Garden Cats Project: Could you give a home to a pair of inbetweener cats?

 

 

What are inbetweener cats?

Inbetweener cats exist somewhere on the spectrum between domestic and feral cats. Truly feral cats are essentially wild animals who will seek to avoid any human interaction, whereas fully domestic cats have experienced positive interactions with humans before they are 8 weeks old, and are consequently what is termed as ‘socialised’ - meaning they enjoy being stroked and sitting on laps etc. Inbetweener cats usually live outdoors, and are comfortable residing in proximity to humans. Many are regularly fed by people and will form a bond of trust with their feeders, but will usually shy away from being touched.

When we’re contacted for help with inbetweener cats, wherever possible we carry out TNR (trap, neuter, return). This is by far the best outcome for the cats, as neutering limits their numbers and vastly improves their quality of life, and returning them to a familiar environment keeps any stress involved in the trapping and neutering process to a minimum.

Can you give a home to an inbetweener cat from New Cross, SE14?

However, occasionally it isn’t safe for inbetweeners to remain where they are, and that’s when we make the decision to relocate them. We’re currently carrying out TNR on a colony of inbetweener cats living on some waste ground in SE14. A kind local resident is feeding the cats in her garden and they are entirely dependent on her for food. We need to relocate these cats as the land they’re living on is earmarked for development and the feeding source won't be available long term. Their current home is surrounded on all sides by busy main roads, so if they try to disperse naturally to seek alternative food sources they are at high risk of being run over.

We need your help!

We’re looking to home these cats in pairs to large gardens in the area.

• You will provide them with a place to live and daily food and water.
• We will provide a temporary relocation pen, and a permanent shelter (if needed) for the cats.

The SE14 inbetweeners are confident enough with their feeder to come running for their dinner when she calls, are all happy to hang around with her while she’s in the garden, and several will venture inside her flat. They’d love to come and live in a garden where there’s scope for them to spend time with their owners, should they choose, but with no expectation of them ever to behave like fully domestic cats.

Contact us

We’re able to provide plenty of advice about living with and caring for inbetweeners. If you’d like to find out more, please drop us an email to enquiries@blackheath.cats.org.uk or use the contact form on our site. One of our volunteers will be happy to call you for a chat.