A map and opening hours are at the foot of the page giving directions to the Sanctuary.
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 £70 - £100
on veterinary treatment for each cat (in some cases much more), to give you an idea of donations 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 £60000 in 2009.
We also offer 4
weeks' free pet insurance through Pet Plan to help with vets' bills. If you decide to continue the policy after the 4
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).
Our welfare officer is in charge of rehoming, and she will then assess whether any of
the cats currently at the Sanctuary are suitable to be shown to you.
Please do not be offended
if you are refused a particular cat or kitten. We take our rehoming responsibilities seriously and if we think a cat
isn’t suitable, we will explain why. We get to know them very well and we have many years' experience predicting
where, and with whom, a cat or kitten will fit in so that they do not have to come back to us, which is very disorientating
for them.
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:
