Charli, founder of The Arc Animal Sanctuary in Lefkada, Greece, always loved to help out local strays in her village.
But she was definitely taken aback when she met a stray cat that she named Annie.
“When I first met Annie, she was one of the friendliest strays I think I’ve ever found,” Charli told The Dodo.
After Charli got back into her car after meeting Annie, she noticed the cat was chasing after her car.
Annie had made up her mind that Charli was going to be her human.
“I’ve never had a stray follow me or my car anywhere,” said Charli.
So, Charli knew she had to take Annie in. After giving Annie some good loving care and teaching her how to play, Annie decided to help Charli run her sanctuary.
She took on some duties as a surrogate mom to some little kittens that entered the sanctuary. She was completely smitten by the little kittens at first sight.
Annie even earned the nickname Nannie Annie and has three surrogate children: Remi, Dolores, and Mumu.
When the three little kittens came into Charli’s care, Annie would let her know when it was time to feed the babies.
She’d pick them up by the scruff of their neck and carry them over to Charli to bottle feed them.
“She picked them up and put the baby in front of me as if to say, ‘The baby’s hungry. I haven’t got any milk so can you please bottle feed this one.’ And I bottle fed this baby and then I put the baby down and then she went and got the other and I was like this cat is so smart,” Charli said.
Charli’s sanctuary was pretty full before she took on the kittens.
So, she hesitated to take them in at first, but she quickly learned that Annie was “all the help I need.”
“She’s just got such amazing motherly instincts. She doesn’t leave their side. She’s [Annie] not producing milk but they’re [the kittens] still always sprawled out on her anyway,” said Charlie.
There was something truly magical about the love that Annie felt for these little kittens. She took care of them as their own.
But eventually, the kitties grew up.
Charlie figured that Annie would end up taking on other new kittens as her surrogate children, but that didn’t quite happen.
Annie will usually hang out at the sanctuary for a little while, grab a bite to eat, and then spend the rest of her day on her own exploring the island during the summer. Annie loves her freedom.
” So take in all of Annie‘s beauty today because tomorrow she might be at the hotel down the road for a week acting like she has no place to go and she’s starving. In the winter she chooses to come and snuggle in my bed with me and I don’t mind having her for half the year!” said Charlie.
You can learn more about Annie in the video below and more about The Arc Animal Sanctuary here.
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