Who we are: We have started out as a group of volunteers with experience, love and respect for animals and their rights in the urban environment. We are your neighbors, your colleagues, the people next door who keep our eyes and ears a little more open when it comes to taking care of stray animals.

What we are not: We are not an organization with employees; we are an organization of volunteers. We don’t have animal shelters or other designated spaces to keep or take care of animals. For us, our very own homes are the places where we are trying to deal with all the emergencies that arise.

When Muslihudin Sharbinie finally arrived at the clinic — after a nearly three-hour scooter ride along the winding, mountainous roads near Bogor, Indonesia — the veterinarian had some discouraging words for him.

Deaf white cats are domestic cats with a pure white coat. Some all-white cats suffer from congenital deafness caused by a degeneration of the inner ear. This condition can occur in cats with yellow, green and blue irises, although the chances of deafness are dramatically increased with blue irises. In white cats with mixed-coloured eyes (odd-eyed cats), it has been found that deafness is more likely to affect the ear on the blue-eyed side. White cats can have blue, gold, green, or copper coloured odd eyes.

Well we finally have Valentino all checked in and settled at ACCESS: Advanced Critical Care Animal Hospital! He is stable and will be carefully and closely monitored tonight! All paws are raised in prayer for a peaceful and uneventful night <3 Hang in there sweet boy and here's wishing you a good night's sleep <3 #GOTEAMVALENTINO

Elderly cats, like elderly dogs (and people) need all the love and support they can get. Sometimes, apart from various health issues, ageing can increase their anxiety and tendency to react aggressively. It can also change their social relationships with their owner and other pets in the house. Cinnamon is one very old cat. In fact, she is 17 years old and was thrown out of her home a few months ago. Imagine having to deal with ageing, health deterioration and a new environment.

I am Valia Orfanidou, and I volunteer in various rescue organizations and shelters in Greece. Both this blog and my Youtube channel are mainly about Greek rescue stories. Some of the main charities I support or have supported in the past are SCARS, Save a Greek Stray, SPAZ, KAZ, Penny Marathon, ZEIL and Animal Action. It is estimated that there are about three million stray dogs and five million stray cats in Greece, and the organizations need all the help they can get.

It wasn’t easy to choose among all of them, but these are (I think) the ten most inspiring of all Greek rescues I witnessed in 2016 and I am more than proud to have met them all. So here they are (in a random order).