As told by Jo Leversuch
Jo, Sarah, and Milena were all staying at the Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort for a week-long commercial campaign photoshoot.
After getting their bearings of the hotel facilities and grounds, they came across a group of stray cats,” strutting their tails” with a promise of some food.
The community cats on the hotel grounds are all cared for, well fed and nourished. Jo described them as “the best-looking strays I have seen in a while.”
One grey feline in particular caught their eye, as he was exceptionally friendly. However, they noticed he had a deformed leg and open wound, which caused him to limp. He became friendlier and more trusting as time went on.
Everyday they dashed to the beach after work to find their feline friend. He soon began to sit on their laps, purr, snuggle in, and want full-on human attention. A bond was created with each of them, and they were able to get a close-up look at his foot. The open wound was bleeding and full of debris. But it also had a clear congenital condition, so his paw hadn’t developed properly. It meant he had no pads on his feet,
Jo had a deep instinct to do something for their feline friend. After some research she came across Kotor Kitties** and immediately got in touch via Instagram, where she says, “they were full of advice and support.” They decided the best action was to get him to the vets, get him neutered, and have his wound checked. An amazing local volunteer, Margot, came along to collect him and take him to the vet.
In his absence, the women decided their feline friend needed a name and chose Olé, an homage to his hunting patch next to the hotel bar, “Olé.”
That evening they were all on tenterhooks waiting to hear if Olé was ok after his operation. Would his foot be an ongoing issue for him? The weather had turned into an all-day thunder-and-lightning storm, with extreme amounts of rainfall. They were unsure if he would be ok, out in the weather, but as a stray he had no option but to return to the place he was found.
Olé was fine, though a bit wobbly on his legs after the operation. He was returned to them at the beach, where he immediately fell asleep in Sarah’s arms whilst Jo headed to a shop to get pouches of cat food and Milena created a snug bed in the bushes near the Olé bar to protect him from the thunderstorm.
The news from the vet was guardedly optimistic: the wound was the result of friction as he walked and sat. With a little luck, the wound would develop scar tissue that would thicken, like a callous, to protect it from opening repeatedly. He might need further antibiotics, but for now there was no visible infection. If it didn’t heal, or kept reopening, he would need an amputation, but could still have a full and happy life in a protected environment.
Sadly, the next day the women had to all head back to the UK. They were up early to do the rounds at the beach front and check in on Olé. He was nowhere to be found, so they left heavy-hearted for their little feline friend.
On return home, Jo was “determined to raise awareness of the amazing work Kotor Kitties do, and wanted to raise more funds and share the story of Olé” in hopes of finding him an adopter. She ”was in constant communication with the brilliant Armin at Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort, who was as keen as us to make sure the welfare of Olé was of his best interest and continued to support me in this quest.”
Kotor Kitties so seldom hears this from any hotel guests in Montenegro! We want to recommend considering the Hyatt for your upcoming stay in Kotor.
This week Jo received the most wonderful news from Armin: Olé had been adopted by a local man who has also adopted other stray cats. It means Olé will stay in his home country!
Jo reports: “I am sure my cat in the UK, Queen Bea would not be impressed with me bringing home another cat. Happy endings do happen, for these adorable feline friends, we call Cats.”
She wanted to be sure we added, “Thank you to everyone involved:
Kotor Kitties, Melanie, April and the team on social media
The veterinarian, DVM Relja Cetkovic, VetPort Kotor
Margot the Volunteer
Armin at Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort
My friends Sarah and Milena for being huge cat lovers like me!”
We can’t say the ear tip is what got Olé his new home, but Kotor Kitties has heard of a number of delightful community cats finding homes once they displayed their ear tip!
** Kotor Kitties is the first High Quality, High Volume Spay-Neuter (HQHVSN) and Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program in Montenegro. Our all-volunteer program is dedicated to preventing suffering, decreasing the population of unwanted cats, and improving the health of Montenegro’s cats in the most humane and cost-effective way possible: through targeted spaying and neutering.
We’ve spayed or neutered more than 11,000 Montenegrin cats now, each of them representing generations of suffering that has been prevented and lives saved. We also provide vaccines for kittens, and other limited medical treatment.
To learn more about our program, please follow us on Facebook or Instagram, and visit our website: https://www.kotorkitties.org.
Wonderful happy ending!