News
Another new year, so our best wishes to you all, and to your families and friends – feline and other - for 2010. As ever, our fosterers were delighted to receive Christmas cards with news and photographs of cats they have homed. We do value all these 'success stories' – and even rather sadder news, where a much loved cat has had to be PTS after many years in a good, caring home that we found for it. Philip and I have lost two of our own cats since Christmas 2008 – yes, both CP cats, one of them coming to us as a small kitten back in the summer of 1992 – but we are confident that they both had happy lives and were much better looked after than they would have been had they not come into CPcare.
2009 was busy year. We gained a new fosterer – Sue at Arlington, who introduces herself later in the newsletter – while Lisa and Richard are currently taking a well deserved break. Kay has taken over much of our cat welfare work, and Sarah and Beryl are sharing homing responsibilities. As ever, we are in great need of additional foster pens to cope with the never ending requests for cats to come into our care, but finding the right volunteers is always difficult, particularly as many people just don't understand what fostering involves.
In spite of there being less money around, our fundraising events have been very successful, although they make heavy demands on the time and energy of our volunteers, most particularly the indefatigable Beryl. We have also recruited some new fundraising helpers, and found that Sunday car boot sales have proved 'nice
little earners' for us.
We will be running a Neutering Campaign in the Spring. Inevitably, we always feel quite optimistic in the early part of the year – very few kittens, so perhaps the neutering message is getting through! – and then it starts raining kittens all through the late summer and autumn, making a considerable amount of extra work for fosterers and
expense for the branch. Our message to owners has to be 'neuter by six months', and we are always willing to offer financial support in the form of vouchers. After five gruelling years, Margaret has decided to step down as Neutering Officer, and Sheila, our Treasurer, is taking over the task of deciding what help we can offer to applicants and issuing the vouchers - pink for spaying (£26), blue for castration (£20), or, where the need is greatest, full cost (yellow).
Lydia Shelton - Co-ordinator (01271 860787 – General enquires)
11 Rooks Farm Road, Yelland, Barnstaple, EX31 3EQ
We have cats pictured on the "home a cat" page who are looking for a home.
Homing officer - Tel: 0845 371 4203
http://barnstaple..cats.org.uk
FUND RAISING 2009
The song says “Hear comes the girls” and that is exactly what happened at the Barnstaple Carnival held in September. Joan Walton and Jess (Anne Rooke) entered the carnival and won first prize in their category. They then paraded around the streets of Barnstaple and from what Joan told me Jess took a bit of handling. It seems Jess wanted to stop and “purr” at the crowd and got many laughs from her antics. So it is a very big thank you and a job well done to both of them for all their efforts. Our branch received £20.28 from the money collected at the carnival which was spilt between all the charities represented at the event.
2009 has been a difficult year financially for everyone but it always amazes me that when we hold or participate in any fund raising event our supporters along with the general public always manage to find something to put in our collecting box.
The weather played its usual part during the year and we were disappointed that we were not able to attend the Chumleigh fair or the Dogs Trust fund raising day because torrential rain prevented us from setting up our exhibition trailer.
During the summer months Ann, Lydia, my husband Dave and I were regularly seen at the local car boot venue at Pottington Barnstaple on a Sunday afternoon. It never amazes me just what can be sold. We also found that at the end of the afternoon we were often approached by other sellers who did not want to take back home the items they had not sold and would donate them to us. Dave would often raise his eyebrows and ask me “What have I brought home this time?” So with Spring just around the corner if anyone has any items (large or small) that you do not want please contact me as we are always grateful for any items that can be incorporated into our coffee
mornings or car boot fund raising events.
May I take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their help and generosity during 2009 and hope 2010 will be just as successful.
Dates for your diary:-
Thursday 18 March Fremington Coffee morning
Saturday 24 April Braunton Coffee morning
Beryl Lloyd - Fund Raiser
1 The Brittons, Braunton, Devon EX33 2HE
01271 812121
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
We do hope that you have all enjoyed receiving our branch newsletters with articles by our fosterers and homing officers, together with the lovely pictures of some of the cats and kittens that they have cared for over the past year. We also hope you were able to attend some of the fundraising events advertised .
