Catwel newsletter 41 Autunm / Winter

Catwel Cardiff registered Charity no 1086255 - Newsletter 41 Autumn/Winter newsletter  2017

Catwel is a Cardiff based Registered Charity, dedicated to the care and welfare of cats and kittens

Where has 2017 gone? Time has absolutely flown by this year and we now find ourselves thinking of Christmas and the New Year.We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our kind supporters, donors, and volunteers a very Happy Christmas and all best wishes for the  New Year.  Without the support and kindness of each and every one of you Catwel would not be able to continue it's important work of  making the lives of  so many stray, sick and abandoned cats so much better.  Thank you.

A very happy ending.........
 We regularly receive emails and messages from supporters who   have lost or found curious companions who often stray just that little bit too far from home. We are delighted to say that we do have quite a high success rate in re uniting these wayward cats and kittens with their owners. When we received a call about little "Rufus" being found and desperately trying to get in to the finders home. We issued our usual advice which includes taking the cat... to a local vet to check for a micro chip. A day or so later we had an update to say "Rufus" is chipped but the details on the registration are not up to date. (This happens a lot and usually signals the end of the road) However through determination and numerous trips across Cardiff we did locate the owner!! This lovely boy is a pedigree ragdoll, he is absolutely gorgeous but had not been neutered. We realised immediately that he was a stud breeding cat, so it is a good job we did continue to try and find his owner. Upon speaking to his owner we found that this was not the first time he had eloped in order to find a mate.....in fact he was responsible for numerous kittens in the area!!
Upon being re-united his owner realised that the only way to prevent him wandering would be either to keep him locked up indoors or in a pen as most breeders would or retire him and get him neutered. Keen to put him and his welfare first we are delighted to report that it was decided to allow Catwel to get him neutered and find him a loving new home - on the condition that the new owners provide regular updates!! His owner/breeder clearly loves him very much and only wants the best for him.
We are proud to say that we arranged this and the lucky little boy has been neutered, re homed and his owners (old and new) are absolutely thrilled with the outcome we have arranged.
 A really happy ending for Eric and Ernie.
 These two little kittens were reported to us as an urgent request for help and advise.  A little girl had told her teachers about her brothers being cruel to a litter of kittens.  We were advised that the boys were throwing the kittens around, sitting on the kittens, putting the kittens in the oven and burning their whiskas off!! We were appalled.  The teachers had done an amazing job and had actually called to the little girls home and removed the little kittens.  We advised them to take the kittens to our vet to be checked for any injuries or broken bones and were delighted to hear that one of the teachers was going to keep two of the kittens and we would collected the other two little ones. 
We found that they were absolutely gorgeous despite their terrible start, and we found them a wonderful new home in St Mary Church, Cowbridge.  The boys are absolutely adored by their new family and we are so grateful.
       

                                                                                              
Mr Floppy Ears
This adorable fella had been living the life of a stray tom cat on the streets in Merthyr for the beginning of his life.  He looked in such poor health when we were first advised of him.  We placed an advert in our page looking for his owner to no avail.  He was unneutered and seemed to be a real fighter as his ears were in such a poor state and he had cuts all over his nose.  When we had room we collected him and took him to the vets for a health check and to be neutered.  We found that his ears had become cauliflowered as he had been scratching them so much.  It was likely that they would be permanently folded and they were very dirty due to the fleas and mites that Floppy Ears was covered in.  After a couple of weeks of being with us and having regular food this gorgeous boy really came out of his shell and has put on an amazing amount of weight.  He is now a huge cat - he has huge paws and such a lovely personality.  He loves fuss and rolls over to have belly rubs!! He is adorable. Well the good news is he is now reserved and is going to his new home after Christmas. We are going to miss him greatly

Its not all happy endings in cat rescue.  Back in October we were asked if we could help and take in a stray kitten from St Melons. We arranged to pick up the kitten but sadly the day we got there he had been let out. We asked if they would contact us when he returned. A week later we received a call and we expected the lady to say the cat was back and to come and pick him up. The call started so well “ the little kitten has returned” “but he cant move his back legs” We asked if she could take the cat straight to our vets. The lady did. Despite the best efforts of The Cardiff Cat Clinic sadly the little one passed away.  It turned out he was poisoned. We alerted everyone via our Facebook page to be extra viglilant around the Coleford Drive area as this may have been a delibrate act.

 Thank you to Kath and Sue Williams for the christmas cards and calendars and thank you to Peter and Claire Valentine for the christmas cards.

Thank you once again to Toptoys2u for the huge donations of toys throughout the year.
Check out their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/toptoys2u/


Special thank you to Zoe and Smudge for continuing to fundraise
Please check out Smudge's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Smudges-Handmade-Charity-Selling-Page-1649368862019164/


The Catwel Cardiff Charity Shop
 

Our Charity shop has continued to be a great success and we would like to thank all those who volunteer by working so hard there. By giving up your time every week this helps Catwel to continue to do its important work. We also would like to thank all those customers and all who donated goods to us to sell. Your support is amazing. Please keep us in mind with all your unwanted Christmas presents. If you feel you could spare a few hours a week and you would like to volunteer in the shop please ring them on 02920694019. There is a warm friendly atmosphere there and your help would be very much appreciated.



Cats looking for homes.....

