Today is a special day for Felines 1st!  George, the 100th cat to be rehomed from our charity, has just gone to his new home.  It is hard to believe that it was less than 11 months ago that our 1st cat, Little Big Foot, was successfully rehomed.

The start up…

Last year, when we started the charity, we didn’t dare dream that we would reach this milestone quite so quickly.  This sort of success requires a lot of hard work.  Many late nights and weekends were spent researching how to set up a charity, agreeing procedures and protocols, and getting all of the paperwork in place to become properly registered.

Finding cats in need of help was easy…

Finding cats needing our help was easy – but raising adequate funds to make certain the cats we rescued would be securely housed, properly fed, and would receive the veterinary treatment they needed, is not.  Ensuring that we have enough money to care for our rescued cats has required innovative thinking and many long hours raising funds through various activities such as car boot sales and homing shows.

Cat rescue is a full time job…

Cat rescue for our dedicated volunteers is a full time job. Many times dinners have been left to go cold on the kitchen counter when responding to a call about a cat in need.  Days can be spent trying to trap a stray cat to prevent it from being run over on the busy road nearby.  There have been several all-nighters sitting with a young Mum in labour, to ensure that the kittens are delivered safely, and more than once we’ve had to rush a cat to the emergency vet in the early hours of the morning when medical help was urgently needed.  Not to mention the exhausting job of 2 hourly feeds 24/7 when kittens have lost their Mum and have needed to be hand-reared…

Raising awareness…

Getting the word out there about who we are and what we do is really important.  Updating the Felines 1st Website, CatChat, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feed keeps our valuable supporters up to date with our latest news, stories, and events, and showcases the cats available for rehoming.

Finding new homes…

It is important that we find the right homes for the cats we have in care.  This means getting to know the people who are adopting, and their specific situation and requirements, to make sure the cat is well matched to the new family.  For example, we wouldn’t rehome a timid cat to a busy and vibrant household, as the cat is likely to be stressed and would struggle to settle.  Likewise, we wouldn’t rehome a young kitten to a household where it would be left alone for long periods every day. Our home checks may seem lengthy, but this is for good reason.

Why do we do it?

The answer to this is easy.  There is nothing more gratifying than to see the miraculous transformation of cats that come into the charity scared, hungry, injured, riddled with fleas and distrustful of humans. With medical treatment, a warm bed, food, water, litter, toys, and lots of love and patience, these cats heal and learn to trust again. It never ceases to amaze us how forgiving these creatures are. The ultimate reward for us, however, is when we finally find them their forever home, where they are loved, and cared for, and are happy.

Thank you…

Our success has been thanks to the incredibly hard work of all our volunteers and the generous support from family, friends, colleagues, and our cat-loving community, particularly those who have been able to offer loving homes to these 100 cats. To everyone who has helped us to get where we are today, we say a very big “Thank you!”