Summer Update

Goldie's 8 little terrors

Our fosterers are very busy with kittens at the moment, with Mary our coordinator having 13 kittens in her care right now!  As cute as little kittens are they do create a lot of work for both the fosterers and the mother cats.  Most of our pregnant/mother cats come to us as strays and are often still kittens themselves, being able to come into heat from just 4 months of age.  If the kittens are not handled and cared for by 10-12 weeks old they will become feral and will have to live as outdoor "wild" cats.  Neutering both male and female cats as early as possible is the only way to combat the problem of stray unneutered cats and unwanted litters. 


Six months was often the preferred age for neutering but now more and more vets are neutering both females and males from four months of age or even earlier in some cases.  Cats Protection hold an Early Neutering Register, which is now called the Kitten Neutering Database.  Veterinary practices can sign up to this database and state the age limits they are willing to neuter at.  

Cats Protection and the RSPCA Cymru have teamed up to offer a Wales-wide neutering scheme, which allows eligible people to have their cat neutered and microchipped for just £5.  To find out if you are eligible and which local vets are taking part you can either call the national Cats Protection helpline 03000 12 12 12 (option 2) or check the details and map on our Colwyn and District website.  

Our kittens will be available for adoption once they have started their vaccinations.  Our adoption fee is £50 per cat or kitten and this includes initial vaccinations, vet health check, flea and worm treatments, neutering, 4-5 weeks free insurance and a microchip.

June is National Microchipping Month, which aims to raise awareness of how important the practice is - only less than a third of all pet cats are microchipped!  As I mentioned above, so many cats come to us as strays and it would be so easy to reunite them with their owners by a scan of their microchip.  Implantation is a quick and simple procedure and is the only permanent method of identification for your cat.  There are always stories popping up of cats being reunited after varying periods of time, the latest cat being Cully, owned by The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins, returning to her owner 3 years after going missing and having lived as a stray cat - read the full story here.  There are other stories featured on the national Cats Protection Facebook page, such as Rebecca being reunited with her cat Chloe after 6 years apart - read their story here.  

May was such a hot month!  We all know how cats like to keep warm but there's warm and there's heatstroke...  Cats Protection produced the following two features to advise on keeping cats cool so please take a look, just in case we get another burst of summer before the winter!

And lastly, please have a read of our summer newsletter featured on our website for news about our new volunteers and our outdoor cats working at Bodnant Gardens.

Thanks for reading!