Pleasing 4 Pets

A shelter which homes abandoned cats has been flooded with new additions as the declining economic climate in the UK drives pet owners to discard their pets.

The Cats Protection unit in the village of Nuthall in Nottinghamshire has the facility to shelter 30 cats but currently has 44 in house with a waiting list of at least 200 more.

The Deputy Manager at the unit, Debbie Heathcote commented:-

“There has been an increase in the number of people needing us – the phone calls have gone up dramatically.

We are starting to hear more that people cannot afford them.

This year will probably see more cats coming in.

This means the numbers on the waiting list will go up.

The quicker we can home the cats, the quicker we can get them off the waiting list.”

Over the course of 2008 the centre was home to around 84 stray cats, 33 abandoned moggies and 173 other cats whose owners decided that they were no longer able to keep them, mostly because they couldn’t afford to look after them.

The Cats Protection unit at Nutall covers the entire Nottingham area in addition to Long Eaton. Its doors are open from the hours of 11.00am until 3.00pm daily, including weekends.

For further information on Cats Protection in the Nottingham area call 01159
386 557.

Cats Protection is the largest cat welfare charity in the UK and currently provides help to more than 140, 000 cats and kittens every year though its nationwide network of 256 branches and adoption centres.

The latest scheme to be backed by the charity is one which will force all local councils to consistently scan all pets that have been injured or even killed on the UK’s roads to search for a micro-chip which will help the council to establish who the owners of the animals are an will allow the council to advise the owners of their pets fate.

The scheme, tabled in Parliament as Early Day Motion no. 279 will enable the owners of the many thousands of cats and kittens injured or killed by vehicles to be tracked down via a unique identification number held in the micro-chip, which can then be entered into a national database containing the owners contact details.

Any member of the public wishing to support the scheme can do so by writing to their local MP and requesting that they sign the motion, which will further improve the likelihood that the issue be considered in Parliament.

The Director of Communications at Cats Protection, Jane Wickens said of the scheme:-

“As a charity that microchips around 32,000 cats and kittens each year and advises distressed owners on searching for lost cats, Cats Protection is fully supporting this Early Day Motion.

If all councils routinely scan dead or injured cats, then it will at least take away the pain for owners of not knowing what has become of their beloved pet. I would like to urge people to write to their MP – even if your local council routinely scans pets killed on roads – because this will increase the chance of the issue being raised in Parliament.”