What we do
Cats Protection Nationwide
Cats Protection was founded in 1927, by volunteers who aim was 'that a society be formed to be devoted exclusively to promoting the interests of cats and that its name be The Cats Protection League.' In 1998 our whole organisation was re-branded as Cats Protection and is now instantly recognisable nationwide by our unified blue and yellow colours and our friendly cat logo. Cats Protection has grown to become the UK's leading feline welfare charity. We now help around 218,000 cats and kittens every year through our network of over 250 volunteer-run branches, 29 adoption centres and our homing centres. In 2012 we were delighted to announce that we rehomed our 1,000,000th cat!
The charity’s three key aims are:
To help stray and unwanted cats and kittens, rehabilitating and rehoming them where possible.
To encourage the neutering of all cats and kittens.
To inform the public about the care of cats and kittens.
What we do at Three Rivers and Watford Branch
Our branch originally operated under Three Rivers (Rickmansworth) branch of the Cats Protection before expanding its area in 1998 and renaming itself the Three Rivers and Watford branch. Many of the original members are still dedicated volunteers!!!
We rescue and rehome cats and kittens in our area, which may have come in for various reasons - sometimes people move and leave their cat, sometimes their owner dies, sometimes they are found wandering or injured, and sometimes they are handed in when people's circumstances change.
Our volunteers give their time, love and dedication to our cats, fostering them within their own home until we find them a permanent home.
We offer information and advice on cat care issues or on what to do for a cat in need.
We are able to help capture stray cats using our humane cat traps.
We help with assisted neutering for people on low income or pensions through the C4 scheme.
We care for long-term ill and elderly cats making sure their medication is given when necessary. Our charity refuses to put healthy cats to sleep and works closely with local vets and dedicated fosterers to ensure cats with on-going, manageable health issues are well looked after.
We have a very small but dedicated team of volunteers who trap, neuter, and return feral cats to their colonies.
We offer advice on what to do if you have lost a cat and advertise lost & found cats on our website.
Last but by no means least, Fundraising enables us to do all of the above. Nearly all of our volunteers work, yet we are out most weekends running charity stalls at local fetes and events, and also our Spring and Autumn Fayres to try and raise funds to continue to support cats & kittens in the local community.
In the past three years our branch has re-homed 280 cats, neutered over 120 cats and treated a further 70! We could not have done this without the support of an amazing team of volunteers or without the donations made by the general public at our events- Thank you! Our branch is completely self-funding. The number of cats and kittens we can help is entirely dependent on how much money our fund-raising team is able to raise and how many donations we receive.
Please visit our ‘Support Us’ page for ideas on how you can help cats in your area.