NEWSLETTER ~ 2023

We are quickly approaching the end of 2023 and what a year it has been. We have had alot of sadness with cats coming in having been badly neglected, most responded to immediate treatment, some ongoing for some time, others, we were just called too late but we were there for them in their hour of need, we just wish we had known about them sooner, that may not have changed anything but they would have been safe, warm, loved and away from harm. They all remain in our hearts and will do forever ❤️

There have been many challenges but the vast majority responded to treatment/surgery/TLC and have moved on to FANTASTIC homes. They all have individual needs and the homes they go to in every case has to suit them in every way. The homes we have found are truly AMAZING and they keep in close contact with us so we know all is going well, and feline and human are happy.

At the end of 2022 you may remember we cleared a Waste Disposal Site ~ we trapped and removed 22 cats and kittens. All the kittens found lovely domestic homes with the help of RSPCA Isle of Wight Branch Registered Charity No 205311. One of the adult cats was NOT feral so he was rehomed to Nikki and Alan who already have 2 cats from us xx He settled SO well and has never looked back 🥰
The remaining adult cats went to ‘outside homes’ as they were truly feral.

‘Prince’ and ‘Nala’ came into our care as their owners circumstances changed and sadly she was unable to keep them ~ very sad. This GORGEOUS pair didn’t get chosen until November so a very long 10 months BUT they now have the BEST home EVER and it is so heartwarming to see them so happy and settled. When they first came into our care ‘Prince’ was very wary of people he didn’t know BUT over the months his confidence began to grow until he eventually loved everyone 🥰 HOME AT LAST 💕

You may remember our ‘Threesome’ – ‘Bella’ – ‘Bonnie’ & ‘Marble.’ Jackie actually came to see ‘Nala’ and ‘Prince’ and although she fell in love with them she decided to adopt our ‘Threesome’ which was AMAZING.
Briefly ‘Bella’ was diabetic and was on Insulin and regularly blood tests, then less than 2 months later her blood glucose returned to normal !! After much toing and frowing to see Alessandra Fasciani she was passed as being no longer diabetic !!!! That was a great relief and certainly make things so much easier. We were going to stay responsible for her diabetes had it continued.
These lovely girls are SO happy and settled in their home, have safe access outside during the day and ‘Mabel’ has proved to be a hunter. All were indoor cats previously but ‘Bella’ kept escaping hence her 2 pregnancies.

‘Coco’ came into our care when her Mum sadly passed away suddenly. In all the confusion ‘Coco’ had escaped from the bungalow and as she was very timid we had to set a humane trap so we could bring her safely into our care ❤️ We were of course forever letting a neighbours cat out of the trap !!!! So we asked his owners if they could keep him in when we had the trap set which they were happy to do ~ their furry friend wasn’t quite so pleased !!!!
We eventually caught ‘Coco’ on the 3rd day, a very confused and stressed little girl 😿
Corinne Perks fostered this little girl and did an AMAZING job building ‘Coco’s’ confidence up and letting her learn to trust again.
‘Coco’ is now with Ollie permanently, Ollie has been fostering for us for quite a while, so another failed foster 🤣 ‘Coco’ potters in and out, as she has her very own cat flap and the full run of indoors, including Mums bed of course !!!! A Very Happy Little Girl xx

Many of you will remember ‘Boswell’ ~ our BEAUTIFUL roaming undoctered tom who we discovered was FIV (Feline AIDS) positive. He may have escaped this if only his owner had had him neutered 😿
We could NOT give up on this BEAUTIFUL boy. He was SO affectionate and was (is) a complete LOVE BUG. He was neutered, fully health checked & microchipped and then completely out of the blue Tessa Bartlett came to us to offer him a home ~ the rest is history. ‘Boswell’ is SO, SO happy with Tessa and she worships the ground he walks on. We have regular updates and photos which is AMAZING. ‘Boswell’ built up a huge fan club while he was with us so we are all SO grateful for all the updates from Tessa. He is just LOVING life and his Mum xx💕xx

