Adopt a cat! - Cats Protection

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Make this summer purrfect….
Summer 2015
Adopt a cat!
Are you looking to adopt a cat or kitten? We always have
lots of cats & kittens looking for new homes (page 6)
Don’t forget to
microchip me!
New research finds nearly half the UK’s
cats are not microchipped (page 8)
New research finds nearly half the UK’s cats
are not microchipped
Raise 4% instore
at Sainsbury’s
with the NEW Everyday Shopping Card.
(page 9)
Frome & District Cats Protection
Call: 07733 390345 Email: [email protected]
or visit www.frome.cats.org.uk
Page |1
BRANCH DETAILS:
Dear Friends,
Postal Address:
PO Box 3222, Frome, BA11 4XA
We were very sorry when Lucille found she was no longer
able to put together and publish our Newsletter. We
thank her very sincerely for all her hard work. We are
now very grateful to Linda Bradley who has kindly agreed
to take on this task for us.
Branch Contact No:
07733 390345
Website: http://frome.cats.org.uk
Email: [email protected]
Office bearers:
Co-ordinator: Pam Coward
Deputy co-ordinator and welfare
officer: Mandy Wescott
Treasurer: Geoff Booth
Newsletter Editor: Linda Bradley
Publicity: Suzie Kitley
Secretary: Sue Wheeler
Social Event: Lynn Frost
Public liaison officer: Ginny Parratt
To advertise in this magazine
(display ad or “smalls”) please
contact Linda Bradley at
[email protected]
Thank you for your support!
The first kittens have now arrived and we hope we will
not have as many as last year – we had 109! We have an
assortment of colours, black, tabby and grey and white
and hope that they will soon find good homes. See our
Homing Officer’s report on all the cats in care and waiting
to come in.
We have recently purchased a new state-of-the-art
gazebo, which will help our branch to be noticed at
events. Our head office Fundraising Officer, Rebecca
Worth, stated “Fundraising nowadays is more
competitive and has to be seen to be more professional.
We have to stand out against many other charities and
supporters of our branch will be able to seek us out at
events now, rather than just happen across the stall”. It
is a “pop-up” type and will create less manual work for
our fundraisers. We have lots of events planned for the
year and these are listed inside. We are very grateful as
always to all those who plan and help at events. We
could not manage without them.
Don’t forget that we have Branch Meetings on the third
Wednesday of each month, starting at 7.45 pm at Frome
Cricket Club, apart from the May and November
meetings which take place at Lakeside Garden Centre,
Crockerton, starting at 7pm and we do not have a
meeting in December. Everyone is welcome.
Pam Coward
Co-ordinator
“What greater gift than the love
of a cat?”
Charles Dickens (author, Great Expectations)
Page |2
FUND RAISING ACTIVITIES
7th February 2015 – Car Boot Standerwick
Ginny and I thought we would move on some of
last year’s bric a brac, and I had arranged to
meet her at her house at first light! – I was late,
not a good start on my behalf. When we got
there the car boot was well underway. We put
up the tables and got the stall ready in record
time. I don’t think Ginny had done a boot sale
before, it was rather cold but we had some
interesting conversations. You learn to become
a good listener, and we made some good
connections. We drunk our flasks of coffee to
keep us warm and at the end of the sale we had
made £50.50
28th February 2015 Pets at Home
Trowbridge
This is an annual event at Pets Home, a
difficult one to manage as it’s over 3 days. On
the Thursday I went over late in the day,
thinking it would be helpful to those arriving
first thing on Friday to have the table all set
up. This plan did not work as when Rosemary
appeared at 9.00 a.m. the next day she was
informed that the table was too big and it was
too close to the pet rabbits so the staff had
had to down-scale the slot. Poor Rosemary
spent the first hour re-arranging all the
merchandise. Lesley and Debbie joined
Rosemary a little later that morning and
stayed on to the afternoon when Pam arrived
to man the stall till I got there late
afternoon/early evening. On Saturday Diana
did the early shift with me and Ginny covered
the afternoon. Back we went again on Sunday,
for more of the same. We raised £170.00
7th March 2015 Combined event with the
Dogs Trust
14th February 2015 – Warminster Railway
Fayre
Eric our member in Warminster hosts this
event, and we are extremely grateful to have a
table just inside the door for no charge. Over
the years we have we have got to know the
regulars and they us, so it’s always a very
pleasant day. The Greyhound Society was also
there in the opposite corner, but our takings
were not affected by this at all, in fact we took
more than last year, and as an added bonus I
won one of the major raffle prizes! Jenny who
was unable to help at this event even managed
to get some railway related bric a brac and we
managed to sell some of her finds. Thanks to
Ginny and Kym for all their support. £160.80
raised
This was the big one – we chose the Scout
Hut at Welshmill for this event, with
hindsight I did book it for too long and the
venue although good was not quite in the
right position and there were problems with
the parking (I will learn from this for the
future). However there was a queue to get in
which was a good start. Members old and
new came and gave us a visit.
