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Bury St Edmunds & Stowmarket
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What we do
What we do
The Bury St Edmunds branch of Cats Protection has been running for 30 years. Originally the co-ordinator was Pat Greenhalgh and the branch was based at her home where we had ten large heated pens, with outdoor runs and a kitten house with accommodation for 8 kitten pens. In addition, we had six foster mums with individual pens who took in longer staying cats like pregnant queens and RTAs, or the nervous ones who needed time to get used to being handled.
After Pat retired the branch had to undergo a major change. All our cats are now out with foster mums scattered around the area. We now have 6 pens. We have a Welfare Officer who arranges for the cats to come in and be placed with a fosterer and a Homing Officer to try to match up a cat to a suitable home. We also have Home Visitors who visit prospective homes.
The branch is run totally by volunteers who have split the tasks and operate from their own homes. This is why if you ring the helpline there is a list of numbers which will direct you to the person best able to answer your call.
We have the main committee responsible for the running of the branch all of whom have other responsibilities:
Co-ordinator/Homing Officer/Neutering Officer/Chief Fosterer - Margaret Spratt
Treasurer - Diane Clarke
Welfare/Admissions Officer - Marina Veal
Newsletter - Jenny Reddington-Scott
Publicity - Rebecca George
Membership - Julie Nunn
In addition to the committee we have a team of fosterers, home visitors and fundraisers, all of whom are essential for us to keep running as we are.
Our main out goings are naturally on vet bills which on average are over £15000, this is because all cats which come into our care are blood-tested for Feline Aids and Leukaemia, those 4 months of age or over are neutered before re-homing. The cats are also vaccinated against Cat Flu, Feline Enteritis and Feline Leukaemia and are microchipped. In this way we try to ensure the cats we re-home are in the best possible health and condition. As you can imagine this is very costly and apart from a neutering grant from the NCC (National Cat Centre), we are totally reliant on our own fund raising efforts and donations from the public.
All our pens have heat and light, are 5ft wide, with a bedroom area and 6ft run.