Cats as Mousers!

Outdoor cats offer an environmentally friendly rodent control service to stables, farms, garden centres, small holdings, factories, etc.as an alternative to using chemical pesticides. 



Mama & Cardigan, mother and son semi feral cats in our care looking for jobs as mousers

 

Feral/Semi feral cats: these are cats and older kittens born outside who have had little or no socialisation with people.  Whilst the best way to deal with these cats is to trap, neuter and return to site, there are occasions when this isn’t possible due to safety concerns for the cats or as a result of inner city and rural development making the site no longer suitable for the cats.  Feral/semi feral cats do not crave affection or attention and are perfectly happy to go about their ‘jobs’ as mousers. They are relocated to a suitable environment where they can thriveand work hard doing what they like best. Kittens 8 weeks and under can often be successfully socialised to people, and are rehomed in a normal home environment.  

Alert and watchful on the job! 

 

Friendly outdoor cats: these cats need to be homed outdoors for a variety of reasons.  They are either friendly, temperamental cats who are independent. They prefer the outdoor life but like to have human attention on their own terms or friendly cats which have inappropriate toileting behaviour which we have been unable to resolve behaviour therapy.  Cats from multi-cat households often have very poor socialisation and whilst they like to be around people, they shy away from human touch preferring to just be in the presence of people.  

Outdoor cats need regular feeding, water, & shelter

 

Contrary to popular belief, regularly fed outdoor cats are better hunters then hungry ones so outdoor cats need  two square meals a day, as well as water, shelter, somewhere dry to sleep, regular worming treatment and veterinary care when needed Like all of our cats, our ‘workers’ have been blood tested for FIV & FeLV viruses, neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and health checked so you can adopt with confidence. We have several outdoor cats looking for employment, so if you have a vacancy please get in touch today!  You can contact us on 01656 724396 or email bridgend@cats.org.uk

Purrs for now!

 





Feline Immunodeficiency Virus: Meet Kane

Hello everyone!

Today we want to share with you one of our special cats, Kane, who has fast become the CP Bridgend teams centre sweetheart!

Kane has Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) which is similar to the human HIV virus although it can only be caught by other cats. It is an immune deficiency virus which is present in blood and other bodily fluids. Once a cat has FIV he or she has it for life and just like humans can live very long and healthy lives!

Kane is in great health but as he is at  high risk of catching something that could make him more poorly than a cat without FIV, he is now to be kept as an indoor only cat. FIV is a very delicate virus that doesn't survive for long outside of the cats body so it can't be passed on via hands or clothes.

There are many different ways for a cat to catch FIV, some can be born with it, it can be picked up from fighting with an FIV positive cat and also through unneutered cats mating - this is why it is SO important to neuter your cat!

As Kane came into us neutered and not one for going out into the big wide world much we don't really know how he came to have FIV but because of this he can not be homed with any other cat (unless the cat is FIV positive) in order to protect them aswell and reduce his stress levels.

There is currently no treatment for FIV and each cats signs and symptoms vary. The best way to keep an FIVs risk level lower is to keep them indoors, vaccinating, treat them regularly with flea and worm products from the vets and keep them on a good diet.

 Kane is such a soppy boy who loves to be groomed and fussed over. We at the centre know what a wonderful companion Kane would make for somebody and he has recently been reserved so if off to his forever home!

If you would like anymore information on FIV then you can find out some more by clicking HERE.

Meet the Manager!

 



Hello, I am Sue Dobbs, I still remember clearly the day 18 years ago when I retrieved the weekly news paper “The Recorder” from the bin after throwing it away because I had  an uncanny feeling that there was a job in it for me.  I initially dismissed the feeling as my children were both very young & I wasn’t actively seeking work but eventually decided to take a look.  Imagine my surprise when I saw the advert for Cats Protection Adoption Centre Manager.  As I read the advert my surprise changed to excitement, the job could have been tailor made for me, and I believed I had the right combination of animal care and management experience to make a success of the job.

