Dear Potential Cats Protection Volunteer,

Thank you for clicking on the flag to find out more about volunteering with St. Albans and District Branch.

It is sad, but true, that as a totally volunteer branch, we are feeling the economic pinch. 

We are lucky to have had recent gifts of legacies but we still have to do our own fundraising to cover fostering costs and vet fees.

If you would like to become involved in charitable fundraising for a worthwhile local cause, you will find it very rewarding. 

Have a look at all the areas where we need volunteers and let us know how you'd like to help.

All CP Branches work in slightly different ways and have different opportunites for volunteering.

Having more volunteers to help out makes everyone's job a bit easier whether you have two hours of time to help on a Saturday or whether you want to help with administration.

We currently have four volunteer fosterers, who work very hard with only six pens and we have more fosterers wanting to help but we need to raise money in order to provide the animal welfare regulated environments that we need for each fosterer. If you want more information on how to become a fosterer, please ask us.

Alternatively, you may not be sure about how you want to be involved but may have some ideas of your own how you can help.

We often invite volunteers to come along to one of our CP Branch Team meetings (always held in the evenings) to meet us; see how we work and, perhaps, come up with new ideas of being involved.  Why not ask us when the next meeting will be held?  

Here are some areas where we need help and you might be interested to find out more about them:

• Helping with Tin Shakes - Only ONE HOUR every 3-4 months. We tell you the date and venue and you let us know if you can help. People are a bit daunted by this because they don't know what to expect. It is more about PR and giving out information than it is about money.

We hope you will find something here that sparks your interest. Remember we are a friendly and supportive Team and we offer help and guidance in getting involved so fill out a Membership form and email us for a chat or contact our HelpLine and ask for more information.

We look forward to hearing from YOU!

One volunteers' experience:

"I have always had cats all my life from the time I was a child and my cat slept on my bed. When I didn't have cats, I found I missed having someone with furry paws greet me after a hard days work. I adopted three rescue cats at different times but I found they all bonded and got on with each other and I have learned something different from every cat I have had. However one thing they all had in common was not eating a certain flavour of cat food. So, it took me awhile to find an animal rescue place who would take the cat food from me. Luckily I finally got in contact with St. Albans Cats Protection (through the Yellow Pages!!) and was impressed with the volunteer who came and collected the food from me. I attended a few Committee meetings; helped out with a tin shake and then helped out with one of the annual charity stalls and it grew from there. I have also done a bit of emergency fostering indoors which was quite rewarding especially since they needed vet attention and lots of care when they came in having been dumped and neglected by a previous owner. I was lucky enough to help find a home for all my emergency foster cats but it is not work I could do full time because it upset my resident pets. However, I have been able to help out other fosterers in the Branch and frequently get to visit the cats in care and take their photos for the website. I also still help out collecting unwanted cat food from other owners and find lots of ways to get involved in different things that the local Branch does."

FINALLY, the best way of helping Cats Protection is:

 BE a RESPONSIBLE pet owner and look after your cat and other animals. 

ALWAYS get your pet neutered and make sure they are flea protected, wormed and in good health.