Lewisham Branch - Rescue and Rehoming

Our day-to-day tasks involve rescuing injured strays, trapping feral cats for neutering, collecting pets for neutering or treatment (where their owners can not bring them to us) and dealing with cruelty and neglect cases. There is a steady stream of requests from the public to rehome their unwanted pets. Some cases are genuine - death of an owner, a new baby being allergic etc. However, the majority of requests are the result of an irresponsible decision to acquire a pet in the first place. In today's materialistic society, peoples' ever-changing lifestyles are often not suited to keeping a pet for 15, or more, years. The message that a cat or a dog is for life needs to be reinforced constantly.

Each year Lewisham Branch rescues and rehomes around 900 animals. We are also constantly neutering and returning colonies of feral cats and assisting with welfare cases and neutering and treatment of cats in multi-cat households and for owners who cannot get to us or need more support to enable them to care for their pets properly. However those we haven't managed to help due to being full to capacity and lack of time are always on our minds, at this time of year whilst it is not kitten season we go back over old calls for help to assist any we had not reached during the busy months of kitten season.

WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEER HELP WITH RESCUE WORK. Could you assist with rescue calls in your local area?
Ways you could help include being part of a feeding rota for a feral colony or helping with observing a newly reported colony, identifying cats prior to us trapping and neutering. Assisting with door to door leafleting to seek the owner of a stray cat or gather information on local strays or to promote neutering of local pet cats.

Assist with trapping feral cats and/or learn basic trapping skills so that you can assist with trapping feral cats for neutering in your area.

If you can drive you may be able to help transport cats to the clinic, respond to an emergency call to collect a sick or injured stray and bring it to the clinic. Help deliver supplies to foster homes.

Frustration

We are daily frustrated by some peoples' excuses for being unable to keep their pets. A typical week's calls will include several people who are moving, often giving us less than 24 hours notice. Many wrongly advised pregnant women want to 'get rid' of their cats as they think they are unhygienic and a health or safety risk to their baby. Some of these callers can be reassured that, by following basic hygiene precautions and using a safety net on the cot, there is no need to part with their pet. We are also contacted by callers who want us to take their cats because they are scratching their young children. These cats are usually fed up with being pulled about by unsupervised toddlers and are just showing that they can tolerate no more. In a peaceful environment, their behaviour is entirely different.

An Unhappy Cat

Many callers have cats that are being dirty in the house. A cat urinating or defaecating in the wrong place is usually an unhappy cat. By talking to people, we can try to identify the cause of the problem, and suggest ways to restore a happy household.

If people call us needing help and advice, we do our best to support them to enable them to keep their pet unless we feel that the animal is at risk or it would be in the animal's best interest to be rehomed. Many people, though, remain adamant that the pet must go, and our staff have to prioritise these cases. Some callers are honest and tell us they are just fed up with their pet, don't like it any more, don't want the new carpet or leather sofa scratched, etc. A few callers are downright nasty and issue threats, i.e. unless we go there immediately, they will throw their pets out on the street, off the balcony, or drive out somewhere and dump them or harm them in some way.

Scared of Humans

Numerous litters of kittens are discovered living in peoples' back gardens, usually appearing from under the shed. Many kittens are not discovered until the mother appears with them at 5 or 6-weeks old looking for food, or bringing them to the food source. A kind person, who has been feeding what they think is one stray, discovers they have a family on their hands. By this age, the kittens, due to the lack of handling, are scared of humans, and the older they get, the more nervous they become.
Once in our care, we then begin handling and socialising them. Literally hundreds of kittens born outdoors come into CHAT's care every year.

Bereaved Pets

Alongside our rescue work and at the request of local housing authorities, mental health teams and the police, we take in animals left behind after pet owners have been evicted, sectioned, or have died. We also assist to resolve conflicts between Environmental Health Inspectors, housing departments and pet owners whose animals have been reported as a nuisance. We help with neutering, treatment and rehoming if necessary, and continue to monitor the situation and provide support if the animals are to be returned to the owner.

In the case of animals left after the death of their owner it is surprising that so many people make no provision for their pets should anything happen to them. All too often quite elderly and infirm people actually take on young animals that they know will far outlive them. If no arrangement has been made with for instance a relative to rehome the animal after their death, then they are being really irresponsible.

