The Cat Summer 2014

Summer 2014

B&Bs with added cheer Making a guesthouse a home

Catnapping The science behind the slumber

Playing detective When cats attack

Storming ahead at Stormont Speaking up for cats in Belfast

Plus Cat Match app, fabulous favourites and lethal lilies beware!

Pu

rc F w el has w iw e .cp a y sh y a ou op t: r .co .u k

w

Helping support cats when...

• Settling into a new home • Travelling to/from vets and catteries • Introducing a new pet or a new baby to the household Available as a plug-in diffuser and also as a 60ml spray

Feliway...keeping cats and fa milies happy together Ceva Animal Health Ltd Unit 3, Anglo Office Park, White Lion Road, Amersham, Bucks HP7 9FB Tel: 01494 781510 Fax: 01494 781519 www.ceva.co.uk

From the Editor  www.cats.org.uk/thecatmag www.facebook.com/catsprotection www.twitter.com/catsprotection General enquiries  Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT.  03000 12 12 12 (calls charged at standard rate) @ cp@cats.org.uk Subscription enquiries To change your details, subscribe, make a donation or become a member of Cats Protection:  Supporter Services, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT.  0800 917 2287 @ supporterservices@cats.org.uk Editorial submissions  The Editor, magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT. @ editorial@cats.org.uk We reserve the right to edit material for clarity or space. Cats Protection is not responsible for the opinions, advice and factual content of contributed items. The views expressed do not necessarily conform to those of the Trustees.

Advertising enquiries  Karl Humphreys, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT.  07939 017 035 @ karl@dalbiacmedia.co.uk Advertisements are accepted in good faith and we endeavour to check their accuracy.

However, the charity gives no guarantees or endorsements of the products or services advertised. Cats Protection cannot accept responsibility for any correspondence between the parties, nor can they be expected to arbitrate should any dispute arise.

Welcome to the summer edition of T he Cat !

I

am happy to announce that the Editorial team is now back to full strength with Communications Administrator, Jo Perry, and Deputy Editor, Amy Rutter. For those who are long term readers of T he Cat , Amy should be a familiar name as she was our Editorial Assistant back in 2011! It’s great to have her back within the fold and she’s looking forward to writing about cats once more.

There is a strong Advocacy slant to this edition of the magazine as the team has been busy successfully speaking up for cats not only in the retail world, warning of lily danger, but also in the political arena. You can read more about their progress on pages 26 to 28 and page 39.

Pets are invariably one of the main things that people miss when they’re off on their holidays but as Linda Harrison finds out on pages 34 to 36, you need never be too far away from that loving feline. There are guesthouses and hotels whose own cats make lasting impressions and happy memories for their guests, making it a home away from home.

Whether it’s via our Helpline (03000 12 12 12), Facebook page or Twitter, we often get concerned queries about aggression in cats. Behaviourist Vicky Halls tackles this subject; why it happens and what you can do, on pages 18 and 19.

In our Behind the Scenes feature, pages 32 to 33, we meet husband and wife team, John and Helen Mole, who help keep our Downham Market Adoption Centre running smoothly. The centre staff also seem very talented in the cake baking department so the Editorial team is definitely thinking a field trip to the Fens is in order to check this out!

Thank you to all of you who sent their best wishes to John Walker after his very sad piece in the spring edition about Dexter going missing. Sadly Dexter has not yet returned but we’re still hopeful and, as you’ll see on page 43, Lucy the kitten has been very adept at keeping John distracted.

There’s still a small window of opportunity to get your cat entered into our National Cat Awards and you can learn more about these on page 29.

We’ll be covering the glittering Awards in our autumn edition where the National Cat of the Year will be announced, we can’t wait!

Enjoy the summer!

Francesca Watson Editor

Published quarterly by: Cats Protection Printed by: Pensord Press Ltd.

Please recycle this magazine when you have finished with it

The Team Editor F rancesca Watson Deputy Editor A my Rutter Communications Administrator Jo Perry Creative Designers R us Hudda, Sam Roberts, Martin Green

The Cat Summer 2014

3

Contents Summer 2014 Cover photo: istock.com/Hydromet

Regulars 7

News

10

Dear CP

13

Cats’ tales

18

Playing detective

20

Ask the vets

25

Ali’s cats

30

Our favourite things

40

Coffee paws

43

Walker on the wild side

45

Paws for thought

47

Making memories

48

Cats Protection in action

52

Diary of events

54

Find your local Cats Protection

58

Kids’ corner

61

Remembering cats

62

Book reviews

4

The Cat Summer 2014

22

26

34 45

Feature articles 16 Cat Match Prepare to be addicted to our new app!

22 To sleep perchance to dream What really happens when cats nap

26

26 Speaking up for cats Storming ahead at Stormont

32 Can we fix it?

Behind the scenes at Downham Market Adoption Centre

34 B&Bs with a feline feature

39

Check in and check out the cats

39 Lily alert Beware of these beautiful but deadly flowers

Cats Protection’s vision is a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs.

Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) SC037711 (Scotland)

The Cat  Summer 2014

5

After you’re gone, we promise to be there for your cat We know your cat means the world to you which is why Cats Protection promises to be there for them after you’re gone.

By registering with our free Cat Guardians service you can be assured that, after you pass away, our caring staff and volunteers will look after your cat until we find them a loving new home.

Find out more about how Cat Guardians could bring you real peace of mind – request your FREE leaflet today.

Call 01825 741 271 (Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm) Or go online www.cats.org.uk/catguardians We promise to never put a healthy cat to sleep

Please send me a FREE Cat Guardians leaflet Simply complete and return this form to: Becky Tichband, Cat Guardians Service, Cats Protection, FREEPOST SEA 7678, Haywards Heath, RH17 7BR. No stamp needed.

Title:

Name:

Address:

Postcode: Tel:

It really helps Cats Protection if we can keep you informed about our exciting work, campaigns, activities and fundraising. If you would prefer us to not contact you by post or telephone, please phone 08707 706 827, email: cp@cats.org.uk or write to us at the Freepost address: Cats Protection, FREEPOST SEA 7678, Haywards Heath, RH17 7BR. Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

LA1405

Support Adoption For Pets and Pets at Home fundraising weekend

■

Our second dedicated Cats Protection fundraising weekend at Pets at Home was a great success, raising over £24,300 for Cats Protection – a fantastic boost to the kitty! The three-day event took place across nearly 400 Pets at Home stores from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 March. Many of our branches and adoption centres attended their local store raising money, giving out freebies and talking all things cat. We would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to make the event a success. The weekend was a great opportunity to raise awareness and talk to local communities about supporting cats in their area.

The event was arranged by Support Adoption For Pets (the independent charity supported by Pets at Home). Money is still coming in but so far Pets at Home has raised at least £12,800 from round-to-a-pound, trolley coins and till donations. In addition, funds raised by the activities of branches and centres in store have so far reached just over £11,500.

Huge thanks go to Support Adoption For Pets and Pets at Home for granting us this weekend and thank you also to everyone who visited a Pets at Home store over the three days and supported us!

In addition to this we would also like to thank their VIP (Very Important Pets) club for a donation of over £21,000 to Cats Protection, raised in 2013 by their club members. Every time a VIP club member swipes their card in-store, at the vets or Groom Room salon, they collect points, which are converted into VIP Lifelines for a pet charity of their choice. Lifelines can then be used to help with vital expenses such as food, shelter and veterinary costs.

For more information please visit www.petsathome.com

Change of venue for AGM and rule change vote

■

This year’s AGM will now be held at the Arora Hotel Gatwick/Crawley, which is located in Crawley town centre only a short distance from last year’s venue of The Hawth.

If you’ve not yet booked your place for this event and would like to attend, please phone 03000 12 12 12 or email agm@cats.org.uk Once booked, further details, including directions to the Arora, will follow.

At the AGM the following alterations to the Rules will be voted on: • The name of the Council shall be changed to the Advisory Council • Rule 7.3(i) (Appendix: 1) shall be altered to say that a member of Cats Protection will be eligible as a candidate for election to the Council: If he or she has been a member of Cats Protection with voting rights for not less than three years as at the date of the annual general meeting at which the election is held unless the Chairman of the Trustee Board waives this requirement in accordance with criteria approved by the Trustee Board in regulations made under Rule 7.4.1 and published either in The Cat or on the Cats Protection website in accordance with Rule 7.4.2 • Any casual vacancy arising on the Council may be filled by the Council which may co-opt any member of Cats Protection who meets the eligibility criteria set out at Rule 7.3 of the Rules to serve as a member of the Council • Any member of the Council so co-opted shall hold office until the annual general meeting following his or her appointment and shall have to stand for election at the annual general meeting if he or she wishes to continue to serve as a member of the Council.

The Cat Summer 2014

7

NEWS

Student vet awards winners announced

■

Cats Protection and Dogs Trust have announced the winners of our third annual veterinary student awards.

Every year we organise the Extra Mural Studies (EMS) Awards which allow third, fourth and fifth year students to gets hands-on work experience at either Cats Protection or Dogs Trust.

The CP award saw two winners: Lene Dahlerud for her paper titled Feline Immunodeficiency Virus ; and Lydia Cheyne for her report called C o-habitation of cats in the shelter environment . Both are final year students at the University of Nottingham and they each won a £500 prize.

Maggie Roberts, Cats Protection’s Director of Veterinary Services, said: “The scheme is a great way to support veterinary students and give them experience of feline welfare issues while they are training. We had some very impressive entries and it was difficult for us to select winners.

However, the ones we have chosen show a deep commitment to feline care and we wish them all the best in their future careers.”

Calling all amateur bakers!

■

We recently re-launched our cat-themed cupcake competition from our stand at the BBC Good Food Show in Harrogate and if you, or anyone you know, would like to roll their sleeves up for the charity and indulge their passions for baking and all things feline, get an entry form!

Either call our Helpline on 03000 12 12 12 or email helpline@cats.org.uk and they will send you out a form and competition terms & conditions. There’s plenty of time as the closing date is 17 October 2014, so ready, get set… bake!

CP’s Director of Veterinary Services Maggie Roberts presents Lene Dahlerud with her award

The pinnacle of fame

■

Photo: Neil Holmes

A stray cat has reached the lofty heights of Beverley Minster in East Yorkshire and will now remain there in posterity, carved in stone.

After a gust of wind toppled one of the Minster’s pinnacles the Minster Old Fund, which is responsible for the maintenance of the nearly 800-year-old building, decided to reopen the Minster Yard workshop. Stonemason Andrew Gomersall arrived to renew the pinnacle and also tend to other stonework needing attention.

One day Dusty, a starving stray cat, turned up and watched Andrew at work.

In exchange for warmth, shelter and food, Dusty became a model for Andrew who has incorporated her image into the hoodstone which forms the base of the pinnacle.

Before the stonework was hoisted 150 feet up to its final position the pinnacle was put on public display. John English, surveyor to the Minster Old Fund, said: “It is a great opportunity for people to see the skill and craftsmanship that has always gone into this magnificent old building as, once it is 150ft up, close viewing will not be a safe or sensible option.”

It is hoped that Dusty’s image will now gaze over the Yorkshire countryside for hundreds of years to come.

8

The Cat Summer 2014

GET SOCIAL! Marathon for the mogs

■

Congratulations and many thanks to six amazing people who ran the recent London Marathon on behalf of Cats Protection. Between them they have raised almost £10,000 and money is still coming in.

Rebecca Motley and Stuart Peachey raised money for the charity as a whole with the others representing their local branches: Sara Sayers ran for Basingstoke & District, Julie Noble for Canterbury, Lisa Simmonds for Southend and Darran Reynolds for Swindon.

We love this tweet by Radio DJ Lauren Laverne: “Awkward moment early this AM. I was out running and bumped into our cat in the park. We were both like ‘Oh. Hi. What are you doing here?’”

We wanted to know if our Facebook users had any similar tales… and of course they did!

DOROTHY – One day the electricity meter reader man rang the doorbell. He was accompanied by a cat who’d been going from house to house with him all along the road. Yep, it was our cat Rosie.

DIANE – My daughter, who lives in north London, was heading to the tube station and passing the pub opposite when her cat (the late, much loved Mylo) came strolling nonchalantly out from the main bar! He pretended not to see her of course.

RACHEL – I’m a cat sitter and once found my cat in a customer’s house, waiting for me to feed him as well as the customer’s cats! Cheeky monkey!

Sara Sayers

Lisa Simmonds

KAYREN – My cat Jules, who’s now at the rainbow bridge was a regular at the ice cream van. I discovered this when one day I joined the queue, looked down the line to see how many were before me and there next to be “served” was Jules! Apparently he was there every day. Thank goodness they didn’t ask me to pay his tab!

ANNETTE – My cat Nyx strolled in to our neighbours’ house during their housewarming party a couple of years ago. Having begged a portion of salmon from the host, she then made herself at home on the sofa with some admirers and was the centre of attention for the whole afternoon. Our offers to take her home were gently rebuffed! Classy girl.

ALISON – I met Tigi-puss on the beach once, just as I was thinking ‘Hmmm...cats don’t usually come down here’. I realised it was my cat!

Julie Noble

Stuart Peachey

MARY – I was once in my neighbour’s kitchen having a chat when my cat came in through their cat flap (I didn’t even know she could use one!) and helped herself from their cat’s bowl and let herself out again without giving me so much as a glance. Awkward!

ESTHER – This one time I was going into the Spar shop as the manager was chasing a cat out of the shop. I asked if it had been in the store. ‘Yes,’ the manager said, ‘and she keeps sitting in my veg display!’ I replied saying that wasn’t good, trying to look innocent. He continued, ‘If I knew who the owners were I would give them a piece of my mind...’ To this day he never knew she was ours, phew!

Rebecca Motley

Darran Reynolds

Our Facebook followers get talking about a whole variety of feline-inspired topics, why not join them at www.facebook.com/catsprotection?

The Cat Summer 2014

9

Do you have an interesting story to tell, a point of view you want to air or something that you just have to get off your chest?

Send your thoughts, views, stories, funny photos and ‘mewsings’ to The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT or email us at editorial@cats.org.uk. Don’t forget to tell us your return address and contact details and please remember that your letter may be edited for length.

✪ STAR LETTER

Sumo’s trip to the dreaming spires From: Karen Sleep, Steeple Claydon, Bucks y cat Sumo went missing in October 2012. Some 18 months later, after having resigned myself to not seeing him again, and also having in the meantime acquired two other lovely cats, I was contacted by Beaumont Veterinary Group in Oxford telling me that someone had handed Sumo into them! This is some 27 miles from the village where I live.

Sumo had been living on a building site during that time where all the staff fell in love with him and he was fed and cared for, especially by a man called Simon Davies. After the recent terrible winds and rain Simon couldn’t bear him living outside anymore and took him to the local vets, where they discovered Sumo was microchipped and they were able to contact me. All the family are over the moon at being reunited with Sumo after all this time and are so happy to have him back home. He has settled back in now and, apart from a bit of hissing and growling initially with my other two cats, the three cats get along very well. I have no idea how Sumo ended up in Oxford and the moral of this story is it really pays to have your cat microchipped, as without this we would not have known the fate of Sumo!

M

Never take for granted

From: Caroline Boobis, via email hen I took our cat to the vet the other day there was a woman weeping quietly in the waiting room, a tiny ball of fur shivering in the carrier at her feet. She was bringing her seven-year-old cat to be put down that morning, after losing its battle with cancer. She told me that she had already cancelled one appointment as she couldn’t bring herself to authorise that final act. She even apologised for crying, explaining that she was normally a very strong person, with a highpowered job. When she went into the consulting room with her beloved cat the sobs grew louder and outside in the waiting room we all glanced at each other, our own sad memories of much-loved pets flooding back.

And although we might sometimes take our pets for granted, it really struck me how important they are to us humans, and how much we need them in our lives. I gave Gizmo an extra hug when I got him home.

W

10

The Cat Summer 2014

We’re moving in!

From: Christine and Dave Price, via email fter two rough winters, when Purdy and his brother Watts, could hardly ever get into their home at the time, they decided to look for new lodgings. They eventually settled on a house which had no pets and where somebody seemed to be at home most of the time. On the third visit Purdy wasn’t put straight back out and a couple of visits later he introduced his brother. Eventually they moved in with us.

Purdy is ginger and white but his brother is all ginger (being the runt we think they ran out of white!). They are not at all like each other: Watts doesn’t pose for photographs, doesn’t play kittenish games, stays out some nights and spends a lot of time meditating. The last three years they have been really happy here, they have the run of the house, and my husband Dave’s shed is great – he has a computer which has a little moving dot which mesmerises Purdy! All in all we think they made a good choice in adopting us and they are, in their own ways, extremely contented. No more wet, windy nights.

A

YOUR LETTERS

And the winner is…

From: Bill Newton, Beeston, Nottingham recently received your letter telling me I was a winner in the Cats Protection Autumn Raffle along with a £25 M&S voucher. I was extremely pleased to receive the prize and have included a photograph of our wonderful Cats Protection rescue cat Raisa who we had 10 years ago this coming August. She has made the most wonderful and loving pet anyone could ask for and here she is saying thank you for the prize!

I

Some more pusses in books From: Judy Kane, via email enjoyed Steve Ainsworth’s article in the Spring issue, but was surprised at how many brilliant cat books didn’t get a mention. Perhaps Steve is a lot younger than I am! Anyone who likes children’s cat fiction should look out for Barbara Sleigh’s lovely C arbonel trilogy, about the King of the Cats.

Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat by Ursula Moray Williams who preferred to sit by the fire and Grimbold’s Other World by Nicholas Stuart Gray were also favourites read to my daughters as children, but perhaps out of print now (try the library). More recently, the late Robert Westall loved cats, and they appeared in a lot of his fiction – try Blitzcat set in World War Two. Happy reading!

I

A reply to Shiela Manning From: Mary Morgan, Branch Co-ordinator, Woking & District, was so pleased to read the letter from Shiela Manning in the Spring 2014 magazine. How wonderful that the circle of magic that Mitzi drew has been finally completed after all these years. It made me smile and gave me a feeling of great warmth that this small beautiful cat having had such a rotten start brought so much comfort to people, particularly in times of great distress and tribulation. Thank you, Shiela because if you had not contacted Woking Cats Protection in the first place then none of the wonderful memories that Mitzi made would ever have happened. This was a random act of kindness that rippled far beyond what anyone could ever have imagined.

I

Conquering the summit

From: Kathryn Johnson, via email would like to tell you about our lovely ginger boy, Mallory. We adopted him in 2011, during that particularly cold winter. He had been found cold and hungry living under a shed in Northwich, Cheshire. We called him Mallory, after the famous Everest explorer: a good choice of name, it emerged, as within a few weeks he showed he loved his name too, by climbing up onto bird boxes for a better look at the contents and even onto the roof of our summer house, from which vantage point he loves peering down at us through the windows!

I

The Cat Summer 2014

11

YOUR LETTERS

Hope and memories

From: Maggie Shepherd, via email f you’ve ever had a cat go missing, then you know how upsetting it can be, having to cope with feelings of not knowing, accompanied by a sense of hope and dealing with the realisation that, as days turn into weeks, your beloved cat may never return. We are told it is natural to grieve when a pet dies or goes missing but it is complicated by the role that animal may have played in your life and the attachment you may have felt. You feel you cannot always express your distress to family, friends and work colleagues, for fear of feeling foolish; worse still, having to cope with comments such as “it was only a cat” or “cats often go walk-about”. Those of us who let our cats out of the house, appreciate it’s in their nature to roam but if you truly know your cat, then it is very difficult, often traumatic, coming to terms with their sudden disappearance. You do your part, by checking lost and found ads on the net, contacting local animal shelters, and distributing flyers.

You walk the neighbourhood, calling out, forever in a state of nervous anticipation and hoping that your cat will appear out of nowhere and run into your arms. My cat Babou was a very intelligent, inquisitive, affectionate, sassy little cat with a “huge” character. For these reasons I accepted that her freedom came with dangers. Personally, the whole experience has been an emotional rollercoaster of epic proportion and not having closure has been very hard to bear. She had been wearing a collar with an ID tag and had been microchipped and the fact that no-one has contacted me can only mean she has gone for good.

Thankfully, my memories can never be taken away.

I

Our Star Letter wins their own SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap. All other printed letters will win a SureFlap cat mat for your puss to wipe its paws on!

The SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap is ideal for cat owners needing a simple, stylish solution to the problem of intruder cats. SureFlap identifies your cat using his unique microchip number, unlocking only for your pet and leaving unwanted visitors outside.

SureFlap is compatible with all European identification microchips and does not require your cat to wear an uncomfortable, restrictive collar.

Available in brown and white, SureFlap can be installed into doors, windows or walls and fits into the hole left by most existing cat flaps. It runs on four AA batteries which last up to 12 months with normal use.

To find out more visit www.sureflap.co.uk or visit their Happy Cats page on Facebook – www.facebook.com/sureflap.

