rescue people how did you get started??

[Dawn F]

lol I don't have children - the cats use the bedrooms!!  Tilly sleeps in ours on top of the wardrobe, Amber between our pillows, Star likes the chair in the box room and Oscar as the bed in the middle room!

[Liz]

Dawn evict all children of a certain age freeing up extra cat rooms!

We do have the luxury of space and have paid a very high price to - Nat West own OH's salary for several more years!

I am hoping to put an outdoor run up from the cat room or family room to allow the indoor crew outside time but will invlove a whole new window/door set up so it is currently on teh Cats wish list having said that none of the "indoor" only crew ever look to go out in fact Boston one of my flakey ferals spent the day in the concservatory scratching post having been missed in the morning roundup - he never left his safe boxy and looked shattered when we came home - he has since always been on his side of the door

We also have a couple or 3 cats who are on the inside/outside side of the house and all quite happily live indoors despite having access rights they just don't want to go out - Yes I have some odd ones

We also have the former ferals who have earned the right to do indoor/outdoor - they love outside but come in to use the grit box

[Dawn F]

I think the amount of space you have helps Liz!!  because we have a cat proof garden and only 3 beds space is finate all the bedrooms currently belonging to someone so i'd have to stop that someone using what they consider personal space - its tricky

having real trouble posting today, everything is coming out Chinese!!

[Liz]

I think we are lucky with what comes, goes and stays at the Clan homestead, ours just accept whatever comes in also as most of the ferals are from colonies they have the attitude that theres always room for one more

We only had one that didn't work at all his name was Ainsley a big black stunner who took a massive dislike to the late darling Bertie who was blind he made his life a misery so he got home to that nice 5* hotel and has never looked back he is 14 now and has 3 incommers he bought in to the hotel and they now live in the residents lounge and reception not bad for a long term stray and the others are ferals who like the good life now!

[Desley (booktigger)]

Dawn, it can upset the balance, I was lucky in that my cats weren't used to going in the spare room cos of it being my housemates room, and the ones i have kept so far had been through their isolation in the bathroom, so they never bother with the cat room. I have had issues with integrating cats though.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Gosh had forgotten about that thread and thought would copy and paste but can see why it not easy to do LOL.....go and have a read every one, great pics too. 

It was done for our auction two years ago 

[LesleyW]

Sorry, took me a long time to type if the first time, so for those of you who want to trawl through it, -

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,10035.0.html

Unfortunately, little Tarka didn't make it and the numbers have increased rather since then, I think we have re-homed close on to 400 now (and the resident numbers are bigger now - why do people not like black and black and white cats )

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Great stories and lets hear from the other rescuers 

[Dawn F]

so a feral cat just turned up one day, I never see other cats where i live but I bet there must be feral colonies because we are right on the edge of farming land -  my first cat with oh was a three week old feral who we nicked from a field in Leeds, oh handreared him and I was shocked at how kind he was to this tiny scrap (did him no harm in my eyes after only 4 weeks dating I can tell you!!)  bluto lived on for another 14 years and was my first cat experience

[Liz]

We both worked full time when we started and it was the surprise addition of our first feral the late Tiger wo Toerag bought home that started an ongoing love affair with ferals and cats in general - we have always taken on the worst kinds - ferals aged 11 months no handling - now aged 10 our wonderful Lima and Clio and the best advert I know for what love and time can do, then we took on a friends 2 cats, then our golden oldies Bert and Moose, then more unhandlable ferals who needed time then my first hand rear - Bandit then it sort of took off from there we always took the ones that nobody wanted - we then started kitten fostering and again some nice majority nasty but nice when they left

We ended up with our own colony who of course moved with us 3 years ago as nobody could feed them - led by the wonderful oldie Miss Gracie, we also fostered adults and took back former ferals when owners couldn't cope - some had kids and some lost their homes but the babies came back to us as they were safe not under a threat of PTS for mentioning the word feral

We still do a lot of TNR as folks are dumping their cats in our woods and we feed the ferals who have stayed outside so some come so go but they will always be part of the Clan story

I also do a lot of homechecks for Dog rescues up and down the country - I would fail me due to dodgy fences so get to home other doggies to new wonderful families

i also don't have a rescue dog as with the Clan cats and Jazz I couldn't chance the wrong dog coming in to the house so for me it was the boys Sky and Sunny one from a Breeder and one from a farm

We still take in the waifs and strays from our old CP branch - the late Baby Archie noone wanted him with his health issues - we did and I wouldn't swap the year he gave us so much joy and so much sadness on his passing, we have the Waterybutts 3 the only survivors from a colony of 18 who were poisoned, we have Indie who walked in a skitty feral Mum but now safe we have young Sammy another young feral boy with so many ticks on him - 38 in total he would be dead, Blue with his major surgery another unhandlable feral but now best mates with Ace the other unhandlable boy!

The gorgeous Miss Gem resuced from awful conditions and pregnant to boot with her brother Brodie - so much heartache in her 4 months with us 3 of the kittens died, Gem had FIP and died with dignity so sorely missed and legt her most precious thing baby Beijing a corona carrier who is just a sassy Tortie lady like her wonderful Mum was.