Abandoned Animals

Sometimes, we know nothing about the animals at all. Sadly, animals are still left on our doorstep and are discovered in the morning, or there is an extra basket on the bench at the end of a vaccination clinic. Rarely is a note left with these animals, so we can only guess their history. We have a notice on our front door, pleading with people not to leave animals outside our clinic, but to come inside or ring us, no matter what the time. Our main concern is what happens to the animals if we are not the ones who find them, or if they escape from their containers.

Hand Reared

Some of the cats and kittens arrive needing intensive care. Tiny orphaned kittens need careful hand-rearing, feeding and toileting every two hours, day and night. Sick and injured cats and kittens also require care around the clock. At times, everyone involved in rescuing and rehoming feels frustration and despair with what often seems to be a never-ending task.

Through neutering clinics, we attempt to bring the unwanted animal situation under control. We feel we really have seen an overall improvement ~ however, all the time there are irresponsible pet owners, there will always be unwanted, abandoned and stray animals needing help, and we must be there for them.

The sense of achievement we experience when we see rescued animals restored to health and happily settled in new homes, trusting and secure with their new families, will always spur us on to continue CHAT's essential work.

We can rescue them only you can save them.
Help Save a Life Today, please donate
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A DISTRESSING DISCOVERY

12 kittens were rescued from a garden following an urgent call for help. An elderly lady had kindly been feeding stray cats in her garden. She had poor eyesight and was unaware of how many cats were living in her garden and that the kittens were very unwell with cat flu.
Her overgrown garden was surrounded by high fences and neighbours had not noticed the adult cats visiting the garden.

Nowadays catflu although unpleasant is treatable with careful nursing and medication to help relieve symptoms such as eye infections, ulcerated tongues, sneezing, nasal congestion and loss of appetite. These kittens did not receive veterinary care and consequently they became very sick. Sadly four kittens had died before we were called. Tiny kittens (tweedledee and tweedledum)were discovered with their eyes sealed shut with infection. Our rescue staff literally picked them out from where they were huddled up with their dead siblings bodies.

Six of the surviving kittens were suffering with very badly ulcerated eyes. Some eyes had already 'burst' and there were just empty eye sockets. The kittens received intensive treatment with antibiotic eye drops as well as long courses of antibiotics to fight secondary bacterial infections.
Empty eye sockets have been cleaned and stitched up . Caring indoor only homes have been found for the six kittens with damaged eyesight. They have been rehomed in pairs and are doing well.

Tweedldee and his brother Tweedledum were only about 5 weeks old when they came in.
They were both effectively blind each with one severely damaged eye and the other eye sealed shut with pus. Huddled with their dead littermates their chances of survival were slim.

Tweedledee's right eye was just an ulcerated, infected ball popping out of his head. The eye ball had burst. The photo's (right) show the state of his eyes on arrival and as they improve over the next 3 weeks.
Although it was an anaesthetic risk for such a small kitten, three days after arrival one of our vets operated to remove the 'eye'. The eye socket was sutured closed and once fur grows back tweedledee will look quite presentable.
Although his eyelids were sealed closed and his eyelids were very swollen
on his left eye, the eyeball itself was undamaged.
After a few days intensive eye drops and careful bathing his eyelids reopened and Tweedledee could see again.

Tweedledum's left eye was very badly infected and his right eye was sealed closed with infection (photo's right).
The morning after being rescued the remains of Tweedledum's left eye were found to have come out of the socket.
His right eye underneath the swollen eyelids was undamaged and after a few days of intensive abtibiotic eye drops his eye gradually reopened allowing him to see again.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum have both received a long course of antibiotics to clear up the secondary infections related to the cat flu. Being so young when they arrived they initially need extra special care with feeding, until we were sure they could manage kitten food properly by themselves.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum became friendly very quickly with all the handling they received and proved to be lively playful gorgeous little kittens.
They were the first pair to be rehomed as soon as our vets were happy for them to go. On Jan 9th they went to their new home. They are both still returning for regular check up's. Tweedledee's empty eye socket will be sutured closed when they both come back to be neutered at six months old.

