15/12/2025
Sunday 14th December 2025
Suddenly and almost without realising, we are now in the run down of the last few days of 2025. Well, for us it certainly has been another mixed up, crazy and topsy turvy year, as to what was going to happen next.
Since my last newsletter in September DK&K have had a visit from a Devizes carer, with her client who absolutely adores cats (her own Mum has five of her own). She loved the younger ten RSPCA cats around her, watching and chuckling at their antics.
One of my cat carers has, on several occasions, brought her adult grandson, who has special needs. He sits at their level and spends time stroking and fussing the cats, which they love and so does he!
So good for all our souls to see!
We have now had four of the six RSPCA girls spayed. The remaining two went in to be spayed, but the veterinary surgeon could hear chest sounds, therefore they were too risky to undergo an operation. The four boys were castrated prior to their arrival here.
In the last couple of weeks the same two of these six girls have now had to have serious, major dental surgery which certainly put pressure on the veterinary team whilst one in particular was under anaesthetics. However, I am now so pleased to say after extensive dentistry and extended doses of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories they are both doing well, considering everything these cats have had to endure throughout their lives. Overall in the last few weeks all this group are now “chunking up” for the winter. Such a difference to their arrival body score of2/9, when they were rescued from their death sentence enclosed in crates and abandoned in a field, close to the Hampshire border at the end of July. What a joy it is for us all to see how happy they have all become. Yes, they still have some ongoing health issues, but these are now going to be long term.
The dreadful sadness is that, since these ten were abandoned, the RSPCA have rescued another 37, of four different breeds, from a known breeder in Hampshire. Kept in small dirty pens. I have photos of cats with severe limb deformities. A number of these cats were pregnant. Absolutely heart-breaking, all in the name of money and breeders who do not care about welfare and animals’ feelings. Only to breed for their own selfish gain and get their name out there!
The same day as we were officially given our charity number, September 30th, I trapped here at Wick Farm, the first of the two long term visiting timid cats coming here for food, a black female. Three days later I managed to trap the tabby male. I was feeling so pleased that they would still be together, as we had been seeing them eating together, alongside the visiting hedgehogs on the wildlife camera. They won’t ever have to live the hard cold life again, without a home.
We have taken them both to the vets for a full health MOT (Their names are now Arti and Chia. I used the letters from the word “charity”. It was so apt).
Arti had to be castrated. Surprisingly, Chia had already been spayed!, so at one point in these two lives they had a home!
They were automatically microchipped at the vets. They are now free to mix with my existing house cats.
On the 8th of November I received a phone call from Estcourt Vets to say a 12/14 week old kitten had received a glancing blow from the front drivers side wheel of a car near Enford, in open country. He rolled unconscious underneath and out through to the other side. A lady following witnessed the blow. She picked him up unconscious and headed back to the vets. After a full examination and confirmation he had no broken bones the vet brought him out to DK&K.
Mentally, he was and still remains shut down. The unknown is how much could be due to brain damage. We hope in time this will rectify, when healing repair takes place. So to aid stimulus, I bring him in with us every day to the mobile, in order to encourage him to socialise and hopefully he will become less fearful and watchful and learn to relax.
I have named him Remee, as it was remembrance weekend.
This has been a strange year, losing ten dear special elderly cats since February and now, with my helpers, caring for the “new” ten RSPCA cats, plus Arti and Chia and little Remee.
It was so nice to receive a phone call from Remee’s lady rescuer, following which she came over to visit him.
It was really good to meet her. An absolute first.
Very sadly, just recently Dave and I were notified by Kate Winfield that her husband Frank, one of my former helpers, had died quite suddenly.
Frank used to help here with the cats on a Monday. He was a very methodical worker, who had strong values and work ethics. Extremely reliable.
Dave and I went to a beautiful humanist service at the crematorium, which captured Frank perfectly.
There is a light shining at the end of a very long arduous tunnel for us both. We hope to start moving back into our home at the beginning of February 2026, when furniture will be returning at intervals. It will be 2 years by then, since the oil spill.
In the meantime I wish you all well. Have a happy Christmas and a huge thank you to all those close to me, helping me daily with the cats and also for the support given to me by DK&K trustees.
Thank you all.
Best wishes
Lorraine and Dave
