Battersea has been rehoming animals in want for greater than 100 years and whereas the organisation is well-known for its work with dogs, it now look after simply as many cats.
KentOn-line reporter Charlotte Phillips visited its Kent website to satisfy among the lovable moggies ready to go to their perpetually properties, in addition to the individuals who assist get them there…
At the time of my go to to the Brands Hatch website, there have been 16 cats and I obtained to satisfy three who’ve now all formally obtained properties to go to.
The first was one-year-old Smudge who joined his new household simply in time for Christmas. Things didn’t work out for him when he was beforehand rehomed by the charity, so it’s second time fortunate for him.
I additionally obtained to see one-year-old Piggy-Wiggy who was taken in by the centre after a change in his proprietor’s circumstances. He shall be going to his new home within the subsequent few weeks.
Finally, I met 10-year-old Helena, who got here to the charity’s care after her proprietor died.
The common period of time a cat stays at Battersea is 28 days. It additionally has a website in Old Windsor and its world-famous base in south London.
I spoke to Kathryn Davenport, cattery consumption coordinator at Brands Hatch, who mentioned older cats like Helena keep for slightly bit longer as “the majority of families want a younger cat”.
The 33-year-old defined: “We ask people to be very open-minded about older cats because we can give you all the information about its medical history.
“You can find a very healthy eight to 10-year-old that can be an absolutely lovely, social and friendly family cat. We ask people to see the cat for who they are rather than their age.”
Kathryn defined when a cat first comes into their care, they’ve an preliminary well being test with the vets.
“They’ll check their tummies, ears and eyes to make sure there’s nothing obvious they’re worried about,” she mentioned.
“We allow the cats around a week to settle and get used to their environment. We want to give them a chance to bond with the staff and to adjust to cattery life.
“Once they’re settled and we start to see their personalities, we start assessing them and get to know their quirks, likes, and dislikes. From that, we create a rehoming platform about the cat.
“We then run a matching process with that information, a little bit like a dating agency. We get to know the potential owners really well through a questionnaire and then try and match them with a cat that’s going to be best suited for both parties.”
Tonbridge resident Kathryn has been working for Battersea for eight years and was initially based mostly in London.
In her time with the charity, she has rehomed dogs and cats. The animal-lover even has a variety of her personal pets – together with three dogs, three cats, three rabbits, seven guinea pigs, twelve chickens and 7 sheep.
She mentioned: “I pretty much have always planned and dreamed to work in animal rescue. I studied animal management and got my degree. This is my absolute dream job.
“I own a very shy cat and when she comes and sits with us on the sofa I feel the love. They don’t need to give you much for you to feel that companionship.
“They’re so underrated and they’re so unique, every single cat. It’s such a rewarding job.”
She begins her day by ensuring the cats “haven’t trashed their pens” earlier than sorting their breakfast.
“We have a lot of bossy cats that demand their breakfast first thing so that’s our first priority,” she defined.
“While we’re doing that we clean out their pens and make sure they’re happy for the day.
“After that, we have some fantastic volunteers who will either have a morning or afternoon shift and they come in to socialise with the cats.
“The cats get a lot of attention throughout the day from staff and volunteers. What they get depends on what their character is like.
“Some of our older cats just like a lap to sit on so the volunteers will go in there and spend half an hour just reading a book to them and they’ll curl up on their lap and just enjoy the company.
“Then we obviously have some more active cats so the volunteers will go in with some toys and have a little play session with them.
“They get very custom interactions throughout the day depending on what they want.”
At lunchtime, the entire lights go off within the cattery so the cats can chill out – which Kathryn describes as “a bit like a nursery”.
Since 2022, Battersea has seen the variety of calls from folks trying to surrender their cats double throughout all its websites.
This 12 months, the charity has additionally seen a 22% rise within the variety of kittens coming into its centres.
Kathryn mentioned the rescue centre has undoubtedly observed the influence the cost of dwelling has had on pet house owners.
She mentioned: “We have seen a major increase in people needing to bring their cats and dogs to us because of financial reasons.
“We’re very lucky we have fantastic donors and the public keeps us going with their gifts so we’ve not had any issues looking after the cats in our care.
“But we’re definitely seeing it with having a lot more intake inquiries. Rehoming is also slowing down because people are considering whether they can afford to take in an animal.
“The majority are gifted into our care and there can be an array of reasons people need to gift their cats to us.
“We’re currently dealing with a lot of financial issues, there’s the rental situation at the moment, it can be own ill health. It can be a lot of reasons.”
Rehoming and welfare supervisor, Lisa Stockwell, mentioned: “Obviously it’s a really hard time for a lot of people at the moment and the cost of living is just one of the many reasons we take cats in.
“We are seeing some cats come to us because of that, but we’re here to help every cat that we can. They do come to us for a variety of reasons.”
The 35-year-old, who has been at Battersea for greater than eight years, added: “For me, it was the place that I wanted to come to, it’s world-famous and for me it’s everything I believe in.
“I make sure all the animals are getting the best care possible and that we’re looking for homes for them as quickly as we can so their stay with us is as short as we can make it.
“We want them to have suitable and loving homes to go to as soon as possible.”
Battersea has round 200 cats in its care throughout its three websites and the charity has roughly 600 volunteers, with 31 at Brands Hatch.
In December it celebrated its one hundred and fortieth anniversary of caring for cats. Since 1883, Battersea has taken care of 250,000.
Lisa mentioned: “We’re very well known for our dogs but we now rehome just as many cats.
“The way we care for the animals, what we do for people and how we help and find animals new homes is exactly what I want to be a part of. I feel very privileged to be able to do that here.”
