St Albans Cats Protection (0845 371 2064) has officially been a local branch since October 2001. Even before that time many people in the areas were involved with helping stray cats and kittens in their own homes and kitchens.

We recently had a massive re-organisation which resulted in publicity for our new contact number, a new website, and an increase in the number of people who are able to volunteer to foster for us.

Today what we do and how we do it depends on the number of people who help us.  We are ENTIRELY a VOLUNTEER organisation, so we welcome new members; people who are interested in doing Committee work; so we welcome new branch members and/or volunteers who are attracted to fostering, and volunteers for fundraising help, which is usually on a Saturday.

Our Committee and our fosterers are all unpaid volunteers.  How successful we are in helping to rescue and re-home cats in this area depends entirely on our volunteers and how much we are able to fundraise.  Our fundraising efforts through charity market stalls and tin-shakes depend entirely on how many volunteers we have giving of their time in key positions that are crucial to our local success.  If you want to volunteer to help us, PLEASE CONTACT US TODAY to talk about what you can do to help or ask us to send you our information sheet on volunteering and the different things you can do or become involved in.

In the last three years alone we have successfully re-homed over 350 cats and kittens.  In addition to this, we have also helped an ever increasing number of owners neuter their cats, as well as trapping and treating feral cats to reduce unwanted litters and strays.  In 2010 we helped reunite 20 lost cats with their owners across the region.  Luckily not all of these cats have had to come into our care, thereby freeing a welfare pen for more deserving cases.  A lot of well-meaning members of the public have helped with lost and found cats and we are very grateful for their understanding and help.  It is always a joyous moment for us when we can trace the owner.  Please HELP US to continue to make the future a big success for cats in the area.

Very sadly, due to the shaky economic situation that we find ourselves in, more and more cats are being abandoned or left without vet care (some are left at the vets!).  All of these cats need our help and we are not a big enough organisation to help them all.  We work on a "first come" basis and deal with all cats the same way.  However, we cannot continue in this work without MORE volunteer help.

It would be very sad if we have more unhappy cats in the area for lack of interest and help.

Please pick up the phone today and let us know how you can help.

We cover the postcodes listed on our Homepage but are not strictly confined by these boundaries.  As you can imagine, the areas we work with and the people and cats we deal with are all very diverse.  We work very closely with other Cats Protection Branches in Hertfordshire and throughout the country, as well as other local animal welfare charities and give referrals where necessary and help when we can rescue and re-home cats and kittens in our area, which may have come in for various reasons - sometimes people move and leave their cat behind; sometimes their owners die; sometimes they are found wandering or injured, and sometimes they are handed in when people just can't cope with having a pet anymore!  It is always very sad for the cat but we try to make it better.

ensure that every cat we take in is not missing from another home as we scan every cat in our care in case it is micro-chipped and lost; advertise found cats on our website, facebook and twitter pages; look out for cats that are reported to us.

help with assisted neutering for people in need.

guarantee that all our cats are vet checked, neutered, micro-chipped, treated for fleas and worms and re-homed with four weeks free insurance from Pet Plan.

educate and give advice on the proper care and treatment of cats and kittens.

All the above is done with no goverment or lottery funding, and we rely solely on the goodwill and donations from local people that we help.  It is sad but true that often the people we help who are in a position to give us a donation, never do.  None of our volunteers, committee members, officers or fosterers receive a salary from Cats Protection, and many give up hours of their time every week.

If you live in or around St Albans and can help us, please do

How can you help?

• Give a cat a new home
• Become a local CP member
• Volunteer to help on our Committee
• Become a fosterer
• Give a donation

Your efforts will make a cat very happy!