Andreas and his cat family

Where it all began

Andreas currently has ten cats, all cats that nobody wanted or paid attention to. Fortunately, they have all found their new home with him. His first cat, Tiger, unfortunately passed away in 2016. Felina, his other cat, mourned the loss of her companion. "I felt that I had to bring another cat into the house, 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 passed on to different families," Andreas says. "I decided to take him in, and since then he has been living with me. I did change his name to Balisto, that sounded more like him."

A new buddy

Just a few weeks later, Andreas received a call about three small kittens who needed 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 home. Balisto and Feline immediately started taking care of him," Andreas says. "Once Flöckchen was grown up, he wanted to play with Feline all the time. Feline is nine years old, so she clearly didn't want to constantly play with a kitten. So I decided to find a younger friend for Flöckchen."

Moritz quickly felt at home with his other furry friends, even though his life before that wasn't all that great. 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 he could start a new life with us in Germany."

Happy new home

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

Then someone else contacted Andreas again about a cat that needed a new home because it had already been left alone four times! "I took him in and named him Bakira. He has been with me for three years, but he is still very anxious," Andreas tells us. We can't blame Bakira; who wouldn't be after being abandoned so many times...

Sweet like Honi

A few months later, he received a call about an elderly lady who wanted to have a cat. "Of course, I started looking around and 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 boarded the plane together, but once we got there, she suddenly didn't want Honi anymore," Andreas says. "So I took her back to Germany, where she had no home. I didn't want to take her back to a shelter, so I obviously decided to take her home with me." What Andreas didn't know was that Honi was quite sick and aggressive. Although it took some time, he managed to make her feel comfortable. "She is happy, healthy, and she loves cuddling."

Panther Plus

At that moment, there were seven cats at Andreas's place. The only thing missing was a cat tree. "In 2019, I participated in one of your contests, which I eventually won! I received the Panther Plus, which we all still love," Andreas says. "Finally, a tree that can hold my Balisto, who currently weighs more than 10 kg."

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

Newest acquisition

Shortly after winning his prize, he took Nielson in, who was also looking for a new home. His previous owners no longer wanted to keep him. Shortly after taking Nielson in, the pandemic began. "I wanted to rescue one more cat from a shelter, so I did. Nala was three years old when I got her. She was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side. She passed away in November 2020."

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

All cats can do whatever they want at Andreas's, whenever they want. Cats in need are so grateful; they are now all happily living their lives with Andreas.