Winter Update 2024-25

Please help us to provide a lifeline to hungry, cold, sick or injured animals this Winter…..

We need to ask for your urgent help and support. The last few years have proved so very difficult with a ‘perfect storm’ of coinciding challenges making our job of helping animals in need harder than ever.

The Cost of Living crisis hot on the heels of the problem of unwanted Pandemic pets has resulted in a crisis for pet cats and dogs. It is as if the clocks have been turned back at least two decades as rescue centres the length of the U.K are overflowing with unwanted pets and animals are now routinely abandoned in boxes and carriers on the streets and doorsteps or released away from their homes to fend for themselves. We are inundated with requests to take in unwanted pet cats, the most frequent reasons cited including eviction and homelessness, financial difficulties, or their owners physical and mental health leading to them being unable to cope with their pet. Now that Winter is upon us we are receiving pleas to find space to take in numerous stray cats and kittens from the cold.

At this time the animals need us more than ever but the Cost of Living crisis has seen our charity face increased costs for everything that we need – veterinary drugs, food, cat litter, utility bills all at a time when donations to charities generally are falling as people struggle to make ends meet. The very high cost of private veterinary fees has left many people, particularly those on low income or with multiple pets completely unable to afford veterinary care for their pets. When families are struggling financially sadly pets can be amongst the first casualties when trying to survive on a tight budget. With your support we can continue to help.

We have achieved so much in the last three decades, through the work carried out by our vets and nurses at our two low cost veterinary clinics in London. We have neutered, microchipped and vaccinated hundreds of thousands of cats and dogs preventing the birth of countless puppies and kittens. We need to go back to basics and help to humanely bring the unwanted cat and dog population under control through neutering, there can be no solution to this tragic situation until this is achieved. We have provided life saving surgeries and treatments for tens of thousands of cats and dogs when their owners could not afford to do so or in the case of strays there was no one to pay. We have rescued, rehabilitated and found new homes for tens of thousands of unwanted pet, stray and feral cats.

But now we need to do more, we have seen the closure of other animal charity hospitals in London and a reduction in services and eligibility just when pets need our help the most. There is nowhere else for many of these animals to go, so often we are now their only hope. We know that tragically cats and dogs are dying needlessly because owners cannot afford to pay private vet fees and as a result animals are being euthanased for easily treated ailments and injuries.

Please help us to provide a lifeline to pets and strays in need.

You are our Future – Recently we have been putting all of our resources into our day to day frontline services, most of the rescue calls we receive are from the public concerned about the plight of stray cats and kittens struggling to survive or abandoned on the streets. We know that we are ‘fire fighting’ and this means our future plans are restricted with any improvements and repairs to our two London centres and Sanctuary in East Sussex postponed. To not only survive but grow and prosper and help more animals we need more financial support.

We recently rescued 42 cats from one home in Kent after their owner was evicted, this was an extremely difficult and distressing rescue as some cats had perished in the house before our involvement. – see photos.

Our rescue and homing work is entirely dependent on you our wonderful supporters so please help us in any way you can, all donations large and small help us to continue to help animals who are in desperate need.

£35 could pay for one cat to be neutered or pay to feed and care for two cats in one of our centres for a week.

The Trust has a strict non-destruction policy unless animals are suffering with a terminal illness or are hopelessly injured and beyond any veterinary help so we do not create space by putting to sleep animals already in our care.