There is no End

[ronandcats]

 We Re homed 5 cats last week and got 2 more going Friday and also returned  two lost cats through ore lost and found site, But the strays and unwanted still keep coming in we have got two coming back that we Re homed in January they say they are moving you would have thought they would have known that when they took them on in January people do make me mad . I don't know how this link got on to talking about cat protection,?But I have nothing to say Bad about CP in general only that i don't get on with the Brighton branch who i was once the fund raising officer and did not like the way it spent the money i worked hard for. but now I am very happy that we have our own Charity, And that my number one helper is a great guy called David who keeps our web site up Daily he has two work every few months to keep his head above water then he is back with me helping with the cats I just wish I could Pay him he is a Diamond. i also get a lady coming in to help out two mornings a week.   

[Desley (booktigger)]

We had a good week last week too, 3 adults out (all had been with us a while), and I dont think we homed any kittens - we did take in 7 kittens and 2 adults though.

[Corporal Smokey]

Sorry you're struggling Ron.

If it's any consolation we had kittens queuing to come in a couple of weeks ago but it seems everyone's suddenly back from their holidays wanting a new family member. We had pens full of the same cats week in week out and now it's all change. They've all been really good homes too!

It's a good job though, we've just had an RTA bought in and one of the neglected persians was brought back too 

[hOrZa]

Everything that has a beginning has an end - The Oracle



hth

[Mark]

This woman wears a prison officer type uniform - real old school 

[Ela]

a fight nearly broke out at a training day I went on at head office in March over the move to scrap the sponsorship of particular cats!

There is good reason for that, and why they now rather people sponsor a cat pen. The reason being is if someone donates say £5 a month for a particular cat, something to do with the Charity Commission you have to prove that the £5 was spent on that actual cat. Far easier to have a yearly figure of how much is spent on cats in a particular pen and indeed the running costs of that pen.

I won't say who told me or where they are based but apparently there is a CP branch where the woman that runs it had a uniform, made and has her van painted with the logo.

All our volunteers have CP tea shirts to wear when helping and some of them have sweatshirts, car coats, & fleeces.
Although we have a van with the CP logo on I actually think it is a good idea to have it on a ven that is used a lot for CP work even if it is an owned van. Somehow with an official looking van people seem to take things more seriously.

[Canterbury_cats (Sharon)]

Actualy we have a great team of loyal volunteers esp homevisiting ones.. I have around 10 people now but it taken me at least 2 years to do that.. We also make a real effort to met with them and do socials twice  a year, the last one was a strawberry tea afternoon where everybody met everybody else.. We have a good fundraising committee, not bad on a few other things, have currently 10 fosterer (few with pens and few indoor pens) have losta few but gained a few more.. BUT we are virtually skint.. We ran out of money last year after rehoming more then 200 odd cats we just cannot afford to do that.. this year we havnt homed nearly as many cats but we are keeping our head above water.

We cover  a large area and i do make extreme efforts to network with other branches on rehoming... we took in March over 10 cats from Bredurst and rehomed them and have helped a few other branches out with rehoming. But sadly our expentiture is more then out inputs and even if we had another lot of fosterers we are not sure we have the money or the infrasture to support them..

Anyhows, i suppose we are still here that the issue and have just recently picked up on homing..

[Dawn F]

 

won't say I'm surprised - can't remember the name of the cp lady but the audience were awful to her and to make things more difficult she has hearing problems and the person typing up the transcript of the days events so she could follow it easily had left and they were coming at her from all angles - she stood her ground but I wouldn't have fancied it

there was also some controversy over little marquees but stopped listening at that point!

[Mark]

I won't say who told me or where they are based but apparently there is a CP branch where the woman that runs it had a uniform, complete with hat made and has her van painted with the logo 

[Dawn F]

definitely true Ela, a fight nearly broke out at a training day I went on at head office in March over the move to scrap the sponsorship of particular cats!

[Ela]

Ela" in response to your CP re volunteers - perhaps different branches have different ideas

I expect you are quite right but nowadays we are all supposed to sing from the same hymn sheet (which is supplied), re standards etc .  Sadly there are still a few Co-ordinators that are old school and behind the times and rule with an iron rod and think they are little Hitlers. We do actully get many volunteers  for many different aspect of rescue but after a week or so they all go by the wayside and many of them are gunners but never actually take aim and fire.

