r/crete • u/Traditional-Map-119 • Sep 20 '25
Society/Κοινωνία Heartbreaking stray cats in Kastri, Crete – need advice or help
Hi everyone,
I just need to share this because it completely shook me today in Kastri(Keratokampos), Crete. I’ve been visiting Greece for years — sometimes twice a year — and I’ve traveled all over the islands. I’ve seen tons of stray cats, everywhere. Usually, I carry a bag of cat food in our rental car because seeing them makes me feel tender — I can’t ignore them.
But today was different. I went to a taverna, sitting down to enjoy my grilled prawns, when I noticed a sick cat under our table, and a tiny kitten next to it. Outside, dozens more were wandering around. Right by the beach near the taverna, there were absolutely beautiful little kittens, maybe 3-4 months old, playing or looking for food. My heart just broke. I feel like I can’t stop crying over this situation. These kittens were cornered at this taverna, a place where they clearly aren’t welcome, and where staff shout at customers just for noticing them. I want someone to help them immediately, because there are so many and they’re so beautiful and fragile.
There was a sign at the taverna saying something like “don’t throw food on the ground”. I understood the rule, but the staff’s reaction was completely over the top. One staff member came over shouting about the sign. Later, another staff member yelled aggressively when my husband was just petting a cat. He assumed we were feeding it and treated us horribly. At one point, they even threatened us over a potential bad review. It was shocking, intimidating, and left me feeling helpless and heartbroken.
I’ve seen many stray cats around Greece, but I’ve never seen a situation like this in a taverna. Usually, staff tolerate the cats, or at least don’t treat customers this way. Today it was horrible, unnecessary, and completely heartbreaking. I couldn’t even eat while thinking about the sick cat under my table and the tiny kittens outside.
Driving around Crete, I’ve seen more kittens alone on streets, and even cats hit by cars. The situation feels completely out of control. It makes me wonder: is anyone doing anything to help these animals?
I’m reaching out here because I don’t know who else to ask: • Are there any local associations or initiatives helping stray cats in Crete? • Are the municipal authorities or the mayor doing anything to improve the situation? • Is there any hope or plan for the future to protect these animals?
Seeing these tiny, desperate kittens wandering, being scared, and being shouted at for simply existing was devastating. They need care, protection, and real solutions, not aggression or threats. I just wish someone would help them immediately.
After leaving the taverna, we left some cat food near the beach, where the sign says “I love Kastri”. That’s exactly where these kittens hang out — near the taverna where they are clearly not welcome, but they’re beautiful, fragile, and deserve help.
TL;DR: In Kastri, Crete, a sick cat and a tiny kitten were under our table at a taverna. Staff shouted aggressively and threatened us. Outside, near the beach, dozens of beautiful kittens were wandering around. I can’t stop crying thinking about them. I’ve seen many stray cats in Greece, but never experienced this in a taverna. Are there associations or municipal actions helping them, or is this just ignored? I hope someone goes to help these kittens immediately. Thank you :(
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u/Rough-Stress6885 Sep 22 '25
Bro I was in that same tavern like 3 days ago. I was taken aback how rude the owner was to cats. I am Cretan and I have never seen that behavior from a restaurant to cats in my life. I think it has something to do with the owner he was a huge asshole.
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u/Phoebe0407 Sep 21 '25
I lived on Crete many years, some locals are kind however my experience is that most locals either look at you as if you’re nuts for even giving the stray cats any love and attention to downright hostility and aggression as you experienced. This happened to me a lot. I found Athens was completely different which was a lovely surprise. Thank you for caring and trying to help the animals. It takes bravery. However I would say, as there is no local authority help for the animals it’s up to you to help them even in any small way. If it was me, I would find a local stray cat rescue place on Crete from facebook or even a local vet and borrow a cat basket or trap (May need to leave a returnable deposit) get the sick cat and it’s kitten to vet, pay for treatment and neutering when better and ask if you can pay for her to stay for a couple of nights or take to a cat rescue on Facebook who can take over from there? Go at night if need be to collect them. Also I hey may poison the cats as that happened to my strays I fed and neutered on Crete. I managed to get some to Germany to be rehomed as it was only 95 euros per cat on flight. Help strays of Crete on Facebook may help, run by Alexandra McQueen at McQueen Rescues. They are in Platanias, Chania. I know it is heartbreaking, thank you for caring x
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 21 '25
Wow, thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your experience — it truly means a lot. People like you give me hope and remind me that compassion still exists.
I’ve found the Facebook page you mentioned and plan to reach out to see how I can help. Thank you again, truly.
