Consett Cat Rescue

02/11/2026

**A little respect goes a long way 🐾**

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and we certainly do not expect everyone to agree with our views, our decisions or everything we say. Respectful questions, differing opinions and constructive feedback are welcome.

However, disagreement does not give anyone the right to be rude, abusive or disrespectful, to make personal attacks, or to spread false allegations about the rescue or the people involved.

Over the past 13 years, Consett Cat Rescue has helped thousands of cats and hundreds of people and families across County Durham—and sometimes beyond. That help takes many forms: rescuing stray and feral cats, providing neutering assistance, reuniting lost cats with their owners and, in some sad cases, helping families find answers and closure when their much-loved cat has been found deceased.

Behind every cat helped, there are often people who need support too.

We are also wholeheartedly backing a petition calling for mandatory neutering, with appropriate exemptions, to help prevent suffering and reduce the number of cats and families needing help in the future. It would be lovely if more could also support this.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/779844

We do not ask for public applause, seek nominations or chase awards. Speaking personally, being in the limelight is my idea of hell! But I hope people remember how much this small, volunteer-run rescue contributes, both to animal welfare and to the community. A simple thank you goes a very long way.

There are real people behind this page. We give our time, our homes and a great deal of emotional energy to this work. We know we should concentrate on the positives, and there are many, but we are human. One person’s persistent disrespect can weigh heavily, even alongside so much kindness and support. At times, that negativity is soul-destroying and can leave us questioning whether it is all worthwhile.

Nobody should have to accept mistreatment as part of volunteering to help others. We ask for basic courtesy towards everyone involved: volunteers, supporters, members of the public and those running the rescue.

We reserve the right to remove comments and to block or ban anyone from our page or groups whose behaviour is abusive, intimidating, repeatedly disruptive or disrespectful. We are not obliged to allow that behaviour to continue or to enter into prolonged arguments about moderation decisions.

Where behaviour involves serious or persistent bullying, harassment, or potentially defamatory statements, we will consider seeking legal advice and taking appropriate further action.

**You do not have to agree with us to be welcome here. We simply ask that you treat us, and each other, with respect.**

Following some unpleasant comments received last week, we felt it was important to clarify our position and the standards of respectful behaviour we expect across our page and groups.

To everyone who offers encouragement, kindness or a simple thank you: please know that it matters. Some days, those few words make more difference than you realise. 💜

Require all owned cats to be neutered by six months of age, with exemptions for cats being kept for breeding by a legally recognised and licensed breeder, or medical grounds by veterinary surgeons. Their neutered or exemption status should be recorded on the cat’s microchip database record.

01/11/2026

🐾 **A cracking day, lovely people and lots of thank-yous!** 🐾

Yesterday’s Halloween/Christmas fundraiser at South Moor Golf Club deserves a big round of thank-yous! ❤️

First up, **Elaine and her band of merry men — aka Helen, Diana, Christine and Susan!** The food stall looked busy for most of the day and took a whopping **£360**. A brilliant effort from everyone involved. Keeping people fed is a very important job, especially those of us who run on tea and mild panic! 😂

Next we had **Hannah and her daughter Hettie**, with their joint stall of ** and beasbowsandcrafts**. Two faithful regulars at our events — we hope you both had a lovely day and went home with considerably less stock than you arrived with!

Talking of regulars, we cannot forget **James and Terri of Pyrography JEMS**, who come along to all our events. As well as supporting the rescue, they’ve adopted two cats from us, so we’ve already helped them with their home furnishings. Every home needs a cat or two! 🐈🐈

Thank you also to **Helen of Crafty Cashew Gifts** and **Katie**, who each support us by designing and making their own lovely items, including bags, catnip toys and other gifts. Both are regulars at our events and, across their two homes, have adopted **seven cats from us!** Quite how either of them manages to find a cat-free workspace is a mystery! 😂 Thank you both for your continued support.

A big thank-you to **Helen and Kirsten**, another lovely pair of regular supporters, who sell second-hand books, jigsaws and other goodies and donate proceeds to us. They’ve also welcomed **three of our cats into their home**, so their book and jigsaw stock presumably gets thoroughly inspected before every event! 🐾 It’s always lovely to see you both, and we really appreciate everything you do.

