Happy Adoption Stories

We adopted Sophie (then called Nia) from CHAT, Lewisham Branch, in December 2019. Her age is not certain but she must be 11 or 12 now. At first her fur was dry and wiry and she was thin. She is still slim but heavier and has soft silky fur – a real catwalk cat. Her favourite pastime is sleeping and when not asleep , digging up the new stair carpet !

She is the most talkative cat I have known, and I have quite a conversation with her. She announces her presence before coming into a room, and  chirrups when she is about to jump on my lap. She knows routine (or the English language!) and when |I say “bed, Sophie” she gets off my lap and heads upstairs. She sits on the bed waiting for me. I like to read for half an hour, and as soon as I close my book, Sophie gets off the bed and gets into her cat bed. She wakes me at 7.00 every morning – changing the clocks confuses her for a few days.

When she hears me go into the study to use the desk top she follows me in , jumps onto my lap, stays for a few minutes, then gets onto the desk in front of the screen. Having created the diversion, she then gets down and sits in the wastepaper bag. She loves lying on papers, having moved them around to her satisfaction. A short while ago I bought a model kitten which I put on a chair in the lounge. I then found Sophie curled up round it (they are both black and white) Every day she spends some time on the chair with the kitten. Her favourite toy is a fluffy bird on a length of elastic, it must be at least a year old now, It has now lost it’s legs and wings but she still loves it. She howls when she picks it up which worried me at first, as I thought she was in pain.

She is a sweet little cat but can show a bit of temper when she doesn’t like something. Hence  having a manicure and pedicure at the vet’s!

We have adopted several cats from CHAT over the years and they have given us so much pleasure. Some of the CHAT helpers even came to the golf club, rounded up the feral cats who had adopted us, neutered them and brought them back to the club.

So, many thanks to everyone at CHAT who have saved and rehomed so many cats. Good luck with the new building in Lewisham.

Love from  Pat and Sophie

We adopted them from you back in 2017, and we’re so happy to say they’re all still doing amazingly well — happy, healthy, and very much running the household! We honestly can’t believe they’ll be turning 10 next year.

We recently got married on 1 November 2025, and we wanted to celebrate our day by giving something back in honour of our three fur babies. We asked for donations instead of gifts and we’re so pleased to be able to donate £300 to Celia Hammond Animal Trust to help you continue your incredible work.

The cats were even part of the celebrations — including a moment we’ll never forget: them perched on top of our cheese tower like they owned the place! We’ve attached some photos because it felt too good not to share.

We truly couldn’t imagine life without these three, and we’ll always be grateful to you for bringing them into our lives — and to everyone who supports CH and makes this work possible.

With lots of love,
Xenia & Gareth (and George, Betty & Moo) 🐾

Pat & Bella

“Just wanted to give you an update on Mystic (aka Astrid).
We tried to introduce her to our resident cats slowly - but Frankie was instantly besotted with her, and she was outraged at being kept separate from her new cat buddies. So on day three we let her free roam the house and now, after just a week, she is fully settled in.
She spends her day play chasing our boy cats around who are three times her size, taking (incredibly cute) naps, and seeking out Callum for cuddles; she has decided that he is "her person." She is also hoovering up all the food we give her.
She is a great fit for our family and we are delighted to have her. It is like she has always been here.
Thanks for taking such great care of her, and THANK YOU to all the CH supporters who donated towards her care. It's hard to articulate how grateful we are.”
Love Rosie, Callum, Frankie, Marcel and Astrid

“Hi team, I wanted to share an update about Luna (now called Illyria, or Illy to her friends) who I adopted from your Canning Town centre in January. She came in after a road accident and had to have a front leg amputated. I believe you ran a fundraiser for her care.
Although still a little scared of strangers and loud noises, Illy has adjusted to her new home so well. She’s so sweet, gentle and loving… and so playful! It’s a privilege to get to give her the life she deserves and to wake up to her thunder-loud purr every morning. Thank you for everything you do and to all the people who contributed to saving Illy’s life.” -Fiona
Thank you to our loyal supporters who donated toward sweet Luna’s recovery last year. We are forever grateful for the pain free future you helped to provide for Luna. And thank you to her kind adopters for providing her with a home full of love and care. ❤️

Hi I just wanted to say thank you for letting me adopt one your furry babies many many years ago! Her name was Meredith but renamed her Coco (Coconut).​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The second photo is from when we adopted her about ten years ago. She is just the happiest girl now. Thank you for rescuing her for us 🎀 -Mai

“We adopted Odin (formerly Monty) from you guys just over a month ago. He is an FIV kitty who also had to have his eye removed as a part of his rescue story. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Odin adds joy to our lives being a constant comfort. It's so lovely to see him comfortable and content. We were happy to offer him a home and see him heal and grow! Celia Hammond have been such a help every step of the way. “ -Corinne

“Rebel had a difficult start in life until she was rescued by Celia Hammond, and as a result it took a long time for her to start to believe we were not ever going to harm her. She is not afraid of defending herself when she feels threatened and so we had to spend a long time learning and understanding her triggers and helping her (and us!) feel safe.
We adopted Rebel (formerly Asia) from Canning Town in 2017. We were introduced to her as one of the more difficult to home cats as she had recently had surgery for hip dysplasia and has a deformity in her tail.
Rebel has an incredible sense of humour and makes us laugh every day, mostly by jump scaring us or our dog from concealed positions. She is smart, confident and absolutely as tough as nails. She is also incredibly sweet, affectionate and soft, but she mostly saves that side of herself for us which makes it even more special.” -Kate