12

The Cat Summer 2014

Feline street art

From: Janet Cuff, via email was out shopping recently in Levenshulme near Manchester and, as I crossed the road after getting off the bus, I noticed that some murals had been painted on hoardings in front of a site where buildings had been demolished. The one that immediately caught my eye was called ’Hats for Cats‘ and, as I stood and looked at it, I found more and more amusing details such as the ’Snack Hat‘, the cat flap, and the ‘No Dogs’ sign on the door. I was particularly amused by the ’Catnapping‘ notice and the fact that ’back in 5 mins‘ eventually became ’back later‘! Whoever did this obviously has a talent for drawing as well as a sense of humour and, above all, a love for cats. It was lucky I had my camera with me and was able to take a photo so that I could share the experience with others.

I

Funny, weird, or just plain photogenic; this is the place to show off your cat for the remarkable creature he is. If you think you’ve got a cat who deserves his 15 minutes of fame then write to us at Cats’ Tales , The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT or email editorial@cats.org.uk including a contact number and a photo of at least 500kb in size. If you would like your photos returned, please enclose a self-addressed envelope. Your letters may be edited for clarity and length.

A Golden oldie From: Shirley Middleton, Northumberland I adopted Misty in 2011 at the age of 10. She settled well straight away and has enriched my life. She is a wonderful cat and is a perfect example of the joys of adopting an older cat.

The photo shows her in the garden next door.

One of her favourite activities is watching her F eline Frolics DVD. (This is a DVD made especially for cats and features birds, fish, mice etc – she loves it!). I have been a member of Cats Protection for many years and always enjoy reading T he Cat . I look forward to it ariving and always read it from cover to cover.

Love at first sight From: Anna & Richard Edmunds, Staffordshire Benji, age two, is one very special beautiful little tiger who came to us in quite an unusual way. He used to be our previous neighbour’s cat, visiting us regularly. Basically, it was love at first sight! Moving away to the countryside and leaving him behind was heart breaking after being told by the neighbours that they would not give him up. However, six months later their circumstances changed and we were asked if we still wanted their ‘baby’. Life can be full of unexpected surprises, indeed! Now he is happily settled and enjoying life in the countryside with us.

This charming little character deserves only love and the best care as he always brightens up our days. Here is photo of him in a playful mood.

Hey Mickey, you’re so fine From: Geoff Hardy, Matlock, Derbyshire Attached is a photograph of my rescue cat Mickey Finn although he was known as Maurice when I had him.

He joined the household 10 years ago from Derby Cats Protection on Long Lane. He was thought to be about five years old and replaced another rescue cat who collapsed and died very suddenly. There was some doubt as to whether he would take to a dog, but he did so very easily and lived very happily with my previous dog until he had to be put to sleep. The dog he is with in the picture joined the household six years ago and they have become firm friends with Mickey occasionally washing the inside of his ears.

The Cat Summer 2014

13

A privilege bestowed From: Edyth Harrison, Anglesey This is a photo of my beautiful Smokey. He turned up here some years ago, extremely timid and hungry. As he had no intention of leaving I started feeding him – he would stand a couple of feet away waiting for the food to be put down, spitting and snarling but never once did he go for me. I would stand nearby getting closer and closer until one day I eventually managed to stroke his back as he was retreating. That was the turning point – he never looked back and soon joined my other two ginger boys – Skye and Harry. I lost Harry to illness in 2011 then Skye in December last year. Within days of losing Skye, Smokey was diagnosed with a heart problem. Despite improving after treatment, he curled up on my chair one evening in mid-January and just passed away peacefully – I was devastated. In the time he was with me he would not allow anyone to go near him apart from me – with me he was the most gentle and loving cat – I feel privileged that he allowed me to become his friend.

The Maine event From: Fiona O’Connor, Upminster, Essex I would love our rescue Maine Coon cats to have their 15 minutes of fame! When we were heartbroken after losing our Persian rescue Dotty to dementia/renal failure in October 2013, we decided to look for a pair of rescue cats needing a home. A rescue home put us in touch with a very poorly lady who had to give up some of her cats due to her health. After many emails and us driving over 200 miles to visit, we came away with our beloved Maine Coon pair in January 2014: Daisy, aged four years, and Hannah, her mum who is eight years old. They love water, cat nip toys and sitting on our shoulders! Hannah is well over one stone and it is like weight training as my husband demonstrates in the photo! We have not only got our lovely cats, but have made good friends of their previous mum/owner and her husband.

Tough love From: David & Janet Tipping, Harrogate Around Easter 2007, a cross-eyed stray tom began visiting our garden. Boasting legs like tree trunks and a filthy, matted coat, he was a bruiser of a cat, though initially very timid. We called him Scruffy and it took several weeks of feeding to coax him close to the house and, eventually, indoors. On the momentous day when he crossed the threshold, I lifted a hand to stroke him and had it raked with claws. Nowadays his coat is immaculate, his temperament much improved and he absolutely loves attention. However, he can still, just occasionally, be handy with his claws. Nevertheless, we are proud of his progress following a difficult start in life and, despite his shortcomings, have grown rather fond of him!

14

The Cat Summer 2014

READERS’ CATS Super trouper From: Vincent Higgs, Enderby, Leicester My five year old cat Trouper just loves sleeping anywhere he can, for instance under my duvet where it is nice and warm and here he is having taken everything out of my rucksack to build himself a nice, cosy, warm bed in there.

He also loves tipping waste paper bins over and leaving the mess on the floor but I love him to bits!

Monkey magic From: Jennifer Rushworth-Claeys, Wigan Meet Crumble aka Monkey cat. Monkey came to live with me at 10 weeks old from our local Cats Protection five years ago. The lady there told me he was very boisterous…she wasn’t kidding!

Monkey quickly got his nickname because I think he actually thinks he is a monkey swinging and climbing on everything including his not amused big sister, Crumps, who sadly passed away in October last year. This photo was taken in a rare moment of Monkey staying still long enough and I think he is beautiful!

Obie one, mice nil From: John Rainbow, via email Obie, who is shortly to enjoy his 15th birthday, joined our family while our daughter was working as a volunteer with CP in Scotland. Independent, opinionated, and making friends strictly on his terms, he chooses to sit by the hearth in winter or in the sun on the roof of the garden shed in summer, letting the world fly by. He has always been fit and literally springs onto the bed in the morning to wake us or onto the kitchen table in the evening to see what the humans are up to. Obie only accepts a fuss on his terms but enjoys chasing games. The mice population in the garden has been severely reduced since we retired to the country and the birds have learnt to nest elsewhere.

The Cat Summer 2014

15

ADVERTORIAL

From scaredy cat to feline fine Petrified and in poor condition, it seemed that Billy was down on his luck until a kind member of the public noticed his plight and took him into a veterinary practice for a full health check. Stray cats are one of the most common reasons for cats to come into Cats Protection’s (CP) care.

The person that found Billy thought he had been attacked by a dog but it soon became clear it was a totally different story. Billy had been shot... seven times! The vets removed a couple of pellets while he was with them. Once he was stable he came into care where he was settled into his pen. He was absolutely terrified; when he was in his basket he was trying to make himself as small as possible. The vets took him over to X-ray him where they found five further pellets, four lodged into his skull... no wonder he was so scared! The bullets also rendered him blind, he went on to have his left eye removed and is blind in the other.

What immediately struck the staff at the National Cat Adoption Centre was Billy’s distressed state. Danielle Draper, Adoption Centre Manager explains: “He was extremely nervous when he came into care, hiding in the back of his pen, avoiding all human contact. He would hiss every time you went into his pen and shy away from everything.” Cats are given a place to hide as part of the process to help settle them in. The Cat Hide component of the Feline Fort® developed by Cats Protection provides the perfect hideaway and the shelving in the pen allows him to cope by climbing to an elevated perch.

Coming to a shelter environment is stressful for many cats, so to support Billy Feliway®; a synthetic copy of the feline facial pheromone that cats naturally leave in the environment, was used to make the environment feel more familiar and help Billy feel secure. Billy was given a cloth twice daily that had Feliway spray applied to it, allowing 15-20 minutes for the alcohol carrier to evaporate, prior to adding to his pen. In addition, a dedicated member of staff, Emily Burton, started the very gradual process of slowly getting him used to people once he had settled in. By quietly getting him used to one familiar person at his own pace, starting initially with simply ignoring him and reading a book, Billy started to come out of his shell a little, although he was still nervous. In time, building up his confidence little by little, with the help of Feliway, Billy began to venture out of his hide and was looking a lot more comfortable. “He would let you get closer to him, he would even come out and let you stroke him, enjoying a chin rub and a fuss,” Emily remembers.

Emily built up such a good relationship with Billy that she and her fiancé Ben went on to adopt him. They both fell head over heels in love with him and as he had come so far with Emily they couldn’t bear to part with him. As scent continuity is so important to cats, Billy was homed with a cloth from his pen containing his scent and the owner continued to use Feliway at home to help him adjust to the change of environment.

Emily is overjoyed with Billy’s transformation: “He now lives happily as an indoor cat and rushes to meet us every time we come in. He loves nothing more than to be near us and craves attention. The transformation from when we first met him is unbelievable; we never thought he would be the loving and affectionate cat he now is!”

Billy is lucky to have found a caring owner, however there are many more cats in CP care all looking for their perfect match. If you would like to adopt a cat, please call our National Helpline on 03000 12 12 12.

A day in the life of a cat behaviour counsellor

When cats attack! – the truth about cat aggression to humans.

Vicky Halls investigates…

A

recent BBC news item reported the details of a 911-emergency call in Portland, Oregon.

Apparently, a couple and their dog were under siege after their 10kg cat had scratched their seven-month-old son. After the man hit the cat it allegedly “retaliated” and they took refuge in their bedroom. The cat was described as “very, very, very, very hostile” with “a history of violence”.

I was subsequently asked to speak on local BBC radio programmes (as I am sure were many of my colleagues) to reassure the general public that our pets are not becoming a danger to humanity.

The highly emotive language in this account and the slightly hysterical extrapolation to the wider cat population has compelled me to put the record straight.

So here is the reality of the situation: Aggression is not a personality trait but rather a consequence of an emotional state. Cats are normally only aggressive towards humans for a reason: mostly they are terrified and feel their lives are at risk, they are under enormous social pressure or they are sick. The ‘aggression’ we see in our pets is commonly not aggression at all but misdirected or enthusiastic predatory or social play behaviour. They just happen to have sharp teeth and claws but no malevolent intent.

Normal ‘aggression’ of this kind is relatively predictable and, if the cat’s needs are met, can be resolved with some good behavioural advice.

Abnormal aggression however is less predictable, not appropriate to the context and more complicated to address. It is also extremely rare.

Vicky Halls is a registered Veterinary Nurse, a member of the International Cat Care’s Feline Behaviour Expert Panel and author of several bestselling cat counselling books. For more information about these books or if you have any concerns about your own cat’s behaviour please visit her website: www.vickyhalls.net

18

The Cat Summer 2014

What can we do to stop cats from being aggressive?

We have a duty of care to our pet cats that goes beyond putting a roof over their heads interspersed with us stroking, feeding and generally having fun.

An optimum level of care includes finding out about the species and establishing what lifestyle best suits the needs of this highly evolved predatory animal.

This is after all a relationship that has to work for both parties.

Probably the first step to preventing aggressive behaviour is to follow the 10 Golden Rules.

10 Golden rules 1. Domestic cats need to be socialised with humans in a positive way from the age of two to eight weeks so that they become accustomed to our behaviour and learn to tolerate our very non-feline ways 2. We also need to accept that genes play a role in how cats respond to us, so breeding from cats with a long lineage of companion animals limits the chances of aggression occurring 3. Kittens need to learn acceptable behaviour during play so drawing blood from owners’ hands and feet is not acceptable. Playing with fishing rod toys and stuffed mice toys ensures that kittens learn the appropriate target for these games 4. Generally speaking, it is best to allow a cat to initiate contact and to keep reciprocal physical contact brief, concentrating on the forehead, cheeks and chin – at least until you know the cat well enough to appreciate what level of attention it will tolerate and enjoy. Allow the cat to determine the quality and quantity of interaction that takes place 5. All cats need stimulation, especially indoor only cats. Remember they are predatory creatures so require an outlet for the ‘adrenaline high’ that comes from pouncing on and catching a mouse.

Some cats just can’t take the lack of excitement 6. Shouting at or striking a cat is not an option – the cat will become extremely fearful and if it cannot escape may feel it needs to fight to stay alive. Even direct eye contact can be challenging

HEALTH CHECK 7. Changes in patterns of behaviour may be a sign of illness and if a cat feels vulnerable then defensive aggression may be shown. A lways ensure your cat visits the vet for a check-up if this is a cause of concern 8. Give some cats an inch and they will take a mile! Be sympathetic to a cat’s needs but don’t feel you have to do everything 24/7 on command. A small minority of cats learn to use aggressive posturing and facial expressions to get what they want when they want it. This can lead to particularly compliant owners becoming the victim of psychological pressure from their cats. A healthy degree of ‘neglect’ and a few house rules can turn this dysfunctional and stressful relationship into something far more appealing for both parties 9. Don’t reassure a cat if he sees another cat outside and cannot get to it. At this point his body is preparing for a fight and if you touch the cat, or make a sound, a ‘red mist’ may descend and the cat may redirect this attack onto you 10. Always allow a cat an escape route, especially if he is wary of approaches or nervous of strangers. It is a natural instinct to flee from danger and if you block his exit then this could result in a fearful cat becoming aggressive

unless the veterinary surgeon advises otherwise, you should leave your cat for several hours to give him time to ‘wind down’ from such a highly aroused state. At some stage, careful assessment is necessary by your veterinary surgeon who may, if appropriate, refer you to a behaviour specialist.

I cannot possibly comment on the specific circumstances behind the incident in Portland, Oregon. I understand that the scratch to the baby’s forehead was superficial. I truly hope that the family received good behavioural support and advice and that all is now well.

Always seek medical attention after a cat bite, particularly * if you experience any swelling, redness, pain, fever or headaches.

Spotting the warning signs If you see any of the following signs then it is best to turn away and not pursue any physical contact. The cat doesn’t want to attack you unless you absolutely force it to do so by ignoring its signals and continuing your approach.

• Dilated pupils, direct staring • Thrashing/twitching tail • Hissing, growling or spitting • The ears flattened against the side of the head or rotated backwards • Crouched or tense body posture

And if this advice has come a little too late…

Photo: istock.com/qbanczyk

If you are the victim of aggressive behaviour then the first priority is safety and prevention of further injury by separating the cat from any humans or other animals.

Your cat may be very frightened too so keeping as calm as possible will help to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence. Never block your cat’s escape or attempt to retaliate, confront or punish – this will definitely make the situation worse (see Golden Rules No 6 & 10).

Once the cat is secure, and any wounds* are treated, contact your veterinary practice to discuss the behaviour. If you need to approach your cat for any reason after the attack then it would be advisable to wear protective clothing, such as gloves and boots. This will probably not be necessary but it may make you feel a little more confident to be around your cat while he is in this mood. Ideally,

The Cat Summer 2014

19

vets Ask the

Have you got a question?

Send your questions to: Ask The Vets, The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT or email editorial@cats.org.uk

CP’s team of veterinary experts tackle your feline-related questions…

I’m looking for a bit of advice, my cat, who is one year old, tends to eat spiders. He catches them, plays around with them then eats them. I’m worried sick with him doing this due to these false widows that are going around. Just wondering if there’s anything I can do to stop this. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Catherine Hastie, via email False widow spiders are not known to cause a specific issue to cats. If bitten, like with people, there is the possibility of pain, swelling, redness and even effects such as vomiting or a fever. Ingestion is not likely to be an issue (unless perhaps bitten in the mouth) as any venom will be deactivated through the digestion process. If a cat is bitten by a false widow or showing the symptoms described (which could also be attributable to other problems), then treatment may be needed to control any discomfort and veterinary advice should be sought. However, we have found no reports of false widow spider bites to cats so at the moment the risk seems to be very low. Encouraging appropriate alternative forms of play may reduce a cat’s interest in spiders. Other biting creatures such as fleas are more likely to pose a problem to cats and we would recommend these were controlled through regular treatment of the pet and home using appropriate treatments safe for cats. If you have specific concerns about your cat’s health, then do speak to your vet.

Cats are hunters and their instinct is to catch prey. Provide a variety of toys, such as ping pong balls and fishing rod toys on which your cat can direct this behaviour towards.

Cats can sit for a long time watching their prey and will only pounce when they are sure of a kill so even watching toys is enough to stimulate the mind into prey mode. Make the toy ‘alive’ by moving it in a way that makes the cat react. It is particularly important to allow the cat to regularly ‘catch and attack’ the toy to help prevent frustration and release happy hormones – endorphins. Rotate the toys often to keep the games interesting. Short games of a minute or two frequently through the day are best to mimic the cat’s natural hunting activity. Cats are generally most active during dawn and dusk (as this is normally when their prey is most active), so it can be useful to have extra play sessions during these times to use up that extra energy. Cats in the wild spend a lot of their time on short, frequent hunting expeditions. In comparison, our domestic cats are given food bowls, so a meal doesn’t take long to eat and doesn’t make use of their great senses. Create interest at meal times by hiding food around the house for your cat to search out,

20 The Cat Summer 2014

make a pyramid out of cardboard toilet roll tubes and hide food in the tubes, or use a puzzle ball. Lastly, don’t leave your cat unsupervised with toys which might be shredded and/or eaten, or where they could become caught up in string.

We recently took on a cat that lived under our bed and would only come out at night, to vanish instantly if we so much as moved in the dark. This went on for six weeks after which we determined it was cruel to keep her under these conditions and let her roam free outdoors instead. I admit I feel that I have failed in some way.

David Bishop, East Sussex All adult cats and kittens show considerable individual variation in their friendliness towards humans, whether familiar or unfamiliar, and even kittens from the same litter can differ considerably in their friendliness. One will be shy; one will be confident and explore the room while another will seek the company of humans. However, in general terms, if a cat is to be a confident, happy pet when homed, it must be well socialised when young. The socialisation phase of a kitten’s development lasts from approximately two to eight weeks of age, although there is some variation between individual kittens. During this phase kittens need to be exposed to as many aspects of the domestic environment as possible. At this time, the kittens’ brain and sensory systems are still developing, and the stimuli they encounter influence how this development occurs.

The function of this period is to give the kitten a ‘window’ in order for them to learn which aspects of their environment are ‘normal’ and ‘safe’. Conversely, they are much more likely to be scared of anything that they don’t come across during this period once they become adults.

Therefore it is crucial that young kittens have been handled by as many different people as possible so they are happy being handled as an adult.

After about eight weeks of age, when the socialisation period ends, kittens will tend to be fearful of things that they have not come across before. This is why feral kittens that do not have any contact with people in the first two months of life are fearful of people when they are handled later as adults.

Kittens that first come into contact with people after about eight weeks will be very fearful and need to be taught that people are not threatening. This takes a gradual approach with plenty of time and patience. Equally, adult

HEALTH CHECK cats that are fearful of people should be allowed to approach in their own time – it will be counter-productive to force contact as this will only make them feel more scared of humans.

Some adult cats may be fearful and difficult to handle when they first come into an adoption centre. This may be for a variety of reasons including poor socialisation, genetics, stress or previous traumatic experiences. They cannot be socalised in the same way as young kittens once they have passed the socialisation period as brain development is complete, but it may be possible to desensitise them so they are more relaxed and are more likely to be homed successfully.

Desensitisation is a gradual process of trying to increase the cat’s confidence by having very limited and non-threatening contact with them and gradually increasing the amount and duration of contact over days and weeks. Food is used as an incentive. Some cats will improve rapidly and others may take a long time or never be desensitised. Cats must have had at least some socialisation as kittens for desensitisation to be successful. It is not suitable for true feral cats and those who have had no socialisation at all, and these cats will have to be homed to a farm or stables rather than a domestic home.

It is always worth a vet check first, to ensure your cat does not have any health issues that are causing her to behave in this way. If not, your cat may well be happier able to free-roam outside if she does not seek out human company or traditional home comforts.

As long as she is able to access to her key essential resources – such as food, water and shelter without fear, and you are able to keep an eye on her from a distance, this arrangement may well suit her fine. If she can control her environment and choose interaction on her own terms, she may become friendlier in time. If in any doubt, seek your vet’s advice, and for guidance on an appropriate densensitisation programme, your vet may refer you to a suitably qualified behaviourist.

You may be interested in our free feline behaviour e-learning course that is available on our website. This goes into more details of the things that make cats, cats! www.cats.org.uk/learn/e-learning-ufo My cat was recently neutered and she is wearing the Elizabethan collar, but somehow she manages to keep taking it off and licking her wound. What can I do?

Rosalind Matthews via email Many cats tolerate wearing an Elizabethan collar well but there are some that will manage to remove them. Most cats will take a few hours to adjust though and learn how to negotiate doorways and their food bowl. Check how well the collar fits your cat and make sure that it sits snuggly on her neck and is not too big for her. Ask your vet how to secure it so that it is not too tight, but tight enough to prevent a cat’s paw from being able to slip underneath and remove the collar.

