A dozen cats darted out of the eastern gates of the Acropolis, then scurried behind a familiar figure pulling a shopping cart. 

Eleni Kefalopoulou, co-founder of Athens-based stray cat welfare organization Nine Lives Greece, warmly greeted each one by name, ladling out portions of food to Betty, Museum and Handsome, Scarface, Carrot, Risotto and the others. Then her eyes lit up at the sight of one fluffy customer with thick brown-and-white fur.

“Tadzio!” she exclaimed upon seeing the 15-year-old cat, whose diminishing health and advanced age give Kefalopoulou cause for concern. Every time she goes out on a feeding run around the Acropolis and through the streets of Plaka, Kefalopoulou finds herself worrying. “Will Tadzio come? He’s a very special cat,” she said.

For nearly 20 years, Nine Lives has tended to thousands of stray and abandoned cats around their area of responsibility, which includes the historic center and pockets of Koukaki, Omonia, Metaxourgeio and Kerameikos.

Longer, healthier lives

Through its extensive volunteer network, Nine Lives now feeds around 600 cats a day; it also pays for a range of veterinary care and tries to find the felines permanent homes. The nonprofit’s primary focus, however, is to help humanely control the stray population by neutering close to 2,000 male and female cats each year. Its Trap-Neuter-Return program improves the lives of the strays, Kefalopoulou said.

While most stray cats in Athens survive for less than two years on the streets, cats in the Nine Lives colonies fare much better. Around the Acropolis, where the organization feeds a total of 200 cats, “now we have very old cats, which means that we’ve done a lot of work,” Kefalopoulou said.

But far more remains to be done, she acknowledged. The city’s stray cat overpopulation persists despite the urban jungle’s daily dangers. The animals run a gauntlet, scavenging for food, facing abuse, dodging cars and motorcycles, enduring extreme temperatures and even the threat of poisoning. While Greece’s human population stands at about 10 million, the country has nearly 3 million stray and abandoned cats and dogs, according to a recent university study.

Nine Lives has been feeding and caring for Athens’ street cats since 2006, and their growing numbers crate pressure to fund the organization’s mission. “You must always have the funds for these cats. They are waiting for you every day,” said Kefalopoulou, who owns six cats and often fosters others. She grew up in Thessaloniki, and continues a tradition started by her mother, who also helped strays. “It’s all my life,” she said.

Nine Lives has about 30 dedicated volunteers, with many others stepping in when they can. It sustains itself through private donations, fundraising campaigns and sales of T-shirts, tote bags and calendars – Tadzio, her beloved 15-year-old cat, will be featured on the cover of their 2025 calendar.

“We have no help from municipalities or the government, nothing,” Kefalopoulou said during an interview at the small wine bar she owns near the Acropolis Museum. “There are no funds. But could help us with vans, with trappers,” Kefalopoulou continued.

In 2021, the Greek government passed a sweeping companion animal welfare law, which included measures requiring municipalities to establish programs for the management of stray cats and dogs. Kefalopoulou reached out to the municipality of Athens a short time later, offering “to train their people,” including on how to use the trapping equipment to safely secure the animals. “‘We are here, and we are willing,'” she recalled telling officials. “They said, ‘oh yes, yes, yes, thank you,'” but never took her up on the offer.

A changing environment

While cases of extreme animal neglect and cruelty are still reported in Greece, Kefalopoulou said that awareness and compassion for strays has improved in the 32 years since she helped her first stray cat in Athens. At that time, she was working for another animal welfare group.

“I was the most weird person in the neighborhood, carrying cats and traps,” Kefalopoulou recalled with a laugh. “I’ve been to the police station several times because people thought that I sold them to universities or clinics for experiments.” Some residents also told her it was a sin to interfere with nature by sterilizing cats. “All this has changed. Now it’s only a few old people that ask us what we do with the cats.”

While Athens’ stray cat population remains high, the number of dogs roaming the streets has dwindled, following a more successful effort to neuter and provide shelters for canines. Less docile than dogs, cats are more difficult to corral, Kefalopoulou said.

In Athens and the surrounding suburbs, there are several animal welfare societies, including Save a Greek Stray and Dog’s Voice, along with UK-based Animal Action Greece and Battersea, which works with Nine Lives on neutering programs. That’s not counting the many individuals who coordinate cat and dog adoptions locally. 

The Greek government, through its Project Argos, has directed €40 million nationwide to support municipalities’ efforts to improve the lives of stray animals. But the funding is inadequate to address the need, and Athens’ street cats still depend on residents and groups like Nine Lives.

In Omonia, a historic district grappling with crime and poverty, two dedicated volunteers handle feedings. Among them is Ioanna Foscolou, whom Kefalopoulou calls a “hero” for her years of service. “Ioanna still goes out to feed the cats among the ruins, the shops, the alleys full of drug dealers etc.,” Kefalopoulou said.

Foscolou, who feeds the cats in the evenings, wrote in an email that she has bonded with the cats and considers her work vital: “The daily contact with the stray cats of Omonia fills me with the love they offer me. I continue to feed and treat them because I believe that I am responsible for their lives, because their survival in these conditions that we have forced them to live depends on all of us.”

During a recent feeding around the Acropolis and Plaka, Kefalopoulou visited several cat colonies, including one with a ginger-colored portly feline named Titan. A few years ago, Nine Lives volunteers were worried Titan had a health problem, so they brought him to a vet. The diagnosis: Titan was being fed too much, primarily from well-intentioned neighbors. Complicating matters, a social media influencer discovered Titan and pinned the cat’s location on Google Maps. Titan became internet famous, attracting fans who gave him more food. Nine Lives eventually asked residents to stop feeding Titan, and posted a public comment on the map location, requesting the same. Titan has since lost weight, though his big belly hasn’t completely vanished.

Friendly foreigners

Accompanying Kefalopoulou that day was Debra Coombs, a cat owner on holiday from Melbourne, Australia, who had brought along food packets for the cats. Coombs, who first connected with Nine Lives during a trip to Athens in 2018, applauds the group’s mission and has stayed in touch with the group ever since. “The only useful thing I could do is to give money,” she said. “I can’t take [the cats] home to Australia.”

Travelers like Coombs are critical to Nine Lives, Kefalopoulou said. “ Most of our supporters were tourists who happened upon us either trapping a cat for neutering or feeding a colony,” she explained. ” They spread the word through their friends, which is very important.”

One of the food packets Coombs brought went to Tadzio, who nibbled away while Kefalopoulou gently tended to him. She carefully cut through clumps of his matted fur, a task that’s become routine since Tadzio is often forgetful of his grooming due to his age and health problems. But his presence is reason for hope.

Looking back at Athens 30 years ago, Kefalopoulou said that “it was another world,” one in which stray cats were ignored or mistreated. Today, “there are more people who care. Of course, it’s more work for us because we have a lot of calls.” But that is ok, she added. “Our work is in the streets.”