Our Lewisham centre took in a large family of cats in June 2022 after their elderly owner became unwell and needed help.
We were contacted by health services because their owner needed an operation but would not go into hospital until he knew that his beloved cats were safe. They told us that he had "more than five cats"
Kelley and James from our rescue team visited his home and could immediately see that the situation had got completely out of hand. The majority of the cats were unneutered and were breeding uncontrolled, their owner was trying to find homes for the kittens but could not do so as fast as the cats were breeding. Conditions in his home were really poor, amongst the worst we have seen in a long time, there were overflowing dirty litter trays, the cats had destroyed the furniture , the house roof was leaking and everything was filty dirthy. Some cats were living in the loft and had become very nervous.
The cats however were all well fed, but their owner had more cats than he could possibly manage and numbers were growing. The "more than five" eventually added up to be forty nine cats and kittens - mainly shy ginger adult cats up to middle age.
Our vets have neutered, microchipped and vaccinated all of the cats,
Their owner has had his surgery and is now living with a relative permanently.
The cats are shy with strangers but were friendly with their previous owner and used to all sit with him in his living room watching TV. Those that have been rehomed so far have settled very well in their new homes. So far one pair have been rehomed as semi-ferals to a stables but the rest have been rehomed to domestic homes.
The last three cats, Bertie a black male cat and Andes a fluffy ginger female are the most nervous and are probably going to be better suited to a semi-feral home such as at a stables or small holding where they can take or leave human company as they please. Their friend Everest an approx 4 year old ginger male cat could be homed either way - as a pet cat or to a semi-feral home with Bertie and Andes.
Photos Above: Everest under hammock on scratch post.
Photos above: Bertie and Andes - the most nervous pair.
Any enquiries please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Our reception is also now open every Saturday and Sunday afternoon between 1p.m and 5p.m for potential adopters to drop in to meet us for an initial chat about adopting one or more of our cats. Our address is 233-235, Lewisham Way SE4 1UY
ADOPTION PROCESS: The coronavirus pandemic did mean that we have altered our usual homing procedures. Pre-coronavirus we would meet potential adopters in their homes (home visit) this was an informal visit to provide advice about caring for cats or kittens e.g health care, feeding, settling in and also an opportunity for us to feel reassured that you could provide a good home. We have replaced our usual home visit with a video call via What'sApp or similar to provide the same advice and so that you can also show us the cat relevant areas of your home e.g garden, location of a cat flap etc.
Following a successful home assessment we can make an appointment for you to come and meet our cats.
We are prioritising homes that are local to our centres. Lewisham Branch Homing catchment area: All SE London and BR (Bromley) postcodes. Also N.Kent (Welling, Bexley, Sidcup, Swanley, Dartford), Croydon and SW London (SW8, SW9, SW2, SW11, SW4, SW12, SW16) If you can offer a home to a 'harder to rehome' cat we will consider homes outside our usual rehoming areas.