If your cat is licking her stitches because her wound is painful, it would be worth taking her to the vet for a check-up. If the wound looks red or swollen, if the stitches look tight or if there is any weeping or oozing from the wound, these are all signs that the wound may have become infected which will be sore.

If your cat simply objects to wearing the collar, alternatives are available such as inflatable collars or floppy, soft material collars that hang down like a clown’s ruffle. Both styles work by preventing the cat from being able to reach its stitches. A light dressing over the stitches may sometimes be needed to protect the area from interference and in extreme cases, a soft body suit type of covering might be necessary. Your vet will be able to advise on which would be the best option.

THE EXPERTS Maggie Roberts BVM&S MRCVS After qualifying at Edinburgh University in 1986, Maggie went on to work primarily in private practice. Maggie first worked for CP as Veterinary Officer from 1997-99; her interest in feline medicine brought her back to the charity as Director of Veterinary Services in 2006. She has three cats, Trevor, Frankie and Ronnie.

Beth Skillings BVSc MRCVS Beth qualified at the University of Liverpool in 1998 and went on to work in general veterinary practice until 2005 when she joined CP as Head of Veterinary Services.

Beth moved into a new role as Clinical Veterinary Officer in November 2006. Beth has a CP cat, Humphrey.

Lisa Morrow BMLSc, DVM, MSc (Vet Epi) MRCVS Lisa graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, Canada in 2000. Lisa first worked with CP as an Adoption Centre Vet at Derby Adoption Centre and was CP Head of Veterinary Services from 2003-2005.

Lisa recently rejoined CP as Field Veterinary Officer in the northern region of the UK. She has two black cats, Kiwi and Mango.

Karen Hiestand BVSc MRCVS Karen graduated from Massey University in New Zealand in 2001 and spent two years in mixed practice in her home country. Since then, she has interspersed locumming around the UK with volunteer veterinary work. Karen is the Field Veterinary Officer for the southern region of the UK. She has one cat called Dexter.

Our veterinary surgeons have provided the advice on these pages, but for specific cases and health concerns it is important that you consult your own vet who will be able to look at your cat’s history and do a clinical examination.

The Cat Summer 2014

21

Cat naps Vicky Placzek RVN and K atie Smith RVN let sleeping cats lie

S

leep is an important state that many of us take for granted – but anyone who has suffered from sleep disorders will know how debilitating these conditions can be, causing both emotional and physical fatigue. Sleep is also important for our feline friends – they are a species renowned for their hours of idle slumber! But cats can suffer from sleep deprivation too and it is important they are given enough opportunity to recharge their batteries to help them live happy and healthy lives.

On average cats sleep 16 hours or more each day. While humans may sleep in marathon eight hour – or longer – sessions, cats sleep more frequently, napping intermittently throughout the day. Habits vary between cats but very old and very young kittens sleep more than robust adults. Sleep time increases on cold, rainy or cloudy days. Indoor cats may sleep more out of boredom but you can help by providing stimulation during the day. (See our Indoor and outdoor cats leaflet, more details at the end of this article.)

To sleep, perchance to dream There are two basic phases of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when dreams may occur and non-REM sleep.

When a cat is in REM sleep, the cat’s whiskers, ears and tail may twitch and breathing patterns change. If feline dreams are anything like ours, then it’s likely that their dreams contain jumbled imagery of their previous experiences.

Newborn kittens sleep most of the time. This pattern may have developed in their wild ancestors – as a sleeping and therefore quiet kitten is a safe kitten that won’t attract predators. It is important not to disturb sleeping cats and this is especially so with kittens, for whom ample sleep is important for normal growth and development. As young cats mature their sleep patterns begin to conform to those of adults.

While cats often rotate their sleeping area – thought to be another evolutionary throwback from their wild counterparts, as a means of external parasite control – changes to sleep patterns may indicate illness. In older cats increased time spent sleeping, or sleeping in different – easier to access – sites may indicate that the cat is suffering with arthritis with its favoured places being too hard to reach.

22

The Cat Summer 2014

During sleep, the cat’s body and immune system repairs and regenerates itself. If a cat is deprived of sleep it can become confused and irritable. Ultimately the immune system will be adversely affected and the cat will be less able to fight off infections, so plenty of sleep is very important. Indeed inhibition of sleep is sometimes used as a measure of welfare in feline studies, with longer periods of REM sleep being an indicator of better sleep quality.

Faking it There are many causes of stress in cats and it can affect their sleeping behaviour – cats will actually feign sleep when they are stressed. This commonly occurs in cats that have to share their resources with other cats they do not perceive to be in the same social group. So for example, cats that do not like each other may sleep near to each other on the back of a sofa because of the value of this lovely raised resting area, perhaps bathed in sunlight – but they may not actually relax properly because of the presence of the other cat nearby. As a result the cats may suffer from insufficient restful sleep which can be very debilitating.

Signs of feline stress are not obvious and it can be difficult to distinguish between feigned sleep and real sleep. This can be a dilemma for volunteers and staff working with rescue cats, which may also be stressed as a result of the change of environment and routine.

Signs to look out for include watching to see if the cat’s ears move as though they are listening, and/or lying in sternal recumbency or the crouch position, and any changes in their behaviour such as irritability. Cats that curl up to sleep touching each other and that engage in mutual grooming behaviour are likely to be in the same social group – and not suffer from similar stress as a result of each other’s company.

But it is always important to provide enough different places to rest for all the cats which share a home.

Night-time activity Cats tend to sleep at different times to people. They are crepuscular – generally alert and active at dawn and dusk when their natural prey would be active. This can sometimes cause problems to people sharing their cat’s homes – not many people enjoy being woken up at 5am each morning!

Increased feline activity at night may also result from medical disorders – commonly those causing pain (such as arthritis), hyperthyroidism, hypertension (high blood pressure) and

HEALTH CHECK cognitive degeneration (senility) can change behaviour, increase nocturnal activity and may be accompanied by excessive vocalisation – which is also a feature of deafness.

Seeking veterinary advice to rule out medical problems is always the first step for cats with disrupted sleep patterns or changed behaviour. Increased nocturnal activity can also result from boredom or habit – getting up and in some way interacting with your cat, such as to feed it, let it out, or shut it out of the bedroom may inadvertently be reinforcing that behaviour. If your cat is showing any of these signs and your vet has ruled out medical problems, then you could contact a qualified behaviourist such as a member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors – www.apbc.org.uk

Why does the cat on my lap bite me?

When a cat falls asleep on our lap, we often don’t realise they’ve drifted off and continue to stroke them. Most cats that are woken suddenly by their owner stroking them will realise what is happening. However others can feel understandably sleepy and disorientated and may react defensively to a perceived threat. If your cat is resting on your lap, it’s best to stop stroking him so that he can sleep peacefully.

Help your cat get restful sleep • As cats rotate their preferred sleeping location, provide them with a variety of different places around the house to sleep • When positioning the beds bear in mind cats like to sleep in high places where they feel safe and secure • Provide warm places at ambient temperature which are dry and draught-proof • Provide places where a cat is unlikely to be disturbed • Provide age and health-appropriate sleeping areas that can be easily accessed by the small, weak or old – preferably still enabling them to safely reach raised locations • Cats often prefer to sleep on soft fleecy textured beds with high sides • It’s helpful to provide beds with covers that are easily washed and dried • Don’t wash or replace all beds at once – cats like familiar scents so wash the bed when it’s dirty, but otherwise leave the reassuring scents behind

• Provide plenty of beds in different locations, especially for cats in multi-cat households • Place the beds away from resources such as the litter tray, food or water • Cats often scratch after a period of sleep so it may be useful to place a scratching post near a favourite bed • Stimulate your cat during the day – let it play outside and play with fishing rod-style toys indoors • Make your home a sanctuary for both you and your cat – check our essential guides Caring for your cat and Understanding your cat’s behaviour for helpful tips on helping your cat make the most of your home. The essential guide Indoor and outdoor cats has additional ideas for cats kept solely indoors Cats thrive on routine and can be understandably unsettled during times of change. Change of location, such as a cattery stay, moving house, a stay at the vets or building work are situations that require a bit of careful thought on our part to minimise the stress to our feline friends. You can take additional steps during times of disruption to help your cat to snooze peacefully using the check list above in conjunction with a synthetic facial pheromone such as Feliway® to help reduce stress.

A sleeping cat is such a familiar sight to cat owners and they make sleeping look like an art, however delve a little deeper and their sleeping habits are fascinating. By looking at African wildcat behaviour, we can start to understand why we see some of these behaviours in our pet cats – such as rotating their sleeping places regularly. This insight can provide relief for frustrated owners that don’t understand why their cat is no longer sleeping on the newly bought cat bed. (For owners in this situation, try relocating the bed to another position that is higher up, quiet and in a warm, sunny spot.)

By improving our understanding of cats and the behaviour the cat has developed to enable it to thrive in a changing world, we can learn how to best provide for our cats, meet their species-specific needs, maximise their welfare and ensure long-lasting friendships for happy cats and owners.

To download the leaflets mentioned, and many more, visit www.cats.org.uk/cat-care/care-leaflets/essential-guides or for paper copies call our Helpline on 03000 12 12 12.

The Cat Summer 2014

23

ALI’S CATS

Pushy cat Alison Prince’s Millie broadens her horizons

W

Illustration: Alison Prince

hat a difference three months makes! Typing this, I am surrounded by all three cats – Mitzi sprawled on the printer, Fingal occupying an armchair and newcomer Millie, astonishingly enough, roosting on the poetry pile. All within protest reach, but none of them making any fuss. They are comfortably asleep.

So what happened? The last bulletin, written in early January, reminds me that Millie was still terrified of coming upstairs and Mitzi was maintaining her film-star sulk. (If ever there was a combination of Dietrich and Garbo in feline form, she is it.) But Millie was even then growing a little more confident. One morning I carried her upstairs and sat down on a chair with her, stroking her and making what I hoped were reassuring murmurs. For a few minutes she made no move, then started to struggle. I let her go at once (never hold a cat against its will unless you really must) and she fled downstairs to safety.

Three evenings after that, Fingal, Mitzi and I were upstairs, doing a crossword – not that they are a lot of help with clues, but they like lying on newspapers. Suddenly they both pricked up their ears and stared (sorry) at the stairs. We all held our breath. At least, I held mine, and the cats didn’t move. Millie appeared and leapt onto a high bookshelf. The other cats and I looked at each other, but very decently, neither Fingal nor Mitzi said a word.

Ever since then, Upstairs has stopped being a no-go area. Once Millie had discovered a wide window shelf with a radiator underneath, it became her new territory, very kindly ceded by Fingal, who had always regarded it as his.

Her neurosis about floor surfaces remains unabated, though.

Perhaps because she had previously been restricted to one upstairs room while a family of five other cats ruled the ground floor and would not let her set paw on it, she grew up with a strong sense of taboo about carpets and lino and floorboards. Her only permitted territory is Up. Chair seats are just about Up enough, so she is beginning to trust them, though she feels safer at human waist-level. This, of course, has its disadvantages. Despite constant combing, Millie still sheds quantities of fur, and it seems to get everywhere. She often spends the night curled up in my black pretend-leather typing chair, leaving it richly scattered with white hairs by the

morning. (Does she really shed more white hairs than black ones? It seems that way, but perhaps it’s just that the black ones don’t show up as much.)

The electric cooker, with its top made of some kind of black glass, has to be wiped clear of white hairs every morning.

Because Millie can’t bring herself to eat on the floor, she constantly walks across the stove on her way from one part of the kitchen work-surface to another. Explaining the principles of heat has been very tricky. Most of the time, I cook on the old-fashioned Aga-type stove that no cat in its right mind would dream of invading, but electricity is quicker when I want to bring a pot to the boil without waiting around.

But the fact that electricity is a come-and-go kind of heat passes Millie’s understanding. I put a small saucepan on the smallest of the electric rings the other day, but there was a circle of glowing red round it. I pointed this out to Millie, and she stared at it in horror, recoiling in what seemed an unnecessarily theatrical manner. Being one of those cats who is desperately anxious to do no wrong, she wrote the stove off as a no-go area for all time to come. Robbed of her short cut, she did a floor-scurry between one side of the stove to the other that meant she was apt to get between my feet when manipulating a hot frying pan. She sometimes landed on the chopping board, which was unhygienic, even by my standards. Once persuaded that the stove was cold and harmless, it’s a transit path again, but the hot/cold principle defeats her.

I can’t blame her. She’s had a lot to learn. Mitzi and Fingal were both talked to constantly from early kittenhood, so they are good at picking up what I mean, and at conveying their own opinions and requirements. Millie has never found these skills. She only started to say anything after three months here – but she’s improving. She uses body-language fluently, standing up in greeting and pushing her head into a friendly hand. Mitzi is getting more tolerant of her, except for the odd stand-off when they meet on the stairs. The impossible, as that garage notice says, will be done at once. Miracles take a little longer.

The Cat Summer 2014

25

Storming ahead at Cats Protection’s Sadie Dalton, Development Manager, and Claire Eakin, Regional Development Manager, pledge to Speak up for cats

Chris Lyttle MLA, who hosted the reception, led the way by signing our “Speaking up for cats pledge”, pictured here with CP Advocacy Manager, Jacqui Cuff

Why we do it: Hana came into Belfast Adoption Centre’s care in a terrible state. Her coat was so matted she had to be shaved. She has to wear the little jumper under advice of the vet until her fur regrows.

Michelle McIlveen MLA signs our pledge

Chris Lyttle MLA and staff from PDSA Belfast meet Andrew Muir, Mayor of North Down

26 The Cat Summer 2014

SPEAKING UP FOR CATS

Stormont I

t was an exciting day for Cats Protection in Northern Ireland on 8 April 2014. With the support of Chris Lyttle, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and a friend of Cats Protection, we hosted our Speaking up for cats reception at Stormont, Parliament Buildings, Belfast.

Animal welfare legislation has been devolved by central government which means we need to work with decision makers around the UK – from Westminster to Wales, Scotland to Stormont. The reception was an ideal opportunity to launch our “Speaking up for cats” pledge asking guests to sign up to: reducing the number of stray and unwanted cats; tackling cruelty to cats and promoting responsible feline ownership. The event was timed to coincide with the two year anniversary of enforcement measures under the Welfare of Animals (Northern Ireland) Act 2011. This introduced nine Animal Welfare Officers based in Local Authorities and gave them responsibility for ensuring the welfare of companion animals. Sadly there have been some recent high profile cat cruelty cases in Northern Ireland. Cats Protection sees cruelty on a daily basis whether it is neglect, abandonment or something more serious.

The event was a great opportunity to explain what we do and the challenges we face to an invited audience of Northern Ireland Assembly members, local government representatives, other animal welfare charities and volunteers. Guests saw a short video featuring our Northern Ireland staff, volunteers and of course the real stars – the fabulous felines in our care!

Cats Protection has had a presence in Northern Ireland since the 1970s and an estimated 13 per cent of people in the province own a pet cat (PFMA 2014). Homing, neutering and education, as elsewhere, underpin everything we do to improve the lives of cats in Northern Ireland. The focus of our rehoming activities is the Belfast Adoption Centre. In 2013 it rehomed 527 cats and neutered 212 but despite this there are hundreds more that we just don’t have the capacity to help.

The Cats Protection Advocacy team recently held a morning coffee reception at the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast

Cats Protection runs an extensive volunteer education programme in Northern Ireland. Education is vital if an understanding of cats and a caring attitude towards them is to be embedded long-term within society. Last year our amazing education volunteers in Northern Ireland gave 145 talks to groups of all ages across the region which meant that a staggering 4,000 people heard our messages

Robin Newton MLA and Diane McKay, South Eastern Regional College, visit our education stand at the reception

Bel Livingstone, the manager of our Belfast Adoption Centre, signs up another guest to our pledge

The Cat Summer 2014

27

SPEAKING UP FOR CATS Our pledge: Speaking up for cats A key theme of the reception was working in partnership – Cats Protection can’t solve all the problems facing cats in Northern Ireland by itself. We were delighted the event was so well attended and 14 Assembly members from across the political parties signed up on the day.

Organisations such as the local PDSA and Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary also signed. We got great publicity on BBC Radio Ulster and in the B elfast Telegraph as well as a statement of support from the Northern Ireland Minister responsible for animal welfare, Michelle O’Neill MLA.

So, what next?

Geraldine Fee from the Department of Agriculture attended, signed the pledge and spoke at the reception on behalf of the Minister with responsibility for animal welfare, Michelle O’Neill MLA. The Minister issued a press statement

Listening attentively! (left to right) Claire Goodwin, Community Education Officer, Valeria Higgins and Jennifer Reilly, Education volunteers, Kathryn Doherty, teacher at St Colmcille’s nursery school

Geraldine Fee and Jacqui Cuff

28

The Cat Summer 2014

The reception certainly raised the profile of cats, putting them firmly on the political agenda at Stormont. Along with colleagues and volunteers we shall work hard to make sure cat welfare remains on the agenda and is not forgotten. We’ll be circulating an e-version of the pledge to those that could not join us and keeping a close eye on the work of the new Local Authority Animal Welfare Officers. Together we will ensure a better future for cats in Northern Ireland.

For more information about this event or our advocacy work across the UK contact Jacqui Cuff, Advocacy Manager, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT or email: advocacy@cats.org.uk

FEATURE

Could you be a winner?

Nominations for this year’s National Cat Awards have been coming in thick and fast since we launched in early March.

Sponsored by PURINA®, the competition is open to all living cats in the UK and celebrates the achievements of the country’s fearless felines and miraculous moggies. Entries close on 30 May after which a panel of celebrity judges will be selecting this year’s National Cat of the Year by majority verdict. So get your entries in now! The winner will be chosen from the following categories: • Hero Cat – Cats that save the day • Most Caring Cat – Cats that have a positive impact on an owner’s health or wellbeing • Most Incredible Story - Belief-defying, true stories from the cat world

• O utstanding Rescue Cat – Felines adopted from animal welfare organisations • Purina® Better Together - Celebrating the special bond that has transformed and enriched the lives of both a feline and human As we go to press, the following cat-loving celebrities have kindly agreed to be on the judging panel: TV presenter Tim Vincent, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head and his wife Sarah Fisher, former news reader Jan Leeming, Emma Milne from TV’s Vets in Practice and finally model and actress Lucy Pinder.

The awards ceremony will be held at London’s Savoy Hotel on Thursday 7 August and will be covering the event and paying tribute to the nation’s top cats in the Autumn edition of The Cat magazine.

Meet some of our celebrity judges!

Lucy Pinder

Sarah Fisher and Anthony Head

Model and actress Lucy Pinder judged the Hero Cat category in 2012. She started her modelling career in 2003 when she landed a contract with the Daily Star. Since then she has appeared on the front cover of many magazines such as Nuts and Loaded and featured in advertisement campaigns for The National Lottery and Lynx.

Away from her modelling and acting career, Lucy is kept busy at home in Hampshire by her dog Thierry and three cats – Tabby, Georgia and Sebastien.

Anthony and Sarah judged the Best Friends category of the Rescue Cat Awards (the former name for the National Cat Awards) in 2006. Anthony is one of Britain’s best-loved actors and his list of TV appearances includes playing Giles in worldwide hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Prime Minister in Little Britain and Uther Pendragon in Merlin. Sarah is a Tellington TTouch Instructor and runs the TTouch Centre for the UK from her farm near Bath. TTouch is a specialised approach to the care, handling and training of animal companions.

“I’m delighted to be supporting the awards, they promote the benefits of adopting a cat at a time when Cats Protection has over 6,000 unwanted felines in desperate need of new homes.”

Sarah said: “Anthony and I were impressed by the amazing tales of feline bravery and heroism when we were judges in 2006. We are looking forward to hearing about more unbelievable cats this year and picking a winner is bound to be a difficult choice!”

Kindly supported by:

You can download entry forms via our website: www.cats.org.uk/get-involved/nca or call our Helpline on 03000 12 12 12.

The Cat Summer 2014 29

From the practical to the pretty, here we share some of our favourite feline-themed items this quarter…

Animal accessories

DISCOUNT

WIN

CP supporter Helen White makes beautiful hand-crafted jewellery with a twist – specialising in animal-themed pieces! She mostly works with polymer clay so each item is really one-of-kind. The cat pendant pictured, for example, was made with dark metallic blue polymer clay, dusted with silver powder then baked and varnished to seal. Among Helen’s work you’ll find necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, bookmarks and more.

Helen is offering readers the chance to win one of two cat pendants (worth £15.50 each) like the one pictured; one is silver and blue while the other is gold and blue. For a chance to win, mark your entry P endant .

We have also been provided with a discount code for readers of The Cat, which offers 10 per cent off any items at www.helenkawhitedesign.co.uk The code is T HECAT10 and it’s valid until 1 September 2014.

What a pair!

Rocketing into mainstream fashion thanks to British jewellery designers Tatty Devine, acrylic or perspex jewellery is a fun and funky way to accessorise your wardrobe.