Then there’s **the lovely Laura, another of our adopters!** She not only organised the venue and stall bookings but also ran the bottle stall. Prizes ranged from a bottle of water to a bottle of wh**ky and everything in between — hydration or celebration, depending on your luck! 😂 Thank you, Laura, for all your work and support.

Laura also booked a couple of other lovely ladies with stalls. I’m fairly sure one was our adopter **Ash**, but I’m afraid I didn’t catch the other lady’s name. My apologies — my brain has usually reached capacity before we’ve even opened the doors! Thank you both for coming along and selling your wares.

Of course, thank you to **the Golf Club staff** for putting up with us, and to **my lovely husband Ian** for running his tombola stall. ❤️

And to **everyone who came through the doors, bought something, had a go on a stall, donated prizes or helped on the day — thank you!** These events only happen because people give their time, energy and support.

🥳 **With all the stalls added together, yesterday’s total was £1,067.24!**

It was a quieter day than usual, with a steady stream of visitors rather than the crowds we’ve sometimes had. There were other events happening locally, which may have played a part, so we’re really pleased with that result. It will make a difference to the cats in our care.

🎟️ **Our Halloween/Christmas number draw raised £626 over the course of ticket sales**, with just 14 numbers sold at yesterday’s event. The draw has now taken place, winners are being notified and prizes are being distributed.

**If you’re one of our winners and you’re reading this, please feel free to get in touch!** For at least one winner, I only have a postal address and no other contact details — so a message would be very helpful!

Now, I’m not going to pretend I’m already looking forward to next year — these fundraisers are **bloody hard work** for me! Ask me again once my feet, back and brain have recovered… but yes, we’ll be doing it all again in **2027!** 😂

🎄 **In the meantime, keep an eye out over the coming month:** I’ll be selling a few bits and bobs and Christmas decorations, along with some **new and second-hand cat carriers**, to bring in a few more pennies for the rescue.

Thank you all for helping make yesterday such a lovely day. ❤️🐾

30/10/2026

An unexpected extra update after a call today

A little respect works both ways.

Today I returned a call from someone who had seen our post about Fluffy and believed he was their missing cat. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking — but there is a problem when someone asks for information and then repeatedly talks over you while you try to explain it.

Fluffy has been with us since 9 May 2025 — almost 18 months. He is a long-term feral resident who remains unable to be handled. His appearance in a recent update does not mean he has just arrived.

I left a voicemail explaining this. When the caller rang back without having listened to it, I explained again. Unfortunately, they remained insistent that he was their cat and continued talking over me.

When they called me rude and unprofessional, I explained that I was simply giving them the facts. The problem was not that I was being offensive — it was that they were not listening to what I was saying.

Giving someone information they don’t want to hear does not make me rude. Having to repeat it because they keep talking over the explanation does not make me rude either.

I am also hard of hearing. A poor connection and someone talking over me make a telephone conversation particularly difficult. Having to speak louder to make myself heard is not the same as being offensive.

I understand that having a missing cat is upsetting. But that does not make it acceptable to take your frustration out on the person who has taken the time to return your call and explain.

We are a small, volunteer-run rescue. My time is already stretched between caring for cats, vet appointments, trapping, fundraising and answering enquiries. I will make time to help where I can, but I will not stay on a call to be spoken to disrespectfully. I ended this one when it became confrontational.

Email, WhatsApp or text are the best ways to contact me, particularly when photographs and dates need to be compared.

Please remember there is a person behind this rescue page. I am happy to help, but I am entitled to be heard and treated with respect too.

29/10/2026

🐾 MIDWEEK UPDATE — cats, admin and fundraiser preparations!

Following last week’s lovely rehoming news, sadly one of our newly adopted kittens has needed a trip to the vets with a poorly eye. Her new family quite rightly got her checked, and the vet found a small ulcer. She now has eye drops, and we’re keeping everything crossed that she feels better very soon. 💜

Moving home is a big upheaval, especially for a nervous little soul. Sometimes sneezes, runny noses, upset tummies or weepy eyes can appear around that time. We’re familiar with these things in rescue, but we completely understand how worrying they can be for new cat parents — and symptoms still need taking seriously.

