And so they kept coming!
The 2011 ‘kitten season’ started early – but that was not a problem, because we already had a waiting list of good prospective homes. So as soon as the kittens were ready, homes were available. For about a week our fosterers sat back and had a rest, but sadly, no-one told us that this year we would have not just one ‘kitten season’ but many! There was the black bag full of kittens dumped in a garden in Rumney…a ‘mum’ with five kittens taken to a vet after the father of their owner threatened to drown them all…a ‘mum’ with five kittens found in a car park…a ‘mum’ and kittens left behind when their owner moved house…and so it went on… and on! People often complain that cat rescue groups take a while to respond to their calls, and is it any wonder? The situation is overwhelming and we are the ones who ‘pick up the pieces’. Something must be done, urgently, to stop irresponsible owners breeding cats to sell via the Gum Tree web site or pet shops, etc. Surely it is time that cats were given some kind of legal status, and protection from exploitation?
CATWEL, Queen of Shops!
It was when we were preparing for ITV’s Auction Party that Liz and my daughter Teresa became closely associated, as it was they who did all the hard ‘up-cycling’ work which had been recommended by the production team. The seven days prior to the programme being recorded at the Angel Hotel were frantically busy for them, and for Helen and Christine, who decorated the display room. But out of all that effort and hard work came the idea of a CATWEL charity shop! Members of the CATWEL ‘group’ were very enthusiastic about the idea, and no time was wasted in finding suitable premises (17, Whitchurch Road, Cardiff). It was agreed that Teresa and Liz would jointly manage the project, and the design and décor was decided and lots of work carried out. The result is that we now have a wonderful shop which – we hope – will generate enough funds to enable CATWEL to not only carry out its present work, but also to expand in the future. The response from our supporters has been wonderful, and they have donated lots of lovely clothes and goods for us to sell, many cadged from friends and neighbours. Many thanks to you all, and keep it coming – we can never have too much! Thanks, too, to Mrs Mallory Armstrong, who negotiated with the agents for the hire of our premises – and to Mr Bryn Phillips who assisted her.
We are very grateful to them both.
When we decided to have the shop we knew costs would be incurred, and appealed to a number of charitable trusts. Sadly, however, there was only one positive response - from the Hodge Foundation, who generously gave us £1,000 to help with our rescue work. We are very grateful to them. (Photos of our lovely shop on page 4!)
Marilyn Oram has resigned as a CATWEL trustee, for health reasons. She remains a committed supporter, and editor of the CATWEL newsletter.
People! Some of them make me despair. They see a cute little kitten on a web-site or in a pet shop, or perhaps an irresponsible neighbour has allowed their cat to have kittens. Whatever the reasons, they have to have one – or even two. But these kittens grow up, and as soon as they need money spent on them (for neutering, etc) they become surplus to requirements and are thrown out. If the kitten, now about seven months old, is female she may already be pregnant, and desperately trying find somewhere safe and warm to have her kittens. But they often end up being born under a hedge, near their original home. If they are among the lucky ones, welfare groups like CATWEL step in. But after all our hard work over many, many years, the situation just doesn’t seem to be improving. Why can’t these people accept that a cat is a lifelong responsibility? Unless they can commit to that, they shouldn’t have one.
ANNUAL SOCIAL & PRIZE DRAW:
As in previous years, the ticket attached to this newsletter should be sent back to me at the address above, with your name and phone number on the back and with a donation of your choice. The draw will take place at our Annual Social on Sunday, December 11th, which will be held at our shop (2pm – 4pm). When you return the ticket, please indicate with a tick if you hope to be there. We are very grateful for your continued financial support of our annual draw. If you make monthly donations to CATWEL, you will automatically be included in the draw, in which case please phone me – 029 20753475 – if you plan to attend! There will be free refreshments and, of course, the shop will be closed to the general public – so you’ll have an opportunity to view our excellent facilities! Come along and enjoy an afternoon as our guests, we will look forward to seeing you all.
And another date for your diary! There will be an Autumn Fayre on Saturday, November 12th, at the ‘Coach House Inn’, Riverside Terrace. 1pm-4pm, free entry.
Aristocat!
A rare pedigree Japanese Bobtail cat had turned up in a lady’s garden about four days before she sought our help. It was micro-chipped, but the contact number was somewhere in England. Obviously the owner had moved, but hadn’t amended the chip details! The lady wanted us to take it into care immediately, but I suggested it might be better to first make local enquiries, and I gave her several useful phone numbers. Early next morning she left me a message to say that our vet knew who the owners were – it was such a rare breed – and they lived just around the corner from her!
OUR WISH LIST!
As our shop has sufficient space, we can accept larger items to sell, such as small pieces of furniture – coffee tables, piano stools, chairs, etc. We also need books, bedding, curtains, wool, buttons, cottons, silks, haberdashery, clothes, bags, bric-a-brac, craft items, records, CDs, DVDs ( but no videos/tapes, please).
We’d like foreign coins, too, and medals, along with scrap silver and gold – and anything ‘retro’ (clothing, bags, household items, etc) would be very welcome indeed. And goods can be taken to the shop or my home. If you can donate it, we can sell it!
‘tis the season to be careful! Remember to keep cats indoors on ‘Bonfire Night’, November 5th, and as winter approaches make sure they don’t come into contact with anti-freeze, which is highly poisonous. Some Christmas plants, like poinsettia and mistletoe, are also poisonous, and turkey bones can be very dangerous too.
THE HOTEL CAT
A late night message on my phone informed me of a friendly – but apparently starving – cat, living in the grounds of a local hotel. One of our supporters visited the site and confirmed that there was indeed a cat living in the hotel grounds. A member of staff explained that it had no proper shelter, and was not given regular meals, but that until we could take it into care he would ensure that it was at least properly fed. We took it into care about a week later – and almost immediately received a call from a very irate lady, demanding its return. She informed me that the cat had lived at the hotel for eight years! However, our vet checked it over and estimated its age as about three. It had fleas, and probably worms, but was not starving. It was treated, and also given an injection to alleviate the irritation, then returned to the hotel – on the strict understanding that it was allowed to live in the boiler-room (we provided a basket and blanket) and given regular meals, not just scraps. We would be making a ‘follow up’ visit in a few months! The staff had genuinely missed the cat, and now know it must be properly cared for.
The law is the law, and that’s that!
The cat had lived in the gentleman’s garden since Christmas. He thought it might be a Persian, but it was very dirty and smelly. I suggested that he take it to a vet to be scanned for a micro-chip, but he didn’t do this. He did, however, make enquiries in the local shop, and was told that no-one had been enquiring about a missing cat. He phoned me again about a week later to tell me that the cat had given birth to five kittens in his shed (he had not allowed it into his house because of his own old cat).
When we visited we found that one of the kittens had already died. We took the ‘mum’ and remaining kittens to our re-homing centre, where Helen had great difficulty getting them to suckle. The mother’s fur was a tangled mess and her teats almost inaccessible. She was very hungry, too. She had been having a lot of difficulty eating, because of the knotted fur around her neck which prevented her from bending her head properly. She also had problems walking, again because of her terrible coat. A second kitten died the next day. Slowly Helen managed to remove the most restricting knots, but we knew we could not have her shaved until her kittens were weaned, when it was our intention to have her neutered at the same time. She wasn’t micro-chipped and no-one had attempted to find her. No notices had been put up, no ‘lost’ adverts put in the local papers, and no telephone enquiries had been received. ‘Princess’ and her kittens were in our care for six weeks – and then the owner turned up, alerted by someone’s chance remark. Princess was indeed a pedigree Persian, and had been bought with another cat (a male) for breeding purposes. She had gone missing in the bitterly cold weather at the end of 2010. When the owner was asked why she had made no attempt whatsoever to find her cat, she said she thought it had been stolen. She then demanded that we hand-over Princess and her kittens. We sought advice, but were legally obliged to give her back, even though we knew that she would almost certainly face a life of producing litter after litter for sale.
Cats have no protection under the law.
There are responsible breeders, of course - but unscrupulous ones, too, who can sell kittens to anyone, with no home checks and no questions asked. Only the money matters. We often think about poor little Princess, wishing we could have had her neutered and re-homed her and her kittens with new, caring owners. Ironically, she spent those bitterly cold months as a hungry stray just around the corner from her owner’s home.
Log on for CATWEL!
I am pleased to tell you that we have been accepted to participate in the National Westminster Community Project. Helen and Sheila have submitted a video showing our operations. It would be appreciated if anyone with access to a computer could log onto NatWest CommunityForce, follow the on-screen prompts, and vote for CATWEL. Any money received will be used exclusively for neutering.