Following in its footsteps are these cute cat stud earrings, which are part of a collection of moggy jewellery from Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes. The set also features a necklace and brooch which come in a variety of colours, and one is even decorated with glitter! All the jewellery is laser cut in acrylic and designed and made in Glasgow. Each piece comes in its own pretty box making it the ideal gift for cat lovers, or a perfect little treat for you. See the full collection at www.handoveryourfairycakes.goodsie.com

30 The Cat Summer 2014

WIN

Under the spotlight In your bag you probably have a number of items so that you’re prepared for any situation. Tissues?

Check. A pen? Check. But what about a torch? It may not be something you’ve considered keeping on your person, but a torch can be very handy for unexpected situations or emergencies.

There’s no harm in adding a bit of style to your essentials, either – and that’s exactly what we’d imagine artist Marilyn Robertson was thinking when she launched her popular ‘Catitudes’ art in torch form.

Produced in a slim-line design, the torches are the perfect size to slip in your pocket, handbag or keep by your bedside. Available in four designs featuring the popular characters Jasper, Thomas, Sebastian and Leopold, the torches can be purchased from online retailer Tatty Puss at www.tattypuss.co.uk for just £4.85 each.

We have 10 torches up for grabs – please enter in the normal way quoting C atitudes .

OUR FAVOURITE THINGS Peeping tom

WIN

Ever wondered what your pet gets up to while you’re out and about? The Scout 1, launched by Motorola, is the answer to your problems. The new gadget uses wireless technology to keep you in the know, no matter where you are.

Perfect for both cats and dogs, this video pet monitoring camera works via a free mobile app (accessible by any Android or Apple, tablet, smartphone or computer) so you can keep an eye on your pet while on the go. It’s not just a static device either, the technology lets you zoom, pan and tilt the camera to follow your pet as it moves, and even has built-in infrared night vision for use at night.

To win a pet monitoring camera, mark your competition entry with the word Scout .

What a charmer This beautiful charm bracelet features green and violet iridescent crystals with glass bell flowers, two adorable cat cameos and a Bali bead.

The designer, Frances Scrimshaw, is inspired by animals, flowers, nature and all things mystical. She names every piece of jewellery she makes and this particular one is called ‘Kitty Cameo Springtime’. The bracelet measures approximately 22cm.

Frances has donated this bracelet to readers of The Cat, so if you fancy winning it, mark your entry Moonshimmer Bracelet .

All Moonshimmer jewellery is gift boxed with a special note about the item. More of the collection can be seen on the website: www.moonshimmerjewels.co.uk

WIN

The

cat’ s miaow Framed felines Anthony Smith’s ‘Learn to Speak Cat’ cartoon series in the Metro newspaper is one of the most recognisable cat comic strips. Now you can be the envy of your friends, family and neighbours with a bespoke print signed by the artist himself, as he has been kind enough to donate four framed original black-andwhite illustrations for readers of The Cat magazine to win.

These hilarious prints will brighten up the walls of any cat lover’s home, so if you fancy nabbing one, enter in the usual way quoting F ramed Prints .

But if you don’t win a picture this time around, fear not: we have an additional three colour prints for Facebook competitions, so keep an eye on our page at www.facebook.com/catsprotection Please note the colour prints are not originals.

WIN

Cool for cats Never is it more important than in the summer to make sure that your pet can stay cool and has shade from the sun.

It’s important to keep them indoors during the hottest part of the day and provide shelter in the garden.

Another way of keeping your cat cool when it’s indoors is with the new AniMat. Using an innovative non-toxic gel, the mat works by absorbing body heat to keep your pet’s body temperature down. It’s soft, has a washable exterior and also lightweight and foldable so you can travel with it if you need to transport your cat in a carrier.

The AniMat cool gel mat is available in three sizes – small (30 x 40cm), medium (34 x 54cm) and large (60 x 90cm), priced £24.99, £29.99 and £44.99 respectively. Find out more at www.theanimalarm.com or phone 01452 702 062.

For a chance to win one of three small mats, mark your entry AniMat .

WIN

For a chance to win one of our freebies, just send your name and address plus the prize phrase on a postcard or sealed envelope to: T he Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, Sussex, RH17 7TT . You can also send your entries via email to competitions@cats.org.uk . Don’t forget to include the giveaway phrase in the subject header so we know which competition you’re entering, and remember to include your name and address in the email body. We may need to pass details of competition winners to the prize suppliers for products to be posted direct. The closing date for giveaways is 14 July 2014 . Please note, paid staff are not eligible to enter competitions or giveaways run by Cats Protection.

The Cat Summer 2014

31

Can we fix it?

Yes, we can!

Volunteer J ohn Mole explains how he and his wife H elen help keep the Downham Market Adoption Centre ticking along

M

y wife Helen and I both do voluntary work for Cats Protection at their Downham Market Adoption Centre in Norfolk. We have been volunteering one day a week for over six years now.

Helen was the one who came up with the idea of volunteering for Cats Protection as we had adopted two cats from them some years ago. I have to admit I was not too keen, but Helen said we would give it six months to see how we got on.

We went and spoke to the manager at Downham Market and we were welcomed with open arms. I started my working life doing an apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner. Then after 11 years I changed careers completely and joined the police, but I missed using my carpentry tools and making things so thought I would offer these skills to CP.

Keeping CP on the road Helen is a retired nurse and a very good apprentice for me. She is very knowledgeable and comes up with some great ideas. We started with helping the staff to clean the cat pens. The best part of doing this is you get to see all the cats and can interact with them. Then I got a promotion.

The Centre Manager put me in charge of looking after the CP vehicles. I was given the title Vehicle Technician. I really wanted Fleet Manager but she thought that was too much as they only have two vans to look after! So each week the vehicles are checked over to make sure they are road worthy and if needed I take them to have punctures repaired and new tyres. I used to regularly clean the vehicles but another volunteer, David, does this on Fridays.

We do lots of minor maintenance work around the centre.

Simple things like changing light bulbs and freeing sticking doors and windows. We have fitted new doors and repaired several cat pens from re-felting roofs to replacing broken glass. We put new cat flaps in the maternity block a few months ago and Helen and I have never laughed so much.

The kittens were so inquisitive to see what we were doing.

Then trying to show them how to go back and forth through the flap was even more hilarious.

Our present job is dismantling some of the outside pens ready for a refurbishment programme that will soon be underway and another volunteer, Graham, is helping us with this. We have done some gardening too but again another volunteer Dean now does the gardening and I have to say he is making a wonderful job of it. I have never seen it look so good in my time at CP.

A varied to-do list Helen helps the staff with several cleaning duties and is always keeping an eye on the washing machines and tumble driers and even the washing line. So we do get a good variation of work and can never say we get bored. We have a book that hangs in the staff room in which the staff enter

BEHIND THE SCENES

work that needs doing, so first thing when we get there we check to see what needs doing and prioritise the work. Sometimes they just come across things while we are at the centre and ask if we can fix the problem there and then.

Helen has been out a few times with Jess, a Cat Care Assistant, to trap feral cats and has also been on home visits too with the staff. We regularly do a recycling run with all the empty tins and cardboard to the local recycling depot and collect donations from some local supermarkets too. It always amazes me how much food the public donate for the cats.

We help out at events and have made some of the games that are used at the events. Helen and I usually get the tombola which we really enjoy and have a great time with the public. We have made signs for these events and get the job of putting them out and retrieving them after the event.

When Cat Behaviourist, Vicky Halls, (pages 18 and 19) did a presentation at the local town hall, Helen and I were on hand to supply refreshments. It was a brilliant evening and Vicky was great. I think she could have gone on for days and we certainly learnt a lot. We have acquired a lot of knowledge from the staff about cats which is very helpful as we have two cats of our own.

Some new arrivals Sadly the first two cats we adopted came to the end of their time with us. So we were a few weeks without any cats.

Then one Monday while volunteering, the Manager brought two kittens in to be homed. Helen saw them first and then found me to go and have a look.

Well that was it, love at first sight!

A week later we brought them home. So now we have Ziggy and Amelie, two sisters who are so adorable. We were just in the right place at the right time when they were brought in. We have fallen in love with several of the centre’s cats since volunteering and one of my favourites is a free roaming cat called Barty. He is a grey tabby and quite a character. He has free run of the centre and even sleeps in the homing section kitchen, which I always call Barty’s Boudoir. He is a good weather forecaster too – when we arrive on Monday morning if Barty is out and about we know it is going to be a good day. If he is tucked up asleep in his basket then we know the weather isn’t going to be very good.

Cake!

We have met many people since volunteering there and made some great friends. The volunteers are treated as members of a team and we get invited to all the social events they hold.

Most of the staff have evenings out to celebrate birthdays and we go along too. They held surprise birthday parties for both Helen’s and my 60ths.

They are a great team to work with and the best bit for me is break time on a Monday morning. Catherine, one of our Cat Care Assistants, bakes a cake and brings it in to share around. Her ginger cakes are to die for. I always have the honour of having the end piece as it is always the stickiest and most delicious part. Catherine also makes everyone a birthday cake and last year made one for me with a mini John on the top and my carpentry tools scattered around me!

As you can see there is always plenty to do and if things are quiet and everything is up to date then we get to have a cuddle with the cats. (We’ve even bottle fed some of the kittens that needed to be hand reared!). Over the years we have met some characters there and seen some beautiful cats too. There was a beautiful Bengal named Jazz with three legs so I nicknamed him Tripod. And boy could he run even though he was missing a leg! He was so gorgeous. He has since been rehomed and I have no doubt he is enjoying his new life. People send in photographs and letters to let us know how the rehomed cats and kittens are getting along and it is so wonderful to see them settled into a new life.

We also know some of the people who have adopted cats from the centre and when we see them the first topic of conversation is always about the cats!

So if you are thinking of volunteering, give it a go! I am so pleased Helen and I did and I hope we have many years ahead of us volunteering for Cats Protection.

The Cat Summer 2014

33

Home from home

L inda Harrison discovers that even when on holiday you’re never far from a friendly feline

W Higher Wiscombe

Ginger and Berry take a wellearned snooze…

34

The Cat Summer 2014

hen guests arrive at Higher Wiscombe cottages in Devon, they’re often invited to give their host a tummy tickle before stepping over the doorstep.

Ginger, the resident tomcat, likes to greet visitors outside the luxury self-catering cottages.

“He seems to know when it’s a Friday and guests are due to arrive,” says owner Lorna Handyside, who runs the business in east Devon with husband Alistair. “He rolls around on the floor outside the cottages and waits to greet them. He’s a lovely cat, so gentle – and he likes a fuss and lots of cuddles.”

Ginger is one of two cats adopted from Cats Protection nine years ago. The other, a black cat called Berry, is a bit shyer.

“Ginger was one when we got him and he was huge, twice the size he is now,” says Lorna. “Berry was a tiny kitten and very nervous. They got on from day one and are just amazing, they snuggle up together and Ginger licks Berry’s ear and grooms her.

“We get lots of comments in the visitors’ book about Ginger. We’ve had children crying in the past because they didn’t want to say goodbye to him!”

The Handysides run a busy household, with eight chickens and three dogs (and three children) at the 52-acre site. There are pictures of the cats on their website in case guests have allergies and they don’t encourage Ginger and Berry into the cottages.

“It’s great for children who live in towns as many are frightened of cats and other animals and coming here gives them confidence with animals,” adds Lorna. “We think Ginger’s our secret weapon; one family said that after they went home Ginger was all their children talked about!” …and another one

FEATURE

Milton

Teatime at Cyfie Farm

Cobweb

A Welsh idyll Higher Wiscombe is one of many places around the country where cat lovers can enjoy a holiday with some feline company.

Cyfie Farm near the Snowdonia National Park in Wales is another.

The five star guest house with self-catering and spa has seven cats, including older residents Elsa and Noah, who started life as feral cats.

“The guests love having them around,” says owner Claire Bale.

“Some of the cats are friendlier than others but they all have their own characters. They aren’t allowed in the accommodation but they sometimes wander into the suites and cottages if the guests let them and they love being made a fuss of. One set of guests who visit regularly bring them cans of sardines. The cats always seem to know which cottage to wait outside!”

The fact that Claire and husband Neil have so many cats is amazing considering Claire is extremely allergic to them. She was diagnosed as having allergic asthma at the age of 11.

“My mum and dad had to give our cats away,” says Claire, who also shares her home with two chestnut mares, a shire horse, a dog and Baldrick the cockatiel. “But here the cats can be outside and live in a lovely warm barn where I can look after them and fuss them.”

Tyddyn Llan

A Michelin star mog Also in Wales are Susan and Bryan Webb, who run Michelin star restaurant and hotel Tyddyn Llan. Susan looks after front of house and Bryan is in the kitchen but they say the ‘queen’ of Tyddyn Llan is their cat Sheba.

“I inherited Sheba when my mum died in 2005,” explains Susan.

“She was such a friendly cat but when I introduced her to my two cats at home it was like World War Three. I took her to the hotel and gave her a basket in the office. Sheba was like a different cat, she just loved it. She now lives at the hotel – her favourite places to sleep are on the printer, where it’s nice and warm, or under the desk.

“She’s the friendliest cat you could ever meet and is more than happy to hop onto guests’ laps when invited, she just loves the attention. She’s such a floozy.”

The tabby has a cat flap for nightly adventures but occasionally shares guests’ rooms if invited.

“Of course we have to be careful as some guests might have allergies, so she’s usually ‘behind the scenes’ unless she escapes,” adds Susan.

“However, some of our regulars make a point of coming to the office just to see Sheba. She rules the roost and when Bryan wrote his cookery book Sheba insisted on having her picture in it.”

Sheba, the hotel cat hard at work

Chef Bryan Webb

The Cat Summer 2014

35

FEATURE The Laurel’s Lily…

…and Yogi

A traveller’s rest

A feline allure Cats are also a major draw at Thornley House in Northumberland.

Owner Eileen Finn has six – two Maine Coons, one Burmese and three ‘alley cats’, or rescues – and describes her house as ‘a B&B for lovers of fine cats and fine gardens’.

The house is decorated with cat memorabilia, including paintings, while the garden is member of the National Garden Scheme, with a feline theme and animal sculptures (plus pussy cat cemetery). Guests can also bring their own pets to stay.

“I take all animals, I’ve had people bring cats, dogs and guinea pigs – even hawks,” says Eileen. “Many guests come especially to see my cats and often leave their doors open so they can share their rooms.

My oldest cat Tigger, who’s 13, once spent a week sleeping between a honeymoon couple!”

Eileen got the idea of running holiday accommodation for cat lovers after travelling in New Zealand in the early 1990s.

“When I travel I miss my family very much,” explains Eileen, who also has two rescue donkeys. “Life revolves around them. In New Zealand I had a book with information about what accommodation had cats.

I thought it was such a good idea – I chose where I stayed based on that.”

And finally, visitors to The Laurels in Surrey can look forward to meeting a new cat on every visit.

Owner Jean Deeks is a fosterer with the Guildford & Godalming Branch of Cats Protection.

“I’ve fostered cats for about seven years and love them all,” explains Jean, who’s cared for about 50 cats in total.

“Last summer I had four kittens at the B&B and they were very popular. One kind lady even offered to extend her stay so she could help take them to the vet to get their immunisations!”

Jean has a house rule that the cats are not allowed to sleep in the guest rooms in case of allergies. But they do sleep in her room.

“I’ve had so many lovely comments over the years about the cats,” adds Jean, a retired midwife. “I get lots of walkers and cyclists as I’m near the North Downs Way and some people stay every year.

“If you like cats, I think having them around makes staying somewhere more homely.”

So if you’re on your travels and don’t want to miss out on feline company, why not check out and check in to an establishment with resident cats? It’ll be a home away from home.

Part of the family Meanwhile, at The Olde House in North Cornwall, resident cats Molly and Milo are the stars of the show. Molly is particularly friendly and is often spotted around the 30 self-catering cottages on the working farm near Wadebridge. The business is owned by the Hawkey family, who’ve been farming there for three generations, and is child friendly, with a pets’ corner where youngsters can feed a range of animals, including baby lambs and goats.

Jaime Hawkey, one of the owners, says: “Molly, a tabby, likes to hang around the play area and let the children stroke her. Milo, who’s a black cat, is a little more aloof, although he was once found inside one of the cottages – it was empty, I think he’d gone in there for a bit of peace and quiet.

“We like to have the animals out and about, we also have chickens and dogs and they all seem to get along.”

36 The Cat Summer 2014

Higher Wiscombe, Southleigh, Devon www.higherwiscombe.com 01404 871360 Cyfie Farm, Llanfyllin, Wales www.cyfiefarm.co.uk 01691 648 451 Tyddn Llan, Llandrillo, Wales www.tyddynllan.co.uk 01490 440 264 Thornley House, Hexham, Northumberland www.thornleyhouse.co.uk 01434 683 255 The Olde House, Wadebridge, Cornwall www.theoldehouse.co.uk 01208 813 219 The Laurels, Guildford, Surrey 01483 565 753

We’ll protect him while his owner seeks safety.

We know that for many victims of domestic abuse, fleeing violent relationships is made impossible simply because they cannot bear to lose their pets.

That’s where Cats Protection, in partnership with Dogs Trust Freedom Project, steps in. Through the Freedom Project we take in and provide safe refuge for victims’ cats until their owners are in a position to reclaim them. Since 2004, we have helped more than 300 cats and 150 families escape domestic abuse.

By making a donation today you can help us to support even more.

Make a difference today: T: 0800 917 2287 W: www.cats.org.uk/freedom-project Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

A Fabulous Feline Tale for Cat Lovers

A CAT called DOG JEM VANSTON

!"##$%&'()*()+&(,&-)(,'&&.&'-/('&-0"&'-( 12.(01))&'%&-(3*'(*4&'(56(7&1'-(

‘Barking mad but brilliant’ Goodreads.com

‘A definite must-read’ Books 4Tomorrow

‘Warm, original and entertaining’ ChristophFischerBooks

From £252

ISBN: 9781780885599 Available now in paperback from Amazon and all good bookshops

www.troubador.co.uk Want to advertise in The Cat? This pen £807

!"#$%&&'"&%()*"+",-./0$".12*."!"3%.45,&*%6" !"76800("0("0-/800("!"9-1,:"/0";-/"-;" <<<=;*6/>0-.*;(08-,/.=,0$"?"@ABC@"DA@EAE"

?

THINKING of RESCUING find CATS & KITTENS needing HOMES in YOUR area!

You’re just a click away...

CATCHAT.ORG

The Cat Rescue Resource

Reg. Charity 1100649

Karl Humphreys, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT. T: 07939 017 035 E: karl@dalbiacmedia.co.uk

Pet Bereavement Support Service

Coping with the loss of a pet?

0800 096 6606 pbssmail@bluecross.org.uk www.bluecross.org.uk Blue Cross is a charity registered in England and Wales (224392) and in Scotland (SC040154).

M6872/0612

WWW.

Get in touch:

SPEAKING UP FOR CATS

The danger of lilies The toxicity of lilies to cats has long been a concern to Cats Protection and the charity’s Advocacy team are busy spreading awareness of the issue

D

espite our continuing efforts with articles and postings, both on and off line, we regularly see very sad press reports of poisonings in cases where cat owners clearly loved their cats but were simply unaware of the dangers lilies pose to them.

Lilies are extremely poisonous to cats. The toxins can cause cats to go into kidney failure and this can be fatal. It is believed that all parts of the plant are poisonous. Cats can be affected after eating parts of the plant or simply by brushing past the flower and then grooming the pollen from the fur.

Most of the major retailers include some form of warning on their lily packaging but these are often in small print on the back of the lily label where they are less likely to be seen by a purchaser. The warnings on the labels are varied, for example, some refer o nly to lily pollen being toxic. It seems that despite the warnings many cat-owning purchasers are still not aware of lily toxicity.

Retail success The Advocacy team has contacted leading supermarkets and Interflora to ask them to improve the wording on the labels of bunches of lilies that they sell.

We suggested adopting the following wording: ‘Caution: all parts of lilies are toxic to cats’. We also asked retailers to position warnings on the front in a prominent place where they are most visible to purchasers.

We are pleased to report that Morrisons and Marks & Spencer have both placed prominent warnings on the front label of their bunches of lilies. Marks & Spencer have gone further and actually have two warnings on their label.

We are continuing to work with other major retailers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose to improve the wording and positioning of their warnings.

To date we have focused on lilies sold in shops but we will also be looking at the wording of online lily sales.

Marks and Spencer warn ‘All parts of lilies can be toxic to cats and can be harmful to other pets.’

What can you do?

Ideally we’d suggest purchasing flowers other than lilies if cats are in the home. There are lots of other beautiful flowers to choose from.

Please spread the word among your friends and let them know how toxic lilies are to cats. You’d be surprised how many cat owners are simply unaware of the dangers of lilies.

We regularly warn people via social media who might be buying lilies so please share our postings with your friends. We want as many people as possible to know about lily toxicity so that, hopefully, fewer tragic accidents occur.

