Volunteering

How Can You Help?  -  Become a Branch Volunteer

We always need additional volunteers to help us locally and there are a number of things which you could do to help us :
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Fostering:
This involves looking after a rescued cat or kitten(s) until the branch can find him/her a new loving home. You must have a spare room (as we do not allow foster cats to mix with other cats) or no cats of your own, a telephone and transport (essential for visits to the vet etc). Some of our more experienced fosterers have purpose built, heated pens in their gardens. Fostering is very enjoyable and rewarding but can also have a sad side too as a lot of the cats we take in are strays and inevitably some of them can be unwell or very sick. Very occasionally a foster cat will have to be put to sleep, on veterinary advice. We will support you all the way in this volunteer role. Fosterers must also be prepared to bring their foster cat(s) along to our monthly Cat Homing Shows  (see Cat Homing Shows for some pictures of previous shows)

Visiting:
As you will have read on our Adopt a Cat page, we do a home check before each of our cats are homed. Most initial home check visits are carried out by our fosterers, but on Cat Homing Show days we need lots of people to help, as our fosterers will be looking after their cats at the show. If you can help, we will send you out on a couple of prehoming visits with one of our experienced volunteers so that you will learn from them and we would not expect you to go out on your own until you feel confident enough to do so. If you are interested, please come along to one of our Homing Shows and speak to us there.

Transport:
We often need help during week days with transport, particularly for taking stray cats which need treatment to the vets. As most of our volunteers work full-time, we are a bit thin on the ground during the week. If you could offer to help as and when help is needed, this would be most appreciated.
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Fund-Raising:
We have lots of events throughout the year and are always in need of extra fund-raising volunteers. Most events take place at the week-ends but can be daytime or evening, depending on the type of event. Most events involve setting up, manning a stall and packing up afterwards, Pets at Home Collections or can rattling when we get permission for other store collections. Our fund-raisers also play a key role in our monthly Cat Homing Shows. Ideally you should have transport and a telephone/email (so we can contact you). If you do not have transport we will pair you with someone who has for an event. You get to meet lots of people, make friends and help the cats at the same time. We also have a regular informal get together for our fund-raisers to plan and talk about our events, and of course to chat about cats. 

Interested?
If you would like to find out more about becoming a branch volunteer in any of these roles, please call us on 01268 543283 or come along to one of our monthly Cat Homing Shows for  friendly chat. 

                                                       last updated 25 February 2019
Fosterer Volunteer

Across the UK many of our feline friends are cared for by volunteer fosterers who provide a stable, safe and loving environment in their homes or in purpose built pens in their gardens. They provide vital hands on care and accommodation to stray, abandoned cats or cats whose owners could sadly no longer keep them, and are part of a dedicated team of volunteers committed to finding new homes for cats in need. Most of our fosterers care for one or two cats at a time and enjoy providing lots of TLC to those cats which have been pre-loved or have had a difficult start in life. Some of our fosterers look after new mums and kittens and provide round the clock care to new-borns with tummies to fill and lots to learn. No matter what type of cats they have in care our fosterers provide the best start to the next stage of their lives. 


Closing date: 20 May 2019
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Fundraising volunteer

As a charity we rely on funds donated by generous members of the public to continue to help cats and kittens in need. Our fundraising volunteers are part of a passionate team that help raise funds to help our feline friends in need. They help plan and deliver exciting and varied fundraising events, which can be anything from craft fairs, cake sales, sponsored abseils – and anything in between!


Closing date: 20 May 2019
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