          Riley – ginger/white

                                                 

This is Riley. He has had a dental when he arrived and is approx 6-8 years old. Neutered and micro chipped, de flead and wormed. Lovely large cat that likes other cats. Would be happy to be indoors. Can be a little nervous to begin with. A stunning looking Ginger and White

 Rambo – black/white

This is Rambo. He is approx 4-5 years old neutered, micro chipped, de flead and wormed. He can be a little shy at first but soon settles. He likes other cats and is very loving. He is a big softy who needs a family of his own to love him and spoil him

 Rocky- black/white

This is Rocky. This boy needed a dental when he came in and now he hasn't many teeth left. He is approx 8-9 years old neutered and de flead again shy to begin with. Likes other cats. He is a big loving pussy cat who needs a warm lap to curl up on

 Toffee & Treacle black and ginger

Toffee (All ginger) and Treacle (all black) are two of our gorgeous babies looking for a new home. These lovely kittens were caught in Splott with their mum (all strays). Their Mum was neutered and returned to the lady who had been feeding them. Two have been successfully re homed and its so nice to get regular updates via our Catwel Facebook page. They are awaiting a family to love them. Please note a home check will be required.

Special appeal for Tallulah.....

This is Tallulah. She has been with Catwel for over 2 years. She is a lovely cat but she  is often over looked due to being all black and long haired. She also doesnt always show her best side (Which she has) when people visit all the other cats needing homes. Her problem is she really doesn't like other cats but being in a pen next to other cats is a problem when she is let out to meet her potential new family. She immediately starts growling at the other residents. Could you offer a home to her. She is lovely with humans.
Please note a home check will be required for all our cats/kittens needing home

14 cats to take in and re home

This year we helped with a closed cat rescue. The gentleman's wife had died and he needed to sell the property. We were asked if we could take in 14 cats and he would manage with the four that were left. We of course said we would. We asked if he could take them to the vets (The Cardiff Cat Clinic). So it was agreed we would take four to begin with. The good news was that besides a few needing dentals and one needing a thyroid operation they were all in good condition albeit they all needed flea and worming.  Margaret had two of them and the rehoming centre took the other two. They were placed on our blog spot and our facebook page and were rehomed very quickly. Well all have been re homed now with the exception of the three (Rocky, Rambo and Riley) which feature in this news letter. They are the last of the 14 and these are the most shy of them all. They are so loving just so unsure to begin with. We also say that the gentleman gave us some very collectable stamps and pottery for our shop to sell as way of thanking us. We are very grateful.
The importance of keeping your microchip details up to date.
Some months back we were asked if we could help with a injured ginger cat. The cat had a serious eye injury. We again said we would.  This cat had already been taken to a vets who had scanned it and noted that the cat was microchipped. No treatment was given which we thought was unbelievable. This poor cat must have been in agony. The vets said that they had tried to find it's owner. When we got involved we again tried but with no success. We managed to track down the vets that had implanted the chip but they had given the paperwork to their client who had never sent the paperwork off.  Its sad to think that this poor cat had an owner.  We picked the cat up and took to The Cardiff Cat Clinic and as soon as Michael saw the cats eye he knew that removal was the only option. This operation was carried out so the cat could be pain free. In the meantime we placed an appeal on the facebook page to find the owner. Sadly no one ever came forward so 2 weeks later the cat was returned to the family who had been feeding it for 2 months. They had become so attched to the little girl they wanted to keep her. Please when you read this if your pet is microchipped  check your details are up to date.  Many of us move, change our mobile phone number or indeed our house telephone number. We can honestly say that microchipping works. We have first hand experience of getting straying cats back to their grateful owners.

'Swinton' and 'Big Blue'

There is no denying that cat's definately have a way of detecting cat lovers – especially when they are in need or looking for food!  We have helped one such lovely lady a couple of years ago with a mum 'Ghost' and her kittens and twice this year with two very different cats.  One a huge and formidable semi-feral and one a very gentle but terribly matted elderly persian that we suspect his owner passed  away. We are very happy to report that she kindly had both cats back and is continuing to feed them both, as no owners came forward for them after we placed 'found cat' adverts on social media.  She very kindly made a large contribution of £250 towards veterinary treatment and sent a lovely letter of gratitude to Margaret.  We thought it would be lovely to share with all of our supporters........'Dear Mrs Harris,  I would like to express my sincere gratitude to yourselves and Cardiff Cat Clinic for the wonderful attention given last week to the elderly persian stray.   By his nature,  I would say this boy has had a caring home most of his life, and it's a joy to have the opportunity to try to restore the life this lovely cat once had.  I'd like to say a huge thanks to Catwel and Cardiff Cat Clinic for making this possible, and for you giving him the chance to enjoy his happy senior years ahead.   I'm pleased to say 'big blue' – (feral, part british blue) is also doing extremely well.  You might remember he put up quite a fight this summer, and wasn't at all happy to co-operate with your fearless Iris and Simon – who were both marvellous against such a challenge.  He won't let us touch him, but he keeps himself in excellent condition, beautiful coat, clear shining eyes – great appetite!  He calls every day for breakfast, mid-day snack and evening meal – and sometimes overnight accomodation in the conservatory if he's in the mood.  He gets on fine with Ghost and now our welcome new addition.  I'm sure he likes us – but I know he'll never let on!  I'm confident the three will live in harmony when they know Swinton is here to stay – they all share a special affinity, all rescued by the devoted people of Catwel Cardiff.  Thank you again so much,  Kath'
Thank you so much Kath for taking the time to write to show your gratitude and thank you so much for continuing to take care of your lucky companions.

Catwel would like to wish all of our supporters a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you we appreciate your support