To find out more about common poisons visit the Veterinary Poisons Information Service at www.vpisuk.co.uk or take a look at our Keep your cat safe leaflet online here www.cats.org.uk/cat-care/care-leaflets/essential-guides or in paper format by calling 03000 12 12 12.

You can contact our Advocacy team, Jacqui Cuff and Briony Billingham via email advocacy@cats.org.uk

Morrisons warn ‘Lilies are toxic to cats and can be harmful to other pets.’

Give your feet a rest and exercise your mind

Ten-minute crossword

AMUSING HEATHER Heather Cook’s doorstep encounters

Across 1 Farm livestock (6) 4 Excellent (6) 8 Workers’ organisation (5) 9 Sailor (7) 10 Young hare (7) 11 Move effortlessly (5) 12 Soaked (9) 17 Consumed (5) 19 Russian tea-urn (7) 21 Snubs (7) 22 Roman meeting-place (5) 23 Annually (6) 24 Soundless (6)

Down 1 Pair (6) 2 Robbers (7) 3 Passenger ship (5) 5 Perpendicular (7) 6 Tedium (5) 7 Gents’ hairdresser (6) 9 Car drivers (9) 13 Melodious (7) 14 Varied (7) 15 Almost (6) 16 Punctual (6) 18 Shin bone (5) 20 Civilian dress (5)

To win one of these Giornata espresso cup and saucers complete our crossword correctly and rearrange the shaded letters to find the name of the man who made Russian Easters priceless.

Write the answer, plus your name and address, on a letter or postcard, and send to: Crossword Competition, The Cat, National Cat Centre, Haywards Heath, Sussex, RH17 7TT. Alternatively email the answer with your name and address to us at competitions@cats.org.uk with Crossword in the subject header. Winners will be drawn on 11 July 2014.

The prizes are kindly sponsored by The Cat Gallery. Visit www. thecatgallery.co.uk or phone 01904 413 000 to request a catalogue.

Last issue’s winners: Ms S Willman, Mrs J Wallbank and Miss R Knowles.

Answers to Spring crossword on page 63. The cat was Skimbleshanks and TS Eliot his creator.

40 The Cat Summer 2014

I have recently had to cope with two doorstep encounters which would make opening the door to an armed robber seem like a stroll in the park. As we know, these challenges never occur when you are wide awake and ready for anything – that would take all the fun out of it.

The first rather alarming incident, which I am still recovering from, involved oversleeping, rioting cats and a uniformed RSPCA man striding purposefully down the path. My first thought was that Benjamin Wobble had overreacted to breakfast being late and had reported me. I opened the door and dragged the poor man inside, explaining that many of the cats had special needs and must not be allowed to escape.

Once I had my terrified visitor trapped against the washing machine, I could see that he was in fact about 12 years old and was on a mission to drum up support for that worthy charity. From viewing him with suspicion, I switched in a matter of seconds to greeting him as a long lost friend, encouraging him to give Bonnie Bun-Bun a kiss before he left.

The second episode occurred on a Sunday morning, when I had shoved my feet into some particularly silly reindeer slippers and was conversing loudly in ‘Benjy-speak’ with my wobbly ginger boy. I suddenly noticed a young man in jogging gear at the window, waving an envelope at me and running on the spot.

I opened the door and he explained that the envelope had been mis-delivered to his address and as he had been away for a couple of days this was the first chance he’d had to bring it round. He said he hoped nobody was too upset because he thought it was probably a Valentine’s card, which indeed it turned out to be – a Valentine’s card addressed to Stumpy Malone. I told the young man that Stumpy, a little black boy born without hind paws, would be thrilled because Benjamin had received two cards and he hadn’t had any.

To the jogger’s eternal credit, he smiled and expressed the hope that the card would ‘make the little chap’s day’, but I did notice that he, like the RSPCA man before him, was just a blur as he accelerated away.

COFFEE PAWS

A look to the past We are currently going through the archives of The Cat magazine which started back in 1931 as The Cat’s Mewssheet. It changed its name in 1934 and has been known as The Cat ever since. There are some wonderful letters and articles, some of which we will reproduce in this new regular column in Coffee Paws.

This letter from E George, West Liverpool appeared in the June 1934 edition of The Cat magazine.

natural size. I knew something must be wrong, so hurried out to see the reason of his terror.

Half-way up the stairs was an ugly-looking man, a thick stick clasped in his hand. I remembered I had left the French window open. My screams brought out the servants and the burglar fled at their approach but not before he had taken a valuable watch. Thanks to Snowball nothing else had been taken. Had he not given that timely warning there is no knowing what the result might have been.

My furry friend lived in luxury to the end of his days and there, on bright morning Snowball died, quite peacefully, on the blue silk cushion he loved so well. A slight seizure owing to his advanced age – then sleep for ever.

Sudoku Fill in the empty cells so that the digits 1 through to 9 appear: • only once in each row • only once in each column • only once in each 3x3 box (shown by the thicker lines)

Thanks to Snowball I found him in an area, soaking wet and howling piteously – a lost cat. Hailing a passing errand boy I made it worth his while to go down and rescue him. He seized the poor creature who was too weak to offer resistance and handed him over to me. I took him home and nursed him back to health and happiness.

His gratitude was pathetic and he amply repaid me for all the trouble I had taken over him. His coat, once so clotted and dirty became, with care and attention, a silken mass, for he turned out to be a white Angora cat (evidently stolen and thrown aside to starve or die).

One never to be forgotten day, Snowball rushed up the stairs in a perfect panic, his eyes dilated, his tail twice its Answers appear on page 63.

The Cat Summer 2014

41

Charlie 42 Church Road

Ollie

10 Crown Sq

?

Make it easier to find your pet... get a microchip fitted.

For more information, please phone our National Helpline on 03000 12 12 12 Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

WALKER ON THE WILD SIDE

Who’s the boss?

Lucy may look adorable, but John Walker knows she’s a mean bully

F

irst of all, the very sad news is that Dexter never came home. Thank you so much to everyone who has sent their condolences and kind thoughts – he’s much missed.

Fortunately, Lucy is more than capable of providing abundant content to fill this page, so my cat-based misadventures will continue.

Not least because she bullies me.

She may look like a gorgeous young tabby, with bright eyes and boundless energy, but really she’s a cruel beast, hellbent on instilling a sense of inferiority in me. No one believes me. Everyone thinks I’m making it up. She’s too clever to let anyone else see, turning into an innocent little kitten the moment anyone else enters the house. But as soon as they’re through the front door, she goes back to plotting her next move.

Like when she puts my things down the toilet. She quickly mastered the art of making sure she has my gaze, then without looking away from me, batting something important or breakable from my desk with contemptuous indifference.

“Your mug? It’s on the floor now, human. It’s on the floor.

Pick up your mug.” Should Laura walk in the room then it’s suddenly doe-eyes and, “Hello mummy, daddy and I are playing! I wuv oo mummy and daddy!” Laura leaves and her eyes again turn cold, she looks at me, looks at the mug, and walks away.

But the toilet is her best move. I like to keep a pencil and puzzle book in the bathroom, because as a man, I have needs. Lucy, when she isn’t pooing in the sink, thinks it’s just hilarious to push the pencil from the window sill, into the loo.

“Get your pencil, John. It’s in the toilet. Reach into the toilet, human.”

If that were the extent of it, I’d not be so paranoid. It’s just the beginning. She sabotages mercilessly. My day job is to write about videogames, so how better to mess up my day than to carefully press my PC’s power button? Frantic scrambles to stop it shutting down and losing all my work are generally fruitless. Or for a twist, when recently installing a game from DVD, she reached up and press the button to open the drive just before completion. It obviously crashed,

Illustration: Rus Hudda

and then required painstaking unpicking to remove the halfinstalled software. She watched, indifferently.

Or how about the time I came home to find she’d been graffitiing the house? She had somehow got a piece of chalk down from a bowl on a kitchen counter and had spent her afternoon drawing all over the floor. I promise I’m not lying.

I have photos. Placing a paw on the stub of chalk, she was dragging it all over the tiled floor, drawing long lines and mad cat shapes. At my best guess, she was trying to write out “DADDY STINKS” or similar, but I stopped her before she could finish.

Not enough? What about the whiteboard I have in my office, on which I list the games I am planning to write about, my vague stab at a notion of organisation in my chaotic existence. I’d recently listed out my plans, only to turn around and catch her wiping it all off with her paws. Both front legs, scrabbling away at the writing, until it was all obscured as to be illegible.

One of these things on their own, you could put it down to happenstance, a merry kitten playing away, accidentally making trouble. But there’s a pattern here! And there’s the looks. The cold stare as she pushes my desk speakers onto the floor for the third time that day and the immediate sprint to be out of the room before the yelling starts.

But the peak must be the time Laura was emptying the rubbish and discovered that Lucy had pushed enormously expensive equipment of mine, and vital paperwork, into my office trash can. Not one or two things, but many, all meticulously taken from my desk and aimed into the bin.

Hundreds of pounds’ worth of stuff, let alone crucial tax information.

But noooooo, everyone says. Lucy’s adorable! She wouldn’t hurt a fly! Well, I’ve watched her hurt flies. She loves hurting flies. And she loves hurting me. When I’m eventually found sobbing in a corner, my lunch money missing, “KICK ME” stickers stuck all over my back, and my hair wet from a bogwashing, I know people will look into her cartoon-cutesy eyes and refuse to believe me.

EVER THOUGHT OF RUNNING YOUR OWN CATTERY? Whether it’s an intimate four pen caĴery or a commercial fty pen outt, running your own boarding caĴery can be a rewarding, fullling way of life and having a home based business is both convenient and easy.

With over 40 years’ experience, Lindee Lu provides the whole package and helps you create a high quality establishment your customers will return to time and time again.

We manufacture in traditional wood and our new, very popular, 100% synthetic wood product which retains the look of our wooden pens but requires no annual maintenance.

When cats reach a certain age they needn’t feel deflated Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is the main cause of death in older cats. If your cat is over 7, now is the time to ask your vet to routinely check your cats’ kidneys.

For more information on starting a caĴery please visit our website where all your questions can be answered. Take a moment to browse through our gallery pictures and play with our nance calculator where you will see for yourself how you can benet nancially from this rewarding new way of life!

www.lindee-lu.co.uk

Visit www.renalzin.co.uk and ask your vet about checking for kidney disease. Renalzin – supporting renal function in cats with CKD. 1 ml Renalzin contains kaolin, 200 mg Lantharenol® (lanthanum carbonate) 2 mg vitamin E. ® Registered Trade Mark of Bayer AG. Bayer plc, Animal Health Division, Bayer House, Strawberry Hill, Newbury RG14 1JA. Tel: 01635 563000. Bayer Ltd., Animal Health Division, The Atrium, Blackthorn Road, Dublin 18, Tel: (01) 299 9313. REN.0114.PA.ZO.25

Renalzin Ad Resize_The Cat_276x93mm_ART.indd 1

27/01/2014 15:46

Tel: 01275 853800

PAWS FOR THOUGHT

Passports ready!

Graham Brown reflects on the realities of moving to Malta with a feline family

W

e have just moved to Malta from the UK accompanied by our four cats. We travelled on the same flight from Manchester to Malta with them.

Only certain airlines allow this and then only on certain days of the week, at a considerable cost too, but we were unable to leave our companions of five years behind, either in new homes or the local catsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; home.

In order to travel, each cat needed a passport. Not a photo in sight, just a little electronic identifier which is injected into their necks known as a microchip. They had to have a full health check to make sure they were fit to travel along with any outstanding routine inoculations. Most importantly, they had to have a rabies jab at least three weeks before they were due to travel. All the details are recorded onto their passport.

We have two pure breed Siamese cats and one Siamese cross, who are all rescue cats and each had three other homes before ours. We also have a large pedigree British Shorthair who was bought as a kitten and is the great, great, grandnephew of a previous cat. We chose to buy two specially made double wooden crates from a firm that has being producing them for 25 years. One crate was for the two girls, one for the two boys.

Armed with passports and crate sizes we were able to obtain an estimate of how much it would cost to book all the cats on the same flight. We also had to make sure there was space for us on the same flight and book and pay for our seats before we travelled. The cats flew as cargo and were paid for on the day we travelled.

As we did not have a large car, another of our expenses was a one-way hire car of suitable proportions to take us, the two double cat crates and our luggage to the airport from our house, along with fuel of course. Our flight was due out at around seven in the evening on a Monday in July.

We decided to get the statutory final health check for the cats, which has to be carried out within 48 hours of travel,

Illustration: Rus Hudda

booked in for the morning of travel because we wanted their own vet to see them and he did not work on Saturdays.

Following advice, none of the cats had eaten that morning so we let them have a final run in the garden as they usually go out before breakfast. One of the cats could not be found when we were due to take them all to the vets and mayhem ensued as she was called and searched for. The others all went for their check-up. She turned up within minutes, having been shut in the summerhouse, looking most upset that she had been abandoned without food. Thankfully, they were all passed fit to travel.

Starting our journey a bit late, we did not stop despite it taking over three hours. There was heavy rain and spray that reduced visibility to almost nil in places, traffic jams and road works to negotiate. Throughout the journey we had a meowing Siamese to listen to. We also had an acrobatic British Shorthair who was trying to bash his way out of the cage. Finding the cargo area at the airport was challenging as was avoiding lorries and white vans when we found it. Paying for excess baggage due to a bag of cat necessities and finding the rental returns area all added to the stress of the day.

Our flight was delayed by almost three hours, meaning we had double the expected waiting time to worry. The cats needed a further health check upon arrival and to have their microchips checked against all the relevant paperwork and yet more fees paid before we could take them. All these delays meant that we ended up reaching our apartment at nearly three in the morning. Thankfully, our landlord was there to greet us with the keys, a welcome pack of food and a smile. Home at last!

Vetsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; note: More information about moving home with your cat can be found on www.cats.org.uk/cat-care under our Foreign Travel link and Essential guides under our Care leaflets.

'c' is for cat, but also care At Cats Protection we offer free talks to nurseries and schools about caring for cats.

One of our volunteers can deliver an interactive session based on the five points that are vital in keeping cats happy and healthy: • • • • •

Freedom Freedom Freedom Freedom Freedom

from discomfort from hunger and thirst from pain, injury and disease to behave normally from fear and distress

We also offer visits to our adoption centres across the UK. For more info, please email education@cats.org.uk or visit www.cats.org.uk/learn

Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

MAKING MEMORIES

A reversal of roles Gerald Randall remembers a last, touching farewell

I

adopted Minx – ‘a cheeky and playful girl’ according to my dictionary – in 2010 as a terrified little tortoiseshell stray when she took the risk of trusting me. She settled immediately, a charming, affectionate extrovert with a sense of fun, whose motto was clearly ‘love life and live it’, and a champion purr-er, winning first toleration and then the friendship of my notoriously other cat-hating elderly tabby. She was also intelligent; you could reason with her. For example, she loved to spend summer nights outdoors if it was fine and sometimes turned up late the next morning or early afternoon. I told her this made me fear that she must have had a mishap and need urgent attention, so would she please check in first thing every morning. She must have had another hundred nights out afterwards, but she was always waiting indoors or just outside when I came downstairs.

She was much older than she seemed and last year developed hyperthyroidism. For a while all was well but by October it was clear that something was more wrong. It proved to be an internal tumour and, as she knew as well as the vet and I did, it was terminal. She was not in pain and as she grew frailer I told her that when she was ready we would go to the vet for an injection which would let her sleep the perfect sleep of never-ending peace. I asked her to give me a clear sign when she was ready. A couple of days later she did, very simply –

Illustration: Rus Hudda

she switched off the purrs; affectionate and loving as ever, but no purrs. To make it doubly clear she looked at her food, her milk and her water, touched none of them, and turned away.

The appointment made, she walked into her carrying basket without hesitation and we went. While the kind receptionist and I talked to her she had her nose stroked and her ears tickled, rubbing her whiskers against the bar of the gate so that she could nuzzle us – and purred. She was back to full volume. I thought at first it must be stress purring but her whole relaxed attitude denied this. I was upset, but she was at ease. During the couple of minutes when the vet goes out to let human and animal say their farewells in private, she sat relaxed on the edge of the table and we touched foreheads and noses, while I tickled her ears and told her that I loved her. She rubbed my face with her nose and whiskers. Her eyes said it all and she purred non-stop telling me she loved me too and that everything was going to be fine. The vet returned. I still had my hands on her shoulders and our foreheads and noses continued to touch as he gave her the injection. Usually a sudden relaxation of the cat’s muscles tells the moment of death. Not this time; she was so relaxed that her transition from life was seamless.

Just before she had the injection and slipped into unconsciousness I suddenly realised the awesomeness of what was happening. Seeing how sad I was, her thoughts in what she knew were the last two minutes of her life were not of concern for herself and what was happening to her. My job was to comfort and reassure her, as one does during that final which, thankfully, truly is an euthanasia – a good death. But I feel that Minx had reversed our roles.

She was doing everything she could to comfort and reassure me. Her last action was an outpouring of spontaneous, completely selfless, compassionate love. I shouldn’t really have ever been surprised as it was completely in keeping with her character but it was a moment to treasure for ever.

The final tribute to Minx is that Tabitha, the cat whose previous owner had told me she would never accept another, had become so fond of her that she was heartbroken by her loss. I have never before seen one cat mourn another like this. Now, several months later, she is still not really back to normal. Recovery will take more time but she too has memories to treasure.

The Cat Summer 2014

47

CP in action

A selection of tales from our branches and adoption centres...

Appeals

A sigh of relief

By Gwent Branch Within a few days of Taz coming into the care of the Gwent Branch, from a multi cat household, it was noticed she had problems breathing, with symptoms similar to cat flu. Treatment didn’t make any improvement and an X-ray revealed she had an abnormal chest cavity; a congenital deformity which meant there was not enough room for her heart and lungs, hence the breathing difficulties.

Gwent Branch Co-ordinator Glynis Davies says “Taz is a lovely little girl so we decided to seek expert help.

We found a vet in Swindon who specialises in this type of problem and he suggested an operation may help. The operation went well: they inserted a plate to increase the chest cavity and by the following morning she was sitting up and eating. However, after a follow up X-ray the vets are not completely happy with the results so further treatment may still be required.”

The life-saving operation cost the branch a lot of money so we are appealing for help towards her treatment. Donations would be much appreciated – cheques should be made payable to Gwent Cats Protection and sent to PO Box 623, Newport, Gwent, NP20 3ZX. Any funds raised over and above those needed for Taz will be used for the benefit of other cats in our care.

Poorly paws Paddy

A lotta love for Lottie

By Preston Branch Lottie is eight months old now, and has spent almost all her life in care.

She came to us as a kitten, one of many taken in last summer during a major feral cat neutering job on a local farm. Lottie had the runs when she came into care, and although she had treatment after treatment, she didn’t seem to be getting better. Successive tests showed that this poor little girl had several digestive and respiratory infections, including coronavirus and Giardia. After intensive and expensive treatment, she is at last coming round and is almost ready for rehoming.

She is a beautiful little cat who is affectionate and demanding of affection. We think she is worth every penny spent on her, but would obviously appreciate donations towards her vet bills, which so far have been in excess of £600, even after the generous discounts given by our vet.

Donations can be made via our website at www.cats.org.uk/preston, or by cheque payable to Cats Protection, Preston Branch, sent to Mrs Alison Ryan, 23 Higher Greenfield, Ingol, Preston, Lancs, PR2 3ZX. Any funds raised over and above the amount spent on Lottie will be spent on other cats in our care.

By Northampton Branch Paddy came into CP care when his finder realised he had very sore bleeding feet. At first the local vets didn’t know his condition was plasma cell pododermatitis, otherwise known as “pillow-foot” as it is a rare complaint, and this was the first case they had seen.

Treating the condition is trial and error as some cats respond well to antibiotics and others don’t, and so these cats have to have a high dosage of steroids for some months instead. Unfortunately the condition can recur and is not preventable, and so the future for Paddy is not yet known.

Paddy’s treatment will be ongoing for quite a while, and so any offers of donations to help with the cost of his care and veterinary bills would be very much appreciated.

Please make donations payable to Northampton Cats Protection, at PO Box 5522, Northampton, NN4 8ZP or phone 0844 700 3251. Any funds raised over and above the costs for Paddy will be used for the benefit of other cats in our care.

48 The Cat Summer 2014

Ways we help: Rehoming • Neutering • Raising awareness

CP IN ACTION

Thank you…

Turkish delight

By Inverurie & Alford Branch Scotland is a holiday destination for many tourists, but it’s not often a cat chooses to make the journey. Our Inverurie & Alford Branch in Aberdeenshire recently rehomed a cat and a three-month-old kitten, who had arrived in Fife in the back of a lorry all the way from France. As ‘illegal immigrants’ they served their period of quarantine in a facility within our branch area.

There is a phrase which says ‘Lightning doesn’t strike twice’… wrong! No sooner had the French pair been rehomed, a second cat turned up in a container full of peanuts from Turkey. Marble, as she was named, was transported north for a four month period of quarantine.