Sybil's eyes were in the worst state.
She was around 14 weeks old when we rescued her, because she could see so little our rescue workers were able to pick her up, although once arrived she was initially quite shy as she had not previously been used to being handled.
Sybil's right eye and cheek was just one swollen infected mess. Her left eye was badly scarred.
In cases where cats suffer with such terrible cat flu related eye infections usually only one eye is severely affected, it is as if nature is leaving them with a chance for the future.
Sybil's left eye has responded well to treatment and she now has approx two thirds of normal eye sight in that eye and can see quite well to get around.
Her right eye has responded amazingingly well shrinking back to a normal eye size and shape although it is still scarred appearing 'blue' and she has no sight in it as yet.

Sybil has now been rehomed to an indoor only home with her friend Basil. Basil was suffering with cat flu for which he has been treated and recovered from, his eyes were fortunately both okay.

Safi was suffering with a scar on one eye and flu symptoms. His friend Sam has one empty eye socket. His right eye had already burst and 'gone'.
Both had received treatment with antibiotics orally and in the form of eye drops.
As with all the kittens they have also been defleaed and wormed.
Safi and Sam have now been rehomed together.

At the time of writing 31/1/07 the other six kittens are still in our care. They fortunately all have ended up with two 'good' eyes each, having also required courses of antibiotics and regular antibiotic eye drops. They were older when they arrived and more feral in their behaviour having never been handled before. We are still hoping to be able to tame them up and rehome them to caring domestic homes. If we are unsuccessful in socialising them then they will eventually be rehomed to good outdoor feral homes.

The four parents have now been trapped and neutered to prevent the birth of more kittens.

Multi-cat household

An elderly couple's family contacted us for help.
They had not neutered their cats and numbers had increased out of control. We were asked to rehome some of the cats and neuter the rest.

We are used to assisting with and resolving multi-cat households amicably and confidentially and it is usually fairly straight forward.

Initially we took in 20 cats to neuter and rehome and were due to return the following week to neuter the rest and take in more for rehoming if we had space and they wanted more to be rehomed.

The cats were found to be in relatively good condition - a little thin but nothing that a couple of weeks good food didn't resolve. Their home was remakably clean considering that there were around 50 cats.

UPDATE 15th APRIL: The first twenty all responded very well to kindness, healthcare and regular proper feeding.
It was very rewarding to see them put on weight and gain trust and confidence with us. This first group have been rehomed in pairs and are settling well.

The next week we began to be met with excuses why we could not attend, initially we were told that a family member was away and we must await their return. The following week on the relatives return we again arranged to visit, but various medical appointments led to our visits being cancelled that week. We were promised access again the next week and duly made space to accomodate the cats. Again reasons/excuses were made as to why we couldn't come.

We had hoped to continue as planned, time being of the utmost importance since the remaining cats were unneutered and we did not want the number of cats to increase further. The owners held very strong, but in our opinion, illogical views about their cats. They wanted every female cat to have a litter and would not neuter certain male cats in order to keep the increasingly inbred bloodline going. The husband loved kittens but apparently was not so interested once the cats reach adulthood. We could not entirely understand what their motivation was for having so many cats. Only a few have names, and they did not know how many they had or most of the time which cat was which.

Their family understandably did not want to inherit this huge problem and the cats, although loved, were suffering through limited food, healthcare and becoming increasingly inbred.

After three weeks of intense phone calls between C.H.A.T and the cats owners and relatives we again were allowed to continue neutering the cats. By this time numbers had again increased due to the birth of 12 kittens. In the first week of May we have neutered another 14 cats and are treating three kittens for cat flu. Three more female cats are due to be neutered as soon as their kittens are old enough.

Negotiations are continuing about what happens to the kittens once they are weaned, obviously we want to rehome them so that they are not left with any unneutered cats.

Updates to continue...

May 28th: we have now neutered all the remaining adult cats 32 of them. We have three kittens to find homes for and are trying to negotiate that a further two litters of kittens are rehomed by C.H.A.T

A sad case of over breeding.

26th April:
Two weeks ago, we received a call from a man who had been advised to contact C.H.A.T, he was living in a house share and was concerned about his flat mates cats. It was obviously a very difficult situation to step in and intervene when you share a home with someone but thankfully he was brave enough to seek help for the cats.