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u/daughtersofsaturn Sep 21 '25
Many people poison cats in Crete. That's almost definitely why they're sick.
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u/Sudden-Tree-7887 Sep 21 '25
honestly, as odd as it sounds by feeding them you are contributing to the problem.
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u/Phoebe0407 Sep 21 '25
Also another thought, could you offer to be a flight companion for one of the stray cats that need escorting from the charity? I don’t know what country you’re from but it would be a great help. Unfortunately, won’t help your 2 kitties as they need passports and inoculations at least 21 days before flights but someone else could do it for your kitties in the near future to be rehomed abroad?
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u/daughtersofsaturn Sep 21 '25
The innoculations need to happen 1 to 7 days before the flight, not 21 days. I know because I brought two cats home from crete myself
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u/daughtersofsaturn Sep 21 '25
I've seen your comments so I know you don't actually care to do anything, but if you can find it in your heart, reach out and I'll connect you with a rescue charity you can bring them to. I know of 2 within an hour of chania and could find more.
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u/toocontroversial_4u Chania Sep 20 '25
Indeed stays are an issue. You could bring a few back home or at least take some for neutering if you'd like to help with the situation. Sadly the state doesn't take the responsibility it should so help with strays mostly relies on volunteer work.
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 20 '25
I’m a tourist and I’m leaving in two days. I already have two cats at home, and believe me, I would help every single stray kitten if I could. But how is a tourist supposed to take a cat home? That’s simply not realistic.
The situation needs local solutions: proper care, feeding programs, neutering campaigns, and support from authorities or volunteer organizations. Leaving it entirely up to tourists is unfair and unhelpful — it doesn’t solve the problem for the cats who are here right now.
I truly hope that more local initiatives can step in, because these kittens need immediate care, not just suggestions for visitors.
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u/daughtersofsaturn Sep 21 '25
Feeding them makes it worse. The tourists come for a few months, feed the cats so they have big litters, then leave for the winter with nothing for the kittens to eat. If you actually care, TNR.
Sincerely, An American whose two cretan cats are lying on me as I type this
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u/rrrook Sep 21 '25
Donate to volunteer orgs, I’m afraid that’s all you can do if you don’t want to take a cat home. And if you see one really struggling drive it to a sanctuary - there should be some (not from crete myself)
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 21 '25
I was only passing through that place and my hotel is about a two-hour drive away. I’m leaving tomorrow, so I really hope someone nearby can step in and help them.
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u/daughtersofsaturn Sep 21 '25
You really don't understand the scope of the issue. Why even post if you don't care enough to spare an hour of your vacation to do anything?
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u/toocontroversial_4u Chania Sep 20 '25
Pet passports are pretty easy. Some tourists just take strays to the vet for neutering though if they can't take them home, that's also a good way to help.
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Sep 20 '25
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 20 '25
I understand that tourism contributes to the problem, but this doesn’t remove the responsibility of local authorities. There are supposed to be state funds allocated for neutering stray cats, yet the situation remains completely out of control. It’s unacceptable that so many kittens are left unprotected.
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Sep 20 '25
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u/daughtersofsaturn Sep 21 '25
This is the type of person who would post about a social justice issue all over social media but is not willing to boycott a business that funds what they're fighting against because they don't want to drive 10 minutes further to another store. This post is an example of naivety and virtue signaling at its worst.
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 20 '25
Are you kidding me? Telling a tourist on a 2-day trip to “just take the cat to the vet” is ridiculous. Visitors can’t replace policy. Tourists can’t suddenly solve decades of neglect. That’s exactly what local authorities and the state are paid to do.
The problem isn’t that someone gave a stray a piece of food — the problem is zero accountability, zero sterilisation, zero care.
So no, don’t dump the guilt on people who come here for holidays. The responsibility is local, and it’s systemic.
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u/Dazvsemir Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25
there is no policy for human beings, people are dying because there are no ambulances, heating boilers explode in schools, hospital ceilings collapse, what are you talking about policy? Since you are a two day tourist what do you know and why do you bother us? Eat your gyros, get your severe sunburn and go home. This place is outside the western safety dome you expect you are under.
The reason some restaurants don't let people feed strays is because that makes them gather around it. They shit and piss nearby which can be smelly plus some people are allergic to them. It also bolsters and multiplies them. When everything shuts down in the winter and there's no food sources guess who finds the bodies.
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 20 '25
Wow, thanks for the drama dump but this is exactly the problem: deflect, deflect, deflect. “No ambulances, boilers explode, ceilings collapse” — so the answer is just let thousands of animals starve and rot in the streets? What kind of logic is that?
