Monday 6 April 2015

Why adopt from Colwyn Cats Protection?

Hi all, and a very Happy Easter too!  I hope everyone has had a suitably fun and indulgent weekend and thank goodness that spring is well and truly in the air now.

In this my second post of The Cat's Whispers blog I would like to talk about the background to our adoption process and the benefits that both our cats and their new adopters receive.


Muffin's previous owner simply could not
keep her when her circumstances changed
beyond her control..

Cats Protection was founded in 1927 and has been working to help cats in need ever since.  There are about 250 branches (like Colwyn) and 29 adoption centres all over the UK run by staff and volunteers trying to find ideal homes for as many cats as they can. 

We deal with cats from a range of backgrounds including strays, those abandoned by their owners, those who cannot cope with their circumstances and those whose owners cannot keep them. 




Whilst with Cats Protection they all receive the same high standard of both veterinary care and loving care.  This benefits both the cats and the adopters - for an adoption fee of just £40 (this applies to the Colwyn & District branch) your adopted cat will be:
  • seen by a vet for a full health check
  • fully vaccinated (against cat flu and leukaemia)
  • neutered
  • microchipped
  • treated for fleas and worms
  • covered by 4 weeks free insurance with PetPlan
So as you can see, we are providing our cats with a good grounding for their new lives and the adopters receive a definite bargain! Also, by adopting a cat from us it gives us the opportunity to carry on helping others. 

Our fosterers do a wonderful job of caring for our cats.  This can sometimes involve necessary socialisation of kittens, appropriate socialisation of shy cats and simply making them as comfortable and content as we can during their stay.  If you are interested in helping us in our work to rehome cats in need then please consider becoming a cat fosterer.  All you need is  either a spare room in your house or enough space in your garden for an outdoor pen (provided by Cats Protection), time to care for a cat twice a day and a passion for helping animals.  You will receive support from our branch members and regional Cats Protection staff members and all expenses are covered by us.  If you are interested in this very rewarding position, or know someone who might be, please get in touch using my email address joy.colwyncp@gmail.com and we can go from there!

Two of our residents in the sleeping area of their outdoor pen

Over the past couple of weeks I have been lucky enough to hand rear four beautiful kittens who were found abandoned on 20th March in a cardboard box. I have seen them grow from helpless little babies who needed bottle feeding and toileting every 2 hours day and night to strong, spritely little tinkers who know how to communicate with us, use the litter trays to perfection and play with a whole variety of toys.  They are practising their hunting skills by stalking one another and are starting to take to solid food. 

Magnus, Eric and Alice

Rose

I will miss them immensely when they move to another fosterer to be rehomed but it has been fantastic to have a hand in their progress.  They are all lovely individual characters and will make fantastic pets for their adopters!  We would love to recruit a volunteer with hand rearing skills to be on hand for kitten fostering as it is very time consuming, especially if our fosterers already have cats to care for.  Again, if you are interested in this role please email joy.colwyncp@gmail.com, thank you.



In other news, we raised around £170 during the Pets at Home weekend at the end of February and the homing evening at Prospect House Veterinary Clinic on 26th February was also a great fundraising success.  The raffle was hugely popular raising £120 and it was a lovely opportunity to publicise some of our cats, two of whom have since been reserved!  After the raffle seemed a perfect moment to get a group shot of the Colwyn team with Peter Dickinson and Ann Owen, two of the fantastic vets who run the clinic.   

Back row: Joy Shutt (Welfare Team Leader) with Peter Dickinson and Ann Owen (vets)
Middle row:  Joan Jones (Treasurer), Benita (previous fosterer), Ann Cooksey (current fosterer), Dot Nuttall (Neutering Officer), Mary Keenan (Branch Coordinator) and Sue Cook (Homing Officer)
Front row: Betty Davey (previous fosterer), Dorothy Dolan (website, lost/found), Tracy Hughes (Facebook/Social Media)

I'm sure you can all appreciate that adopting one cat won't change the world but the world will surely change for that one cat.  If you are interested in adopting a cat from us then please take a look on our website and contact our Homing Officer Sue to make any enquiries. 

Simons Cat pin badge
Even if you cannot adopt from us but would like to support our cause then there are many ways in which you can do so; for example by making a direct donation, donating clothes and items to our charity shop in Llandudno or you can donate cat food and sundries for our fosterers also by leaving them at the shop. 

Cats Protection as a whole charity has recently been supported by the internet sensation "Simon's Cat" created by Simon Tofield through the sale of Simons Cat pin badges sold at Pets at Home stores.  I made sure I got mine at our fundraising weekend in the Llandudno store so keep your eyes open as there still might be a few to be snapped up!




Well that's all from me for now.  Thank you to everyone who is reading this blog and even if you tell one person about our work you might make a difference so please spread the word and share this post if you can. 

Joy


Next time: Found a stray cat?

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