Our 2020 in Bridgend Adoption Centre

This year started like any other, we homed many beautiful cats the same way we have for years and the centre was full of potential adopters. 

Our previous resident heartthrob Arlo also got the cover of The Cat Magazine and we had a wonderful microchip success story, reuniting Bowie with his owner after two years apart! 

Left, Arlo's Cover. Right, Bowie reunited with his owner

The centre closed on 18^th March as a precautionary measure due to COVID-19 and lockdown began on the 23^rd March, offering many challenges for us all. Our team had to pull together and adapt so we could continue to support and care for the cats and work towards our vision of a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of their needs.

Due to government restrictions, adoptions and admissions were put on pause and as a team we focused on enriching the lives of the cats still in our care, with plenty of play and TLC. We made cat castles and ball pits, and luckily received many generous donations through our amazon wish-list to keep our cats occupied.

Ryan enjoying his ball pit, Pat with donations from Amazon Wish list and Enrichment 

In March, we gave you the first ever live tour of our centre and in the same month the team did the 2.6 challenge raising a whopping £727.50 with gift aid. Our receptionist Lottie put her own spin on it and undertook a 26 hour gaming marathon with partner Tom and a little help from rescue cat Yuki, raising a £160 for our centre!

Team CP completing the 2.6 Challenge around centre Carpark

Lottie, Tom and Yuki’s 2.6 Challenge

Then, we got some good news! We were able to trial a pilot remote homing scheme meaning we could finally resume adoptions and admissions. There was a lot of change though, and we all had to adapt and learn a new way of doing things.

We’ve had 919 admissions so far this year, and each cat that comes into CP has their own story and unique bond with their cat carers. We had our first admission since lockdown began on 30^th April. Nightingale and her kittens Diana, Charles, Nye and Florence were named in honour of the NHS.

Nightingale with kittens Diana, Charles, Nye and Florence

The first cat homed after lockdown was the lovely Floss! She came into CP heavily pregnant when the landlord would not allow pets. After raising a lovely litter of kittens and spending 88 days in our care, she found her loving forever home.

Floss, first cat adopted through our pilot homing scheme

Ranchi came in as part of a large litter born outside, many were affected by flu but Ranchi had a much more severe case. Her littermate Rome lost one eye, but sadly Ranchi lost both. They both adapted extremely well and Ranchi found a forever home with someone who understood the needs of a blind cat and has settled beautifully!

Left, Ranchi on the mend after treatment. Centre, Ranchi leaving for her forever home. 
Right, Ranchi now Moira settled in her forever home, photo cred. Moira_Talks. 

Our FB supporters helped name Tabatha’s litter of kittens after characters from the Black Panther Movie to honour the legacy of Chadwick Boseman. The names we chose were T'challa, Nakia, Okoye, W'kabi, Shuri and Ramonda. They even made the local paper!

Tabatha with Black Panther Kittens T'challa, Nakia, Okoye, W'kabi, Shuri and Ramonda 

Cat Care Assistant Emily Bright with Black Panther Kittens

Our girl Beryl was reported as abandoned at a property and was found malnourished and with significant fur loss, however now in our care, Beryl is making a beautiful recovery! 

Beryl before treatment

Beryl after treatment

The longest staying cat this year was our little Monkey! Monkey was born in CP care however, Poor monkey was poorly and had to be kept back for treatment before he could find his forever home. He left us after 133 days. 

Monkey, our longest staying cat

Our lovely girl Mimi was the oldest cat to grace our adoption corridors this year. This beautiful girl is 19 and has found the perfect retirement sofa to curl up on. She’s settled really well in her new home and has already found her favourite spots! 

Mimi, our oldest cat

Golden Oldie Ziggy was one of the cats on our weight loss scheme this year. Her new family were told they needed to keep her on a strict diet and after being homed she lost 270g in just five weeks! Well done, Ziggy and family.

Ziggy, weight loss success story

Our Centre Manager, Sue Dobbs even made an appearance on BBC’s The One Show to explain the impact COVID-19 has had on kitten numbers due to the pause on neutering during lockdown. 

Centre Manager Sue Dobbs discussing neutering on BBC’s The One Show, 2^nd October 2020

We’d be lost without our volunteers, but unfortunately with restrictions many haven’t been able to do their usual jobs in the same way. Our amazing volunteer David adapted and took this in his stride completing a half marathon challenge in the rainy welsh weather to fundraise for the cats in our care. He raised an incredible £566! 

David during his half marathon challenge, 14^th November 2020

Fundraising has been a little different than in previous years and we’ve had to be a bit more creative.  Our first ever virtual open day was a huge success, racking up 2.5k views and raising £400. This involved performance acts from local entertainers and musicians, a quiz and much more.
 

