Help for mummy cat and her kittens at All Cats Rescue

We desperately need help to care for a new mum and her kittens which we have recently taken in.

They will incur a cost of almost £2,000 for us for everything they need until they are ready for rehoming, and we are asking for your help with this.

Please donate what you can to help us to help this lovely foursome.

The background on this is that we were actually already struggling with keeping on top of costs – especially for our resident cats (who are permanently in our care due to them having issues and/or disabilities). We had taken down the Contact Us facility on our website, and stated online and to fellower rescuers that we weren’t currently in a position to take in any other cats.

But then a large, well-known rescue organisation, who we had also made aware of our current position, gave out our personal / unlisted mobile number to a member of the public who had contacted them for help. The large rescue told them that they themselves couldn’t help, and said they should call us.

And so, the member of the public contacted us directly and told us of an unowned cat who had secretly given birth in their garden. Her kittens had only just been discovered, and were by now a few weeks old. No no one could get close to them, because they were classed as ‘feral’ at this stage… not ever being used to human contact.

What could we do?

It would be extremely difficult for an inexperienced member of the public to try and catch a bunch of wild kittens themselves – as they run away, scared at the sight of a human. And, if no one caught mum and kittens, then mum would be getting pregnant again (if she wasn’t already) and even the kittens could start making their own babies in another few weeks … creating more and more feral, unowned cats, who would be at risk of injury and disease (FIV), which is common amongst unneutered cats.

We therefore visited with our feral cat trap, and we collected and took in the mummy cat and her 3 kittens.

The kittens indeed need socialising. Getting them used to having human contact and company, and the sights, sounds and smells of a home environment, will ensure that they have a chance of a future as a loved domestic pet, rather than remaining feral and fearful of humans. Socialising involves a lot of time and effort for volunteers.

As for the costs… Well, mum and kittens will all need neutering, vaccinations and microchips, and will remain here a period of time before they reach the stage where they can be safely neutered. During their time here, they will eat plenty – the kittens are already on solids and need lots of food as they grow, and mummy cat still gets demands from her babies for milk, so she needs lots of food too to keep up her strength.

Then there is the additional, necessary expenditure, on things like flea and worm treatment, litter, bedding, cleaning products, etc.

We did ask for some help from the large rescue organisation, but this was refused.

We have no paid staff - unlike the large rescue, whose public accounts show them paying out tens (and also hundreds) of thousands of pounds in benefits to their management.

Our own cat rescue is pretty much run single-handedly.

Every aspect of the cat care here at All Cats Rescue is carried out on a voluntary basis, and any donations we are lucky enough to receive only go towards cat care – including vet costs, medications, flea and worm treatments, food and litter, etc. We don’t even use any donation monies for the fuel costs for all the collections or vet trips, and we mainly supply toys, cat trees and beds for the cats out of our own pockets... because we love to make our furry guests comfortable and happy during their stay.

We also make time to deal with our own admin and social media.

We can’t afford the big advertising campaigns of larger rescues, but when they have turned people away, we find that we are often called upon locally to help out.

We hope you can make a donation, however small, to help us out. If not, then please do share this page.

Our only purpose here at All Cats Rescue is to help with unwanted cats in need, but we cannot continue to do so without public donations and support.

Thank you. x