Volunteers with Team Cat Rescue have been busier than ever during lockdown as the bigger national charities have furloughed staff, closed the charity shops and branches but – of course – continued to care for the cats already in their care. And cat charities are now reporting they fear 84,000 extra kittens could be born this summer due to coronavirus – because fewer vets are carrying out neutering procedures. Advice is to ‘keep un-neutered cats indoors – and males and females apart’. So lockdown has applied to cats too!
So, what has it been like in lockdown for TCR? Coordinator Lynne Buffery says that, as much as humanly possible, it has been ‘cat business as normal’.
Lynne, who has been coordinator for thirty years, says: “The cat-caring public have been phoning in as usual when they find a Mum who has given birth to kittens in their gardens. And if the finders or I can scoop them up and get them to a fosterer, that is what we are doing. Of course, if we’ve got Mum too, the kittens can thrive, but if not we have some specialist devoted fosterers who can syringe or bottle feed the motherless mites every two hours. We were lucky in that Sarah Doyle, a nurse at Pype Hayes vets, with the support of the vet team, took in some 2-day old kittens to hand-rear for us. And, because some of the big charities were not homing, we have a promising list of would be adopters. So the last few months have proved hard work and we’ve had to be innovative but – paws crossed – win-win for all our ready-to-home kittens and for some of our older, longer-stay cats too.”
Great Barr co-op management and customers alike help and support …
Kittens are soft and fluffy, but times are hard! The rescue is desperate for funds. The monthly table-top sale at the Swan at Yardley – which often raised between £600 and £800 – was cancelled because of lockdown. So fosterer Sue Carty, who doubles as the Floral Team Leader at Great Barr co-op florists on the Walsall Road, has asked manager Gill Evans of the co-op food store nearby if she’s willing to have a TCR cat food donation basket – and she is!
Says Sue: “Customers are so kind too. I’m known as the ‘cat rescuer’ and people come in and donate cat food, blankets, bric-a-brac and knitting wool – all sorts – for us to use or sell. They ask for cat care advice as well as flowers! And TCR is well-known for feral trapping jobs around these parts.”
Appeal for volunteers …
TCR would welcome more volunteers – in almost any capacity. Says Lynne: “Chiefly, we’d like help with transport. Because the work vets can take on has been restricted to emergency or welfare cases only during lockdown, we’ve often had to get cats and kittens to the vets for 8am. And big thanks to Vets4-Pets at the Beggars Bush for accommodating us as best they can, as well as our regular vets, Pype Hayes.”
Adds Lynne: “If you are a cat-lover, call us if we can help you or if you can help us – support, donate or volunteer. If you want to adopt, this can now happen within social distancing guidelines and with outside pens. But the most important message of all is please neuter your cat.”
Looking after a lucky lockdown litter – with Lucy …
Fosterer Lucy Burr works as a mobile chiropodist and has three young daughters to care for – as well as six kittens! She gives her personal purrspective on how the kittens currently in her care were found and how nurturing during lockdown has gone.
“My little charges were found in an overgrown garden. Several had bite wounds – possibly from a fox. They were all very poorly. We are still not sure whether a mix of ‘multiple feral litters together’ or whether one large litter. Sadly, we lost several early on as they were too poorly to survive. They all had cat flu, herpes and infected eyes.
“But these in the photo now have names! They are George, Harry, Misty, Floyd, Artie and Peppa. All the kitties love their bottle, a snuggle and a chin tickle. No wonder they purr like tractors! They’re still poorly and on antibiotics and eye drops. But of course our paws are crossed that they are past the worst and, as a fosterer, I will have the pleasure of seeing them grow, play – and find their forever homes.”
Lucy has been hand-rearing tiny kittens for three years, and says: “I just love it, it makes me happy. I had a room built at the side of my house specially for foster kittens. And guess what? It’s my favourite place!”
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