This little girl showed no signs of being unwell before she left us. Eye ulcers aren’t always visible without the special stain vets use, so I can’t say when it developed; only that she had no weepy eye or other obvious symptoms here.

We would never knowingly send a poorly cat to a new home. In fact, tomorrow’s planned adoption has been postponed because that cat has developed a weepy eye in her foster home. She has never met the kitten mentioned above — these are separate situations. Her new adventure can wait until she’s feeling better. 🐱

💻 Monday was mostly microchip admin: making sure the chips for cats we’ve had neutered were registered and the details up to date.

Unfortunately, changes behind the scenes at our current database have made this rather more frustrating than it used to be. Some people haven’t received confirmation emails despite registrations being completed, which creates extra worry for them and extra checking for me.

We’re due to buy another batch of chips, so we’ll be changing supplier and database for future chips. Hopefully that will mean fewer headaches for everyone… particularly the person behind this keyboard! 🙈

📋 Tuesday brought more admin, including organising another batch of booster vaccinations. Sadly, the cats remain unwilling to manage their own diaries.

🎃🎄 Wednesday and today have been all about getting ready for Saturday’s fundraiser.

I’ll confess: as much as I’m looking forward to seeing everyone, I’m also looking forward to packing everything away afterwards and giving my “events organiser” hat a rest until spring!

These days take a huge amount of preparation alongside the everyday rescue work. We get lovely offers of help with the cats, but finding people keen to take on organising fundraisers and all the jobs that go with them is much harder. If that happens to be your sort of thing, we would love to hear from you. 💜

🏡 Today did bring a lovely bit of news: one of our little boys went to his new home and, by this evening, looked as though he’d already made himself very comfortable!

He’ll have some adjusting to do without his foster-home cat companions, but he has a lovely family and their dog for company. I suspect it won’t be long before he’s explaining the house rules to everyone. 😂🐾

With tomorrow’s adoption postponed, I’ll have a little more time to load the car for Saturday. Whether everything will fit is another matter…

📍 SOUTH MOOR GOLF CLUB
📅 Saturday 31 October
🕙 10am–2pm
🎃🎄 Halloween / Christmas Fundraiser

🎟️ Don’t forget our fabulous NUMBER DRAW!

The draw will take place AFTER the fundraiser. Taking all 20 prizes along simply isn’t practical, especially as many numbers have been bought online or at our previous event and the winners may not be there.

You can still buy numbers on Saturday, right up until the draw. Before drawing, I’ll check all our number-draw posts and messages to make sure everyone’s entries are recorded.

We’ll then choose our 20 winners, contact each one to arrange their prize and publish the winners list. 🏆

This will be my last update until Saturday, but I’ll share the event and number-draw poster again so you have all the details.

Please pop along if you can. Expect a little organised chaos, bear with us while we juggle everything, and come and help us raise some much-needed funds for the cats. 💜🐾

A little like or share helps more people see our posts — thank you, and see you lovely lot at the Golf Club!

29/10/2026

This Saturday

I’m certain I’ve messed up bookings so please come along and make the place look busy, even if you just come and buy a cake.
The food MUST go 😂😂😂


Terrace Cupcakes

Let the organised chaos begin 🎃👻😈😹

26/10/2026

This Saturday coming.

Number draw still open with over £500 worth of prizes

25/10/2026

📣 CAN YOU HELP GET OUR PETITION SEEN? 🐾

Me again… but this time with a poster that has a WORKING QR code! 🙌😹

We’re trying to get our cat neutering petition in front of as many people as possible, and you can help us reach people beyond Facebook too.

🖨️ Could you save and print this poster and ask a local business to display it? A vet practice, pet shop, café, workplace or community noticeboard would be a brilliant place to start — with permission, of course!

📱 Anyone seeing the poster can scan the QR code to go straight to the petition and sign.

💜 No printer? If you have somewhere willing to display one, please message us. I can supply a laminated copy and arrange to get it to you.