Lucky Nimbus has gone to a home with a giant garden, a favourite cubby and place to sunbathe…​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
“I just wanted to give an update after Nimbus’ arrival. He’s settling in so well. Has already found his favourite hiding place in a nice cubby hole but has also been out and exploring and looking for a lot of head scratches. We love him already!
He is still totally thriving now; sleeping in beds, exploring the garden in the day time and rolling over constantly for belly rubs which he seems to love! Thank you!” -Sophie

“This mum and her baby were found in a garden in Loughborough Junction in January after an old lady had gone into a home, it was just the two of them. The mum is missing a bit of her ear so it was thought perhaps they were attacked by a fox.😞
We got them in February so Mr. Flump was still a little baby really. He was pretty feral so we had to have them in a crate for a bit until he would let us pick him up. Within four days he was lying on his back and cuddled up to me snoring on the sofa, so he settled in fast!!
We think mum had probably lived in a house at some point as she is very chill about hoovers, hairdryers etc, she is pretty young too, maybe only 8 months when she had him. She was probably just glad to be somewhere warm as it had been a really cold January!
I have hundreds of pictures of them over the past few years 😁 We love them so much!” -Lesley
Note: The paler ginger cat in this photo isn’t ours - it’s Mr Flump’s best friend who lives next door, they are always playing and kissing and cuddling!

It is a year since baby Radish arrived at our Greenacres centre after he was taken in to a local vet by a breeder and asked to be put to sleep at just one week old. The vet asked if they would sign him over rather than euthanize him which was agreed and CHAT were asked if we could help.
Things didn't look very hopeful at all, the tiny puppy was very cold, dehydrated and floppy. We think he'd probably been pulling himself around looking for food for some time as his little wrists were bleeding and scabbed, he likely hurt himself dragging himself around on concrete seeking his mum who had have rejected him.

Carolyn, who works at our Greenacres Centre personally nursed this baby back to health, this is her written account:"Once warmed and rehydrated he was still too weak to feed but we just couldn't give up on him so I learned how to place a feeding tube into his stomach which allowed us to get all the nutrients he desperately needed into him. He was fed like this for several days, every 2 hours day and night and then slowly as he gained strength and was be fed via a syringe. There were lots of concerns about his health over the following weeks, he remained tiny and there were several agonising, sleepless nights spent willing him to live. During one of the worst of these he seemed to be fading and in a tearful sleep deprived state I said to him it was OK to go if it was too much but if he could keep going we would get him well and I would adopt him and give him the best life I possibly could...and so he did and here we are a year on with Radish living his very best life!

Unfortunately it hasn't been easy, designer cross breeds like Radish are prone to a whole range of issues, with health and behaviour. Amongst other issues he has an overshot jaw, which as he grew caused his bottom teeth to grow into the roof of his mouth and he needed to be referred to a vet specialising in dental issues to have those removed. Also his front legs are a bit wonky looking. Xrays to check these recently revealed he has a weakness in one of his elbows and may require specialist surgery to prevent potential further problems. Behaviour wise in addition to his breeding being hand reared, particularly as a solo puppy, could predispose him to having all manner of issues so I worked extra hard on training and socialising him to try to get ahead of any deficit from his terrible start. Happily this has gone well and he recently passed his Good Citizen Gold test and truly is the most joyful and confident little dog who simply couldn't be any happier or more loved! He likes to meet everybody and everything, accompanies me to various visits and talks about CHAT and patiently helps out in the cattery to assess our rescue cats suitability to be rehomed with dogs when required.

A huge thanks to CHAT for saving him and for all of the wonderful supporters who make it possible for us to be there for the countless little souls each day in their hour need, to rescue them and do whatever it takes to make them well and ready to go and live their wonderful new lives" - Carolyn and Radish

These gorgeous big brothers came to our Greenacres Centre as part of a large group of cats that had a really tough start in life and arrived extremely frightened. We worked with these boys for a year, slowly gaining their trust before Jenny met them and offered them their perfect new home… 💕
“16 weeks after arriving, Maverick and Goose are settled in and loving exploring their new home.
Maverick lives up to his name and is the braver of the two. He was quick to seek affection and strokes and absolutely loves attention. He is very curious and couldn't wait to get out of his box and explore his new home. He clambered on every piece of furniture and sniffed everything just to check it was all safe. At first he got very over excited when he was stroked and would want to attack and play but he has gradually become calmer and now loves to be fussed.
Goose is much more nervous and took a few days to venture out from his box. I spent time sitting quietly in the room with him and gradually he came out and braved some stroking. He now loves attention and insists on strokes whenever I enter the room. He needed a patient approach but is now so affectionate. Both boys come to greet me when I get home and when I get up in the morning. They love to play and have definite favourite spots to watch out the window and for sleeping in the sunshine.
They have recently started going outside and love sitting in the garden. Maverick goes exploring but Goose prefers to stay closer to home. It has been wonderful to watch them gradually come out of their shells and show their individual personalities. I couldn't be happier and I think they feel the same.”

"I adopted Henry and Donkey in November 2023. They are not related but are absolute best buddies, often lying together and mutually grooming - or racing around play fighting. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Henry the tabby is a little featherweight and a bit more reserved with his affections, Donkey is a purring cuddle monster who loves cardboard boxes, large paper bags, and fishing in the pond.

Considering they were both strays, the CHAT team have done an amazing jobs socialising them, as they are not fazed at all by noisy children coming in close to play or just be nosey.
They have taken over the comfy chair and footstool by the kitchen window, where they watch the birds and squirrels when not snoozing. Meanwhile I sit on a wooden kitchen chair!!”
I love them very much! -Lesley"