The owner of the cats had three cats, one neutered 12 year old male cat and two unneutered female cats who were 12 and 13 years old, and had been breeding all their lives!!! Recently at least half of each litter of kittens had died, but the owner still did not get them neutered!

Bobbie a very friendly long haired tabby had recently given birth to 6 kittens but all that still survived was one 10 day old kitten.

Silvie a friendly long haired black and white had lost half of her last litter and the surviving three kittens had already been given away, she was pregnant again.

Both cats had a large mammary lump which could immediately be felt on picking the cats up. Silvie's lump was ulcerating.

The male cat had three extremely rotton teeth covered in massive lumps of tartar and his gums were infected, the pus and salivia in his mouth could be smelt without opening his mouth to examine him.

The man explained that although the cats were clearly well fed their owner would not take them or allow anyone else to take them to a vet for neutering or treatment.

We immediately brought all four cats into our clinic for veterinary treatment.
The male cat has been treated with antibiotics and had his three remaining rotton teeth removed, he has now returned to his home and his care will be monitored by the other people in the house.

Silvie and Bobbie have both had surgery to remove their lumps and have been neutered. Bobbie's kitten is continuing to do well. These three are staying with us to be rehomed.

We hoped that the lumps on Bobbie and Silvie would turn out to be mammary abcesses as a result of untreated mastitis due to the many litters they had reared.

VERY SADLY we have received the news that both cats have mammary cancer - the prognosis is poor- six months maybe a year if they are lucky. These beautiful loving pet cats have literally been bred to death.

UPDATE 28th MAY: This trio have now been rehomed together, the new owners are going to be adopting another younger cat so that Bobbie's kitten has a companion once her mum and aunt have gone.

FINN

CHAT received a distressed call from a member of the public who had found a dog in starving condition, cowering under a bush in a park in South East London.

Two of our rescue workers went to collect the dog and were utterly shocked at his condition.
On arrival at the clinic, he was immediately seen by our vets.

A young adult male Staffordshire Bull terrier, estimated by his teeth to be around 3 years old, should weigh a minimum of 20Kg.
Finn weighed 7.3Kg!

Finn was struggling to support his weight and was in a near collapsed state.

Finn was put on a drip and is now being fed small frequent meals to gradually build his weight.

All animal charities in the London area are very concerned about the plight of Staffordshire Bull terriers.

Staffordshire Bull terriers are typically being acquired by inexperienced owners who see them as having a 'macho' image.

Staffies are being bred and sold for profit by people who have no concern as to their future wellbeing.

Some dogs are encouraged to be aggressive or even used in illegal dog fighting.


Once the novelty of owning one of these dogs has worn off, many end up dumped or handed in to rescue centres.
Rescue centres in the London area are struggling to cope with the numbers of Staffies in their care.
For those dogs that have been encouraged to be aggressive, their fate is usually euthanasia.
For the rest, they struggle to find new homes because the previously good name of Staffordshire Bull terriers has been tarnished by their new image and bad press.

Finn is a good natured dog who most certainly deserves a second chance.

Somebody with no conscience bred from Finn's mum and sold him.
In London, Staffie pups are regularly sold through free-ad papers and websites with no checks being made as to who is buying them.
Many dealers purchase animals of all descriptions from these websites and classified ads.
They pose as genuine homes purchasing animals that are then resold at a higher price.

Our advice to anyone with a Staffie who has any conscience is to neuter your dog or bitch so that you are no part of this trade in misery.

After 3 months, Finn was restored to health and now has a lovely new home.

THE STAIRCASE CATS

Thirty five cats were rescued after it was discovered they were being kept confined by their owner on a single staircase in his home.

The cats had access to a tiny landing and even smaller area inside the front door. One litter tray was balanced on a stair, and food bowls were on each step.
The cats were in virtual darkness and the air smelt strongly with the stench of ammonia from the cats urine.
Although they were being fed a reasonable amount of food, the younger cats were thin.
On a rota basis the favourite cats were allowed into the living room or sometimes allowed outdoors.

