Eskdale & District Winter Newsletter
03 December 2023
All of a sudden it is Christmas! Shops have been full of glittery reindeer and tinsel for weeks. Our Cats Protection cards and calendars are in the vets and we shall shortly stop rehoming until after the New Year.
Don’t forget that Anne’s shop in Longtown has lots of lovely gifts and Christmassy things – candles, hampers, decorations and other great gifts. You can also get cards, gift wrap, diaries and calendars at the shop.
Summer temperatures were a bit of a roller coaster; going from really hot, when all the cat pens were overheating, to miserably wet and grey. We have been trying various solutions to the heat problem: Elaine and Jan’s pens now sport giant parasols weighted down at the base by sandbags; the pens at Ark have tinted windows to reduce the amount of heat getting through and Anne at Ashkirk has fans, air coolers and sheets. Sheets at the windows, fans and air con units go quite a long way in reducing the temperature, but some of the pens have more exposure to the sun in midsummer (when the sun gets really high in the sky) than they can cope with.
The need now is to batten down the hatches against whichever storm is coming at us next.
Good News
We are delighted to have two new members, Lesley and Jill, volunteering for us in Moffat. Lesley is very active carrying out home visits for us in the area. Having been a postie she knows the district very well. Not only that but she and John have taken on one of our most needy and neglected rescues. Chewy had been living rough on the hills since May when his owner died until he was brought into our care in October. He was in a really terrible state, anaemic, wobbly and full of parasites and with infected wounds from a collar which had been caught behind one front leg and had dug deep into the flesh. In spite of all that he was still a friendly, kind cat, desperate for love. Well, he has had that in bucketfuls with Lesley and John and is recovering well physically. We are still treating him for his “nightmares” – sudden, manic episodes. He is getting lots of sympathetic, loving care.
Jill recently moved up to Moffat and contacted us to volunteer help. Her and Ginnie met in Lockerbie and went to see the cats in the pens at Ark, as Jill may decide to foster for us and was interested to see the pens and meet the cats waiting for new homes. First she met our boisterous bruiser Ronnie and it was love at first sight. He went into his routine of attacking legs in his rather exuberant fashion but Jill wasn’t put off. Good for you, Jill! Read Ronnie’s next adventure in his news article.
A message to Elaine
Our longest term fosterer, Elaine, is having to take a little break from fostering for health reasons. As well as being a vital member of the branch – she not only fosters but volunteers in the shop - she is a good friend and we all send her our best wishes for a speedy return to active service.
Get well SOON, Elaine – we can’t do without you for long!
Homing
Homing details for 2023 will be in the Spring 2024 newsletter, but generally it has been a good year for homing. This is fortunate as we have had an unprecedented number of kittens coming into care. Some were only days old and required hand rearing. Our dedicated pair of hand rearers, Elaine and Jan, did a marvellous job there and all our fosterers have spent much time socialising little ferals and turning them from little hissy spitty bundles, into fun loving, friendly, huggable furries.
Thank You!
A number of people have already made generous donations to the branch via the Winter Appeal. A very big “Thank You” to all those people.
Quick note: if you are donating to this appeal, although the Facebook post says it is for Eskdale branch, you still have to specify that when you make your donation. Otherwise it goes to the blackhole of Cats Protection HQ.
On a more boring note, CP’s new subsidised neutering scheme is being rolled out with the speed of an express snail. This means that some vet practices have their own neutering vouchers and anyone needing help needs to ring them and not us, but others are not signed up so people need to ring us not the vet. If you know anyone needing help getting their cat neutered, please give them Ginnie's or Anne's number and they will sort it out. (Ginnie - 013873 76738 and Anne - 01228 791364)
Even more exciting, Cats Protection has a new colour scheme and logo which we will be moving over to soon.
Finally, we wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year!
A message to Elaine.
Our longest term fosterer, Elaine, is having to take a little break from fostering for health reasons. As well as being a vital member of the branch – she not only fosters but volunteers in the shop - she is a good friend and we