✍️ Reading this on your phone? Click here to sign:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/779844

Already signed? You can still make a difference by sharing this post, tagging a business that might help, or asking friends and family to add their names. Every poster displayed is another chance to reach someone new. 🐈

🐾 SCAN • SIGN • SHARE • DISPLAY 🐾

A quick like or share helps this appeal reach more people. Thank you for helping us speak up for the cats. 💜

24/10/2026

🐾 TRAPPING TALES — PART 1: THE LIST, THE LOGISTICS AND THE WEATHER! 🐾

Let’s talk about the trap, neuter and return work we do with feral cats — usually shortened to TNR.

Our inbox is full of requests for help with lone tom cats, lone females, mums with young kittens and colonies of more than ten cats… and the list goes on. 📩🐈

But first, some good news! Two recent jobs are complete, with six cats — three adults and three kittens — back with their feeders. ❤️

Today I received this lovely thank you card from the lady whose feral mum and kitten we helped, along with a very kind donation. A little appreciation means a great deal, and the donation will help us help the next cats on our list. 💛

💷 Do we ask for donations? Yes, if people can afford to contribute.

We are a small rescue without a bottomless pot of money to “neuter, neuter, neuter” willy-nilly. Believe me, if there was a secret pot somewhere, I’d have turned the house upside down looking for it by now! 😹

Every donation towards this work helps. But we know that not everyone can afford to give, and being unable to donate does not mean we turn someone down. We will still help as best we can. Please understand, though, that finances are sometimes one of the things limiting what we can do.

🐈 How do we decide which jobs come first?

Females generally take priority because we want to prevent more litters. But if we are trapping a colony and catch a male, we do not simply let him go because we were hoping for a female.

My rule is that once a cat is trapped, they stay with us until neutered and ready to return, following veterinary advice.

Some cats will only give you one chance. Release them unneutered and they may decide your suspicious little buffet restaurant is permanently crossed off their dining list. 🙈 Every cat is different, but we cannot count on catching them again.

📋 If you have asked us for help, please be assured you are on my list.

However, arranging a trapping job involves rather more than putting down a trap and saying, “Here, kitty kitty.”

We have to consider:

🐾 Distance, resources and available vet appointments.
🐾 The location — can a trap be left safely in position, or does someone need to remain nearby to supervise?
🐾 Whether a local volunteer can help monitor it.
🐾 Whether we have suitable kennel space to care for the cats before and after their operations.
🐾 Whether we can complete the job in one go or need to tackle it in stages around everything else.

A trap in use must be monitored appropriately so a caught cat can be attended to promptly. That takes planning and people.

🌧️ Then there is the weather…

The darker evenings are here, autumn has settled in and winter is lurking around the corner with its wet socks and frozen fingers. 🥶

Trapping can mean spending hours in remote, dark locations. We need to keep ourselves safe as well as the cats.

And I’m no spring chicken. The cold does me absolutely no favours. I am very much a fair-weather person and would happily hibernate until spring if the cats would approve my application. So far, management has refused. 😹

To anyone heading somewhere warm for winter: yes, I am jealous. ☀️✈️

🙋 What about volunteers?

We appreciate people offering to help. But I also have a duty of care to those volunteers and need to make sure they are safe, supported and properly prepared for the work.

Even if someone has helped with trapping before, we still need to go through how we work and check what guidance they need. Previous experience varies, and we have sometimes found that people need considerably more support than expected.

Training, organising and supporting volunteers all take time — and time is one of our scarcest resources. ⏰

We will keep trying to help as best we can, but we are not the only rescue in County Durham. Please approach other rescues too. Another organisation may have someone closer, an available appointment or capacity to help sooner. That gets the cats helped and takes a little pressure off us.

Behind every completed job are hours of planning, travelling, waiting and care. Thank you to everyone who feeds these cats, works with us and helps make it possible. 💛🐾

👍 Please like and share our posts — every interaction helps more people see our work and could help us reach our next supporter or volunteer.

24/10/2026

🐾 THE WEEKLY ROUND-UP — PART TWO 🐾
New homes, a scenic detour for your eyeballs, and the things I forgot to put in Part One… 🚗🏡📸😂

Welcome back! Put the kettle on again. My attempt at a “brief update” now has sequels. ☕📖🙈

📸 FIRST, SOMEONE I FORGOT TO MENTION!

