Sometimes the hardest part of running a rescue isn’t the rescuing. It’s the maths.
We currently have more than 80 cats and kittens in our care. Every pen is spoken for, every fosterer is busy, and our volunteers, who run this rescue entirely unpaid, are stretched as far as kindness can stretch. There are days when we have to say the words we dread the most: “I’m sorry, we’re full.”
Then a call comes in that changes the maths completely.
A garden, a kind feeder, and a warning we couldn’t ignore
Two mum cats, Harbour and Margarita, had been living in a garden with their nine kittens. They weren’t entirely alone; a kind local had been feeding them, doing what they could to keep the little family going. It wasn’t a life, but it was survival.
Then we received reports that people were trying to harm them.
Whatever the pressures on our space, that was the end of the conversation. Eleven cats, two of them nursing mums, at risk of deliberate harm in a garden they couldn’t leave. We made room. We will always make room for that.
What eleven rescued cats actually need
Once Harbour, Margarita and their babies were settled with one of our amazing fosterers, the true picture emerged, and it was a lot.
All eleven were riddled with fleas. The kittens’ eyes were sore and sticky. And every one of them is battling ringworm, a highly contagious fungal skin infection (despite the name, there’s no worm involved). Ringworm is no small thing in a litter this size: treatment takes around six weeks, it has to be done carefully to stop it spreading, and it is expensive.
So that’s where they are now. Safe, warm, fed, and loved, with a dedicated fosterer seeing them through week after week of treatment. The danger is behind them. The vet bills are not.
How you can help them home
Harbour and Margarita’s family have a long journey ahead before they’re ready to look for homes of their own, and it’s a journey we can only make with your support. Every donation, whatever the size, goes directly towards their treatment and the care of the 80-plus cats who share the rescue with them.
Thank you for helping us keep saying yes. 💜