Amigos dos Gatos do Algarve
Dear Cat lover,

Thank you for taking an interest in our charity. According to the Kennel Club of Cascais, there are 1 Million stray or abandoned dogs in Portugal. Based on theis estimate there must be several million stray and feral cats living with little or no human protection.The number increases every year as each female cat can produce several litters of up to six kittens in a year. Many of them live in poor conditions and are prone to disease through mal -treatment, injury and lack of food, especially in the winter month when many of the restaurants close down and scraps of food become unavailable. Our aim is to relieve the suffering of feral and stray cats in the Algarve, and to educate the public in their care and wellfare.


As you can imagine the amount of money we need to raise to make any real impact is enormous. To neuter a female cat costs € 55 and a male € 30. To feed just one cat in a colony is around € 2 per week (€ 100 a year). We raise money in a number of ways, including a charity shop located at the top of the strip behind the chemist. This is open 7 days a week and is greatful for all contrbutitions of saleable items and volunteers to help in the day to day running. We also have many charity events to raise money, both here and in the U.K. These can take the form of car boot sales, quiz nights, dinners and raffles to name but a few.

We have an on-going neutering programme to halt the growing numbers. This is achieved partly by Volunteer vets coming out from the U.K. for a period of a week at a time twice a year and neutering as many as can be trapped in the time span. One vet can neuter 100 cats in a week. we also use some of the money we raise to neuter throughout the year trough local vets who give us a discount on their list prices. there is an on going feeding and welfare programme which involves volunteers visiting colonies every day to put food down and remove any injured or sick animals for medical help, in addition to neutering.

We support "Quintinha dos Animais", an animal shelter at Goldra that are constantly looking to find loving homes for their charges.