Ruth had her ever popular craft stall
supported by Lesley.
Page |3
Debbie was in charge of cat bric a brac with
Gwen, Margaret and Nina had a table full of
bric a brac.
Ginny, Diana and Ann made a brilliant
display of their merchandise using catkins,
they also gave the table a layered look.
The donated cakes for the café were a great
success. The cake stall was manned by Ann,
who over the years has made the job her own,
along with Pam.
Geoff was in charge of selling raffle tickets
with donated prizes from our members plus a
very generous prize of lunch for two at the
Royal Oak (this was won by Janice who
looked after the jewellery stall) and a very nice
lunch she had there, she later informed me
(thanks to Margaret and Peter who organised
that prize).
Mark from the Dogs Trust had a stall just
inside the door, it was good having him with
us and we hope to do something jointly with
him again in the autumn.
The café was very successful with Rosemary
leading, supported by Kym as the waitress –
clearing the tables etc.
Page |4
Suzie was in the cat costume. This cat
costume was from a new supplier sourced by
Ginny. The cat was called Hope, and it had a
pink tutu! Suzie was very brave to wear it as
the head appeared to be very heavy with a
harness inside. Lesley went down-town
with Suzie several times to drum up trade
and Ruth kindly went and collected them on
one occasion as it was a long uphill walk back
and hard work in the costume..
New member Alison also came and gave us a
hand, and we hope to have her with us again
in the near future. After lunch Ruth and Lesley
arrived, and gave us valuable support and
advice, and stayed to the end to do the worst
bit - putting away!
We raised £318.58 which once again was
more than in 2013.
To all members:
I am always looking for tombola prizes, good
bric a brac and items for Ruth’s Lucky Dip,
Tartan material also for Ruth’s crafts. Thank
you all for your continued support. Here’s
hoping for an even better year than last year
– look at the events diary to see where we
are next!
A magnificent £456.31 was raised so well
done everyone for all your hard work. Special
thanks to Roger and John who put up flags
and signs and lifted boxes out of the van and
took them into the hall and also to Lucille and
Kayleigh for arranging the art work for the
posters We did rather well when you
consider that we only had one hour to set it
up. Till the next time…..
21st March 2015 Not Just Pets Frome
Lucille, Kym and I went down to Pets at Home
on a Saturday as very generously the Pet Shop
allowed us to have a stall. We stayed until
about 2.00p.m and raised £131.86. It’s such a
help when we don’t have to pay to be there.
The tombola was a great success as usual
and everyone was very appreciative of what
we had on the stall.
Rosemary came along to give us her support
and helped most of the morning.
Page |5
13th June - Leigh-on-Mendip Summer Fair
- Dilton Marsh Village Day
- Frome Lions Club, Victoria Park, Frome
- Manor Farm Vets, Codford, open day
21st June - Wessex Midsummer Vintage Gathering at Semington on
A361 between Trowbridge and Devizes
4th July - Hinton Charterhouse village fete
18th July - Sutton Veny Flower Show
9th August - Cream tea social event
31st August - Corsley Show on A362 between Warminster and Frome
26th September - Annual Skittles match. The Royal Oak, Corsley at 7pm
21st November - Warminster Day, Three Horseshoes Walk, Warminster.
Page |6
WELFARE REPORT January – March 2015
During the period January to March, we took 27
cats in.
phone fighting off hordes of people who wanted
them.
We homed 39 cats (4 of which went to Ferndown
and 3 to Bridgend), unfortunately 3 died or had to
be put to sleep.
