A map and opening hours are at the foot of the page giving directions to both the Sanctuary and Charity Shop.
Please read the information on this page in full before visiting. We are a responsible Charity and wish to
make prospective visitors think fully about all aspects of pet ownership.
Please ensure that you are fully aware of the expenses involved in owning pets (eg. neutering, annual vaccinations
and other veterinary treatment, food/litter costs, regular flea and worming costs, and cattery fees), and the associated
responsibility of looking after pets which requires an established household and stable home life, with sufficient
regular income in order to meet these expenses.
An owner is legally required to look after their pets and this includes obtaining both routine and emergency
veterinary treatment when necessary in order to avoid neglect - see the Animal Welfare Bill (on the DEFRA website) which
became law on 6th April 2007 and put a duty of care on to owners. There are fines of up to £20000 and up to a year in
prison for failure to meet certain levels of care.
All cats that we rehome have been vaccinated against cat flu, enteritis and chlamydia, are neutered
(if they are old enough, ie. 4 - 5 months old) and microchipped. All our cats remain
registered for microchip purposes to CCR at the Sanctuary address, as we maintain responsibility for these records. Please
notify us by letter or email if you move house.
We have in most cases spent between £60 - £100 on veterinary treatment for each cat (in some cases much more), to give
you an idea of the donation to help continue our work. (Cash, debit card or cheque with a valid banker's card
accepted.) This donation goes towards our vet bills which are our biggest expense - almost £75000 in
2006.
We also offer 6 weeks' free pet insurance through Pet Plan to help with vets' bills. If you decide to continue the policy
after the 6 weeks, we benefit by receiving commission for the life of the policy, which we put towards running the Sanctuary.
We do recomment this in view of the cost of veterinary treatment.
When you visit the Sanctuary, we will discuss your circumstances and ask you to complete a detailed questionnaire
to tell us more about yourself so that we can try to find the right cat(s).
Please also bring proof of identity (eg. passport/driving licence) and proof of current address (eg.
utility bill under 3 months old) with you if you are wishing to rehome a cat.
People are welcome to visit us at the Sanctuary during our opening hours (see below), even if you are
just wanting to have a look round.
Unfortunately we receive new cats each week so there is a high turnover. We always seek to place the right cat with
the right household, and may do home checks before allowing a cat to be rehomed. If you do not own your home,
we will also require a letter from your landlord confirming that you may have cats, and that you have a lease of
at least 12 months, which will be able to be extended (so that the newly rehomed cat has some stability in its new surroundings.)
Please note that we have to consider the welfare of the cats, and cannot home cats to certain roads/areas
that would be too busy/dangerous. This is a policy common to many other animal welfare charities rehoming cats,
eg. Cats Protection and the RSPCA.
Also, we generally only rehome cats in the local area, within about 10 - 15 miles of Colchester, ie. from
Witham in the south to Ipswich in the north, Clacton in the east, and Sudbury to the west, as we may want to do
a home check.
If you are not in our area, please go on to the very good cat charity website
www.catchat.org that lists all Essex and Suffolk cat rescues (including RSPCA and Cats Protection branches) if you click on Essex.
You can write to us or telephone us at the Sanctuary address below, or click this address to send us e-mail:
