Andreas and his cat family

Where it all began

Andreas currently has 10 cats, all cats no one wanted or cared about. Thankfully, they all found their new homes with him. His first cat, Tiger, sadly passed away in 2016. Felina, his other cat mourned the loss of her mate. ‘I felt I needed to take in another cat, so I decided to give Keks a new home. You can compare Keks to a kind of trophy. Since his first owner passed away, he was always passed on to different families,’ Andreas says. ‘I decided to take him in and he has been living with me ever since. I did change his name to Balisto, which sounded more like him.’

A new buddy

Just a few weeks later, Andreas received a call about three
little kittens in need of a new home. Their mother had died, so Andreas decided
to take in another kitten. "Flöckchen was only seven weeks old when he
came to my house. Balisto and Feline immediately started taking care of
him," says Andreas. "Once Flöckchen was an adult, he wanted to play
with Feline all the time. Feline is nine years old, so she clearly didn't feel
like playing with a kitten all the time. So I decided to find a younger
boyfriend for Flöckchen."

Moritz quickly felt at home with his other furry friends,
even though his life wasn't too great before. He was found in a ditch in Russia
when he was three months old. "He was completely exhausted. I picked him
up at the airport so that he could start a new life with us in Germany."

Happy new home

If you're still keeping track, we've talked about four cats
by now. "3 males and 1 female, but it didn't take too long for that to
change," he says. "Samira, a beautiful Siberian forest cat, used to
live in Russia as well. They kept her in a cage in a library. She was allowed
to go out for an hour every day... I think she's better off with me!"

Then another person contacted Andreas about a cat that
needed a new home, because he had already been left alone four times! "I
took him in and called him Bakira. He's been with me for three years, but he's
still very anxious," Andreas tells us. We can't blame Bakira, who wouldn't
be after being let down so many times...

Sweet like Honi

A few months later, he received a phone call about an elderly lady who wanted a cat. ‘Of course I started looking around and I found one in a shelter. The cat had been there for five years. No one seemed to want her... Honi was ready to go with the elderly lady to her new home. We got on the plane together, but once we got there, she suddenly didn't want Honi,’ Andreas says. ‘So I took her back to Germany, where she had no home. I didn't want to take her to a shelter again, so of course I decided to take her home.’ What Andreas did not know was that Honi was quite sick and aggressive. Although it took a while, he managed to put her at ease. ‘She is happy, healthy and she loves to cuddle,’ he said.

Panther Plus

So at that moment there are seven cats with Andreas. The
only thing missing was a scratching post. "I participated in one of your
competitions in 2019, which I eventually won! I was sent the Panther
Plus , which we all still love," says Andreas. "Finally a tree
that can hold my Balisto, which currently weighs more than 10 kg."

Andreas bought another tree a few months later, the Royalty
Plus.

Newest acquisition

Shortly after winning his award, he took in Nielson, who was
also looking for a new home. His previous owners didn't want to keep him
anymore. Shortly after he took Nielson in, the pandemic began. "I wanted
to save one more cat from a shelter, so I did. Nala was three years old when I
had her. She was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side.
She died in November 2020."

A month later, Andreas fell ill. "Someone then sent me
a message if I could give two cats a new home, so of course I took them in,
since I was sick at home. Mikasa and Akela are the newest additions to my cat
family," says Andreas.

All cats can do what they want with Andreas, when they want.
Cats in need are so grateful, they are now all living their lives with Andreas.