Subscription renewals are due in January and the membership form for 2010 is enclosed . Could you please complete this and send with your subscription ( held at £5 as for 2009) to me at the address shown at the bottom of the form.
If you are able to include an email address (all information is strictly confidential) then not only does that help to reduce our costs but we are able to send all pictures in colour in this format. You will be pleased to see that there is no triplicate donation/Gift Aid form to fill in this year as once completed this form covers all future subscriptions and donations but please continue to indicate on our form if you would like to continue to Gift Aid your subscription (if you are a UK taxpayer .) Also please tick if you can help the branch in other ways. I will pass this information on to Beryl who organises our fundraising. The area we cover is extensive and we really appreciate offers of transport and help at fundraising events etc All monies are sent to me but Angela does all the hard work collating and sending out all newsletters and membership forms so a big thank you to her.
Sheila Masterman - Treasurer
BEING A FOSTERER
My name is Sue and I have recently become a fosterer for the Barnstaple & District branch of Cats Protection.
I started volunteering for the charity in September 2008. I had recently adopted two
abandoned kittens and was shocked at the treatment some cats receive before coming into the care of the Cats Protection. I began by looking after and updating the local branches website. From the outset I wanted to be a fosterer but had some doubts as to whether I could actually do it. My main concern was being tied to looking after foster cats 52 weeks of the year, which I knew would not realistically be possible, what with holidays, visiting family and work commitments.
I was also concerned that my own cats, being two males, would not appreciate other cats in their territory and may leave home, or even contract diseases from the foster cats. I discussed my fears with other Cats Protection volunteers who put my mind at rest, regarding both issues, as the foster cats are contained in a pen, which has polycarbonate lower walls, my own cats would have no contact with them and therefore could not pick up any illnesses and they wouldn't pick up the scent of other males. I also discovered that the job need not be 52 weeks a year, as we could plan around the times I would be away and make sure I didn't have any cats during that time.
So in September this year I had a double pen installed and within days I had my first foster cats. They were 2 male kittens 11 weeks old, which I had for just over a week and named them Whisky & Milo. They were adorable and I thoroughly enjoyed looking after them. The next day I collected two adult cats from their owner, who reluctantly had to give them up. One of these cats was 10 years old and for the first 4 days only left his bed to use the litter tray and was very subdued. I spent as much time as possible making a fuss of him and trying to coax him to eat, and on the fourth day on hearing my voice, he came out of his bed to greet me and rubbed against my leg, purring. I was so pleased, I thought to myself “this is why I wanted to be a fosterer”.
I have however, recently experienced the tougher side to fostering. I collected two male cats, 11 & 12 years old, both in a very neglected condition. Tiger had two perforated eardrums and blood and pus poured from both ears. He also cried with pain when his tummy was touched. Benjamin had several fractured teeth and also rotten one (which the vet had to remove) and infected gums. Both cats were put on antibiotics and Tiger was booked in for a scan to see what the problem was with his painful tummy. I bathed Tigers ears for 4 days and made a real fuss of him, I hope this, together with the antibiotics, eased his suffering a little. The result of the scan was that he had a large tumour around his liver and the vet recommended euthanasia, which was carried out that same day. I knew he was a very poorly cat but hadn't prepared myself for this, but at least he wasn't suffering any more.
I have had quite a few cats and kittens since and have found the only other down side to fostering, if there is one, is wanting to keep them all, especially the ones that have come from a bad situation and need a lot of love and attention. But it is getting
easier and I have started to be able to think about the next cat on the waiting list to come in rather than the one leaving my care.
The cat pictured on this newsletter is Benjamin - 5 weeks later - a healthy, happy cat
Sue Carder – Fosterer
Having read Sue’s article, if you think you too would like to become a fosterer, then please contact our branch co-ordinator on 01271 860787.
