Two of the lucky ones...

Whilst getting a call to help out with trapping 5 cats at a garden center in Leeds, the caller also told us that 2 young cats has suddenly turned up, dumped over the fence one night, and there in the morning, fending off the 5 cats who's territory it was. Luckily the guy managed to coral the 2 new cats into a conservatory on site where he gave them food and water. They appeared to be about 10 months old, both very friendly and tame, and obviously 'unwanted', Why on earth someone would dump them over the fence we can only guess that they knew about the other cats there and assumed these guys would fit in.

The cats had clearly been pets and well looked after, so what drove someone to abandon them we'll never know. The manager of the site said the cats couldn't stay in the building they were in and if not removed from the site fairly soon, they would just pick them up and dump them somewhere else!

This is the guys in the Conversatory:

These guys couldn't get a break. I rang round everywhere to try and find a home for them,. but as with most charities at the moment, the Leeds ones are full the bursting with Mums and kittens, some weven being kept in people's bathroom until a better space comes a long. I really wanted these cats to be saved and not moved on again. I contacted Yorkshire Cat Rescue, in Howarth, where I regularly volunteer, as a last resort. I was delighted when the manager said they fell into an 'emergency' category and they would find space for them!!!

Last Tuesday I took them across and put them in their temporary pen, where they are now safe, well fed, and waiting for theur furever home.

Thank you YCR, you saved these cats lives and have given them a second chance. It turns out they are brother and sister... a quick trip to the vets is in order, we think :+}

Here they are in the temp pen, one one side and the other the litter area, on the right. The round 'hole' at the back/middle of the picture/pen is where they move between the two different sections.

Ginger Tom and proud... not anymore!

This guys has been 2 months in the catching, in Methley. His feeder rang and asked us to catch him as he was getting into all sorts of scraps and coming home battered and bruised. I organised to drop a trap off and we would set it up in the garage to try and catch him on a morning and then get him to the vets. As usual, his routine of turning up for feeding was erratic and when he did, he was shy of the trap.

He then started coming round on an evening and it was agreed we'd try then... no joy. Finally the week before last I got a frantic call around 9am to say he'd been trapped. As luck would have it the vets couldn't take him that day as they were full, so I arranged to collect him and keep him in the trap in my cellar till next morning when the vets could take him in. This was unusual, but there was no way we were going to be able to let him go and then re-trap him. I had a spare trap which I managed to attach to the one he was in, so he at least had the run of two trap lengths, plus food and a litter tray for his stay.

Anyway, next morning he was none the worse for being in stir for 24 hours, if a bit grumpy. He was snipped and back at his 'home' a day later, looking like he hadn't a care in the world, eating ham from his feeder's hand!

New YCR pens all finished and ready for cats!

This was a few weeks ago, but the new pen block at YORKSHIRE CAT RESCUE is now completed, and all ready for it's new occupants.

There are around 7-8 new pens, all but one with an indoor and outdoor section and when I visited last week all the pens were already filled either with single cats or mums and kits. It's alot more cleaning for the volunteers with almost double the usual pens, but it does mean they are able to have a lot more cats back on site now they are finished, plus they look great for people coming to view the cats for possible adoption and will be warm and dry for the cats in the winter.

The below pics are the day before the pens were filled, just as we finished off cleaning them out and getting them ready for their new occupants.