Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: midgecat on December 28, 2010, 16:25:36 PM

Title: cat care course?
Post by: midgecat on December 28, 2010, 16:25:36 PM
thanks trigger for suggesting i move this from the newbies area:

i've been fostering cats from my local rescue for about 3 months now.  had about 8 through in that time with various questions about several of them - and help from people here. but  the more i do the more i realise i don't know.   :-[

i was wondering if anyone could recommend any training / course about cat welfare - particularly around rescue cats. i've had cats all my life so i know some basic stuff but nowhere near so many issues come up when you just have a single long term cat.
Title: Re: cat care course?
Post by: Kay and Penny on December 28, 2010, 20:13:39 PM
have you come across this one?
Title: Re: cat care course?
Post by: Mark on December 28, 2010, 20:35:05 PM
Looks a bit iffy to me. It doesn't mention if the course is recognized anywhere  :shify: - I can't imagine how you could do something like this as a correspondence course (the health checks mainly)  :shify: :evillaugh:

Brings to mind something I saw on Watchdog once. It was certificates in curry house windows. Something along the lines of "Recommended by the curry club" - it turned out that any curry house could become a member for a fee and would get the certificate as part of the membership  :evillaugh:

A lot of colleges do animal care courses - ie HNDs but not sure if there is a specific cat one.

http://www.hadlow.ac.uk/study-at-hadlow/course-details12.aspx

Title: Re: cat care course?
Post by: Ellen2010 on December 28, 2010, 22:48:27 PM
thanks trigger for suggesting i move this from the newbies area:

i've been fostering cats from my local rescue for about 3 months now.  had about 8 through in that time with various questions about several of them - and help from people here. but  the more i do the more i realise i don't know.   :-[

i was wondering if anyone could recommend any training / course about cat welfare - particularly around rescue cats. i've had cats all my life so i know some basic stuff but nowhere near so many issues come up when you just have a single long term cat.

This is not specifically cat but is mainly small animals and is usually studied 1 day a week in college so is not too imposing when you have fosters in but you do have an exam at the end of it.  You will cover anatomy and physiology, behaviour, responsible ownership, animal first aid, nutrition and several other subjects but is a while since I studied it so can't remember all the things but got a distinction in all of it for each part and the exam and then went on to do a National Diploma in animal Management after.  The course is called ABC Level 2 Small Animal Care, there is also a level 3 in it but that is more xrays etc
Title: Re: cat care course?
Post by: Fire Fox on December 29, 2010, 19:05:53 PM
Looks a bit iffy to me. It doesn't mention if the course is recognized anywhere  :shify: - I can't imagine how you could do something like this as a correspondence course (the health checks mainly)  :shify: :evillaugh:

 :rofl: Reminds me of suggesting someone on Purrs post a knotted Persian to Gillian, and someone else pointing out the cat would not be returned! Might be a good way of clearing some space in rescue tho? Bet you would deny receiving a special delivery, Mark. :innocent:

Midgecat have you asked around at your local colleges and schools for evening classes? Or maybe local rescues or the council dog warden (if there is one)? If you find something online you'd want the course to be mapped to NVQ (national vocational qualifications) and, as Mark says, definitely accredited by a proper awarding body or educational establishment if you are wanting a certificate of achievement.