My father had always had a passion for animals which he had passed to me; I grew up on small holding and helped care for a variety of small & large animals, birds of prey & reptiles.  After finishing school I started working for the family business managing our farm shop which sold animal feed, equipment etc.  I continued in college part time & attained an intermediate diploma in animal welfare.  I heard that my application was successful in March 1998, this was another memorable day. Sadly there had been a fire at the centre overnight due to an electric fault and one cat had passed away and anther had suffered smoke inhalation.  The HR team telephoned me to let me know that I had the position and could I please go the centre to see if I could offer any assistance, this was my initiation into a role which has seen happy & sad times, highs & lows, great strides made and set backs but most importantly of all helped rehome over 24,000 cats and kittens.

 

I find it hard to believe that I have been working for Cats Protection for almost 18 years; I think I am very fortunate to be able to say that I love my job today as much as I did then.  My role is very varied and no two days are the same.  My typical day would start with briefing the team on which areas they are working in, bringing them up to date with relevant information for the day & arranging for cats to be transported to the vets for routine operations such as dentals.  I would then walk around to check all the cats in the centre for any signs of illness and arrange for them to see the vet and move to isolation if necessary.  Responding to emails and phone call is next on the agenda, followed by dealing with correspondence and receiving any good delivered on the financial data base, signing off invoices and forwarding to accounts for payment.  I would then check for any empty pens in homing and arrange for ready to home cats to move up and book new cats to come in off our waiting list. 

Depending on the day of the week my next job would be to do the ordering, prepare / assist the vet with the vet run, rotas, dealing with staff AL requests, performance management, logging income on to spread sheets, banking, & general admin. As well my day to day routine duties I plan & organise open days at the centre, and other events such as the Catathon Guinness World record attempt, fire walk and glass walks.  I also work with the media to promote the work we through news articles, radio & TV interviews and have been involved with several work groups with National Cat Centre to help develop new concepts and ideas.  At this point I have to say that I have a great team and the success of the centre wouldn’t be possible without everyone’s hard work and commitment.

I consider it a privilege to be the manager of Bridgend Adoption Centre and on a personal level my love for my job as well as the support of family and friends helped me during the difficult time in 2011 when I was diagnosed with bowel cancer and gave me the focus and determination I needed to return to work very quickly. 

Purrs for now!

Bailey's Story: 100 Acts of Kindness

Bailey Sloan is a wonderful 8 year old boy from Barry who recently carried out 100 acts of kindness in his local area. His inspirational work led him to being nominated for the Barry Rotary's Young Citizen Award in which Bailey was awarded £500 to go to a charity of his choice. Bailey donated £250 to Llamau and the other £250 to us here at Cats Protection!

We were delighted to have Bailey come and present the cheque to us in person, he even wrote a story about the time he spent here at the centre which we would love to share with you:

Bailey's Story

Once upon a time there was a boy called Bailey.  He won a Rotary Young Citizen Award.  He went to Cats Protection.  He saw some cats and held a kitten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and he met the Mayor and the Mayoress,  he had a centre tour and got a goody bag!!!!  In the goody bag was 2 calendars, a frame and a pen and more.

The cats protection got £250 in a cheque as part of Bailey's prize for winning the Rotary Young Citizen award.

There are really wonderful people and unpaid volunteers that work at Cats Protection.

If you adopt a cat the cat loves you and has soft fur for you to stroke.  They are so, so, so wonderful.

I have three cats called Mog, Pink Love Heart and Ginger Beauty.  Moggy is a cat with black and white fur and she has a wonderful meow.  I get lots of strokes from Moggy every time she greets me when I come home.  Pink love heart gives us lots of love too and Ginger Beauty looks adorable when he's eating his food.

Bailey and his cats lived happy ever after.  If you adopt a cat, you and your cat can live happily ever after too!

THE END

Thankyou Bailey and we wish you well on your next 100 acts of kindness! Come back soon :) 
 

A Day In The Life Of A Cat Carer.

Hello! I'm Stevi and I am one of the cat carers working here at the Cats Protection Bridgend Adoption Centre. Today I am going to talk you through what us cat carers do in our job role on a day-to-day basis.