First virtual open day, 15^th November 2020

This year has been full of ups and downs, but we take pride in knowing that we have helped find so many cats and kittens their forever homes, 836 as it stands. Even some of our team have adopted this year! We’ve grown stronger as a team and have continued to be here for the cats thanks to the continued support and donations we have received. Thank you for sticking by us. 

Mali and Royston, Chip, Maxi, Archie and Harriet
adopted by our team members this year, settled in their forever homes

Kitten Crisis!

The 1st of April this year was my 22nd anniversary in my role at Bridgend Adoption Centre as Centre Manager.  It seems so long ago but only yesterday at the same time!  During my time with CP, I have had the privilege of working with my team at the centre to find forever homes for over 33,000 cats, an achievement which I am extremely proud off.  When I reflect on the figures though, there is a certain amount of sadness mixed in with the joy as each cat and kitten coming into our care has found itself to be homeless, or unwanted.  There are many genuine reasons for cats coming into our care, such as an owner becoming too ill to care for their beloved cat, owner sadly passing away etc., however many more are unwanted pregnant cats and kittens often stray, born outside in poor condition.  In the last 10 years alone, we have admitted 15289 cats and kittens into our care, 6742 of them were kittens, 3244 of whom had the reason for relinquishment as ‘unwanted’ or ‘stray litter’.  

James and Jessie were born outside and admitted into us in poor condition

This year it is predicted that the number of unwanted kittens is expected to get worse after a survey carried out of 1000 cat owners highlighted that many owners were unaware of the importance of neutering and the consequence of not neutering cats at the earliest opportunity: 

77 per cent were unaware that a female cat can become pregnant as early as four months of age 

86 per cent didn’t know that an unneutered female cat can have as many as 18 kittens in a year 

30 per cent of cat owners said it was acceptable for a female cat to have a litter of kittens before being spayed    

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Millie was admitted to us at 10 months of age, she has already given birth to and weaned a litter of kittens.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in fewer vets doing neutering, Cats Protection estimates that as many as 84,000 extra kittens could be born this summer and possibly more in the light of this survey.  This is worrying news for us and sadly we are already hearing and seeing the impact of COVID-19 at our centre with members of the public with their cats giving birth to kittens as they have been unable to get them neutered due to the COVID-19 restrictions.  We are also getting more frequent reports of kittens being found in gardens, sheds as well premises such as school grounds and cemeteries.   

Silky gave birth to her kittens during the COVID-19 Crisis

We have continued to help cats and kittens during the COVID-19 crisis concentrating on cats and kittens in emergency situations due to the restrictions in place and resources available.  During this time, we have admitted 110 adult cats and 106 kittens, all cats and kittens were collected by our cat carers following government guidelines in place for rescue centres.  Unfortunately, some cats and kittens we weren’t able to help despite our best efforts due to government COVID-19 guidelines.  These are mainly cats and kittens who are very frightened and run away when approached or semi ferals.  We have kept a record of these and ensured that all of them have kind members of the public to feed them and keep a check on them until we are able to trap them to admit them into our care or neuter and return them to site.  

Humus, Honey and Hashbrown were born outside in a garden

One of the biggest developments during my time at CP and one which potentially could have a huge impact on the cat and kitten welfare is the early neutering of kittens.  Cats Protection advocates neutering from 4 months of age and there are many vets that are neutering from this age and younger, in the case of semi feral kittens.  Cats Protection has a kitten neutering vet database to help you find your nearest practice to neuter your kitten, you can search it using your post code here 

Many people have concerns over neutering kittens at such a young age, this is understandable but kittens are extremely resilient and recover well from their surgery.  We started neutering kittens at 10 weeks of age over 10 years ago and reduced the neutering age to 8 weeks last year and it never ceases to amaze me to see kittens up playing a few hours after surgery,  we see far fewer post-surgery complications in kittens than we do in adults, and the use of dissolvable stitches mean kittens are ready to leave our care to their forever home 48 hours after neutering.   

As the restrictions continue to ease and vets become fully operational, please ensure that you get your cat/kitten neutered to help prevent the predicted number of unwanted kittens.  There are steps you can take in the meanwhile to prevent your cat becoming pregnant such as keeping un-neutered cats indoors, and keeping different sex kittens apart.  Cats Protection have produced an infographic with some more useful tips, this can be viewed here  Please share this with friends and family via social media. 

Cats Protection & RSPCA Cymru are running a £5.00 neuter and chip scheme for people on benefits and low income, you can find out more here

Cats Protection also gives free educational talks to prepare cat owners of the future, this is a key part of raising cat welfare standards and reducing the number of unwanted kittens in the future, you can find out more here

With all of us working together and making use of the resources available we can make a real difference to the welfare of cats and hopefully in the future make the annual kitten crisis a thing of the past. 

Bye for now! 

Sue Dobbs