From major donors to charitable trusts and foundations, you're helping us to make a difference. Whether that's supporting our core mission as a charity or funding specific projects such as our Lifeline service.
From major donors to charitable trusts and foundations, you're helping us to make a difference. Whether that's supporting our core mission as a charity or funding specific projects such as our Lifeline service.
With most refuges unable to accept pets, people experiencing domestic abuse often feel trapped through fear of their cats being harmed, or even killed, by their abuser if they leave them behind.
Cats Protection Lifeline is a free and confidential service that supports people to flee domestic abuse by giving temporary, loving foster homes to their cats until they can be safely reunited. This ensures that fear of leaving a cat in a dangerous situation is no longer a barrier to seeking safety.
In 2023 we expanded the service from the South East of England into Yorkshire, East Anglia and the Midlands, and helped 366 cats and 229 survivors escape domestic abuse. This year, we are extending further across the UK, including Scotland and Wales.
The expansion of Lifeline is being kindly supported by a three-year grant of £315,000 from the Pets Foundation. To help us continue increasing the number of survivors and cats we can help, we need more major donors to come on board.
Sarah*, who was supported by Lifeline, along with her cat Domino, said: “When I found Lifeline, I couldn’t believe what I was reading, that it was specifically for domestic abuse. Knowing that our little baby was okay was worth its weight in gold. I couldn’t believe there were so many nice, kind people that you don’t even know are there because I’d been shut off from the world for so long.”
*Name has been changed to protect the survivor’s identity.
Cats come to us in a variety of different conditions. In some cases, they need to be kept in isolation while they receive treatment, to ensure any infectious diseases do not spread to other cats in care.
In 2023, thanks to a generous donation of over £200,000 from a private trust, our West Midlands Cat Centre was able to replace its old isolation wing, which was no longer fit for purpose, with a new unit built to our high cat welfare standards.
Among the first occupants were four tiny kittens suffering with ringworm and cat flu. They were brought to the centre by a concerned member of the public who found them in his garden and realised they needed urgent care.
Paula Beswick, Deputy Centre Manager, explains: “When we opened the box, we found that the kittens, who we estimated to be around six weeks old, were covered in ringworm and suffering from cat flu. One of the kittens was in a collapsed state, meaning he was unresponsive. It was the worst case that we have ever seen at the centre. It is almost certain that without these kittens coming into our care, they would not have survived much longer outdoors.”
Ringworm is extremely contagious to other animals and humans. The spores that cause the infection are very robust and can remain in the environment for up to two years. The siblings were cared for in the new state-of-the-art isolation unit, with employees wearing extra protective clothing when handling them to ensure they didn’t contract the infection or spread it to other cats.
The kittens, who were named Rosie-Cotton, Pippin, Merry and Sam after characters from J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings, were nursed back to health over a period of six months and made a full recovery. They are now enjoying life in their new homes, with Rosie-Cotton and Merry living happily together.
Flexible, or unrestricted, funding is vital to Cats Protection as it allows us to respond to changing circumstances and emerging priorities by assigning the spend where it is most needed. This has been more important than ever in recent years, both during the pandemic and through the current cost-of-living crisis, which is putting increasing pressure on pet owners.
In 2023 we piloted Community Kitty, which saw nine volunteer teams and centres partnering with local organisations to help cat owners during times of hardship access free food for their cat to prevent relinquishment. After a successful pilot we have expanded Community Kitty to 30 locations across the UK.
We are working to improve the welfare of all cats by ensuring a balanced cat population. We educate cat owners on the benefit of neutering their cats and support them through subsidised neutering and microchipping. This not only improves the health of the cat and prevents unwanted kittens from needing rehoming, but also alleviates some of the financial burden on the owner. Last year alone we helped neuter 157,000 cats through our subsidised neutering programme.
Our neutering work doesn’t just support owned cats. We also deliver a national trap, neuter and return programme which is the most effective way to control and improve the welfare of feral populations. Last year we helped neuter around 12,000 cats through our regional Community Neutering teams and volunteers who work closely with local communities where there are lots of unowned cats.
We are hugely grateful to funders who support these areas of our work, and so much more, to help us achieve our vision of a society where every cat has their best possible life because they are protected, cared for and understood by everyone.
If you’d like to help us make a better life for cats, please contact the Philanthropy team on 01825 741 007 or email them at: philanthropy@cats.org.uk