Friday 25 January 2019

An ever turning cycle!

We often hear the phrase, “a New Year new beginning”, and whilst we haven’t had a new beginning as the cat welfare feel rolls on regardless, we have had a first in 20 years with all available cats in centre being reserved!  This included 8-year-old baby who was diagnosed with kidney disease and our lovely 17-year-old cat sponsor cat Lily who was adopted by Jeff and Linda who emailed us this lovely update:
“She went to the loo in the carrier in the car on the way home, just as we pulled out of your drive way and that meant windows open…  Made us laugh; we know that bit works OK too well! She spent yesterday under the bed but coming out for food warily. Some fusses but we are letting her get used to the room on her own. This morning she came out from under the bed ears forward and tail up when we brought food, and has used the litter tray OK. Much fussing was requested from her and she stayed out from under the bed. She is now curled up in her basket you kindly let us have and she will glance up when I check in, then put her head back down to snooze”.
Lilly settled in her new home
With Lily leaving us to her forever home, we now have a new sponsor cat called Charlie.  Charlie was admitted to us with a fractured hip, he has had surgery to repair this and is currently undergoing a physio programme to encourage him to use and strengthen his leg.  Charlie is a real sweetie, and a big favourite with everyone here!   You can find out more about our cat sponsorship scheme at here 
Charlie, our new sponsor cat
 
Daisy and her kittens have also left us to their forever home, many people were following their story in our blog and queued early in the morning on the day they became available with the hope of adopting one of them.  We were not surprised that all were reserved very soon after we opened, they are adorable and Daisy did an amazing job of raising them.
Daisy's kittens - 8 weeks old
For every cat we home, there are more out there which need our help so we continue to admit more and more cat!  January has seen 77 cats come through our door with a further 25 arriving in the next few days.  Cats come in for all reasons with the main ones cited are owner unable to cope, stray, unwanted litter, change in family circumstance and landlord issues. One of the new arrivals is Stiggy who we believe was abandoned outside the centre, he was found by one of our cat carers trying to get in through a window, he obviously knew we were the right place to get help J . We decided to keep Stiggy for 14 days as we do with all strays and to advertise him locally in case he was lost but as no owner has come forward, he has now been reserved and will be leaving us to his forever home very soon.  Some cats can become frustrated being penned up so we enrich their environment as much as we can, and Stiggy being a quick learner soon got the hang of using his puzzle feeder.

Cat Carer Ceri teaching Stiggy how to use his puzzle feeder
Just as one kitten season ends another one starts and this week we took in our first pregnant cat of the year, we have called her Rain, she has been vet checked and is fit and healthy.  We are expecting her to give birth in the next couple of weeks.

Heavily pregnant Rain having her vet check
Another new arrival is Toffee; she was admitted to us from a multi cat household of 16 cats. She is a real sweet heart but is a bit shy and is really benefitting from her hide, which gives her some privacy reducing her stress levels whilst giving her the confidence to start coming out knowing that she has somewhere to retreat to.  Toffee is in desperate need of some dental work, which will be carried out before she is available for adoption.
 

Phew!  Writing the blog makes us realise how busy we have been already this year.  It time for us to go back to caring for our cats, hope you have enjoyed the journal and please look out for the next one.

Bye for now!

Wednesday 9 January 2019

A Purrfect Year - 2018 Round-up.


2018 seems to have passed in a flash of an eye but looking back, it has been a very busy and successful year at the centre due to the hard work and commitment of the team at the centre and great support we receive from members of the public.

983 adult cats and 557 kittens (1540 in total) were admitted into our care for a wide variety of reasons, the most common reasons seemed to be that the owner was not coping, landlord issues and unwanted litters.  Fortunately, we have many people coming through our doors looking for cats and kittens to adopt and we are delighted to say that 1472 cats and kittens found their forever homes though our Bridgend Adoption Centre and Cardiff Homing and Information Centre (which opened in February 2018), including our lovely long stay cat Flower.
 
Flower long stay cat left us to her forever home

Flower was in our care for 3 months before finding her forever home; she had been homed earlier in the year but returned for not settling in her previous home.  She is a real sweetie and we are delighted to see her start the New Year in her forever home.

Our trap, neuter and return volunteers have made another huge difference during the year to the welfare of feral cats, with 225 being neutered, returned to site or relocated to farms and smallholdings looking for outdoor cats as mousers.  One such cat to benefit is this lovely ginger semi feral tom cat.


Semi Feral tom cat before neutering

As you can see in the above photo, he was looking pretty rough and sorry for himself before our TNR volunteer Rachel became involved, she trapped him and took him to be neutered, checked over by the vet and ensured that he had a regular food supply and shelter. This meant that he was no longer fighting other un-neutered tom cats in the area and he is no longer roaming and seeking out un-neutered females for mating. As a result of this, he has gained weight, his fighting injuries have healed and he is almost un-recognisable as the same pitiful cat he was before.  
 
Semi Feral tom cat after neutering
Helping to neuter and return feral cats is a very rewarding job, if you would like become a volunteer helping feral cats, please visit http://bit.ly/2VECTNt

We held our first Pen-y-Fan sponsored walk in September, with over 20 walkers taking part.  Despite this small number, an amazing £3000 was raised for the kitty, our Pawsome afternoon tea open day and just giving appeals have collectively raised over £3500.

Pen-y-Fan sponsored walk
 
Our fundraising volunteers have also had a busy year attending over 15 events in the community, raising awareness of the work we do, and boosting the kitty by another £2400.  We would like to give a special mention to our fundraising volunteer Linda Powell, who successfully completed the Cardiff half marathon contributing £913 of the total.  If you would like to become involved as a fundraising volunteer, please visit http://bit.ly/2Az01UI

Linda Powell successfully finished the Cardiff Half Marathon

All this is just the tip of the ice burg of the great work carried out by staff and volunteers at the centre, who work tirelessly to make a real difference to cat’s lives.  Our supporter’s generosity also helps us to finance the work we do, so a BIG THANK YOU all round to all involved.

As we go into 2019 we would like to share some good news about our lovely sponsor cat, 17-year-old Lilly, if you have been following the blog, you will know that she was diagnosed as hyperthyroid and was in need of dental work.  Finally, after weeks of treatment and waiting, we are happy to say that she has been given the all clear by our vet and is now available for adoption.  We are hoping it will not take too long for her to find here purrfect human/s.

Sponsor cat, 17 year old Lilly is looking to find her forever home

That is all for now, please follow our blog in 2019 to find out more stories and news from our centre.
Bye for now!