Feral colonies - Ford's of Dagenham

Our Canning Town Branch rescue team worked with with Ford's car manufacturing plant in Dagenham to neuter dozens of stray and feral cats that live on the 800 acre site.
Stray cats had been breeding uncontrolled leading to several different colonies of feral cats living at different points on the site.
The cats are well fed and cared for by staff working at the plant, but because the cats had bred rapidly there was concern about their welfare as the numbers continued to increase. By neutering the cats we have prevented the birth of more kittens and have been able to stabilise the population. The staff at Ford's will continue to feed and care for the cats and will contact us for assistance should they ever become unwell or injured.
Our rescue teams routinely respond to trap, neuter and return colonies of feral cats. Feral cats that we neuter and return are "ear-tipped" - the tip of the left ear is clipped whilst they are neutered. This does not cause the cat any distress but is done so that anyone can identify at a distance that the cat is neutered. Ear tipping is a standard practice carried out by animal charities around the world. The cats are also micro chipped and registered to ourselves so that if they are ever picked up again we can locate which colony they belonged to and their feeders details.

Injured cats - attacks by dogs on cats is a problem in many areas...

Attacks by dogs on cats is a problem in London. Irresponsible and inexperienced owners allow their dogs to roam the streets off the lead and when their dogs chase cats they are unable to control them. Many of the dogs do not just chase cats but are catching them causing serious injuries or death. In some cases dogs are jumping front garden gates and attacking cats in their own gardens. Some witnesses have report deliberate attacks where owners have encouraged their dog to attack cats.
Kermit's story: A lady ran into our clinic to tell us that a cat had just been attacked by a dog in the side street and then as he escaped had been run over. We raced to the scene but couldn't find him, we continued an extensive search of the area over the rest of that day and night and distributed over 100 posters in our search for him.
Five days later he was discovered in a garden, he was virtually collapsed suffering with multiple infected bite wounds to his legs and bruising. After initial urgent veterinary treatment Kermit was cared for at our Canning Town veterinary clinic where he required a long course of antibiotic treatment and daily wound cleaning and dressing. We named him "Kermit"
Kermit was very frightened but soon became relaxed and very friendly,
he had clearly once been a pet but no owner came forward to claim him and once he recovered he was rehomed.
We advise that cat owners do not let their pets out on to the street or into communal areas but instead try to encourage them to stay in back gardens.

Abandoned Pets: Cats dumped in the woods...

These cats and kittens were discovered in this cage in woods near Ilford by a dog walker.

They were off the footpath in deep undergrowth and were only discovered by her dog who was barking frantically at the cage. The frantic dog walker had no transport and called a friend who came with a car, between them they managed to get the cage out of the woods and drive to a local P.D.S.A (another charity veterinary clinic). The P.D.S.A are unable to take in animals for rehoming so they called us.

The top photo shows the cats just arrived at our clinic. After being neutered, vaccinated and microchipped they all found new homes. Cats being abandoned in baskets, boxes etc is an increasing problem, many are abandoned on our centres doorsteps but others are discovered in parks, by bins, outside shops or just left in the street.

This kitten was discovered in this box on the pavement outside C.H.A.T's Canning Town Veterinary Clinic.

POPPY: An emaciated dog abandoned on the street

This dog was found wandering the streets of East London
She was in an emaciated condition and had clearly been starved. The end of her tail was really sore and we think she had been kept in a small space where her tail had been hitting a wall or hard surface when she wagged it.

Poppy as we named her is such an adorable good natured dog - we just cannot imagine how anyone could be so cruel to her.

After weeks of care Poppy made a full recovery and found a wonderful new home. Poppy's new owner told us: "Poppy is an absolute darling and has such a lovely temperament - so different from the trembling skeletal wreck we took in just a few months ago. She loves to run and run and to play with other dogs but would be happy`on her own so long as she had someone home during the day and had a garden to play in. She loves everything, including cats, but we feel she would be too lively to actually live with cats and small children as she wants to jump up and kiss everything and everybody and is quite a big girl!"

Breeding out of control...Twenty three cats and kittens

We received a call asking us to take in three cats and a litter of kittens because their owner was returning home the following day to the Ukraine as his employment in the U.K had ended.
We attended and found that he had 23 kittens and six adult cats! On arrival in the U.K he had acquired two kittens one of each sex which he had not neutered, they soon produced a litter of kittens and then this year the parents and four of the female 'kittens' had given birth!
None of the cats were vaccinated either and the kittens were suffering with terrible cat flu.
We brought them all into our care where it was a round the clock marathon task nursing the sick kittens back to health. The kittens had severe conjunctivitis and were very congested, after gently bathing their eyes and noses several times a day we would then apply antibiotic eye ointment. They all required courses of antibiotics and the sickest kittens also needed hand feeding and/or syringe feeding because they couldn't smell their food and were not eating enough.
Sadly two kittens were too weak and did not survive, the others made a full recovery and found new homes.
Did you know that if a female cat was to mate every time she came into season, and all her kittens were to survive and breed, then there could be up to 21,000 extra cats in just 7 years.
Cats can live 18- 20 years and dogs almost as long, so it's not surprising that there is a shortage of good homes when so many people let their pets have litters without a thought as to what will become of the kittens or puppies in the long term! Neutering as many cats and dogs as possible is the only humane solution to the pet over population problem.

Feral colonies - Ford's of Dagenham

Our Canning Town Branch rescue team worked with with Ford's car manufacturing plant in Dagenham to neuter dozens of stray and feral cats that live on the 800 acre site.
Stray cats had been breeding uncontrolled leading to several different colonies of feral cats living at different points on the site.
The cats are well fed and cared for by staff working at the plant, but because the cats had bred rapidly there was concern about their welfare as the numbers continued to increase. By neutering the cats we have prevented the birth of more kittens and have been able to stabilise the population. The staff at Ford's will continue to feed and care for the cats and will contact us for assistance should they ever become unwell or injured.
Our rescue teams routinely respond to trap, neuter and return colonies of feral cats. Feral cats that we neuter and return are "ear-tipped" - the tip of the left ear is clipped whilst they are neutered. This does not cause the cat any distress but is done so that anyone can identify at a distance that the cat is neutered. Ear tipping is a standard practice carried out by animal charities around the world. The cats are also micro chipped and registered to ourselves so that if they are ever picked up again we can locate which colony they belonged to and their feeders details.