Just as I finished updating the system though, the
cat phone rang and a lovely lady asked if we had
any cats that were good with dogs. As it
happened these two had lived with a dog so I
gave her Simone’s details and it was love at first
sight. So I was able to update cat-a-log before
the rush and reclaim my weekend!!
Currently our waiting list comprises a total of 18
cats, 9 of which are strays.
This is the lowest it has been since 2009 and the
start of the recession and is particularly
miraculous since we have had several pens out of
action due to Hazel being poorly and Simone
having an operation. However, we are now well
on our way to having all the pens up and running
and maybe shrinking the waiting list even more,
although we are now heading full tilt into kitten
season.
Cats of interest over this period were:
Pillow and Ancient Egypt came into to us from an
Italian gentleman who was having to move and
could not take them with him. He described
them as black, white and grey boys aged 1 and 3
and I must admit that with my cloth ears, I
thought he said “Ancient Idiot”. My thoughts
were turning to what on earth could we rename
the cat….
And now a quick summary of the other cats we
currently have in care and still needing homes.
Lucy the blind girl who was mentioned in my last
report has found a semi-permanent home with
our new indoor fosterer Alison and has well and
truly got her paws under the table.
Ricky has a lovely black boy called Ringo, he was
found straying in Monkton Deverill. He is about 3
years old and has a super personality. He will
make a lovely family pet.
Ava is a pretty brindle tortoiseshell girl aged about
a year. She was found straying near to Nunney
and again would make a lovely family pet.
Picture 1 - Ringo 3 years old
Anyway, they were promptly taken to Simone
and imagine my surprise when the photo’s
arrived and there were two beautiful silver
tabbies (I also was put right about the name!).
So with much trepidation I put their photos onto
cat-a-log on Saturday morning knowing full well
that as soon as cat-a-log synced with our website
I would be spending the whole weekend on the
Mork and Mindy are 7 month old black and white
brother and sister. They came in from a multi cat
household and would like a home together.
(These have now been rehomed - Ed)
Page |7
Jazz is a young tortoiseshell female, who has
just had kittens so she won’t be available for
homing for a while.
Current cats waiting to come in:
Dennis - a 15 year old grey tabby whose owner
has had to move into very small accommodation
which is not suitable for him.
Mrs Doyle - a 7 year old tabby who is being
bullied by the other cats in her household. She
needs a home without other pets and is not
used to traffic. The owner would like to home
her direct without her coming into our pens.
JK – a 5 year old tabby and white boy whose
owner has moved and cannot take him with her.
Picture 2 - Jazz & Kittens
Tabitha is an 11 year old tabby and Fizz a
brown/grey and white 14 year old girl. They
don’t get on particularly well and so can be
homed separately.
Pixie - a 4 year old tabby girl who needs to be
homed away from Westbury as her owner has
moved and she keeps returning to her old
address.
Morpheus and Jasper – a pair of
Burmese/Bengal cross boys, one black and one
black and white. Morpheus has a condition
called Pad Foot which means he needs a
quarterly injection which costs about £40. They
are fine with other animals but not children.
Their owner has passed away.
A mum cat and her 2 kittens who have been left
with a gentleman by his ex-wife.
Picture 3 - Tabitha 11 years old
Adopt a cat
If you looking to adopt a cat or kitten? We
always have lots looking for new homes. Even
if you don't see a cat here that you'd like to
adopt, call us anyway as we might have your
purrfect match which has not yet been listed
Picture 4 - Fizz 14 years old
Call on 07733 390345
or email [email protected]
Page |8
LATEST NEWS
Water Butt danger
A very sad story this week and a warning of the dangers of
open water butts, not just to cats but to all animals.
A cat was brought into our local vets having been found
dead in a water butt. The poor animal had fallen into an
uncovered water butt and had no means of escape.
Please, please ensure all water butts & wells are securely
covered so another poor animal doesn't need to drown in
such an appalling way.
New research finds nearly half the UK’s cats are not microchipped
We are urging pet owners to microchip their animals during
National Microchipping Month (June) following recent
research which found that nearly half of the UK’s owned cats
are not microchipped.