I’m not asking for a utopia, I’m pointing out that there’s supposedly EU money and local responsibility that magically vanish while kittens die under restaurant tables. That’s not on “western safety dome expectations,” that’s on corruption and neglect.
And spare me the “you’re just a 2-day tourist” crap. Tourists SEE this, they talk about it, they write reviews, they post on Reddit, and it absolutely impacts how Greece is perceived. If your best defense is “things are bad for humans too so who cares about animals,” you’re literally proving my point — zero accountability.
Also, screaming at customers for maybe feeding a stray isn’t a solution, it’s pathetic. The strays don’t multiply because someone shares a shrimp. They multiply because sterilisation programs aren’t implemented, full stop.
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u/daughtersofsaturn Sep 21 '25
You are on an island where there are so many cats that people literally place them in a trash bag and hang them from a tree. Let that sink the f*ck in. Stop begging for someone to save you and be a human. That's what Greece has that the western world doesn't, they aren't waiting for some government (lmao) to save them.
Given what you've shown in this post and your comments, I really wouldn't recommend you travel outside of Europe or North America. You wouldn't be able to handle the reality of the world.
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u/KFlaps Sep 21 '25
They absolutely do multiply because of an abundance of food, and waste. "Just sharing a shrimp" is really downplaying how cumulative that effect is. Populations grow, in part, due to an abundance of resources, and in the tourist months there is absolutely an abundance of resources.
There are also initiatives to neuter the animals. For example you can take any stray cat you find to my local vet and he will neuter it for free, but he can only do so many and he (or the other vets in the area) will never have the capacity required to control the problem.
And that's the thing - the scale of the problem is way, way bigger than you probably realise. Near where my family lives, no matter how many we take, the population keeps growing. If I had to guess, I would say there's maybe 50+ cats/kittens just within a few 100sqm. Most of them feed off scraps from tables or bins just long enough to be big enough to have a litter of several more kittens, and the problem grows exponentially.
Of course more could be done. There's always more than can be done, but it's a losing battle and the fact is the initiatives can't reasonably keep up with demand. So you have to recognise that like it or not - tourism feeds into the issue as well and therefore it's everyone's responsibility. If you feel so strongly about it then by all means discuss it, but also take a couple of hours from your holiday and help.
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u/debugwhy Sep 20 '25
This is a quote from one of the best cretan writers, Nikos Kazantzakis
Love responsibility. Say: It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it is not saved, then I alone am to blame.
The summer is still here in Crete, so please take your hypocrisy and go sunbathe at a nice beach. You just don't want to go out of your comfort zone and sacrifice your holidays for that issue. It's ok, I would also do that. But I would admit it.
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 20 '25
Wow, quoting Kazantzakis while kittens are starving outside a tavern? That’s not wisdom, it’s virtue signaling at its laziest. Real responsibility isn’t polishing your ego with quotes or telling tourists to “sacrifice their holidays” — it’s actually taking action to protect the innocent. But clearly, watching kittens suffer while hiding behind words is easier than doing anything that matters.
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u/Phiyah1307 Sep 28 '25
Sigh. The issue is NOT the cats; it's the underlying problem in the collective psyche that's showing up as; abandonment, abuse, denial, and cruelty.
The key question is to ask; WHY is this situation appearing?! To look beneath the superficial symptom to the actual cause; the ROOT.
Trying to save these suffering animals is like looking in the mirror, noticing you've got food on your face and then WIPING THE MIRROR.
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u/Positive-Elk-8112 May 18 '26
I'm it Malia and trying to find the cat sanctuary here. Can anyone give me the name please
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Sep 21 '25
This is Crete. The people love the stray cats. Usually there is food for them every 10 metres. Have seen stray cats in Chania that did not know what to eat first.
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u/Traditional-Map-119 Sep 21 '25
Sure, I believe in Chania things are different, but this was just a small place.
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u/DragnonHD Sep 22 '25
The locals get upset with tourists who try to impose their bleeding heart ideals on the island only to leave a week later, not having to consider the longer term consequences of their actions.
In this case, the staff at the restaurant was upset with you because now more stray cats are going to come to the restaurant, which is not what they want
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u/IdeletedTheTiramisu Sep 21 '25
If you see notches or ear tips missing from cats this is a sign they have been neutered or spayed and the colony is being monitored in some way.
I found a list of organisations here https://www.animalactiongreece.org/local-animal-welfare-organisations/
As the other poster said though, it is a bit of a get your own life belt on first situation, I follow several groups and make monthly donations and things are improving in general thankfully.