Quarantine costs are covered by the National Cat Centre, and Marble’s stay is estimated to be between £2,500 and £3,000, which will make a big hole in the budget. If you would like to help defray costs for Marble, or any other cat in our care, cheques can be made out to Cats Protection Marble Appeal, and sent to Marble Appeal, Supporter Services, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT.

Success stories

Semi-centennial success

By Chelmsford & District Adoption Centre It seems a long time ago now but last October, the Chelmsford & District Adoption Centre celebrated 50 years of helping local cats with an afternoon tea at the nearby Miami Hotel.

It was an opportunity for staff and volunteers, past and present, to get together and reminisce over sandwiches, cream teas and cake and raise a cup and saucer to the future!

The afternoon was attended by the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress, who gave a speech and cut the celebration cake, which was kindly iced by one of our talented volunteers.

reston Branch is celebrating its P 30th year and would like to thank its supporters for all their backing and encouragement over the years. The branch made a banner in celebration and this is its first outing; at our Pets at Home weekend at the Capitol Centre store in Walton-le-Dale.

Photo by Andy Richards, banner designed by Graphix Direct and printed by Impression Ltd

outhend Branch would like to thank Waitrose’s Community S Matters scheme for raising £219 for Cats Protection. The scheme helps a wide range of local charities: customers are given a green token with their receipt and can put it in a collection box of their choice. Sue Bennett, Jean Collard and Julie Lamb are seen here accepting the cheque. Sally Holman who is the Community Matters Champion for the local store is seen presenting it – the others in the photo (to the left) are ‘Waitrose Partners’ who braved the grotty weather to be in the shot!

Find your local Cats Protection: 03000 12 12 12 • www.cats.org.uk

Photo: Courtesy of the Southend Echo

The Mayoress cuts the felinethemed cake

oniton Branch would like to say thank you for all the H support in opening its new shop. The Town Crier, David Retter read a speech about what has been achieved since opening the Branch’s first shop in 2004. The local MP, Neil Parish who is Chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, also gave a speech and cut the ribbon. He chatted to various volunteers about their roles and even gave the shop a donation. The shop was only open for a few hours but took over £200 which is an amazing achievement.

The Cat Summer 2014 49

Looking for a home Derby Adoption Centre

Chatteris, St Ives & District Branch

Male, five years old

Male, around six years old

Louie

Sidney

sure their coats are brushed regularly to keep them in tiptop condition – but don’t worry they are used to it!

☎☎ 01737 350 307

Bristol & District Branch

Willow and Fudge Females, seven years old

We really can’t understand how this stunning looking boy is still with us after six months. While a little shy at first, with a little patience, we are sure he will reward you with lots of love and loyalty. For more information and to see our other cats waiting for their forever homes, go to www.derby.cats.org.uk or call us.

☎☎ 01332 824 950

Bracknell & Wokingham Districts Branch

Faye

Female, over 10 years old

Sidney is a very friendly handsome cat who is gentle and cuddly but for some reason has been overlooked. We suspect because he is dominated by his tortoiseshell sister so doesn’t always immediately come out to see people.

He would make a perfect companion for a more mature family although he does have a playful side and enjoys the outdoors. He would be happy to be homed either with his sister or on his own.

Willow

Fudge

☎☎ 0845 647 2180

Epsom, Ewell & District Branch

Ariel and Orpheus

Female and male, three years old

Faye is one very special older lady and is looking for a quiet home in her twilight years. She is a longhaired tortie with a little bit of Persian mixed in too and is a stunning looking cat. She keeps her coat in tiptop condition and needs little brushing.

She is in good health for her age but does have a heart murmur and will need to be given a small heart tablet daily. She has had most of her teeth removed but still does have her front canines and this has made her much more comfortable.

Due to her age Faye does sleep a lot and will quite happily curl up in a cosy spot. She has a very sweet nature and would make a great companion.

Can you give this very special lady a forever home?

☎☎ 0845 371 4212

50 The Cat Summer 2014

Ariel and her brother Orpheus are sweet and fluffy three-year-old twins.

They absolutely love each other and talk and play all day long. They like chasing, play fighting, nose nuzzling and patrolling together. Ariel is beguiling and sweet and loves people and other cats. Orpheus, however, loves humans but is not that keen on other cats! They have been used to going outside in a quiet street; though they have been indoors since being in care and are desperate to explore a safe garden again. Their inoculations are up-to-date and claws are clipped. Their lucky new owner would have to make

Willow and Fudge are sisters looking for a new home together. They are very friendly cats, and have been spayed, chipped and vaccinated. Unfortunately their owner had to move and was unable to take them with them. They have been with us a while now and we desperately want to find them a nice home.

☎☎ 01179 665 428

A sad farewell…

Melanie Connell We are very sad to announce the death of Melanie Connell who was Coordinator for our Wokingham Districts Branch. We send our condolences to her family and friends.

Ways we help: Rehoming • Neutering • Raising awareness

CP IN ACTION

Join the team Give a little time, make a big difference! Every year we help over 218,000 cats and kittens and the majority of these success stories are thanks to the dedication and hard work of our amazing volunteers.

We welcome volunteers with open arms, whether you are young or old, male or female, have lots or little time to offer there’s a place for you with us! racknell & Wokingham Districts Branch has many B vacancies for volunteer positions. Their biggest plea is for a Collections Volunteer which involves planning and assisting with collections at supermarkets and garden centres. This person must be mobile, able to drive and must be contactable on email. The branch is also looking for Home Visitors in the Bracknell area, Emergency Fosterers, a Collection Box Co-ordinator and Fundraising helpers at events. If you are interested in any of the positions please contact the branch on 0845 371 4212 or email readingeastcp@hotmail.com hatteris, St Ives and District Branch is looking for new C volunteers for all areas including fundraising, publicity, homing, home visits and vet runs. There are many smaller jobs that will involve only an hour or more per month, for example updating CatChat’s website with details of our cats or collecting used stamps and processing them for us so we can raise funds. We would also welcome new branch members who pay a membership donation of £5 per year. If interested in any of these please contact us either on 0845 647 2180 or www.chatteris.cats.org.uk erby & District Branch has vacancies for volunteers such D as fieldworkers and vet runners. The branch is also seeking Cat Line operators for one day per week. This ‘job’ would be an ideal opportunity for someone who is at home for most of the day and wants to help cats. The branch also needs an Assistant to the Vet Liaison Officer – this is mostly an administrative role and can also be carried out from home a couple of days a week. For some time now, they have also been seeking a Fundraising Co-ordinator and last but not least, volunteers are always needed at their charity shops in Derby and Wirksworth. Full training and support will be given. Anyone who is interested should contact 01332 206 956 (voicemail) or enquiries@derbydistrictcp.org.uk and leave their details. ownpatrick Branch is looking for Fosterers. If you have D a spare room, could you look after a cat temporarily until we can find it a permanent home? The branch will also be purchasing a small outdoor pen so if you have space and could give cats a temporary home pending being placed, we would love to hear from you.

Cats come into our care for a variety of reasons and we need to make them feel safe and loved until a suitable permanent home is found. There is no cost to you other than your time, as the branch will pay for all food, litter and vet bills. If you would

More voluntary opportunities For more volunteering roles across the UK, from fundraising to fostering, please visit www.cats.org.uk/ volunteer-do-it and enter your postcode to search.

like to have a chat about indoor or outdoor fostering, please contact Claire on 028 9083 0179 or mobile 075813 209 46.

If you are interested in the work of the branch or volunteering in other ways, you can the branch in the following ways: mobile number: 07580 800 402, email us on downpatrickcats@hotmail.co.uk or through Facebook www.facebook.com/downpatrickcats went Branch is appealing for more Fosterers to join the G team as they prepare for the annual kitten season between May and October. The volunteers are stretched as the branch has already taken in kittens in the last three months, swelling their numbers. If you can help ring 0845 371 2747 and you will be made very welcome. eignbridge & Totnes Branch is looking for Fundraising T helpers. If you can spare a few hours at weekends to help to out at events or would like to bake cakes, make toys or perhaps have a table at one of our events to sell your own craftwork in return for a donation to the branch please contact Pauline at fundraising.teignbridgecp@gmail.com

Deadlines CP branches and centres are encouraged to send in their success stories and diary dates for every issue.

The deadlines for the next three issues are: • Autumn 2014 issue (covers September to November): 13 June deadline • Winter 2014 issue (covers December to February): 12 September deadline • Spring 2015 issue (covers March to May): 12 December deadline Individual stories should be max 250 words and may be edited for clarity and length. Please send CP in Action and Diary entries as separate documents. It is a legal requirement to add text to appeals explaining that funds not used for the featured cat will be used for other cats in your care; we will add this if you have not already done so.

Images should be attached to the email separately, not embedded into a document; minimum requirements for print publication are 300dpi (high resolution) in jpeg or tif format (or, as a rough rule of thumb, they should be at least 1MB in size). Original digital camera photographs are usually better than those taken on a mobile phone. Please email your submissions to editorial@cats.org.uk or post your entries to: CP in Action, The Cat magazine, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, Sussex, RH17 7TT. Thank you.

Find your local Cats Protection: 03000 12 12 12 • www.cats.org.uk

The Cat Summer 2014

51

Diary of events ENGLAND BERKSHIRE

Bracknell & Wokingham Districts Meetings Mondays 26 May, 30 June, 28 July. No meeting in August, owing to Monday 25 August being a bank holiday. To be held at 8pm Our Lady of Peace (OLOP) Church Hall, Wokingham Road, Earley (Earley Cross Roads), RG6 7DA. Fundraising events 14 June: Collection day at Morrisons, Basingstoke Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG2 0HB. 9am onwards.

19 June: Sale of second hand goods, Woodley Pagoda, Woodley Shopping Precinct, Crockhamwell Road, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire, RG5 3JJ. 8am onwards.

Newbury

29 June: Mary Hare School Fête, Arlington Manor, Snelsmore Common, Newbury. 12–4.30pm. Come and join us at our stand, pick up a bargain and support the cats.

26 July: Jumble Sale at Catholic Hall, Bath Road, Thatcham. 11.30am–1pm; 30p entrance. Jumble accepted at the Hall from 9–10.30am or previously at Newbury Adoption Centre. Come and pick up a bargain! 11am–3pm.

Reading & District Jumble sales 7 June: All Saints Parish Hall, Downshire Square, Reading RG1 6NH. From 1–3 pm.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE

Chatteris St Ives & District Collections 7 June: Pets at Home 28 June: Chatteris 16 August: Ramsey 30 August: Huntingdon

Find out what’s going on near you...

Events 12 July: St Ives Carnival, Hill Rise, St Ives

DERBYSHIRE/ NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

Ashfield & Amber Valley Fundraising events 14 June: Alfreton 28 June: Ripley Market Square 5 July: Hucknall High Street 30 August: Alfreton

DEVON

East Devon

24 May: Stall at Lions Gala Fête, 2–4pm. On the Green, Budleigh Salterton.

28 May: Coffee morning/ Bazaar at The Public Hall, 10am–12noon, Budleigh Salterton.

8 June: Stand at Colyton Tram Station for Classic Car Show. Cars on display in Seaton. Take tram to Colyton. All day.

18 July: Summer Bazaar and Coffee morning, 10am–12noon. The Mariners Hall, Beer.

9 August: Cats Tea Party at Homefield, Longdogs Lane, 2.30–4.30pm, Ottery St. Mary.

Teignbridge & Totnes

21 June: Stall at Ogwell village fair – event takes place during the afternoon.

23 August: Collection outside Morrisons supermarket, Teignmouth – 10am–4pm.

There will be many more events during the summer months so please view our website for details.

ESSEX

Chelmsford & District Adoption Centre

9 August: Family Fun Day at the Adoption Centre, Willow Grove, Deadmans Lane, Galleywood. From 11am–3pm. Lots of activities and stalls for all the family.

Cats Protection at national shows Foodies Fest 30 May – 1 June: North London

Rayleigh, Castle Point & District Homing shows 14 June: Rayleigh Methodist Church Hall, SS6 7ED. 10.30am–1pm.

July and August: To be advised.

Southend

22 June: Garden Party, Katie’s Cosy Cattery, 41 Wellstead Gardens, Westcliff. 2–5pm.

9 August: Summer Fair, Nazareth House, 111 London Road, Southend.

12noon–4pm.

LANCASHIRE Preston

14 June: Jumble Sale, St Leonard’s Church Hall, Marshall’s Brow, Penwortham. 11am–12noon.

28 June: Table Top Sale, St Mary’s Church Hall, Cop Lane, Penwortham, 10–11.30am.

12 July: Jumble Sale, St Leonard’s Church Hall, Marshall’s Brow, Penwortham. 11am–12noon.

26 July: Table Top Sale, St Mary’s Church Hall, Cop Lane, Penwortham.

10–11.30am.

9 August: Jumble Sale, St Leonard’s Church Hall, Marshall’s Brow, Penwortham. 11am–12noon.

30 August: Table Top Sale, St Mary’s Church Hall, Cop Lane, Penwortham.

10–11.30am.

SUSSEX

Horsham & District Events 21 June: Catstravaganza, Holy Trinity Church Hall, Horsham RH12 2NT. From 2–4pm.

19 July: Catstravaganza, Roffey Millennium Hall, Horsham RH12 4DT. From 2–4pm.

23 August: Catstravaganza, North Heath Hall, Horsham RH12 5PU. From 2–4pm.

Mid Sussex

BBC Good Food Show and Gardener’s World 12 – 15 June: Birmingham NEC

Stalls 5–6 July: Smallholders’ show at Ardingly Showground 9am–5pm.

Festival of Quilts 7 – 10 August: Birmingham NEC

Events 10 August: Annual Garden

52

The Cat Summer 2014

Party at Cuckfield Cattery, Deaks Lane, Cuckfield, RH17 5JB. Lots of stalls selling bric a brac, fancy goods, children’s toys, books, jewellery, plants, raffle, teas with homemade cakes, music from the Sussex Folk orchestra, cats for rehoming, free entrance & parking, shelter if wet, from 2–5pm.

YORKSHIRE Doncaster

14 June: stall at Lakeside Village 5 July: stall at Finningley Art Show 12 July: stall at Askern Church Summer Fayre 25 August: Summer Fayre, New Hall, Bawtry 30–31 August: Stall at Barnby Dun Church Art Festival

WALES Gwent

21 June: To celebrate the branch’s 35th birthday Gwent volunteers are organising a garden party at Heol-las, St Brides, Newport, the home of two of the Gwent stalwarts. There will be plants, book, jewellery, collectables and card stalls as well as cream teas and CP merchandise, making it a day out to remember.

29 June: There will be a cat adoption day at Rhowderin Community Hall in Pentre Tai Road, Newport, both events starting at 2pm.

SCOTLAND Friends of Glasgow Adoption Centre

23 August: Open Day at Glasgow Adoption Centre Come and browse the stalls and meet the cats. Lots of bargains, barbeque, tea room, tombola, raffle etc.

12noon–4pm. Entry 50p.

NON-CP

8 June: Animal Blessing Service, Craigiebuckler Church Hall, Springfield Road, Aberdeen. 3pm, all animals welcome with their human companions.

Ways we help: Rehoming • Neutering • Raising awareness

2014 Summer Raffle Get your paws on £5,000 in our BIGGEST EVER raffle!

Tickets cost just £1 EACH

1st prize £5,000

2nd prize £1,500

3rd prize £750

PLUS £25 for 40 runners-up

PLUS A year’s supply of PRO PLAN® cat food*

Enter online at www.raffleplayer.com/cats CLOSING DATE: 13 JUNE 2014

DRAW DATE: 27 JUNE 2014

*Based on PRO PLAN® feeding guidelines for an average 4kg cat Reg. Trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. Registered Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SCO37711 (Scotland). ®

CAT

LA1401

Contacts England South East Bredhurst Kent *Matts * Hill Road, Hartlip, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7XA ☎☎ 01634 232 471 88www.bredhurstkent.cats.org.uk Friends of Bredhurst Kent Adoption Centre Chelmsford & District *Willow * Grove, Deadmans Lane, Galleywood, Chelmsford, CM2 8LZ ☎☎ 01245 478 389 88www.chelmsford.cats.org.uk Eastbourne *63 * Marshfoot Lane, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 2RB ☎☎ 01323 440 101 88www.eastbourne.cats.org.uk Friends of Eastbourne Adoption Centre Haslemere *Upper * Hammer Lane, Haslemere, Surrey, GU27 1QD ☎☎ 01428 604 297 88www.cats.org.uk/haslemere

Find your nearest CP branch, adoption centre or charity shop...

Crawley, Reigate & District ☎☎ 08453 712 734 88www.catsprotection.co.uk

Romford & District ☎☎ 01708 451 341 88www.romford.cats.org.uk

Croydon ☎☎ 0208 763 0072 88www.croydoncpcats.org.uk

St Albans & District ☎☎ 08453 712 064 88www.stalbans.cats.org.uk

Eltham, Sidcup & District ☎☎ 07772 679 854 88www.cats.org.uk/elthamsidcup

Southend & District ☎☎ 01702 710 630 88www.catsprotectionsouthend .pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Epsom, Ewell & District ☎☎ 08452 601 387 88www.epsom.cats.org.uk

Sutton & Cheam ☎☎ 0208 330 0176 88www.sutton.cats.org.uk

Folkestone & Hythe ☎☎ 01303 237 744 88www.folkestonehythe.cats.org.uk

Swale ☎☎ 08453 712 755 88www.swale.cats.org.uk

Great Amwell & District ☎☎ 08453 712 736 88www.greatamwell.cats.org.uk

Tenterden & District ☎☎ 01797 366 379 88www.tenterden.cats.org.uk

Greenwich ☎☎ 0208 8538 666 88www.catsgn.org.uk

Three Rivers & Watford ☎☎ 01923 283 338 88www.cats.org.uk/threerivers

Guildford & Godalming ☎☎ 01483 422 529 88www.guildford.cats.org.uk

Thurrock & District ☎☎ 08453 712 752

Harlow, Epping Forest & District ☎☎ 01992 579 539 88www.harlow.cats.org.uk

Tunbridge Wells, Crowborough & District ☎☎ 01892 516 377 88www.uckfield.cats.org.uk

Friends of Haslemere Adoption Centre

Hastings & District ☎☎ 01424 754 328

National Cat Adoption Centre *Chelwood * Gate, Haywards Heath, Sussex, RH17 7TT ☎☎ 08707 708 650 88www.ncac.cats.org.uk

Hemel Hempstead & Berkhamsted ☎☎ 08453 711 851 88www.cats.org.uk/dacorum

Friends of the National Cat Adoption Centre North London *135 * Junction Road, Archway, Greater London, N19 5PX ☎☎ 0207 272 6048 Basildon, Brentwood & District ☎☎ 01268 285 778 88www.bascats.org.uk Bexley & Dartford ☎☎ 01322 611 911 88www.cats.org.uk/bexley Bromley ☎☎ 0208 402 8860 88www.bromleycatsprotection.org.uk Camberley & District ☎☎ 08453 712 745 88www.camberley.cats.org.uk Canterbury & District ☎☎ 01227 266 838 88www.cats.org.uk/canterbury Caterham, Redhill & East Surrey ☎☎ 08453 712 739 88www.eastsurrey.cats.org.uk Central London 88www.paddington.cats.org.uk Chichester, Bognor Regis & District ☎☎ 08453 712 760 88www.cats.org.uk/chichester Chiltern ☎☎ 08452 602 396 88www.chiltern.cats.org.uk Colne Valley ☎☎ 08452 601 384 88www.colnevalley.cats.org.uk

54

The Cat Summer 2014

Hendon, Finchley & Mill Hill ☎☎ 0208 952 1350 88www.hendon.cats.org.uk High Wycombe & South Bucks ☎☎ 01494 448 849 88www.buckscats.org.uk Hillingdon ☎☎ 01895 443 637 88www.hillingdon.cats.org.uk Hornchurch & District ☎☎ 01708 755 211 88www.hornchurch.cats.org.uk Horsham & District ☎☎ 08453 712 749 88www.cats.org.uk/horsham Lea Valley ☎☎ 08453 134 746 88www.leavalley.cats.org.uk Lewes, Seaford & District ☎☎ 01273 813 111 88www.lewes.cats.org.uk Maidenhead, Slough & District ☎☎ 01628 620 909 88www.cats.org.uk/maidenhead Maidstone ☎☎ 08453 712 758 88www.maidstone.cats.org.uk Medway Towns ☎☎ 08453 712 757 (Neutering only)

Welwyn Hatfield & District ☎☎ 08453 711 855 88www.welwynhatfield.cats.org.uk Woking & District ☎☎ 01483 721 700 88www.woking.cats.org.uk Worthing & District ☎☎ 01903 200 332 88www.worthingcatsprotection.org.uk Canterbury & District **28 William Street, Herne Bay, Kent, CT6 5EQ ☎☎ 01227 371 676 Caterham, Redhill & East Surrey *20 * Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon, Surrey, CR5 2RA ☎☎ 0208 660 7475