[madkittyrescue]

sounds like you're having a really tough time of it just now Ron and it always seems harder when things start getting you down doesn't it?

Sending you lots of positive homing vibes and I really hope that you can see some light at the end of the tunnel soon. 

[Liz]

Ron each one you get is a safe baby, so much luckier than others

"Ela" in response to your CP re volunteers - perhaps different branches have different ideas - I am currently fostering ferals for my old branch 150 miles away as they have faith in our ability to seperate fosters unlike my local screaming out for volunteers branch who never even came to see our set up!  As a current fosterer please note I pay all vets bills, food, litter and anything else they need in their time with us and am quite happy to help another couple of folks in my old branch with food as I have worked my socks off to get rescue deals for food etc.

My thoughts are with you Ron and hope that lady luck comes up with some good homes for your current mob

[Teresa Pawcats]

Take heart Ron, you are right there is no end

BUT

A  bright new beginning for each one we take in.

[Ela]

At least CP branches have the "luxury" of the cats & kittens being spread over various fosters but you have them all to do yourself.

I appreciate what you say Mark  and think Ron does a wonderful job with limited resources, however, not all CP branches have the 'luxury' of a number of fosterers, nowadays it seems more and more are struggling for volunteers. I know  of branches with only one fosterer, where that fosterer is Co-ordinator,  Fundraiser, Treasurer and everything else that goes with rescue, a bit like Ron really I expect.  We now only have 3 fosterers, 1 only has 2 pens and 2 have 3 pens,  two of the 3 have (genuine) long term medical problems.  We had a new fosterer a few weeks ago but now her daughter has decided to move to New Zealand and now she has decided to move there or to Hong Kong where they have another daughter. Almost a month ago we had a recruitment meeting and there is a follow up meeting this week but I am not holding my breath. All I know is all I want to do is care for those I have now, answer the phone, do the vouchers & membership. Hopefully there will be a new Co-ordinator so it leaves me more time. I can dream about more time but it is one responsibility less.


All we can all do is our best with the resources we have.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I am sorry things are so bad for you Ron, it certainly seems worse for you than us, think we have 24 in at the moment, 15 of those are kittens - but that is between 3 people. It is the turning away I dont like, but we can only help so many.

[Mark]

, i bet you are over run with cats and Kitten's at your end

At least CP branches have the "luxury" of the cats & kittens being spread over various fosters but you have them all to do yourself. It's a wonder you get any sleep with all the feeding & cleaning - let alone paperwork, phone calls etc etc. Have you got any help now?

[Ela]

To be honest Ron I think it is a nationwide problem, I know every year I say this is our worse year and it can't get any worse but sadly each year it does get worse. There is not a day goes by that I am not receiving calls to being in cats sometimes as many as 30 in a day which is impossible. Also almost daily we are receiving at least one call about a mum and kittens living in peoples garden etc, these of course need priority as many of them are living in dangerous locations.  Why a cat will chose to live in gardens with Jack Russell’s in residence is a worry. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to trap them all, someone tried yesterday but sadly after hours of trying they were unsuccessful. Fortunately we have found a quarantine kennel who will take them in for us as a one off (we will have to pay of course) as we just have nowhere for them to go. Also late last night I had a call about another mum and 4 kittens, so in the morning we have to look into that and see what we can do, where they will go I have no idea.

[ronandcats]

 You are right Mark and i never will while i have breath left in me but i always seem to get by, i bet you are over run with cats and Kitten's at your end really nice to hear from you keep up the good work we have had to build two new kitten pens. what would happen to the poor little mites if it wasent for the likes of all of us if we turned a blind eye on all the poor little mites creep in touch.

[Mark]

I don't know how you do it Ron. There has to be a point where you draw the line 

I know what you are like though - you just couldn't turn a needy one away 

[ronandcats]

 We have over Fifty cats and Kittens in our care at the moment and a pregnant mum about to have her kittens in a week or so and two more coming in in the morning, really don't know how to keep up with it,our vet bills are getting on top of us, there seems to be more and more cats being thrown out on the streets in the Brighton and Hove Area than we have known for a long time still, it seems the same everywhere and still poor little kittens being Born when will people learn we have Re Homed nearly 150 since Christmas and thought we were getting on top of it now for every one out we get two in .