The survey, which was conducted jointly with the Pet Food
Manufacturers Association, discovered that out of the UK’s
7.4m owned cats, only 4.1m are microchipped. It also looked
at regional variations and found that Scottish cat owners are
the least likely to microchip their cats (only 32 per cent) and
the South East the most likely (at 69 per cent).
New Government rules stipulate that all dogs in England must
be microchipped by 2016 so the argument for getting a pet
chipped is stronger than ever.
“This National Microchipping Month we’re urging people to put the safety of their pet first and get them
chipped,” said Karen Thompson, deputy manager at the National Cat Adoption Centre. “The procedure is
simple, relatively painless and essential to ensure the ongoing welfare of a family pet. The cost is minimal
but the joy felt by an owner when their pet is found is priceless.”
Read more about microchipping at www.cats.org.uk/cat-care-microchipping
Page |9
Sainsbury’s lends their support to Cats Protection
You can now shop in store using an Everyday Shopping Card and
Sainsbury's will donate four per cent of your spend to Cats
Protection without costing you a penny.
The Everyday Shopping Card is a great way for you to support us
when you’re stocking your cupboards and buying your weekly
essentials. Simply request a card by visiting give.as/catsp3. When it
arrives you can upload funds to your card online and Sainsbury’s will
donate four per cent of your upload amount to Cats Protection. It
won’t impact your balance as it’s a free donation from Sainsbury’s to
us!
You can then shop in store at any Sainsbury’s store and use the card as payment at the checkout. The card
can be topped up online with any amount from £50 to £1,000 as often as you like. Just think, if you spend
£100 in store each week and pay using an Everyday Shopping Card, Cats Protection would receive £4 free –
that’s over £200 per year raised for us to help the many cats in our care, without costing you a penny. So
please register today and support us when you shop at Sainsbury’s.
Sign up on line today!
To sign up online simply go to
www.cats.org.uk/support-us/lottery
and enter your details on the form.
Once you have completed the form
you will be redirected to another
form to process your payment
details and complete your
subscription.
You can also enter by calling our Weekly Lottery Helpline on 01628 825 928 or download our lottery form
and post to: Freepost RTJY-JUCB-AATE, Cats Protection, PO Box 1127, MAIDENHEAD, SL6 3LN. For full
terms and conditions please see the website.
Do you have any news or stories which we could put in our
newsletter, if so we’d love to hear about them?
Please email Linda Bradley on lb.7@ btinternet.com so we can
share your tales.
P a g e | 10
WORMS & WORMING YOUR CAT
The most common intestinal worms cats get are
called roundworms and tapeworms.
Most infected cats do not show signs of having
worms; however, heavy burdens of worms can
cause weight loss, vomiting and diarrhoea,
irritation around the anus and failure to thrive.
Importantly, while worms can sometimes cause
problems for the cat itself, some worms can also
be passed on to humans and on rare occasions
can be a cause of serious human disease. For
these reasons, regular treatment of cats and
kittens to prevent or eliminate worms is very
important.
Roundworms are the most common intestinal
parasites in cats and occur in cats of all ages
throughout the world. Eggs from these worms
are passed in the faeces and can remain viable in
the environment for several years. These eggs
can infect other cats in two ways. First, a cat may
eat eggs directly from a contaminated
environment or secondly, if another animal eats
the eggs, for example, a mouse or a rat, these can
act as “intermediate hosts” and pass on the
infection to a cat if it preys on and eats the
infected intermediate host.
These infections can also be passed from mother
cats to kittens through the milk she produces and
we should assume that every kitten will be
infected as a result. Pregnant cats can be treated
for fleas and worms, which would prevent the
kittens being infected. Your vet will advise on the
correct treatment for worms in kittens.
Tapeworms are generally long fat worms
composed of many segments. Mature segments
containing eggs are released from the end of the
tapeworm and are passed in the faeces. These
segments often resemble grains of rice and can
sometimes be seen on the hair around the anus
of the cat, in the faeces and on the cat’s bed.
It is therefore very important to treat your cat
regularly for worms.
Tapeworms are only usually a problem in older
cats, unless a kitten also has fleas. Treat adult
cats (over 6 months of age) every 1 – 3 months
with a product that is effective against both
tapeworms and roundworms.
P a g e | 11
WOULD YOU LIKE A FRESH CHALLENGE?
