Forever Homes For Felines

Cats and volunteers at leading feline welfare charity Cats Protection are benefiting from the support of players of People's Postcode Lottery. The charity pursues its vision of a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs.

Having funded Cats Protection with over £1 Million to date, our players are supporting rehoming and volunteering at 35 of Cats Protection's centres by funding volunteer team leader and cat care assistant roles nationwide.

Around 200,000 cats and kittens are helped each year, through Cats Protection's national network of volunteer-run branches and centres, meaning thousands of cats are in care at any one time.

The charity not only rehomes cats, it also:

• reunites around 3,000 cats with their owners,
• microchips every cat rehomed through its network,
• runs the largest single species neutering programme in the world,
• engages over 10,000 volunteers who contribute more than 5 million hours,
• has a retail presence in over 120 towns and cities nationwide,
• delivers feline education talks for groups of all ages,
• provides temporary cat fostering to support people fleeing domestic violence through its Paws Protect programme,
• helps people coping with the death or loss of a pet through telephone and online grief support service, Paws to Listen, and
• gives peace of mind that cats will be cared for after the death of their owner through its Cat Guardians programme.

With players' support, volunteer team leaders are responsible for recruiting, supporting and retaining volunteers in a variety of roles crucial to the charity's long-term ability to help cats in need.

Finding New, Loving Owners

Clara Youden, volunteer team leader at Birmingham Adoption Centre, explained, "When I started my role, we had 17 volunteers providing around 76 hours of volunteering monthly, now we have 58 volunteers donating around 400 hours of their time every month. We originally focused on cat care volunteers but now we also have social media, meet & greet, gardening and DIY volunteers plus a fundraising events team. We simply couldn't help as many cats without volunteers and they are the first to say how much they feel they benefit alongside the cats."

It is also thanks to players that cats are united smoothly and successfully with new loving owners. Cat care assistants focus on ensuring cats spend as little time as possible in centres, matching their personalities and individual needs with owners and home environments. They provide vital guidance and support throughout the rehoming process, helping create thousands of happy endings.

Laura Haste, cat care assistant at Cats Protection's Bridgend Adoption Centre, said, "I'd like to say a special thank you to players. Their support ensures cat care assistants like me are on hand to ensure cats receive the ongoing care and emotional support they need while they wait to meet their new owners."

With help from our players, the charity is able to nurture the powerful bonds between cats and humans providing them both with improved health, fuller hearts and happier homes, ensuring their lives become infinitely richer whether in the centre or daily life.