Folkestone & Hythe *139a * High Street, Hythe, Kent, CT21 5JL ☎☎ 01303 238 661 Greenwich *18 * Old Dover Street, Blackheath, London, SE3 7BT ☎☎ 0208 858 2220 Hastings & District *43 * London Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN37 6AJ ☎☎ 01424 203 778 Hendon, Finchley & Mill Hill *65 * Ballards Lane, Finchley, London, N3 1XP ☎☎ 0208 371 0575 Lea Valley *145 * Chase Side, Enfield, Middlesex, EN2 0PN ☎☎ 0208 367 4813 Medway *34 * Canterbury Street, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 5TX ☎☎ 01634 571 270 *142 * Franklin Road, Gillingham, Medway, ME7 4DG ☎☎ 01634 578 436 Sutton & Cheam *16 * The Broadway, Cheam, Sutton, Surrey, SM3 8AY ☎☎ 0208 642 1575 Tenterden & District *Lakehurst * House, Unit 1, 94c High Street, Tenterden, Kent, TN30 6JB ☎☎ 01580 765 277 Worthing & District *35 * Rowlands Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 3JJ ☎☎ 01903 200 332

South & South West

Chichester, Bognor Regis & District *7a * Crane Street, Chichester, West Sussex, P019 1LH ☎☎ 01243 774 737

Cornwall *Point * Road, Carnon Downs, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6JN ☎☎ 01872 870 575

Colne Valley *75 * High Street, Halstead, Essex, CO9 2JD ☎☎ 01797 274 667

Exeter Axhayes *Little * Hill Cottage, Clyst Honiton, Exeter, Devon, EX5 2HS ☎☎ 01395 232 377 88www.axhayes.cats.org.uk

Crawley, Reigate & District *9* Broadwalk, Crawley, RH10 1HJ ☎☎ 01293 528 982 Cricklewood *70 * Cricklewood Broadway, Cricklewood, London, NW2 3EP ☎☎ 020 8450 4878

Mid Sussex ☎☎ 01444 414 884 88www.cats.org.uk/midsussex

Croydon *13 * High Street, Purley, Surrey, CR8 2AF ☎☎ 0208 763 9898

North Hertfordshire ☎☎ 01438 228 877 88www.northherts.cats.org.uk

Ealing & West London *3a * Albert Terrace, Pittshanger Lane, Ealing, W5 1RL

Rayleigh, Castle Point & District ☎☎ 01268 750 831 88www.catsrayleigh.org.uk

Eltham, Sidcup & District *14 * Tudor Parade, Well Hall Road, Eltham, London, SE9 6SX ☎☎ 0208 859 6009

Isle of Wight *122 * Marlborough Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 1AW ☎☎ 01983 562 609 Newbury & District *Heatherpine, * Curridge Road, Curridge, Thatcham, Berkshire, RG18 9DH ☎☎ 01635 200 111 88www.newbury.cats.org.uk Ferndown Homing Centre *51 * Cobham Road, Ferndown Industrial Estate, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 7QZ ☎☎ 03000 120 175 88www.ferndown.cats.org.uk

Ways we help: Rehoming • Neutering • Raising awareness

FIND US KEY:

Adoption Centre

Homing Centre

Branch

Charity shop

Andover & District ☎☎ 01256 892 019 88www.andovercats.org.uk

Honiton ☎☎ 01404 452 41 88www.honiton.cats.org.uk

Wootton Bassett & District ☎☎ 07928 674 433 88www.wootton.cats.org.uk

Barnstaple & District ☎☎ 01271 860 787 88www.cats.org.uk/barnstaple

Launceston & District ☎☎ 01566 773 814 88www.launcestoncatsprotection.org

Yeovil & District ☎☎ 01935 412 755 88www.yeovilcatsprotection.info

Basingstoke & District ☎☎ 08451 771 364 88www.basingstoke-cats.org.uk

Mere & Gillingham ☎☎ 01747 840 621 88www.mere-gillingham-cp.co.uk

Bath & District ☎☎ 01225 835 606 88www.bath.cats.org.uk

Midsomer Norton & Radstock ☎☎ 01761 436 486 88www.midsomer.cats.org.uk

Bournemouth & District *333-335 * Charminster Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH8 9QR ☎☎ 01202 530 757

Blandford & Sturminster Newton ☎☎ 01258 858 644 88www.blandford.cats.org.uk

Minehead ☎☎ 08453 712 761 88www.minehead.cats.org.uk

Bournemouth & District ☎☎ 08453 712 762 88www.bournemouth.cats.org.uk

Okehampton & District ☎☎ 08453 712 751 88www.okehampton.cats.org.uk

Bracknell & Wokingham Districts ☎☎ 08453 714 212 88www.cats.org.uk/bracknell

Oxford & District ☎☎ 01235 221 147 88www.oxford.cats.org.uk

Bridgwater ☎☎ 01278 684 662 88www.bridgwater.cats.org.uk

Plymouth & South Hams ☎☎ 08453 712 753 88www.cats.org.uk/plymouth

Bristol & District ☎☎ 01179 665 428 88www.bristol.cats.org.uk

Portsmouth ☎☎ 08453 712 743 88www.cats.org.uk/portsmouth

Cheltenham ☎☎ 08453 712 730 88www.catsprotection.net

Reading & District ☎☎ 08452 602 395 88www.readinganddistrictcats.org

Cherwell ☎☎ 07716 596 212 88www.cherwell.cats.org.uk

St Austell & District ☎☎ 01726 817 837 88www.staustell.cats.org.uk

Cirencester, Tetbury & District ☎☎ 07972 658 384 88http://cirencats.tripod.com/

Salisbury & District ☎☎ 08453 712 068 88www.salisburycats.co.uk

East Devon ☎☎ 01884 277 929 88www.eastdevoncats.com Exeter ☎☎ 01392 276 291 88www.exeter.cats.org.uk Falmouth, Helston & District ☎☎ 08453 712 729 88www.cats.org.uk/falmouth Fareham & Waterlooville Districts ☎☎ 08452 601 504 88www.fareham.cats.org.uk Farnham & Wey Valley ☎☎ 01252 334 644 88www.weyvalley.cats.org.uk Forest of Dean ☎☎ 01594 841 511 88www.cats-forestofdean.co.uk Frome & District ☎☎ 07733 390 345 88www.cats.org.uk/frome Glastonbury & Wells ☎☎ 01749 850 660 88www.stray-cat.co.uk Gloucester ☎☎ 07891 112 654 88www. gloucester.cats.org.uk Gosport Town ☎☎ 02392 582 601 88www.gosport.cats.org.uk Holsworthy, Bideford & District ☎☎ 08453 712 717 88www.holsworthycats.org

Southampton ☎☎ 08453 712 718 88www.cats.org.uk/southampton Stroud ☎☎ 01453 828 326 88www.stroud.cats.org.uk Swindon ☎☎ 01793 644 536 88www.swindon.cats.org.uk Taunton & Wellington ☎☎ 08452 602 397 88www.taunton.cats.org.uk Teignbridge & Totnes ☎☎ 08453 712 723 88www.teignbridge.cats.org.uk Torpoint & Rame Peninsula ☎☎ 01752 829 104 Torquay & District ☎☎ 0845 647 2181 88www.torquay.cats.org.uk Truro & District ☎☎ 08452 601 386 88www.trurodistrict.cats.org.uk Weston-Super-Mare & District ☎☎ 08453 712 066 88www.westonsm.cats.org.uk Weymouth & District ☎☎ 01305 262 737 88www.westdorset.cats.org.uk

Bristol & District *272 * North Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1JA ☎☎ 0117 963 9028 Cheltenham *20 * St James Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 2SH ☎☎ 01242 234 494 East Devon *72 * High Street, Sidmouth, Devon, EX10 8EQ ☎☎ 01395 513 394 Forest of Dean *28a * Newerne Street, Lydney, Gloucestershire, GL15 5RF ☎☎ 01594 841 848 Honiton *137 * High Street, Honiton, EX14 1LW ☎☎ 01404 423 12 Mere & Gillingham *High * Street, Gillingham, Dorset, SP8 4AA ☎☎ 01747 833 669 Minehead & District *10 * Wellington Square, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 5NH ☎☎ 01643 704 501 Plymouth *91 * Mutley Plain, Mutley, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 6JJ ☎☎ 01752 255 193 Reading & District *11 * The Triangle, Tilehurst, Reading, RG30 4RN ☎☎ 0118 945 3733 Swindon *39 * Regent Circus, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 1PX ☎☎ 01793 531 410 Truro & District *23 * Pydar Street, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2AY ☎☎ 01872 276 351 Weymouth & District *31 * Great Western Road, Dorchester, DT1 1HF ☎☎ 01305 213 358

Central Birmingham *Packhorse * Lane, Hollywood, Birmingham, West Midlands, B47 5DH ☎☎ 01564 822 020 88www.birmingham.cats.org.uk Friends of Birmingham Adoption Centre

Winchester & District ☎☎ 01962 883 536 or 01962 884 468 88www.winchestercatsprotection.co.uk

Find your local Cats Protection: 03000 12 12 12 • www.cats.org.uk

Derby *White * Cottage, Long Lane, Dalbury Lees, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, DE6 5BJ ☎☎ 01332 824 950 88www.derby.cats.org.uk Friends of Derby Adoption Centre Evesham *c/o * Dogs Trust Kennels, 89 Pitchers Hill, Wickhamford, Evesham, Worcester, WR11 6RT ☎☎ 01386 833 343 88www.eveshamcpl.org Hereford *Cobhall * Villa, Allensmore, HR2 9BP ☎☎ 01432 277 543 Friends of Cats Protection Hereford ☎☎ 07787 434 756 Mansfield *Mansfield * Road, Warsop, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG20 0EF ☎☎ 01623 845 846 Nottingham *The * Gate House, New Farm Lane, Nuthall, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG16 1DY ☎☎ 0115 938 6557 88www.nottingham.cats.org.uk Ashfield & Amber Valley ☎☎ 01246 825 165 88www.cats.org.uk/ashfield Bedford & Biggleswade ☎☎ 08442 496 911 88www.bedford.cats.org.uk Burton on Trent ☎☎ 01283 511 454 Cannock Area ☎☎ 0845 647 2189 Corby & District ☎☎ 08453 714 209 88www.cats.org.uk/corby Coventry ☎☎ 02476 251 491 88www.coventrycats.org.uk Derby & District ☎☎ 01332 206 956 88www.derbydistrict.cats.org.uk Halesowen & District ☎☎ 08453 712 062 88www.halesowen.cats.org.uk Leicester & District ☎☎ 01162 881 318 Lichfield & District ☎☎ 08453 712 741 88www.cats.org.uk/lichfield Luton, Dunstable & District ☎☎ 08453 712 746 88www.luton.cats.org.uk Mid Warwickshire ☎☎ 01926 334 849 88www.cats.org.uk/midwarwick Northampton ☎☎ 08447 003 251 88www.cats.org.uk/northampton North Birmingham ☎☎ 08452 601 503 88www.northbirmingham.cats.org.uk Rugby ☎☎ 01788 570 010 88www.cats.org.uk/rugby

The Cat Summer 2014

55

KEY:

Adoption Centre

South Birmingham ☎☎ 08453 711 854 88www.southbham.cats.org.uk Stafford & District ☎☎ 08452 601 509 88www.stafford.cats.org.uk Stoke & Newcastle ☎☎ 08452 601 385 88www.stoke.cats.org.uk Stourbridge, Dudley & Wyre Forest ☎☎ 08448 848 520 88www.cats.org.uk/stourbridge Telford & District ☎☎ 08542 601 502 88www.telford.cats.org.uk Walsall Borough ☎☎ 01922 682 005 88www.walsall.cats.org.uk Wellingborough & Rushden ☎☎ 08453 714 209 88www.cats.org.uk/wellingborough Wolverhampton ☎☎ 01902 651 173 88www.wolverhampton.cats.org.uk Worcester & District ☎☎ 01905 425 704 88www.worcestercats.org.uk Bedford & Biggleswade *12 * The Springfield Centre, Kempton, Bedfordshire, MK42 7PR ☎☎ 01234 840 827 Coventry *34 * Far Gosford Street, Coventry, CV1 5DW ☎☎ 02476 222 105 Derby & District *31 * The Wardwick, Derby, DE1 1HA ☎☎ 01332 360 080 *Institute * Buildings, North End, Wirksworth, Derbyshire, DE4 4FG Mid Warwickshire *27 * Regent Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 5EJ ☎☎ 01926 338 250 Pershore *Royal * Aracde, Pershore, Worcestershire, WR10 1AG ☎☎ 01386 550 440

Homing Centre

Downham Market *Wards * Chase, Stowbridge, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, PE34 3NN ☎☎ 01366 382 311 88www.downhammarket.cats.org.uk Bolton & Radcliffe ☎☎ 07760 780 759 88www.bolton.cats.org.uk Breckland ☎☎ 01842 810 018 88www.cats.org.uk/breckland Bury St Edmunds & Stowmarket ☎☎ 01284 850 887 88www.cplbury.org.uk Cambridge ☎☎ 01223 356 999 88www.cambridge.cats.org.uk Chatteris, St Ives & District ☎☎ 0845 647 2180 88www.chatteris.cats.org.uk Ely & District ☎☎ 01353 699 430 88www.ely.cats.org.uk Framlingham & Saxmundham ☎☎ 01728 723 499 88www.framandsax.cats.org.uk Grimsby & District ☎☎ 01472 276 600 88www.grimsby.cats.org.uk Haverhill & Stour Valley ☎☎ 08453 719 599 88www.stourvalley.cats.org.uk Horncastle & District ☎☎ 01526 388 535 88www.horncastle.cats.org.uk Ipswich ☎☎ 08453 712 069 88www.ipswich.cats.org.uk Milton Keynes ☎☎ 01908 318 810 88www.mkcats.org.uk North Walsham & District ☎☎ 01692 535 858 88www.cats.org.uk/northwalsham Norwich & District ☎☎ 08454 941 900 88www.norwich.cats.org.uk

Stafford & District *Market * Stall 48, St John’s Indoor Market, Stafford

Peterborough & District ☎☎ 08453 712 750 88www.peterborough.cats.org.uk

Stourbridge & District *27 * Lower High Street, Stourbridge, DY8 1TA ☎☎ 01384 422 208

St Neots & District ☎☎ 01480 476 696 88www.stneots.cats.org.uk

Wolverhampton *54 * Warstones Road, Penn, Wolverhampton, WV4 4LP ☎☎ 01902 338 013 Worcester & District *53 * St Johns, Worcester, WR2 5AG ☎☎ 01905 426 748

East Dereham *Hoe * Road Farm, Hoe Road, Longham, Dereham, Norfolk, NR19 2RP ☎☎ 01362 687 919 88www.dereham.cats.org.uk

Scunthorpe & District ☎☎ 01652 651 001 88www.scunthorpe.cats.org.uk Skegness, Spilsby & Alford ☎☎ 01754 830 621 88www.skegnesscats.org.uk Sleaford & District ☎☎ 01529 488 749 88www.cats.org.uk/sleaford Spalding & District ☎☎ 01775 725 661 88www.spalding.cats.org.uk Stamford & District ☎☎ 01778 571 343 88www.stamford.cats.org.uk Tendring & District ☎☎ 08453 712 742 88www.tendringcats.org.uk

56 The Cat Summer 2014

Branch

Charity shop

Waveney ☎☎ 08453 714 202 88www.waveney.cats.org.uk

Chesterfield & District ☎☎ 08453 712 754 88www.cats.org.uk/chesterfield

Cambridge *172 * Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 3LP ☎☎ 01223 566 997

Crewe & District ☎☎ 01270 588 710 88www.crewe.cats.org.uk

Grimsby & District *57 * Second Avenue, Grimsby, DN33 1NH ☎☎ 01472 277 520

Culcheth & Glazebury ☎☎ 01925 764 604

Ipswich *184 * Bramford Lane, Ipswich, IP1 4DP ☎☎ 01473 742 226 Lincoln *Unit * 6 Hykeham Green Shopping Centre, Lincoln Road, Lincoln, LN6 8NH ☎☎ 01522 682 877 Norwich *193b * Plumstead Road, Norwich, NR1 4AB ☎☎ 01603 438 820 St Neots & District *10 * Cross Keys Mall, Market Square, St Neots, PE19 2AR ☎☎ 01480 476 696

North Gildersome Homing Centre *Gildersome * Lane, Gildersome, Leeds, LS27 7BN St Helens *100 * Chester Lane, St Helens, Merseyside, WA9 4DD ☎☎ 01744 817 718 Warrington *14 * Elizabeth Drive, Padgate, Warrington, WA1 4JQ ☎☎ 03000 120 612 York *582 * Huntington Road, Huntington, York, North Yorkshire, YO32 9QA ☎☎ 01904 760 356 88www.york.cats.org.uk Atherton & Wigan Metro Areas ☎☎ 01942 888 693 88www.athertonwigan.cats.org.uk Barnsley ☎☎ 01226 762 658 88www.cats.org.uk/barnsley Beverley & Pocklington ☎☎ 01482 861 866 88www.bpcp.org.uk Blackburn & District ☎☎ 01254 260 107 88www.blackburn.cats.org.uk Boston & District ☎☎ 01406 424 966 88www.boston.cats.org.uk Burnley & Pendle ☎☎ 01282 693 400 88www.burnley.cats.org.uk Burscough & Liverpool Bay ☎☎ 0151 526 5999 88www.liverpoolbursc.cats.org.uk Calder Valley & District ☎☎ 01706 810 489 88www.caldercats.org.uk Carlisle & District ☎☎ 01228 540 330 88www.carlisle.cats.org.uk

Dewsbury, Wakefield & District ☎☎ 01924 261 524 88www.cats.org.uk/dewsbury Doncaster ☎☎ 07718 424 777 88www.doncaster.cats.org.uk Durham City & District ☎☎ 01388 720 689 Gateshead & District ☎☎ 0191 420 3180 88www.cats.org.uk/gateshead Halifax & Huddersfield ☎☎ 0845 647 2182 88www.cats.org.uk/halifax Harrogate & District ☎☎ 01423 889 598 Hull & District ☎☎ 01482 790 284 Lancaster & Morecambe ☎☎ 01524 850 112 88www.lancaster.cats.org.uk Macclesfield ☎☎ 0845 603 8138 88www.macclesfieldcats.org.uk North Sheffield ☎☎ 01142 456 371 88www.northsheffield.cats.org.uk North Tyneside ☎☎ 0191 296 3512 88www.cpnewcastle.co.uk Northumberland East ☎☎ 07749 713 142 (6–9pm) 88www.east-northumberland.cats.org.uk Preston ☎☎ 08451 770 708 88www.cats.org.uk/preston Rochdale ☎☎ 01706 522 440 88www.cats.org.uk/rochdale Sheffield Hallam ☎☎ 0114 327 0348 88www.catsprotectionshop.com South Wirral ☎☎ 0151 355 9813 88www.southwirral.cats.org.uk Stockport ☎☎ 0161 439 1274 88www.stockport.cats.org.uk Teesside ☎☎ 01642 589 090 88www.teesside.cats.org.uk Trafford ☎☎ 0161 610 2189 or 0161 969 0331 88www.trafford.cats.org.uk Wear Valley & Darlington ☎☎ 0845 313 4749 88www.cats.org.uk/wearvalley West Cumbria ☎☎ 01946 590 079 88www.westcumbria.cats.org.uk

Ways we help: Rehoming • Neutering • Raising awareness

FIND US

Wharfe Valley ☎☎ 08451 947 292 88www.wharfevalley.cats.org.uk

Fraserburgh ☎☎ 01771 637 744 88www.cats.org.uk/fraserburgh

Strathspey ☎☎ 08453 712 725 88www.strathspey.cats.org.uk

Giffnock ☎☎ 01416 385 110 88www.cats.org.uk/giffnock

Tain & District ☎☎ 08453 712 737 88www.tain.cats.org.uk

Glasgow ☎☎ 08453 712 722 88www.glasgow.cats.org.uk

West Fife ☎☎ 01383 419 975 88www.westfife.cats.org.uk

Huntly & Keith ☎☎ 01466 760 311 88www.cats.org.uk/huntly

West Lothian ☎☎ 08453 712 719 88www.cats-westlothian.org.uk

Clackmannanshire & Stirling *The * Marion Hunter Cat Adoption Centre, Ochivale Terrace, Fishcross, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, FK10 3HT ☎☎ 01259 720 555 88www.clackscats.org.uk

Inverness ☎☎ 07815 910 861 88www.inverness.cats.org.uk

Central Aberdeen *96 * King St, Aberdeen, AB24 5BA ☎☎ 01224 634 894

*101 * Queen Street, Morley, Leeds, LS27 8DW ☎☎ 0113 307 5228

Inverurie & Alford ☎☎ 01467 625 695 88www.cats.org.uk/inverurie

Dundee & District *102 * Foundry Lane, Dundee, DD4 6AY ☎☎ 01382 450 035

Isle of Arran ☎☎ 01770 820 611

Clackmannanshire & Stirling *The * Marion Hunter Cat Adoption Centre, Ochivale Terrace, Fishcross, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, FK10 3HT ☎☎ 01259 720 555