The FIV feral who came for Christmas the day for I burried my mother Miss Hissy Holly loved by us and allowed to go with dignity after only 8 months but a lot of memories including moving house!

We do it as a sideline now as CP here can't condone my amount of cats with never visiting their loss as we also do charity matching for 2 events and our permamant fosters Cissy, Ragamuffin and Smudger donate a round £30.00 a week to our old branch 52 weeks a year!

Robin woirks very hard to keep us and I now temp so that we can keep our family in the manner they have been trained to become accustomed to

We have homed on in the last 10 years over 140 nasty feral kittens to unsuspecting humans as domestic and a lot more nice kittens and cats

I have an FIV boy in a 5 star hotel as a greeter - he has since bought a further 3 ferals in to his new pad much to the delight of the residents!!!!

[Dawn F]

wow Des that is a lot of fosters!!  I'd like to foster myself but oh is worried about it upsetting our balance at home - its so interesting to hear how twists of fate change everything!

[Desley (booktigger)]

I only knew part of your story too T.

I have always wanted a houseful of animals, but my first cat cost me so much in bills I dont know how I got to payday, so I quickly realised that it wasn't an option. My second cat was a CP cat, and they gave you a couple of months subscription, and the first newsletter after my housemate left was a plea for fosterers, this sounded like a good way for me to help animals, I spoke to my neighbour who used to foster who actually tried to persuade me against it, telling me a second job would be better as it would bring more money in for hols and stuff. I decided to ring CP about fostering instead. That week, a stray turned up on the street, and my neighbour got CP to agree to him being my first foster. That was 5 years ago in the June just gone, and I have fostered 82 cats since then (plus my own permanents) - am now with my third rescue group, and I Dont regret the decision I made - I might have had more money if I had gone for the second job, but this gives me so much satisfaction, better than you can get in a paid job, and I have made some wonderful friends.

[Bazsmum]

Now part of that I remember reading somewhere not to long ago.....There's quite a few parts I never knew though! 

[harlequin]

Teresa that's such a beautiful story

[clarenmax]

I didn't know most of your background either T, I think the business world's loss was definitely the gain of each and every one of the babes you've helped over the years.  Each and every one owe their lives to you, and Winnie sounds like she was adorable 

[Dawn F]

Teresa I didn't know any of that, other than you'd been career woman before - what a loss to cats if you had taken another path

[Teresa Pawcats]

Think my story is pretty well known.
I WAS a dog person, I HATED cats, for 20 months I fought a terrible battle trying to save the life of my 13 year old Lab/greyhound Cindy who I had had from 5 weeks old, Cindy was the most beautiful girl in the world, Cindy had the most terrible form of skin cancer but I loved her and in truth I probably fought too long. For exactly 9 months I used to pray that somehow a dog would find me, this was over 20 years ago and I never knew that animals were abandoned and neglected at that point. The local paper came through my letter box and on the front page was a picture of a dog in rescue, it took me 2 days to stop feeling unfaithful to Cindy before I dared ring up, the very next day I went to kennels but couldnt look, I asked for the dog that had been there the longest,the one no one else wanted and  poor pathetic skin and bones Winnie came home with me, she was so ill she was ugly, we spent 6 weeks nursing her back to health on a diet of chicken and rice. The rescue she came from hadnt homechecked me but one of the fosterers came to see me and asked me to foster for them, my first foster Polly the deaf collie was adopted by us; but along the way dogs and puppies of all descriptions found there way to us and then a 6 month old black feral kitten called Sally, well daughters bedroom was empty so cage went in there and I used to sit and read to Sally because I was terrified of her, she soon calmed and found a wonderful home, trouble is the more you do in rescue the more you find out how huge a problem there is. Suddenly my fear of cats was overcome when I was at the rescue centre I fostered for and was told to put down the cat I was cuddling as she was a totally feral mum, her name was Skitty she attacked everyone in the world but for some reason she trusted me. At the same time an old boy called Star came to me, he was in liver and kidney failure and had to spend his last days in my shed because there was nowhere else, Star was the first cat I truly loved and wasnt afraid of, he was also my first death, I told Rob I couldnt save Star but I was going to save the world I had got too deeply involved and realised I needed to do even more so I got OH to build the original cat pens at home and ended up fostering everything I could squeeze in. I stayed with this other rescue for 10 years and gained a wealth of experience but I also realised that lots of things needed improvement at the main rescue and sadly I realised I was fighting a losing battle so I decided to go solo, I already had my cat pens and equipment that I had bought from my own salary ( yes I had a job and used to dress in posh suits but that ended in favour of the cats).
Paws Inn is just approaching its 10th birthday as an independant rescue. As for Winnie the dog who opened my eyes to this cruel world she had 17 wonderful years with us and when she died the local newspaper ran an article on her legacy to help the strays.To date over 5000 animals have passed through our doors, and of course we are cats only now.
Sometimes when the going gets tough and thats most of the time, I ask myself If I could turn back the clock would I go back to nice business suits and career or take the same path, the answer is always obvious as I see a little pair of eyes that say it matters to me, no I never did save the world and realise that even if its just one it matters to them.

[clarenmax]

Something I've always wondered too, will be interesting to see the answers 

[Dawn F]

I'd love to know what happened to get you into all of this!!!