How many cats in UK rescue?

[Mark]

Sadly too many people dont even acknowledge the fact that they have a stray until the poor thing is at deaths door.

How right are you, on my found page I say  PLEASE DON’T LEAVE IT UNTIL IT IS ILL/INJURED OR YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE FED IT LONG ENOUGH BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO TAKE ANY ACTION, BECAUSE WE ALWAYS HAVE  A LOT OF CATS WAITING TO COME IN. But of course every day I receive a call saying 'well me ducks I have been feeding this cat for so many weeks or more usually months etc etc etc. If only they had rung when they first thought the cat a stray, we could have given advice as to how to trace an owner  and if not found the cat would have been in care and quite possibly re-homed.

Alice was living under a car for a year before the woman decided to call us - and only then because she had a big lump on her face which turned out to be a tumour 
I think her health problems now are due to what she endured. The vet isn't ruling out the effects of malnutrition 

[hels]

sorry for bumping this old thread up but i noticed that no-one with a sphynx had actually replied and i thought i would, seeing as i have a sphynx. i was quite sd to read that people felt that cats should have fur, my sphynx connie knows no different not having fur and i dont feel that she should have fur. sphynxs are a genetic mutation originating in the 70s in Toronto, Canada when a moggy gave birth to a hairless litter of kittens, she was bred back with her own son and the rest is sphynx history.

considering sphynxs are originally from Canada they are fine living over here. This time of the year Connie doesn't go out much but when it's not so cold at the weekend she does potter round the garden. in the summer i have the complete opposite where i cant keep her in and she can get sunburnt.

care wise is more than a normal cat, she has a bath once a week and the lack of hair also means i have to clear her eyes and ears regularly. due to her lack of fur she does get grease marks on her that she likes to rub on the bed. she is also extremely attentive and wants fuss a lot of the time, she's also focal and demanding.

i can see why someone would want a sphynx but breed wise it's not something i think people should just think, i want one of those and go and get one.

indeed i am all for cat rescue (all eight of mine have been rescued including Connie) and nothing beats a rescue cat but sometimes pedigree cats need rescuing too

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Sphynx cats are actually a natural mutation (though obviously deliberately bred to produce an actual breed - can't see them surviving long through natural selection!) and apart from feeling the cold - they are best kept as indoor cats - I don't think they're particularly hard to look after.  I prefer cats with fur coats myself but I like the build and personality of the sphynx.

Yes there are lots of cats in rescues in need of a home and there are excellent reasons for choosing a rescue cat, but it depends on whether your friend really wants a sphynx or not.  If she really wants one then she should go for one - just advise to be careful she gets one from a reputable breeder.

I think there are a couple of people on here (or on catchat) with sphynx cats?

[Desley (booktigger)]

Would be nice to find a estimate for cats - when I ever remember to ring our accountant back, I can find how many cats we homed last year, which would be a bit of a start - there are lots of charities much bigger than us though - but you could use the rescue pages on CC for a rough idea of how many around the country.
I personally dont like Sphynx's, i like my cats to have fur - I also wonder how they manage in this country at times. hope you can convince them to either go to a rescue or a retired pedigree.

[fluffybunny]

Thanks Rebecca, that's pretty much what I've told them.  I did wonder if it was an allergy issue and that's why they decided on a hairless one, but I don't think it is.  As if a cat should be a designer accessory 

On the numbers - I just wondered if any national survey had been carried out, I know every 3 years some rabbit charity surveys as many rescues as they can find, they usually get around a 30% response which states around 10,000 rabbits so know that the approximate no. each year is around 33,000.  As with cats, those are the lucky ones that get a place, and aren't just killed or dumped, or plain forgotten about in hutches at the end of gardens.  I just wondered if there were similar estimates for cats, that's all - but it doesn't look as if there are. 

[Beccles]

FluffyBunny - Sphynx cats, apart from having a stupid name, also secrete vast amounts of oily gunk, which means they leave greasy brown patches everywhere they sit or lie.

I'm very fond of both frogs and small children, neither of which have fur, but cats should.

There is a direct link between people choosing to adopt a deliberately bred cat instead of a rescued one and euthanasia or even just plain old discomfort and misery in overcrowded shelters; it probably won't be the moggy kitten she might have adopted that will end on a vets table as a result of her going for a deliberately bred cat, but further down the line some puss who's perhaps old or poorly or has a few behaviour issues will find that there's no room at the inn.

[Ela]

Sadly too many people dont even acknowledge the fact that they have a stray until the poor thing is at deaths door.

How right are you, on my found page I say  PLEASE DON’T LEAVE IT UNTIL IT IS ILL/INJURED OR YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE FED IT LONG ENOUGH BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO TAKE ANY ACTION, BECAUSE WE ALWAYS HAVE  A LOT OF CATS WAITING TO COME IN. But of course every day I receive a call saying 'well me ducks I have been feeding this cat for so many weeks or more usually months etc etc etc. If only they had rung when they first thought the cat a stray, we could have given advice as to how to trace an owner  and if not found the cat would have been in care and quite possibly re-homed.

[Reynard]

There's always the option of going through the pedigree rescues if someone wants to home a specific breed of cat. Most breed cat clubs do rescue and rehome, so contacting relevant club secretaries should yield the neccesary information.

Sphynx cats don't do it for me though, sad to say. I wish I could say otherwise, but I really don't find them to my taste as I do like to see a cat wearing a magnificent fur coat.

[Teresa Pawcats]

For every one in a rescue there are so many more homeless little ones fighting for survival,with no one to offer food, warmth and comfort. Sadly too many people dont even acknowledge the fact that they have a stray until the poor thing is at deaths door.

[shecat]

How longs a piece of string.

RSPCA will say something, . Where do you start CP, blue Cross.every small rescue, too many to be counted.  As Ella says how many pts, there must be hundreds of thousands out there. I know nothing about sphinx cats, but would imagine they would get cold in this country. Bring your friend on here there are so many rescues needing homes, All sorts of cats desparate.

[Ela]

Firstly you would need to ascertain how many rescues, but I suspect hundreds of thousands. Also as many more PTS.

[fluffybunny]

Forgive me if it's an obvious question, I can't find the answer though    Roughly how many cats are taken to UK rescues each year??  I know the number for rabbits is around 33,000 but don't know about cats.  I'm trying to persuade someone on another forum not to buy a sphinx from a breeder - and want to be able to highlight why that really isn't helping the overall situation.  Also I'm sure that it's not fair on cats to be bred like that is it?  Do they have any specific problems because of their breeding (apart from the obvious lack of fur!) - I haven't established yet whether the issue is allergy or whether it's a designer toy.  Any help greatly appreciated!