Newcastle upon Tyne *162-166 * High Street East, Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, NE28 7RP ☎☎ 0191 2627 377

Glasgow *Cardyke * Farm, Langmuirhead Road, Auchinloch, Glasgow, G66 5LD ☎☎ 0141 779 3341

Teesside *7–8 * Ramsgate, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, TS18 1BS ☎☎ 07432 379 292

Friends of Glasgow Adoption Centre

Barnsley *95 * High Street, Wombwell, Barnsley, S73 8HS Chesterfield & District *13 * Stephenson Place, Chesterfield, S40 1XL ☎☎ 01246 275 797 Lancaster & Morecambe *4-6 * Regent Road, Morecambe, Lancaster, LA3 1QG ☎☎ 01524 850 112 Leeds *Suite * 26, Bramley Shopping Centre, Leeds, LS13 2ET

Wharfe Valley *21 * Town Street, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 5LJ ☎☎ 0113 259 1120 York *13 * Walmgate, York, YO1 9TX ☎☎ 01904 620 361

Wales Bridgend *Green * Acres, Pant Hirwaun, Bryncethin, Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, CF32 9UJ ☎☎ 01656 724 396 Wrexham *Alma * House, Madeira Hill, Wrexham, Clwyd, LL13 7HD ☎☎ 01978 313 574 88www.wrexham.cats.org.uk Aberystwyth & District ☎☎ 01970 822 120 Colwyn & District ☎☎ 0845 647 2185 88www.colwyn.cats.org.uk Gwent ☎☎ 08453 712 747 88www.gwentsouthcp.org.uk Newtown & District ☎☎ 01686 670 277 88www.newtown.cats.org.uk Swansea & District ☎☎ 08452 179 648 88www.swanseacats.co.uk Colwyn & District *50 * Maldoc Street, Llandudno, Gwynedd, LL30 2TW ☎☎ 01492 872 427 Gwent *22 * Frogmore Street, Abergavenny, NP7 5AH ☎☎ 01873 857 770

Swansea & District *85 * Brynymor Road, Swansea, SA1 4JE Wrexham & District *11 * Lord Street, Wrexham, LL11 1LH ☎☎ 01978 266 300

Scotland Arbroath & Carnoustie *15 * Kinaldie Holdings, Arbroath, DD11 5SH ☎☎ 01241 434 605 88www.arbroath.cats.org.uk

Shetland *Gott, * Shetland, ZE2 9SH ☎☎ 01595 840 588 88www.cats.shetland.co.uk Alness & District ☎☎ 08453 714 204 88www.alness.cats.org.uk Ardnamurchan & Mull ☎☎ 01967 431 203 88www.cats.org.uk/ardnamurchan Barra & Uist ☎☎ 07050 121 586 88www.cats.org.uk/uist Caithness ☎☎ 08453 714 217 88www.caithnesscatsprotection.org.uk Central Aberdeen ☎☎ 01224 749 568 88www.catsprotection.org.uk Central Dumfries ☎☎ 01387 710 083 88www.centraldumfries.cats.org.uk Cumnock & Doon Valley ☎☎ 08453 714 219 Deeside ☎☎ 07837 342 660 88www.cats.org.uk/deeside East Neuk of Fife ☎☎ 08453 714 210 88www.eastfife.cats.org.uk Ellon & District ☎☎ 01358 721 204 88www.cats.org.uk/ellon Eskdale & District ☎☎ 01387 376 738 88www.eskdale.cats.org.uk Forfar & District ☎☎ 0845 647 2184 88www.cats.org.uk/forfar Fort William & District ☎☎ 01397 772 071 88www.cats.org.uk/fort-william

Isles of Lewis & Harris ☎☎ 01851 830 749 88www.cats.org.uk/isle-of-lewis Isle of Skye ☎☎ 07817 943 072 Lanarkshire ☎☎ 08453 714 213 88www.lanarkshirecats.co.uk Montrose & Brechin ☎☎ 08453 712 738 88www.montrosebrechin.cats.org.uk Moray ☎☎ 07837 342 646 88www.cats.org.uk/moray Nairn ☎☎ 08453 712 714 88www.nairn.cats.org.uk North Ayrshire ☎☎ 08453 714 218 88www.northayrshire.cats.org.uk Orkney Islands ☎☎ 01856 771 642 88www.orkneycats.co.uk Outer Aberdeen & District ☎☎ 01224 705 252 88www.cats.org.uk/outeraberdeen Peebles ☎☎ 0707 4357 228 Perth ☎☎ 08458 622 206 88www.perthcats.co.uk Peterhead & District ☎☎ 07791 834 226 88www.peterhead.cats.org.uk Renfrewshire ☎☎ 0141 876 4133 88www.renfrewshire.cats.org.uk South Ayrshire ☎☎ 08453 714 216 88www.southayrshire.cats.org.uk Stewartry & District ☎☎ 01557 339 233 88www.stewartry.cats.org.uk Stonehaven ☎☎ 01569 739 396 88www.stonehaven.cats.org.uk Stranraer & District ☎☎ 0845 371 2759 88www.stranraer.cats.org.uk

Find your local Cats Protection: 03000 12 12 12 • www.cats.org.uk

Dundee & District *102 * Foundry Lane, Dundee, DD4 6AY ☎☎ 01382 450 035 *5* Reform Street, Monifieth, Dundee, DD5 4BA ☎☎ 01382 534 316 Orkney Islands *85-87 * Victoria Street, Stromness, Orkney, KW16 3BS ☎☎ 01856 850 919 Outer Aberdeen & District *187 * George Street, Aberdeen AB25 1HZ ☎☎ 01224 658 565 Huntly & Keith *6-8 * Duff Street, Macduff, Banffshire, AB44 1TL ☎☎ 07847 395 017 West Fife *6* Arberlour Street, Rosyth, Fife, KY11 2RD ☎☎ 01383 417 548

Northern Ireland Belfast *270 * Belfast Road, Dundonald, Newtownards, Northern Ireland, BT16 1UE ☎☎ 02890 480 202 Friends of Northern Ireland Adoption Centre Armagh ☎☎ 07709 483 550 88www.armagh.cats.org.uk Coleraine ☎☎ 07792 699 416 88www.cats.org.uk/coleraine Downpatrick ☎☎ 07580 800 402

KEY: Adoption Centre Homing Centre Branch Charity shop

The Cat Summer 2014

57

Hello again, we hope you enjoy snuggling up with the spring Kids’ Corner. This issue, we have a lovely story from a girl who helped find a lost cat and colouring activities. If you’d like to send in a drawing, letter or email for the next issue, then contact us at The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT or email editorial@cats.org.uk with Kids’ Corner in the subject line. Don’t forget to tell us your name, age and address. The deadline for submissions for the summer 2014 issue is 13 June.

Colour the cat

Can you colour in these cats without going outside the lines?

Colour me in a cream shade Grey cat fact: Pale-coloured cats are most at risk from getting sunburn in strong sunshine, so make sure an adult puts waterproof, non-toxic pet sunscreen on your cat’s ears and nose.

Tortoiseshell, please!

Tortie cat fact: Did you know that it is very rare to find a tortoiseshell male cat? Most are female.

Colour me ginger Ginger cat fact: Ginger cats can be either male or female but ginger females are less common.

Use a black crayon for me!

Black cat fact: Around half of the cats in Cats Protection’s care across the UK are black or black and white.

Competition question: Are most ginger cats male or female?

You can send your answer in to competitions@cats.org.uk Remember to put Kids’ Corner in the subject heading, and to include your name, age and address. You can also enter the competition by post. Write the answers and your details on a postcard or sealed envelope and send it to: The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Sussex, RH17 7TT. Three lucky winners will get a JellyCat for themselves and a Kong prize for their cat! The deadline for entries is 14 July 2014.

58

The Cat Summer 2014

Thanks to Kong who provide our cats prizes for Kids’ Corner.

Kong design toys and grooming products for both cats and dogs. www.kongcompany.com

Artists’ alley

Thank you to this issue’s artists! Emma, Stephen and Celia win a JellyCat each and a toy for their cats!

Clockwise from right: Celia from London is three and a half years old and drew a very good picture of a cat for the magazine. Thank you Celia!

Seven-year-old Emma from Nottinghamshire has sent a picture of her cat Molly snuggling up in a hidey hole.

Five-year-old Stephen from London has drawn his black cat, Magnus, who was adopted from Cats Protection.

Detective Ruby!

Ruby, a seven-year-old girl from Windsor, recently helped a very upset cat owner to locate her missing pet. Both owner and the cat were overjoyed to be reunited. Ruby has written a short story about the adventure she and her mum had to find missing Lumi:

Lumi got lost I was coming home from school with my English teacher, Mrs Forster, and her daughter Phoebe. My mum didn’t answer the front door for a long time and I was wondering what had happened.

When she answered the door she told me that a cat called Lumi had got lost and the owner had put a leaflet through the door. Mum had just seen Lumi in the back garden on the wall!

Mum had tried to get Lumi down but she was too frightened to get down because Mum was a stranger to Lumi. Lumi ran into the next door neighbour’s garden and we couldn’t see her.

Mum called the cat’s owner’s phone number because it said it on the leaflet, that’s how we knew it. The owner, Becky, was overjoyed when she heard the news that Lumi had been in our back garden and that she was alive!

Becky came over immediately with some cat food and Lumi’s cat basket. She went into the garden and started calling Lumi’s name and shaking the cat food tin. We didn’t hear anything and we were really worried Lumi had disappeared again.

Illustrations: Rus Hudda

After a few minutes we heard some miaowing which sounded like it was coming from the next door neighbour’s shed. We knocked on the next door neighbour’s house. We looked in the shed but there was two ways out and we couldn’t get to her.

So we went back into our garden and we managed to see her through a hole in the shed where she was hiding. She came through back on to the wall and Becky managed to reach out to stroke her.

Lumi was really happy to see Becky and she knew that she was loved and she felt really safe. She was purring and cuddling into Becky’s hand. Becky got Lumi and held her tight. She then put her in the cat carrier basket and gave her some food. Lumi was really starving and ate it all up!

By Ruby Lily Brown Aged 7

Beck y, Lumi

and Ruby

The Cat Summer 2014 59

Share the love?

We know ‘thank you’ means a lot to our volunteers Just two small words – but they mean a lot. Help us show just how much we appreciate our volunteers by becoming a Recognition Support Volunteer.

Working with volunteers and staff, you’ll plan volunteer recognition activities and events in your local area – giving feedback on all the great things our volunteers do to help people and cats across the charity.

In return, you’ll meet new people, have fun and really make a difference! If you like working as part of a team, have good communication skills and enjoy celebrating with others, we’d love to hear from you.

Joining the team also means we’ll be on hand to support you every step of the way.

Our volunteers help thousands of cats and kittens each year, and in the last five years we’ve helped over one million cats – so join the team and help us to achieve even more!

For more information contact:

T 080800 19 19 19 (opt.1) E bsu@cats.org.uk W www.cats.org.uk/volunteer

Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) SC037711 (Scotland)

Remembering cats through helping others This section offers readers the chance to pay tribute to a beloved cat by helping others. Donations go towards pens for our branches, which help house cats and kittens while they wait for new homes. Please send your donations to: R emembering Cats, The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT. C heques should be made payable to ‘Cats Protection’. Tributes will be printed in the next available issue. Please note that this is an increasingly popular page and we cannot guarantee that your dedication will appear in a particular issue. Please print your tribute clearly to avoid errors (no more than 20 words) . Thanks to readers of The Cat, 315 pens have now been bought.

Remembering SMOKEY , Y (02.05.82 TONI and K – 21.12.94). Smokey and Toni used to gang up on Ky because he was a male cat.

After the summer of 1985 they got on well together. It is all a long, long time ago.

Gordon.

In loving memory of CUMFY , a loving friend, passed away August 1965.

Reunited with our mum and dad. Till we meet again.

Peter.

In loving memory of CINDY , a loving friend, passed away 24.05.83 aged 16. Asleep in her favourite garden. Till we meet again.

Peter.

In loving memory of BEN , a loving friend, passed away 17.07.05 aged 16. Asleep in his favourite garden. Till we meet again. Peter.

In loving memory of BOBBY , went missing 02.04.07. Greatly missed

by Peter and Mini. Till we meet again.

Remembering my darling girls, A MBER PTS 16.08.10 aged 21, NUTMEG PTS 19.04.12 aged 9, and JESSIE PTS 05.12.13 aged 9. Still crying. Violet.

Loving memories of Z ARA and others who lived with us over the years. Remembered forever. Love Mary and Alan.

OTO . Our darling little girl T missed every day. Your purrs are in our hearts forever. We love you. Mummy & Daddy.

R UPERT , aged 15, PTS

OFFEE and MERLIN , T FUDGE . Finally reunited at the Rainbow Bridge. Miss you all so much. Love you all.

Mum.

21.12.13. Our gentle white boy. Always remembered, especially basking in his garden. Jo, Brenda and Chlöe.

G INGER , EMMA , PURDIE , BLACKIE , P CRUFFY . You ERKY , S are our family and we love you more than ever. God bless, little ones. Mommy and Daddy and Isabella.

He galloped about and did good. Beloved MILO PTS 07.01.14. Greatly missed by Ian and Amanda.

In loving memory of T WIGGY 16.05.07. Loved and sadly missed. Always in our thoughts and hearts.

Love Mummy, Daddy, Leo.

B UTTONS HAMILTON (Puss) PTS 08.12.13.

Thank you for 14 years of wonderful friendship.

All our love – Anne, Clive and Sarah.

S PIKE 20.01.92 and W ILLIE 24.10.95. My best friends, remembered always – Gwen.

LITTLE MINNIE 19982014. Our tiny little pussycat, remembered with deepest love. Bob and Jan. Also little R OSIE 1998-2003.

S UZY 23.08.96 age 17 ½ and MURPHY 26.12.13 age 15 ½. Two very special angels that blessed our lives. Will be loved always and never forgotten. Angie, Mum, Nanna & Grandad xxx Our dear M EDALMAN 08.12.13 aged 22 years.

You came to us when you were sad and unhappy and gave us so much love. We will always remember you.

Margaret and Michael.

CHARLIE – a lovely gentle cat, PTS 03.02.14 aged 19 years. Loved and missed by all those who shared in his life. Forever in our thoughts until we’re reunited at Rainbow Bridge. Love Uncle Ray, Auntie Cynth and Sammy xx

Our darling T OBY aged 13 ½ PTS 31.01.14. Such a beautiful, kitten-like tabby boy. Always full of fun. We miss you so much darling. Mummy, Daddy and sister Sophie.

T IMMY July 1992 - 11 April 2012. Missing you very much, Kenneth & Linda.

In memory of beautiful boys

A IGGER , MBROSE , T OEY BRUNO , SOOTY , J and P ADDY and darling OPHIE , girls CHLOÉ , S S INKA – Mum USIE and T & Nick.

LUCY , May 1996 to 04.03.14 – a big black and white, very affectionate girl. Much missed. Linda.

E STHER – PTS January 2009, aged 16. Our lovely black-and-white girl – greatly missed.

In loving memory of TINA .

A gorgeous tortie and a fierce hunter. Missing you.

Love Petra xxx In loving memory of BETTY , our favourite uninvited guest. You became part of our family and we miss you so much. Gill, Stu and Magic x

The Cat Summer 2014

61

B k reviews Looking for a great book about cats? Check out our reviews before you buy...

When Fraser met Billy

By Jackie Morris When a cat sleeps, what does it dream about? This beautifully illustrated pocket book follows a sleeping domestic cat through its adventures as a tiger in the jungle, a leopard in the snowy forests of Russia and a lion in the heat of the African savannah. Inspired by her own cat, Pixie, author Jackie Morris visualises a world where your dreams are only limited by the imagination.

For those who are interested in learning more about wild cats, there are also fact pages which explain more about them and their natural habitats – which makes this book perfect for reading to and teaching a child about different species of cat.

Amy Rutter I am Cat (hardback £4.99) is published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (www.franceslincoln.com) ISBN 9781847805072

By Louise Booth Billy the cat was rescued from an abandoned house by Cats Protection’s Deeside Branch. Fraser was a two-year-old autistic child with a multitude of problems when he first met Billy but when Billy purred and laid his paws across Fraser they became inseparable.

Slowly but surely Billy has transformed Fraser’s life.

Fraser’s mother Louise has watched her son move from being a child prone to anxiety, tantrums and sudden emotional meltdowns to a much calmer, less moody four year old whose future looks a lot brighter.

In their home on the Balmoral Estate, Billy acts as Fraser’s guardian – never leaving his side at mealtimes and bedtimes or whenever he’s feeling low. Their profound bond has immeasurably improved their lives and the family’s and brought lots of hilarious and touching moments along the way.

There is a lovely video about Billy and Fraser on Hodder Book’s YouTube page which is well worth watching! http://bit.ly/1lnYUZW Petra Coghlin When Fraser met Billy (£7.99) is published by Hodder & Stoughton (www.hodderbooks.co.uk) ISBN 9781444769241

IN

Oh George, where have you been?

E RE O W TH S T E PI CO

I am Cat

By Debbie Burchell This book will appeal to the child within or any actual child, it’s fantastic! Written

by Debbie Burchell and beautifully illustrated by Emma Haines, it answers that particular question and shows what an adventure George embarks on every time he leaves the house. It makes you wish you could accompany your cat and have as much fun, oh to be a cat like George!

Francesca Watson Oh George, where have you been? (£7.99) is published by Fitzalan Publishers and can be purchased on Amazon or by emailing fitzalanpublishers@gmail.com. ISBN 9780957696105 We have three signed copies to give away, just enter in the usual way marking your entries Oh, George!

Books received

Landing on my Feet

By Adelaide Godwin An inspiring story of bravery, survival, endurance and love – Poohka is a Spanish cat who is accidentally scooped up by a rubbish truck and dumped miles from home. With the help of an irritable owl and a courageous mouse, Pookha must learn the true meaning of friendship and find his way home.

A wonderful book for animalloving children, L anding on my Feet is a moving read full of excitement and adventure.

Amy Rutter Landing on my Feet (£6.99) is published by Digital Leaf (www.digitalleaf.co.uk) ISBN 9781909428232

Know your cats by Jack Byard My Wonderful Life by Ann Wainwright Big Cats Little Cats by AJ Weaver and Tim Budgen Kittens by Ella Earle A Cat’s Tale by Gaynor Nalton

62 The Cat Summer 2014

Having a clean out?

ANSWERS

Donate your unwanted items to us and help cats in need!

Spring 2014 crossword answers Across: 1 Kiln, 3 Adorable, 9 Embrace, 10 Aided, 11 Staff, 12 Catgut, 14 Kitten, 16 Turnip, 19 Giggle, 21 Shove, 24 Enter, 25 Pretend, 26 Omelette, 27 Hard.

Down: 1 Keepsake, 2 Libya, 4 Drench, 5 Roast, 6 Bedouin, 7 Ends, 8 Baffle, 13 Splendid, 15 Thistle, 17 Ulster, 18 Despot, 20 Gorge, 22 Omega, 23 Zero.

Winter 2013 crossword answers Across: 1 Conspiracy, 7 Fan club, 8 Quid, 10 Ices, 11 Ultimate, 13 Answer, 15 Devour, 17 Examples, 18 Just, 21 Dull, 22 Leisure, 23 Cannonball.

Down: 1 Canoe, 2 Null, 3 Pebble, 4 Required, 5 Chicago, 6 Afrikaner, 9 Regretted, 12 Zeppelin, 14 Spatula, 16 Berlin, 19 Usual, 20 Lira.

This issue’s sudoku answers

Find your nearest Cats Protection shop in the ‘Find Us’ pages 54–57 (green addresses) or visit www.cats.org.uk/find-us Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

Natural Minerals,

Naturally Better.

The Pettex original formula helps create a more economical dust free cat litter, while the natural minerals have sufficient odour control to clamp down on those unpleasant smells, as if that wasn’t enough the unique super clumping properties allows the damp patches in the litter to form distinguishing clumps that can be easily removed and dispensed of with no trouble at all.

• Economical & Dust Free • Odour Controlled Litter • 100% Natural Minerals • Great Value for Money Available through all good retailers. * To see the range visit www.pettex.co.uk email sales@pettex.co.uk or call 020 8501 1033

Providing clear communications through design

For more info contact us on: info@rhinobytes.co.uk

Logos & branding Stationery Marketing materials

07929 034342 www.rhinobytes.co.uk

Annual reports Magazines Competitive pricing

The Natural Choice

for healthy digestion, skin and coat Hypo-allergenic recipes with all the nutrients your cat needs throughout life.

And recipes for specific needs: Oral Health Housecat Hairball Light No Cereal for extra-sensitive tummies

No added artificial colours, flavours or preservatives

Nutritional Advice: 0845 603 9095

www.wellbeloved.com Š Crown Pet Foods Ltd 2014 - All Rights Reserved.