Volunteer at Cats Protection Essex Cat Centre
Without volunteers, Essex Cat Centre simply wouldn't exist. Our amazing, friendly volunteers are a diverse group with a shared love of cats who fit volunteering around their home lives and personal commitments.
We're often looking to welcome new volunteers to join our brilliant team. As well as meeting great people and making an incredible difference to the cats of Chelmsford, you'll enjoy practical benefits such as discounted pet insurance. You can find out more about volunteering for Cats Protection here.
We welcome volunteers in the following roles to support our centre:
- Cat Care
- Cleaning the living environments of cats in care
- Washing up food bowls, litter trays etc
- Grooming cats
- Enriching each cat's experience in care through play, exercise and handling
- Observing the cats for any changes in behaviour or health
- This role is currently only available in the following slots:
- Monday mornings
- Monday afternoons
- Thursday afternoons
- Friday afternoons
- Sunday afternoons
- Transport
- In this role, volunteers would use our vans to transport cats and equipment
- Transporting cats between centres and branches, both locally and connecting us with the Norfolk centres and UK Cat Centre in East Sussex
- Transporting equipment to and from events (locally)
- Transporting cats to and from fosterers (locally)
- This role is ad hoc as transport is sometimes requested last minute, or drives have to be on certain days to fit with vet visits and availability at other centres.
- Health & Safety Admin
- Assisting in supporting the centre in keeping up to date with H&S checks, such as legionella testing
- Monthly checks of emergency facilities (lighting, fire extinguishers, fire alarm)
- Monitoring paperwork and updating as required
- Full training and support for all checks and equipment required will be provided
- This role is ad hoc, to suit the schedule of the applicant.
- Fundraising
- Attending events to support on stalls
- Supporting in setting up and packing down of events
- Some events at the centre, others locally in and around Chelmsford
- Gardening
- Weeding paths and flowerbeds
- Planting
- Upkeep of green spaces at the centre
- Our current gardening volunteers usually come in on Thursdays during the drier months, starting around 10am.
We are not currently accepting applications for the above roles.
We are always happy to receive applications for fostering!
If you are keen to know more about these opportunities, please contact volunteering@chelmsford.cats.org.uk.
Veterinary EMS Placements
We do host veterinary students for the required 2-week EMS placement for university studies. If you are interested in applying for this experience, please email volunteering@chelmsford.cats.org.uk. We often receive a lot of enquiries for the summer holidays, so please get in touch to start the application process early to reserve your space.
Duke of Edinburgh
Thank you for your interest in completing your Duke of Edinburgh volunteering placement with us to support our cats. The placement spaces for 2025 are now fully booked.
We will be hosting a small number of students for their Bronze DofE placements in 2026. The sessions will run for one hour a week on Saturdays or Sundays, from January to April (12 weeks).
We are not yet accepting applications for 2026 placements.
Cat Care Experience for Young Volunteers 2025 - now full booked
The Cat Care Experience is for young volunteers age 10-18yrs inclusive. It runs during the summer holidays, this year the dates are Monday 18th August to Friday 29th August (excluding weekends and Wednesdays). It is an opportunity for young people in the local community to visit our centre for an afternoon to receive a tour of the centre, assist with a few cat care activities to support the cats in care, and also to meet a couple of cats.
This opportunity is available as a one-off experience for each young volunteer, running from 12noon to 4pm. There is a limit on the number of attendees per session, to ensure that each individual has a beneficial and meaningful experience, with direct interaction with the staff and cats.
