the extension is complete and we have been gradually moving the cats to their new areas. This is a hard change for some of the cats, getting to know their new environment and learning their place in the hierarchy as new cats are introduced to one another.
This whole project would not have been possible without the wonderful never ending support of our good friends Klaus and Sabine, who allowed us to extend our shelter onto their land. By working together, with the project manager Herman; a pillar of strength in our association, we were able to begin in a very short time the renovation work. A part of the renovation to this area was organised and paid for by our new friends. We were also donated a plastic house for the adults to sleep in by Marisa, one of the founding members of our association.
Extending the outside areas
a wonderful new playground
At the end of the building work, many volunteers came to the shelter and finished organising the final touches to the new areas. Painting, building cat climbing frames, fixing wind protection to the fences, placing feeding stations and organising the sleeping areas. As you can see from the pictures in the gallery, everyone involved did a fantastic job and it has really given the cats a new lease of life, with more room to play and enjoy their time, waiting to be adopted.
Proud of our results
All in all, the costs for this work came to just over 5,500 €. A great big thank you to everyone who was involved in making this happen, donating their money, time and skills.