Although the owner had taken some cats to be neutered, many were not and the owner could no distinguish which of the many similar looking cats were neutered. We discovered that two female cats had very recently given birth, yet their kittens could not be found within the space the cats were confined in. The horrific explanation to this is that due to the stress of extreme overcrowding either the mothers had eaten the kittens or the other cats had.

We immediately began desperate negotiations with the owner to allow us to sort the cats out and rehome the majority of them. Simultaneously the R.S.P.C.A had been called and they intervened to remove 30 cats into our care for rehoming. The owner has been left with a small number of neutered cats and will continue to be monitored.

JOSEPH - AN INSPIRATIONAL YOUNG CAT!

Joseph was found dumped in a box on the doorstep of our Lewisham clinic one Saturday morning. Joseph was very thin, with weak hind legs that he couldn't stand on, he had sores on his legs and was covered in faeces.
He was also a very friendly young cat and immediately made an impression on the staff at the clinic that day.

On first examination the vet on duty thought he had been injured possibly in a road accident, however an X-Ray did not reveal anything. Our vet was not too hopeful as to what could be done to help Joseph, however he was not in any pain. Joseph was bathed, fed and made comfortable for the weekend. Over the next week Joseph was examined several more times and blood tests were taken. Joseph was begun on a course of medication and physiotherapy. A three sided litter tray was provided for him which he used, he also loved playing with toys and could slide around the floor pulling himself along. Over the next 2-3 weeks Joseph gradually regained use in his back legs, a little wonky but he was walking, we were all delighted! Then another 3 weeks later, after finishing a long course of antibiotics he lost the use of his back legs again, our Vets restarted his medications but this time no improvement was seen.

Joseph was showing signs of being bored and frustrated in the clinic,he also didn't like other cats in nearby cages. We decided his last chance would be to try him in a home or a foster home, but we needed to find someone without any other animals. An appeal on our website was responded to by Kate and her partner. They took on Joseph to see what would happen, they also took him to various specialists to try and find a cure and were told he wouldn't walk again, now four months later they have informed us of great news:

Dear all at Lewisham,

We adopted Joseph from you many months ago now, and when we adopted him he wasnt able to walk; his back legs were completly paralysed. Well, I thought I'd update you with his news and some photos for your happy endings pages.
After months of physio therapy, lots of exercise and even more love and cuddles, Joseph is now walking! He walks everywhere, even runs when he's hungry and his dinner is ready, and over the last 2 weeks, he has started to jump onto the sofa and the bed using his back legs, just like a normal cat!

When we got him, his back legs were so weak he couldn't even support his own weight, but with all the exercises we have been doing ever day, he now gets around almost exactly like any normal cat. We took him to a cat nuerologist and she said it would be very unlikely he would ever walk again, and that he would certainly not jump, but here he is! Doing both those things!

We moved to the seaside last month, and although Joseph will always be a house cat, in the new house we have 2 very big balconies that look right onto the sea, which he goes out onto (supervised!) every day. His favourite spot to sit is looking out of the window onto the ocean, and he gets around the house perfectly normally. When we first got him, Joseph had to have almost 24 hour care; he couldn't use the toilet properly and everytime he did he needed to be cleaned as he couldnt support his weight on his back legs to squat down to do his business. Now however, he is completly self sufficient when it comes to his toilet and I never have to watch him; his back legs have built up so well that he goes to the loo perfectly.

We are so proud of him and love him dearly. Here are some photos of him sleeping on the sofa, as well as about to pounce on the Christmas tree; something that since he has found the strength in his back legs recently, he loves to do more than anything.
Thank you all so much for taking such good care of him when he arrived at your doorstep,

with lots of love, Kate, Ash and Joseph x

UPDATE MARCH 2009: Joseph continues to do well and is now jumping onto everything and always running around!

BRONCO -was rescued after being soaked in petrol.

We received a call from a lady saying that there was a cat in a bad way in her garden and that it couldn't walk properly. When one of our rescue team got there the cat was cowering under a bush and he was able to just grab him.
When he was brought back to our veterinary clinic we realised he was covered in petrol and the resulting burns to his skin were the reason he wasnt walking properly.

Bronco made a full recovery, his skin healed and eventually his fur regrew. He has now found a new home.

Here is Bronco who is now named Jacko happily settled in his new home.

