News and Features

AUTUMN MINI FAIR

The Autumn Mini Fair on September 28th raised a total of £1,180 – 36 and £865 in donations, a good, much needed boost for our greatly diminished funds. Thank you to all who helped to raise this amount.

A VERY DIFFICULT DECISION

When Mr Suave was left behind by his owners, 4 years ago, he was a big, healthy boy, part Maine Coon. Neighbours have been looking out for him ever since. One of them contacted us as he is unnuetered and has become skinny and badly matted. We arranged for him to be neutered, dematted and given a flea and worm treatment. He is going to stay with his rescuer or she will rehome him.
Louie was unneutered and his face covered in blood when he went through a cat flap into someone’s house. He chose well because this kind person decided to give him a home. She contacted us and he was neutered, given a flea and worm treatment and had his wound treated at the vets. The photo was taken in the vets.
Reginald is just one of many stray cats and kittens living in the area where his rescuer is. She is desperately trying to find a rescue to take him or a home for him .The RSPCA have agreed to pay for treatment for the wound on his head and we agreed to neuter him and give him a flea and and worm treatment.

So far we have neutered 1,500 cats. Some are owned cats but a good number are strays reported to us by kind people wanting to help them or, in some cases, give them a home. Often these cats have been strays for a long time and have other issues besides not being neutered. In the case of males it is usually fight wounds. Fleas and matted fur are also common problems with both males and females. The 3 cats above are perfect examples of stray males we have helped very recently. It is so important to neuter these cats as they quickly become part of feral colonies which are a huge problem in Leeds. The person wanting to help Reginald has him on the waiting lists of several rescue organisations and, on the shortest one, there are over 100 cats before him. It’s a bleak picture!

At the close of this financial year our vet bills were just short of £100,000. We can’t sustain this degree of spending so we decided to stop paying for microchipping the cats that we neuter and also that we can no longer help with vet bills for people who simply can’t pay when their cats need urgent surgery or treatment. Sadly, these measures have not been enough and our funds are now so depleted that we have had to stop neutering and all other help until the end of the year in the hope that our funds will recover enough to help us to survive and to continue to neuter as many cats as possible. It was an incredibly sad and difficult decision for us to make but, at this point, there is no other option.

       SPRING FAIR

A good turnout for our Spring Fair on March 23rd, despite the heavy rain showers in the early morning. A very enjoyable event which raised a much needed £1,375-47 for our funds. Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard and to all who came who came to support us.

PLANT FAIR & CREAM TEA

The Plant Fair and Cream Tea on Saturday May25th raised £711-36. An amazing selection of plants and a delicious cream tea with home made scones, what not to like? A huge thank you to everyone involved in making it such an enjoyable afternoon.

OPEN GARDENS

On June 23rd, Open Gardens Day, Jan, our secretary, and Ian opened their garden to raise funds for St Gemma’s Hospice. Some of our committee members helped out and we had a plant sale for Leeds Feline Friends. We raised £186-50 and enjoyed a lovely afternoon in this beautiful garden. Thank you to Jan and Ian for all your very hard work.