Feral Family Rescued As Volunteers Persevere Despite Covid-19
The sun has now returned, but it’s been a blustery few days, days which most cats would not choose to spend much time outside in. For some there is no choice and they must make do with what shelter they can find, often in hostile circumstances, and if they become unwell there is no vet, and no one to nurse them back to health.
It has been mixed fortunes for one such feral family, who were rescued this week. Born outside to unneutered Precious, herself at most 2 years old, (and no doubt this was not her first litter) Blueberry and Teddi, and their mum are now safe and warm. Once Blueberry and Teddi are old enough to be neutered, this young family will be found a rural home together. Here is an all too familiar story of a mother cat and her kittens, amidst the kindness and tenacity of strangers; the true meaning of teamwork.
Over the past few months, we’ve been adapting our processes to allow our rescue and rehoming work to continue. One of the things it was clear we were unlikely to be able to easily do during the pandemic was trapping.
Earlier this week we were contacted via Instagram by a concerned member of the public about an injured mum and the remainder of her litter. It seemed that they’d been sheltering in the shed of some indifferent neighbours. As with any such enquiry they were directed to the rehoming form on the website so appropriate help could be sought. Like the majority of tricky enquiries we receive, being in SW London they weren’t particularly close. We cannot let geography dictate what we do if there is a vulnerable family in need, not least to say young cats and kittens who before long would fall pregnant (again) if we, like everyone else they’d contacted hoped someone else would be in a position to help. There was a long list of rescues they’d contacted, but we were the only ones who had responded to the plea for help.
The family of mum and five kittens had first appeared a few weeks previously. Such is the reality of kittens surviving outside, when the family returned to the garden only two kittens now remained. We spoke with the enquirer and established that kittens and mum were starting to come into their garden more, after the neighbours were thoughtlessly dismantling the shed, with no regard for the family sheltering behind it, and completely unwilling to help try to catch them. Mum was by now coming to their back door, and on her own it was possible they could try to get her, her kittens unused to humans their whole life, not so much.
With a loan of a large carrier from CCHQ, and advice on how to set this up and start to feeding the family exclusively in, mum would go in first for food, and then come out before the kittens would go in for their turn. The kittens did end up having a nap in there at one point, but they were not all in there together. Then the aforementioned neighbours set off lots of fireworks, and scared the kittens off. Still good progress was made and this was only day one of feeding in the carrier.
The next morning, mum and both kittens were in the carrier but as the door was being put on, Teddi (aka Bolt!) slipped out. Mum needed medical attention and it wasn’t likely we’d catch them all again if we let them out. So at very short notice, some kind-hearted volunteers drove to collect Precious and Blueberry, and took them to our new cat clinic in North London.
Our vet assessed Precious and determined that an emergency tail amputation would be needed. As ever, the plans for the day quickly changed to make this possible with volunteers stepping in where needed to assist to help facilitate this and she had the necessary surgery on her tail and was also neutered.
We still didn’t have Teddi though, but the feeders persisted. They’d learned to keep calm, quiet and patient over the past few days, and as day became night, we got the good news that put a smile on our faces after a long day. Teddi was also safe. Using our tried and tested methods to lure her, hunger eventually prevailed and another volunteer promptly brought Teddi back to SE London to be reunited with her mum and sister.
The family is feral; the kittens are too old to get a different imprint from the life they know, but they’re all young and healthy, so once Blueberry and Teddi are neutered we will be looking for a responsible home for them together at a farm or similar rural setup. For now the family are now safe from the harsh, unpredictable outdoor life and will never again have to worry where their next meal will come from or be without veterinary care.
Precious and her family are just one of many cases that the charity has been involved already this year, with fresh enquiries landing in our inbox daily. Though our volunteer team remain steadfast in their dedication, our work rescuing cats & kittens cannot continue unless donations from the public also continue, to cover the considerable costs of each cat’s vet care and upkeep; a single healthy cat typically incurs costs of around £100 - £135 for full veterinary care and health checks alone. The family who rescued them have generously donated towards these costs, but we will need additional funds to cover their stay.
The emergency amputation of Precious’ tail shows us that it is clear that the Catcuddles Cat Clinic will be a godsend to cats in need. We saved the charity a good few hundred pounds we would have otherwise paid to get her operated on by being able to do this in house.
We realise that these are hard times to pitch in and help financially, but if you are able to, please consider donating so that cats in need of our help will be just as lucky as Precious.
You can donate towards equipment for our clinic @ https://bit.ly/3bDouIS, alternatively to sponsor the day to day costs of cats in our care, donate via Facebook or through our website.
Thank you to everyone who has donated to our clinic appeal, and those who continue to follow and share our stories to raise awareness of what we are doing.