With nearly 100 years of experience in feline welfare, we adhere to good welfare standards for every cat in our care.  We also offer guidance to cat owners on how to care for their own cats to ensure they are happy and healthy. CP works with thousands of cat owners each year and helps around 200,000 cats a year.

We conduct regular inspections among all of our volunteer fosterers who care for Cats Protection cats, to ensure they meet the charity’s standards. 

In the case of our Chair of Trustees, herself a volunteer fosterer, we found the 6 foster cats in her care were kept in a separate, clean and well-kept area of her house, away from her pet cats. All were happy, healthy and had sufficient resources for them to express their natural behaviour such as separate food and water bowls, scratching posts, hiding places and so on.  Such conditions are in line with Cats Protection’s guidance and therefore there are no welfare issues of concern.

In common with other CP fosterers, the Chair has undergone regular training and is aware of the health and wellbeing requirements for cats in her care.

Further, a sub group of Trustees carried out a review of the Chair’s cat ownership and concluded that no legislation in relation to cat welfare had been breached and no Cats Protection policies had been breached.

Charles Darley's departure

The contract with Charles Darley’s company BGD Consulting (UK) Limited was terminated by Cats Protection on 19 January. 

Code of Conduct

In terms of a code of conduct, we adhere to, and apply the principles of the Charity Governance Code and reviews its governance arrangements on a regular basis.

Our most recent governance review, conducted in 2019, did not recommend a code of conduct (such codes specifically address the behaviour and conduct of trustees in the discharge of their duties as charity trustees) but we continue to review our arrangements and we may decide to adopt a code as part of our future governance reviews.

For further information please contact Cats Protection’s Media Office on 01825 741 911, at media.office@cats.org.uk, or @CPMediaTeam on Twitter.