01/09/2025
It's 1st of September, oh my good grief :O
I'm not asking for money (huh, that makes a change you all say) but I'd just like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our friends and supporters. You are totally amazing.
Just a few days ago I put out a plea for some specialised food for two of our hiv+ cats, I'll post separately about this tomorrow, but suffice to say I've been bowled over by how kind you've all been. These little ones don't need to worry, their cupboard is now stocked full :D.
A couple weeks ago I asked for kitten food, the results were jaw-dropping, so much so that our volunteer couldn't get into her house past the amazon delivery. We've also been able to square up quite a bit of our outstanding vet bills and hope to be able to completely pay them off soon. I can't thank some of these vets enough (and their staff of course) for being so kind and understanding when we hit bouts of sick and poorly cats and not many funds.
Times really are at crisis point with all or most cat rescues though. The sheer amount of cats that owners are wanting to surrender is so high. We will help where we possibly can but honestly our resources are just so stretched at present that we are daily having to turn people away. Of course we'll always try to help sick or injured cats, but once again that hits us hard.
Mrs A has a tom cat, let's call him Fluffy, she doesn't bother to get him neutered, let's him out on a night, he fights due to his testosterone and trying to be king of the street. He comes home battered and bruised, cuts all over, bite marks on his back. Mrs A can't afford the vet so she just leaves him out. Concerned Mrs B spots the cat and calls us in. We pick him up, he's not microchipped (which is now law), not neutered and he has a nasty infection which needs antibiotics. We are a bunch of softies so we do all this for him. Mrs A then sees a post on social media and goes "hey, that's my cat". Now then, we would say "well Mrs A, this cat has cost us x amount of £'s in vet bills, we've also had him neutered and chipped". Do we think Mrs A will thank us and refund our costs? No, in 90% of cases Mrs A will expect her cat handed back (so she can let him roam all over again) but with no cost to her. Yet if she'd spent £55 on getting him castrated back when he was younger she could have saved herself (and us) a whole lot of work.
Kittens can be neutered from 4 months (by some vets) but definitely by 6 months. Shop around for prices as they can vary considerable from vet to vet. Microchipping is now law, a cat MUST be chipped by 20 weeks of age AND registered to a database. The number of poor cats we pick up who are chipped but not registered is crazy - if you are guilty of this then shame on you. If you're not sure how to do it then reach out, you'll find us rescue people would rather give a little bit of friendly advice than have to step in much later trying to reunite you with your pets.
Sorry for the long rant=y post but PLEASE a) neuter your cats, b) microchip AND register your cats, c) flea and worm regularly with a decent treatment (NOT bob Martin or cheap £1 shop stuff) and d) if you're thinking of taking on a cat or kitten THINK long and hard about it. Cats can live to on average around 15-20 years of age. That's a huge undertaking. If you have a child are you going to ditch the cat? If you move house will you ditch the cat? If you get a dog and he doesn't like the cat will the cat have to go? A little thought beforehand can help so much.
Enjoy your day everyone, and be kind to each other
Just adding a lovely kitten picture to make everyone smile :D