Frome & District Cats Protection branch is
appealing for people who love cats and fancy a
new challenge to volunteer for the Charity.
People from all walks of life are encouraged to
contact this branch which provides an essential
cat rehoming service in our local area. We have
some lovely cats and kittens in care awaiting a
second chance in life. For information on giving
an unwanted cat a home, please contact Mandy
on 07733 390345.
Cats Protection is the UK’s leading feline welfare
charity. Our branch is part of the charity’s
nationwide network of 253 volunteer-run
branches and 29 adoption centres that together
help 193,000 cats each year.
Around 7,000 volunteers across the UK fill a
variety of roles including book-keeping, home
visiting, helping at events and public relations;
giving them the opportunity to help cats, meet
like-minded people and be part of a truly
worthwhile cause!
Volunteering for Cats Protection is a fun and
rewarding experience, particularly if you have a
skill that would benefit the charity or would like
to develop new skills by taking on a fresh
challenge. Our volunteers gain a great deal of
satisfaction helping cats get a second chance in
life. We work hard to match people’s skills,
interests and time availability to the roles on
offer so if you have something to contribute,
please get in touch!
We particularly need volunteers to carry out
home-checks and also to help at events. Please
contact Mandy on the above-mentioned number
if you feel you can help.
P a g e | 12
FINANCIAL REPORT JANUARY TO APRIL 2015
Bank Balance 31 December 2014 £ 7101.82
Income to April 2015 £ 7718.59
Expenses to April 2015 £ -12358.39
Bank Balance 30 April 2015 £ 2462.02
INCOME
Other HQ £ 1079.25
Adoption Fees £ 4379.21
Fundraising £ 2260.13
Total Income £ 7718.59
Geoff Booth
Treasurer
EXPENSES
Cat Care Costs £ 6606.66
Branch Running Costs £ 1490.57
Branch Shelter Costs £ 3545.21
£ Fundraising
1079.25Costs £ 715.95
£
4379.21
Total
Expenses £ 12358.39
£
2260.13
£
7718.59
P a g e | 13
JUST FOR FUN, WHY NOT TRY OUR CAT WORD SEARCH!
Words can go horizontally, vertically and diagonally in all eight directions.
Words may overlap and share 1 or more letters
Y N X M K X V M A Q B F R Z C W H K N X G K T T A
B I Y R Q K P G Z M L Y J N L H L R S N C R D T M
B K T O N K I N E S E T N L A L A A L R H C H Z E
W H E S E N I L A B X R R A D Y V U N G L D Z C R
M C R X D W L T F Q F Z I L F A A E S T K D C R I
Y N Y Y H O N E Y B E A R C N F B L A I E L D U C
D U J M L L O D G A R M R N A E
I C A V E Q Q S A
A M E R I C A N B O B T A I L N W T O M T H E S N
T F H H K R N D N K Q T T U K O S N H A I S N I W
R M T N K K A L P I N M N S N L R H R P E H A A I
L T L Z M F I B T B F G A S A E A O O M M B M N R
N W O R B A N A V A H F N I X F K G R R N B R B E
G F N Z J
L I E K R M A U K N A A U N M T T I
L H
E L C K J P S L F W K C B M N E B R T E N H B U A
S C R M P E S T L S G Y G G A F C W I N B Q A E
I
E H B N M R Y R A C R M O X N G Z O R M F L N I R
N F Y A B R B L M R Q R T T J K A J O K Y D V L R
A T I F K X A T A Q A I G K P Q M R R N R V T W L
V S J K Y H P V N S Q C C H A N T
A L R M T D T D X R C R T K R L
J P V C Y C N A I
Abyssinian
Alaskan Snow Cat
American Bobtail
American Shorthair
American Wirehair
Angoras
Balinese
Bengal
Birman
I
L L Y N K M Y
J V M R R Y H B B
S R E P N S N O W S H O E B G T
Burmese
Chantilly
Chausie
Cymric
Devon Rex
Havana Brown
Himalayan
Honey Bear
Javanese
Korat
Maine Coon
Manx
Munchkin
Nebelung
Persian
Ragamuffin
Ragdoll
Russian Blue
Safari
Savanna
Siamese
Snowshoe
Tiffany
Tonkinese