THREE CATS RESCUED AFTER BEING DISCOVERED TIED IN SACKS INSIDE A BOX THAT HAD BEEN THROWN INTO A SKIP!

These three cats were brought into the Lewisham clinic by a skip lorry driver.

He had become suspicious as to the contents of a cardboard box that had been thrown on top of the contents of a loaded skip that he was collecting. There were tied hessian sacks inside the box and animals clearly moving within, he drove straight to us and carried the box in.

We untied the sacks and discovered three frightened healthy adult cats.

They were very lucky to have survived this act of shocking cruelty.

These cats have now been rehomed.

Homeless pets.....

Ten cats have been taken in after their owners house was repossessed.

They are all friendly young adult cats and their owner was very upset to have to give them up but no longer had anywhere suitable to live with them.

Prior to losing their home the cats and their owner had endured terrible harassment from local residents and their children. The cats used to go outdoors but they were being shot at by people with air rifles, when the cats owner then kept them all indoors to keep them safe they then shot at them through her letterbox! They also put a hosepipe in through the letterbox and flooded her home.

We have removed air rifle pellets that were embedded in three of the cats but we cannot remove a pellet from one of the cats.

The cats are really lovely and friendly and were quickly found loving new homes.

THREE TINY KITTENS RESCUED AFTER BEING FOUND IN A CARIER BAG IN THE SNOW.

These three tiny kittens were dumped in a carrier bag in an alley way in Edmonton.

They were dumped between 6.30am when someone drove out of the alley and the bag was not there and 7.30am when someone saw a tiny kitten walking around outside the bag and then trying to get back into it - two other kittens were hiding in the bag.

The member of public who spotted them kindly took them indoors to warm them up and called us.

We also searched the area and left food outside in case there were any more kittens but no there hasn't been any sign of more.

Poor babies, it was freezing!

These kittens have found a lovely new home as a trio!

Rubbish Tip Cats

Lewisham Branch rescue team have been working with a colony of feral cats based on an industrial estate in South London.

The cats have been living at a waste processing depot which was the destination for restaurant food waste as well as other rubbish. They were feeding on the food scraps and were wanted by the managers as they also caught rats. We were initially told that years before two cats had purposefully been introduced to catch rodents but they were unneutered and this led to the large colony of feral cats now present.

Heavy digging machinery was used daily at the site and it was a very dangerous place for cats and especially kittens to live. Next door was a car breakers yard and behind lay a railway line.

Over the years we have rescued numerous litters of kittens and injured feral cats as well as tame unneutered male cats who have clearly once been pets but had wandered too far in search of females and ended up living with the colony.

Following negotiations with the waste site managers we have also neutered and returned many healthy adult cats. Our preference would have been to rehome the cats to safer country homes but the only way the site managers would co-operate was if we agreed to return the cats.

Trapping the cats was always difficult as the cats were actually very well fed living off food scraps and the food we offered was not as tempting to them as it is to most strays.

January 2010 We suddenly learn that the waste depot has closed - permanently!!
There is a security guard on site until March and we have resumed trapping the cats and bringing them in for rehoming.

It is now much easier as with their food source removed the cats are coming to our feeding points.

We manage to rescue young adult cat whose leg has been ripped off, our vets think it may have been caught in some machinery. She must have been in agony, yet somehow survived.

They have amputated the exposed bone and she is doing well.

We have also rescued a cat with one eye and another with half a tail.

More updates on this rescue to follow soon.....

MARCH 2010 Jill has recovered well from her leg amputation and has now been joined by Jack a young ginger cat also rescued from the same site.

Our rescue team are continuing to visit the site each week to try and trap the rest of the cats and bring them to safety.

The cats that have previously been neutered and returned are proving difficult to re catch as they are wise to the methods involved so this is proving to be a time consuming rescue.

Sergei

Sergei had been living as a stray for about a year. The people who were kindly feeding him told us that they believe a neighbour had moved out and left him behind.

They rang us because they thought he was unwell- he had come into their conservatory and wouldn't eat or drink. They also noticed that he looked like he had some wounds.

We brought him in and our vets discovered the true extent of his injuries. His wounds appear to bite wounds probably caused by a dog.