Firstly, thank you to everyone who have shown concern about the cats on the Dénia breakwater. It is a very positive sign when people enquire, when they see a cat in the street they think is not sick or needs help from humans, instead of looking the other way. We really appreciate the interest shown and this kind of support. As we have received questions about our colony at the waterfront, we would like you to read the following information.

The cat colony living at the breakwater is one of the oldest in Dénia and was the starting point of our association, Aldea Felina. For a long time there was always roughly 30 or 40 cats living there, multiplying continuously and obviously surviving in terrible conditions. On top of that, it was a 'typical' place where irresponsible locals would go, to abandon their unwanted house cat. Mainly this is when pets are no longer wanted, because they do not fit to the lifestyle, or because the mother cat has given birth, and litter of kittens are not wanted. So sometimes both mother and kittens, or the pregnant mother are heartlessly dumped in a new area. Problem solved! Also it saves money to sterilise the girl cat/kittens.  Owners would just go there and leave them on the rocks. Over the years’ countless cats, unable to fend for themselves, having never learned how to survive in all weather conditions, without shelter, food and drinking water, been had to be rescued from this area, brought to safety and cared for, until a new family could be found for them, in our shelter.  

When we rescue unsociable/non-domesticated cats, we organised a different system. This is called “CES” - Capture-Neuter-Return. This means we humanely catch them in special traps, health check and operate (sterilise/neuter) them to control the population, and return them to this area where we can monitor and care for them. To enable us to do this, we have set up several feeding points along the stretch of rocks they live on.

There are several volunteers who go three times a week, throughout the whole year, visiting them, bringing food and fresh water. Also trying to view as many of them as possible, to ensure they are not injured or sick.

Fortunately, we see this work has proved successful, as after many years of continuous capturing and monitoring, there are now only a few cats left living in this area. All the cats still there are well known to us, and some of them are now quite old - including the tabby cat many of you enquire about.

On the other hand, due to the lack of respect for life and wrong attitude towards these beautiful living creatures, four new cats have been found just before the holiday period, within our monitored area. Of course we will capture them as soon as possible and bring them to our vet clinic, to assess their health and character. All of this work is done by non-paid volunteers, with the support and organisation of our association, all of which is financed by private donations from kind friends and supporters of Aldea Felina.

The cats who have been living for a long time at the breakwater cannot be relocated, as they are used to living there now, have established their territory and know it as home. These cats can't be moved even if we wanted to, as it is a negative treatment for them. Readjusting to new surroundings causes them trauma and almost always ends badly, as they will try to return to the breakwater, which they have always known as home, running the risk of being run over or dying on the way back.

As for our tabby cat, she was taken to our veterinary clinic on Monday. Blood tests have been done and her results are good. Her mouth has been checked to rule out teeth and gum problems. At the moment she is still in the clinic, being monitored to see how she recovers. So far things are going well and she is eating.

We say a big thank you to everyone who supports the cats and our association, so by working together we can successfully make life easier for the cats living around us.

If you need to speak to us about concerns with cats, use the contact form on this website. For all donations we are very grateful; please use the donate button on this page, which gives you the option to use PayPal or you can transfer directly to our bank.