The Cats of Crete: When Summer Ends

In summer, it is easy to believe that the cats of Crete have a pretty good life.

They sleep under taverna tables, stretch out in the shade of whitewashed houses and appear exactly where a tourist is opening a packet of ham. There are restaurant leftovers, bowls of water, hotel guests who buy cat food at the supermarket, and thousands of hands ready to offer a little piece of dinner.

They have become part of the picture we associate with a Greek island: blue sea, bougainvillea, a wooden chair outside a café — and a cat underneath it.

But summer on Crete is only half of the story.

When the island becomes quiet

By November, many tourist villages change completely.

Hotels close. Seasonal restaurants shut their doors. Visitors disappear. The tables that provided scraps all summer are stacked away until spring.

The cats, of course, stay.

Animal welfare organisations working in Greece describe exactly this seasonal problem: feeding stations become particularly important during winter, when restaurants and tourists are no longer there to provide food.

Here on Crete, volunteer groups keep entire colonies going throughout the year. Cretan Cat-a-list, for example, reports feeding up to 260 street cats every day at 34 feeding stations around villages near Rethymno.

And food is only one part of it.

Winter means cold rain, infections, parasites, injuries, fewer safe places to shelter and fewer people around to notice when an animal needs help. Kittens born into uncontrolled colonies are particularly vulnerable.

In the more remote landscape there are natural predators too. Crete is home to powerful birds of prey, including Golden Eagles and Bonelli’s Eagles. Golden Eagles have a substantial range across the island, particularly around Crete's mountain systems.

A very small or weakened animal can become prey in nature. But it would be misleading to suggest that eagles are the main reason Crete's street cats disappear during winter. The much bigger, documented problem is simpler: too many cats, too little reliable food and care, and not enough sterilisation.

The postcard changes when the tourists go home.

Feeding helps. Sterilisation changes the future.

Putting down a bowl of food matters enormously to the hungry cat standing in front of you.

But feeding alone cannot solve the problem.

That is why animal welfare organisations concentrate so heavily on neutering, veterinary care and managed colonies. Catch-neuter-vaccinate-return programmes reduce uncontrolled breeding while allowing established cats to remain in their familiar territory.

It is slower and less visible than rescuing one photogenic kitten.

But it is what changes the next winter.

And this summer, Driftlove had a chance to contribute in our own small way.

Beads for Cats of Sougia

On 13 August 2026, I packed my beads, tools and workshop materials and crossed the White Mountains to Sougia.

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This time, the workshop wasn't simply about making something beautiful.

We organised a fundraiser workshop for Cats of Sougia, with the gathering hosted at Goat Grab & Chill.

We sat together, chose colours, worked with our hands and created our pieces in the usual Driftlove way: slowly, experimentally, with plenty of beads scattered across the table and no two designs ending up the same.

But behind all those colours was a very practical purpose.

The workshop helped support the people caring for the animals that will still be in Sougia long after the summer visitors have left.

For me, that is exactly what a creative workshop can be.

It doesn't have to change the world.

It can simply take the materials you already have, the skill you already know, a few people willing to spend an afternoon together — and turn them into something useful.

Crete after the postcard

Living here means seeing both versions of the island.

The August version is easy to love. The cafés are full, the sea is warm and a kitten sleeping underneath your chair seems to have found the perfect place in the world.

The February version tells you more.

It shows who is still filling the bowls.

Who drives an animal to the vet.

Who pays for sterilisation.

Who notices the injured cat after everyone else has gone home.

The cats of Crete don't need us to stop enjoying that beautiful summer image.

They just need us to remember that their year doesn't end when our holidays do.

And sometimes helping can begin with something as small as a bowl of food.

Or a table full of beads.