When we arrive at the centre in the morning we are each given a section in which we will be working that day. Depending on which section we are in, we set up everything we need in order to begin the morning feed and clean.

Next up it's breakfast time! Any kittens are fed first and some cats have different dietary needs so we feed them accordingly. The cats are all fed the same amount of food (30g) to ensure their welfare needs are met. Although it doesn't look a lot in their bowl, the dry food swells in their stomachs and fills them up until dinner time. 

  



Each pen is cleaned making sure the pen floor, walls and door are sparkling. We change the cats litter tray and put down fresh water and give their bedding a good shaking out - we usually change this every other day unless it is dirty or particularly fluffy.

Each day we have new cats coming into the centre, these need to be health checked, treated for fleas and worms and scanned incase of a microchip. If the cat is chipped we then have to check the number against the information we have from the previous owner or if we have a stray cat bought in and it is chipped we will then contact the owner on the cats microchip details to hopefully have a happy ending! 

During the health check we check ears for mites, check over the eyes, teeth and gums. We feels down their bodies and check their pads, claws and their tail. We note down any concerns we have and then the cat is put into it's new pen and settled in for it's stay with us before it gets checked over by the vet. 



We have members of the public in everyday to find their new companion. A form is filled out and the public is left to browse the information each cat has above its kennel. After choosing their favourite they get to meet them, hopefully a bond is established and then they are able to adopt their new feline friend! I personally love this part of the job, when somebody finds their perfect pet and you get to know the cat is going to be loved and cared for by its new owner!

Once the centre is closed to the public we then have dinner time! We feed through the section we were in during the morning and give out any medication needed, top up the water bowls and change any used trays. Once this is all done we spend the last part of the day getting ready to do it all again tomorrow! We re-line the litter trays, re-stock gloves and aprons and make sure empty pens are cleaned and ready for cats to move into.  

The day is non-stop and is totally different every day - which means us cat carers are sure to get a good nights sleep! We do lots of other jobs during the day including moving cats to different pens, deep cleaning pens, going out to our local supermarkets and collecting donated food and taking cats to and from vet appointments.

Hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about what we do daily,

Purrs for now! x



Overview of Cats Protection Bridgend Adoption Centre.

Welcome to our first Blog post! 

We thought it would be nice to start by giving an overview of our adoption centre.
Bridgend Adoption Centre is one largest purpose built adoption centre in the UK, we are based in Bryncethin, near Bridgend in South Wales.  The centre was officially opened 17th Sept 1994 and further extended in 2000.  We have a team of 17 staff and 50 volunteers carrying and out various roles including cat caring, fostering, grooming, socialisation, reception, and DIY.

 

 

 

 

 

Our centre consists of

• 41 homing pens  - for ready to home cats and kittens.          
• 48 Admission pens - for new arrivals at the centre for their first week in our care.
• 14 Maternity pens - for mums and their kittens up to weaning age.
• 8 Isolation pens - for sick cats and kittens suffering with infectious diseases.
• 6 Wooden pens and lodge - these are large units used to house cats showing signs of stress in the smaller indoor pens.

Homing corridor and homing pens, pens also have external runs accessible via cat flaps 

External back runs for holding & maternity corridors, and wood lodge

 
Our centre can hold over 150 cats and kittens
when full to capacity.  Our busiest time
of year is during kitten season which generally runs from May - November, during these months we can have over 100 kittens in our care at any one time.  The centre is always full to capacity, we have to operate a waiting list to bring unwanted cats and kittens into our care.  The average waiting time is 4 - 6 weeks but can be as long as 3 - 4 months the height of kitten season.

 
Our adoption centre is the top homing Cats Protection Centre in the UK.  In the last 5 years we have homed over 6400 cats and kittens, an average of 1280 every year. 
The success of the centre wouldn't be possible without the brilliant team of staff and volunteers. 
Please stay tuned in for real life stories of the cats which come into our care and the day to day work of the team at the centre.

 

Purrs for now!