Earlier in the week, I collected some bits for our Halloween fundraising event and managed to snap a quick picture of Trent’s feral mum! 🎃📦🐾

Her feeder calls her Titch. Isn’t she glorious? 😍 She looks so much like her daughter Thumbs—well, the same colouring anyway! I’ve included Thumbs’ picture so you can compare. Clearly those good looks run in the family. 🧡🖤

Titch granted a brief photo opportunity. No interviews, no autographs, and absolutely no suggestion that we are now friends. 😼📸😂

🚗 THURSDAY — the long-distance cat taxi!

An early start to collect Neve and Nyx from their fosterer in South Shields, then another 80-plus miles to their new home before driving myself back. 🐈🐈🏡

Nearly 200 miles and five hours of my day—but worth every mile to get them into a lovely permanent home together. ❤️❤️

The scenic photo gives you a clue about an area I passed through. I did spot one rather large white animal on a hillside, but thankfully nobody asked me to squeeze that one into a carrier. 🐎🧳🤣

Then straight into elderly-relative babysitting duties until early evening. Different department, still on duty! 😅❤️

🥹 FRIDAY — a very special delivery.

Hope went to her new home after more than TWO YEARS with us. 🏡💕

She came to us as a feral kitten and is still very timid, so she’ll need time, patience and the chance to settle at her own pace. Thankfully, her new owners are very experienced and understand that. ❤️🐾

I have high hopes for Hope and everything crossed that it will all work out beautifully. 🤞🥹

It means so much when someone looks beyond the nerves and gives a quieter cat a chance. Not every cat can march up to a stranger and announce, “Hello, I’m yours. Where’s the sofa?” Some need us to believe in them a little longer. 💖

The rest of Friday was spent on admin and writing these updates. At this rate, I’ll need a publisher. 💻📚😂

📥 MEANWHILE, THE INBOX HAS BEEN BUSY…

Trapping jobs 15, 16 and 17 arrived this week, taking the total number of cats needing help to OVER 80. 😔🐈‍⬛🐈

One was neutered on Wednesday after the lady caring for them trapped her and managed to get a last-minute vet appointment. She’s hoping to catch another over the weekend. ✂️🤞

She has around 13 needing help, so her doing the trapping and vet transport herself takes a considerable amount of pressure off Tami and me. We are very grateful. There are only so many places two women and a collection of traps can be at once! ❤️🙏🚗

💔 Then there are the rehoming requests.

I honestly dare not count how many people have called or written asking us to take cats they can no longer keep. It is soul-destroying having to say no, especially when tiny kittens are involved. 😞

We cannot take any more in at present. We have to be able to properly care for the cats already depending on us. 🐾❤️

📣 If any reputable rescues have capacity to help feral mums with kittens young enough to socialise and rehome, please get in touch so I can direct people towards you.

I must be confident in the care and welfare standards of any rescue I recommend. These cats deserve a safe future, and I won’t knowingly point them towards somewhere unsuitable. ❤️

🐾 THIS WEEKEND’S PLANS…

The feral mum and her boy kitten pictured here, both neutered on Monday, have been returned to their carer today, Saturday. 🐈🐈‍⬛❤️

I don’t normally keep them quite this long, but mum’s surgery involved some extra exploration because only one uterine horn was found. She had a few extra days to recuperate, and her little boy stayed too. 🩺💕

They’re returning to a lovely lady who looks after several ferals and keeps everyone very well fed. Their familiar dinner service awaits! 🍽️🐾

I suspect they’ll be delighted to check out. “Food acceptable. Staff far too interested in us. Would not book again.” 😾⭐😂

🏡 Also today, two crazy kittens have been delivered to their new home TOGETHER!

Double the zoomies, double the mischief and someone to blame when a plant mysteriously falls over. 🐈🐈💨🪴😇😈

It’s lovely seeing some of our cats head home in pairs. A familiar friend for a brand-new chapter. ❤️❤️

The waiting list is daunting and the requests don’t stop, but these new beginnings keep us going. Thank you to our adopters, fosterers, carers and everyone helping us along the way. 🥹🏡🐾

Right. The resident management team would like to remind me that writing about feeding cats is not the same as actually feeding them. 🥣🐱📋😂