Founded with love in 2013 by Corinna Janiec, Carvoeiro Cat Charity’s main purpose is to rescue cats at risk and find them loving homes. They also have an outreach programme that looks after a number of colonies in and around the area. This year the charity were creditable runners-up in the 2024 ‘Contribution to charitable causes award’ by the Algarve Business Awards.

The charity warmly led by Corinna, has a wonderful group of volunteers who work tirelessly alongside her to ensure that the high standards at the shelter are upheld. On arrival, I was greeted by David Fraser, one of the board of management, who kindly gave me a tour of the shelter with Corinna. David has been volunteering at Carvoeiro Cat Charity for 14 months and is an integral part of the board of management with Corinna, Andreas, Carolyn, Eileen, Felicity and Natalie.


We toured the various cat homes, where we found all the cats comfortably snoozing. There are also houses with cats with FIV+ and Feline Leukaemia, which had some very friendly guests and who I am sure would make some of the sweetest pets. Speaking with David, I also found out that the charity is involved in donating blood, with 66 current active cat donors and that an incredible 223 cats lives have been saved thanks to the charity’s efforts.

The founder's unwavering dedication was clear to see, Corinna told The Portugal News, “This is my lifeline. I remember when I was 14, I said to my dad ‘one day I will live with animals’ and it was here. I came to Portugal; I saw all these animals on the street and I started feeding colonies. Doing this felt right so that is why I said this cannot end. I live my dream because when you come to the shelter, the cats give you so much back.”


Volunteers needed

Corinna explained “We are in need of more volunteers as we want to maintain the high standard at the shelter so the more hands, we have the better we can do, and the more time we have to cuddle with the cats. Volunteers are asked to work a few hours per shift (some do up to 4 hours), normally starting at 9am in the cooler months and earlier in the summer. Some volunteers do one shift per week, others more.

“The shelter is a world of peace and harmony in this crazy world we are living in. People really love to come here and everyone enjoys the work despite it being very hard work.” Corinna highlighted the community aspect of volunteering, proudly sharing that “In this group we have 12 different nationalities and friendships are created here.”


David pointed out, “In Casa Grande alone we have 50 cats and 13 litter boxes and, in the shelter, we go through 60 bags of cat litter a week.” We also need donations of building materials such as tiles which are useful to fix up the cat houses as well as curtains, black out blinds, carpets, blankets, towels, cushions and sheets.”

Corinna shared that they have workaway opportunities, where people can stay for 2 to 3 weeks and in return, they get accommodation for volunteering their time in the mornings. The charity also has three horses so if anyone has experience with horses and would like to volunteer with them, please contact Corinna.

It’s Chico Time!

Chico Sliming who runs HU Breath retreats in the Algarve told The Portugal News that he was running his retreat at a villa near to the shelter back in May and that the group started feeding a stray cat, who they called Dr Hu. “In our last week, we noticed that he was looking in a bad way so we rang up Corinna and she took him to the shelter. We had got attached to him so I thought why not take the group to visit the shelter to see Dr Hu and feed our souls. There was not a dry eye in the house, we cried, we laughed and we wanted to help in some way so I created a video to share online and I told Corinna that whenever we come back, Carvoeiro Cat Charity will be one of our retreat’s excursions.”

You can donate money to CCCA – Carvoeiro Cat Charity Associação: Swift/BIC: MPIOPTPL, IBAN: PT50 0036 0256 9910 0062 04965 or via PayPal: ccca@protonmail.com (Please mark us as “friend”, if not we have to carry huge charges).

For more information or for volunteering and workaway opportunities, please contact Corinna at ccc.carvoeirocatcharity@gmail.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/CarvoeiroCatCharity.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes