Catwel (Cardiff) Spring & Summer 2015 Newsletter no.36

Dear friends, 

Welcome to the Catwel (Cardiff) Spring & Summer 2015 Newsletter no.36

I know you all like a bit of good news, so I know you will enjoy reading about the fundraising successes.

In our last newsletter I appealed to our supporters to personally carry out fundraising events to help CATWEL replace the roof at 'Ty Mair', and to help us realise my dream of acquiring a second, rural property to use as a sanctuary.
I would like to place on record - with very many thanks - the work Zoe Preece carried out and which has, to date, presented CATWEL with an amazing £1,235! Zoe achieved this by running an online Pet show on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smudges-Charity-Pet-Show/342283875944669.She wrote to various businesses to acquire prizes, personally paying the postage to mail those prizes to the competition winners. This took a tremendous amount of very hard work - and Zoe's fundraising ambitions are still ongoing! Watch this space (or Facebook) to see what other ideas she comes up with! Regular updates on:-
http://catwelcardiff.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/smudges-2nd-charity-pet-show.html 

Another supporter helped greatly, via her place of work, by nominating CATWEL to benefit from an annual charity event run by New Law Solicitors. What a wonderful surprise when I opened my mail and found a cheque for £1,010! Grateful thanks to Lucia D’Onofrio, (who had two beautiful kittens Alpro and Bella from Helen) and all the New Law staff.
Although it has been wonderful to tell you all about these 'high-profile' sums, I also want to say a big 'thank-you' to all the many loyal supporters who make regular donations to help keep our charity going. Each and everyone of you is greatly appreciated and valued, in whatever way you help....
Many thanks also to the kind anonymous lady who donated £40 to CATWEL in memory of her cat Oscar, who was obviously very dearly loved.

More good news is that we have been fortunate to enrol 5 new 'foster mums' this is wonderful. At this time of year in particular, we have families adopting the cats we took in when pregnant. This leaves Helen and Roz with the task of handling and socialising many litters of kittens, in addition to their other work, and it is an essential task, if kittens are to be friendly and homeable! Often people don't realise how much time and work is spent on this. Now our new 'Mums' will nurture kittens in their own homes, getting them used to frequent cuddles - and the noise of the vacuum cleaner! So many thanks to those 'Mums', because in spite of neutering, too many kittens are still being born unwanted.

In Memoriam of Susie. Those who read our newsletters may remember Suki who was re homed to Joan Phelps. Sadly Suki (renamed Susie) was put to sleep recently due to having a large stomach tumour. She will be missed by her owner a great deal. Susie was a tough little cookie when she came into Catwel back in 2007 and had completely lost her faith in humans. But with care and love from both Helen and her owner Joan through time began to trust again. Here is the lovely story that was included in the Catwel news letter back in 2007......

Joan wrote....Once upon a time, in April 2007, Margaret said to me" I have got a lovely little cat for you...."All seasoned Catwellers will have heard this tale before. Needless to say I fell for it - again! Her name was Suki. Fast forward to the end of August and she came to live with me and Henry (my other cat). Suki is a sweetie, as long as you don't get too close as she is quite handy with her claws and has very sharp teeth...Joking apart, Suki has settled down well and I think, will begin to learn to trust me and realize that I am not going to harm her. She likes to have a little cuddle everyday and has even gone to sleep on my lap a couple of times. It’s lovely to see her running around in the garden even if she spends alot of time catching leaves and bringing them into the house, where they are shredded all over the carpet. Her favourite spot at the moment is on a shelf in the greenhouse where she spends hours sleeping in the sun... I am just so pleased to have Suki, and I know all the credit must go to Helen, who has looked after her for five months at Ty Mair, and has taught her to trust in human beings - and to enjoy the occasional cuddle. Thank you, Helen! Will let you know in the future issues if the scars on my hands ever heal up!
Joan concludes" All fairy stories have happy endings" Catwel Thank you Joan for giving Susie such a lovely life x x


Dear Margaret One day about 10 years ago, you brought to my house a nine year old, one toothed rather gobby white and black recue boy called Tom, and allowed me to give him a home. I remember you being very cautious because I lived on a road and was also rather young. I had to make the decision for Tom to sleep for the last time with an emergency Vet last night aged (about) 20. I wanted to thank you for trusting me and giving me ten years with Tom, who turned out to be the most adorable, kind intuitive, clever and beautiful cat I have ever known. We did well the pair of us and were a good team and at times I had to wonder if he was actually a cat! Such was the amount of character he showcased. So again thank you and when this huge Tom shaped hole in my heart mends a little, I shall be sure to come back to you first when looking for another beautiful boy that might need me at the time. Gemma. P.S Lucy is doing well

The importance of getting your cat microchipped

I received a phone call about a Ginger cat found straying on Cathedral Road in Cardiff. A gentleman heard someone banging on his door. When he opened the door a young lady with a baby in a pushchair enquired "is this your ginger cat, he has been trying to cross the road". The gentleman said it was not. The lady went on to say that could he look after the cat as she could not. With some discussion the gentleman agreed to look after the cat that day but stated that he could not keep it. The following day he noticed a chrome bowl on his window sill with 2 tins of high quality dog food. Fearing that the cat had been abandoned he contacted Catwel who picked up the cat and took him up to Ty Mair (Catwel's rehoming centre). He was a beautiful neutered ginger tom. He had a wonderful temperament and was in lovely condition. Helen scanned the cheeky chap and discovered he was indeed microchipped. 1 phone call later and we discovered his name was George and he was registered to an address not too far from the road in which he had been straying and that he had been reported missing back in March 2015. Helen phoned the number that George was registered too with Petlog and his owner (Gareth) answered and was truly delighted by the news that we had rescued his beloved cat. 20 minutes later he was up at Ty Mair and re-united with his lovely pussycat. He was extremely grateful and told us that George had been adopted from Maesteg Animal Welfare 3 months ago and that he did have a collar with his name and a contact number on it should he go missing. Sadly the collar was not present and it was thought that either George had broken it off or it had been removed by somebody. Who can tell? (Only George knows). The moral of the story is please if you love your Cat or Dog for that matter get them microchipped. So many cats and dogs go missing or get stolen and collars can be lost or removed but a microchip is under the skin and is harder to remove. Microchipping does work and it re-unites pets with their owners. It is not that expensive but please use a trusted vet to carry out this procedure.

This is a picture of gorgeous George

Another way of saving Catwel money (and the planet too!) Why not go paperless?Would you like to receive our newsletter via email in future? If so email us at catwelcardiff@yahoo.com stating in the subject Ref “newsletter via email”. This would save paper, postage and of course Margaret’s time and blood pressure as she wouldn’t have to wrestle with the photocopier!!! Thank You.



When is a stray not a stray? I often wonder how long it takes before someone who takes in a stray cat acknowledges that it is now part of their household. With me, it has always been about three weeks. First I advertise it as found in the South Wales Echo (this procedure is free), then take it to a vet to check whether its microchipped. If it is, hopefully it can be reunited with its owner. If not, and no-one answers my ‘found advert’, I check the ‘lost’ in the local paper for a few weeks. If there is still no clue as to its owner, it becomes part of my household and I consider myself responsible for its food, welfare and veterinary care. Not everyone would agree with this, it seems! Recently, I had a call from someone who said they had a very ill cat in their garden. She had been feeding it for eighteen months, but now complained that ‘nobody will help me and it’s not mine, it’s a stray!’ She was totally unprepared to spend any money on it. We took it to our vets and discovered she was microchipped. It had not been checked for one during the preceeding eighteen months, and we failed to trace an owner. The cat was too ill to save, and died peacefully in a warm, cosy pen, being cared for by our excellent vet.

There are some very irresponsible breeders out there! We recently took two kittens into care, half-‘rag dolls’, seven months old, who had been given to an elderly lady when they were very young indeed. They were given to her by her ‘carer’, who breeds ‘Rag Dolls’. They were beautiful cats, but not neutered, and they became homeless when their new owner suffered a massive stroke. Why on earth did the ‘carer’ give kittens to someone elderly, and why didn’t she take them back when the elderly person was hospitalised? When I asked if the carer had had the cat neutered, I was told she still wanted to use it for breeding!!

WE'RE ALL VOLUNTEERS!!!! Sometimes I feel like shouting this from the rooftops, because some people see us as an extension of the Social Service Department - or even another emergency service, like the fire brigade! They just don’t understand that when I am talking to them about their cat problem I am sitting in my own chair in my own home. Yes we have a re-homing centre, but it doesn't have paid staff and it doesn't have elastic walls. Sometimes it is, quite simply, full - and the wonderful fosterers who care for our cats in their own houses obviously have very limited space. We will always help if we can, but sometimes it can't be straight away, and our priority must always be stray and homeless cats, not those whose owners simply want to get rid of them. All our volunteers are dedicated and they all do their very best, but they have lives outside CATWEL too, and responsibilities to families and friends. So my plea is more patience and understanding, because we are only human


There is a lot of cruelty in the world, and in cat rescue we see some of it first hand. A little kitten with a broken leg was taken into care. It was about eight weeks old. Sadly its leg was so badly shattered, along with many other bones, that we had no option but have it 'put to sleep'. To have sustained such dreadful injuries it had obviously been thrown, and from a great height. Another cat was found in a wood, in a cardboard box with an umbrella over it. It was blind in one eye, and the other had 'blown' but had not been removed. The cat was a sweet old thing but sadly, once again euthanasia was the only option. In addition to being blind it had a filthy, matted coat, hyperthyroidism and a heart condition. Some appalling person had callously left it in the woods to die. (N.B, the owner has been identified and the RSPCA are investigating).


SOS! Bric-a-brac alert! Our shop is desperately in need of good quality ornaments, jewellery, etc, and small pieces of furniture. So please, if you are house clearing or just de-cluttering, think of us! We really do need your help – and ask your friends to help us too!

Contact the Catwel shop on 02920 694019 or email us at catwelcardiff@hotmail.co.uk

Let's Raise the Roof! The roof work is finished at Ty Mair. This will keep all our Cats and Kittens warm and dry for years to come. Here are a few pictures of the work:-

We are always on the lookout for suitable homes for our cats and kittens.

Here are just a few of our Beautiful cats and kittens looking for a new home.

Pheobe

This is beautiful Pheobe. Unfortunately her owner had to give her up and her other furry friends for adoption due to a family member becoming seriously ill. She has been spayed and is ready to go. Pheobe is approx 7 years young. She is adorable, friendly and loves to play. 

Robyn

Hello my name is Robyn. I am a lovely female neutered cat. I am about 9-12 months old and very friendly. I love fuss and cuddles and would be great addition to your family. I wasn't looking my best when I first came into Catwel but I am stunning now don't you think. Contact me if you can offer me a home please x x 

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