‘Flossie’ was originally a stray and she adopted an elderly lady in the area, so her age was estimated by the Vet. Sadly her Mum passed away so ‘Flossie’ was homeless again 😿
‘Flossie’ came to us and once she settled (which took all of 10 minutes !!) she was SO affectionate and loving, a complete delight.
We are very happy to say she is in a lovely new home and is ADORED by her new Mum and Dad and the rest of their family. Settled now little one xx

‘Daisy’ and ‘Duke’ needed help within 24 hours after we were called. Their owner had to leave the Island due to a domestic situation, and these GORGEOUS furries needed help very quickly.
We didn’t have any room to take them so we did an urgent appeal for a foster home. Well Sam Morgan responded straight away, so I was able to pick ‘Daisy’ and ‘Duke’ up that same day. WHAT a relief 💕 And since that day Sam has been fostering for us eversince ~ THANK YOU so much Sam xx
‘Daisy’ and ‘Duke’ are now in a SUPER new home and have their Dad wrapped totally around their paws 💕 We have kept in touch with their previous owner and sent updates and photos so she can see they are safe, settled and very happy xx

At the end of July we were asked for help on a farm with 25 cats & kittens.
Pete at The Peoples Vet was AMAZING (and continues to be)
Jane Cresdee and I started trapping on the 31st July and by the end of that week Pete had spayed/neutered 12 feral cats/kittens !!!
On the 2nd August we managed to trap 6 kittens who were about 6-7 weeks old and the following day ‘Bella’ who was about 10-12 weeks old, she did later go on to a domestic home as she didn’t want to he wild anymore !!
So 11 went back to the farm, and were very please to be back 💕
The 7 kittens all went to foster homes to be tamed so they could go on to domestic homes. Ros Martin took 4 to foster, Jan Kelly had 2 and Jane and Colin Midmore looked after ‘Bella’ until she was homed and they also convalesced the adults before they went back to the farm. It was a very busy time for them xx All the kittens are now in SUPER new domestic homes which is so rewarding xx
Jane and Colin then took another kitten over the Bank Holiday weekend as she was the last one on the farm and she too did very, very well and she also went to a domestic home a few weeks later xx
We still had one outstanding Mum (Mummy Torti) on the farm, at first we thought she had kittens in amongst the bales, but she didn’t bring them to light so we thought she had either lost them or there had been a mistake. So at the end of August she also went to Pete at The Peoples Vet to be spayed. THANK GOODNESS she did as she had an advanced Pyometra ~ this is where the uterus fills up with pus and if they don’t receive surgery to remove this they will die quite quickly (another reason for people to spay their cats) This surgery literally saved her life and she is now a picture of health xx
Now we thought that was it !!! It wasnt until we had another call from the farm at the end of October. ‘Mummy Torti’ had caught a rabbit and her and her kittens were tucking in to this on the bales !!! Traps at the ready once again !!! 5 babies later we again walked away !!!! These little ones have been with Jane and Colin eversince. They all have SUPER homes to go to, one has already moved in with her family, and the other 4 are going in pairs to their new homes very soon xx They are all spayed/neutered/microchipped and fully vaccinated and now look forward to a fully domestic life 🥰

‘Luna’ and ‘Buffy’ were also with us for many months. We were managing to find lovely homes for our kittens and most of our single cats but we weren’t having any success with our three pairs, but that did all change and their now homes were well worth waiting for 💕 They hadn’t been spayed etc when they came into our care so that was carried out very swiftly last December so Alice wouldn’t be serenaded over Christmas !!
Alice Robbins was fostering these lovely girls throughout. Any cats Alice fosters for us have the complete run of her flat which is SO lovely for them, while they wait to catch someone’s eye and start their new lives 🥰 These GORGEOUS girls are now happy and settled with their new parents and the L O N G wait is over. Home At Last Girls.
Alice is now caring for ‘Barnie’ who has also been with us for many months 😿 He is such a GORGEOUS boy that we just hope someone will offer him a home in 2024 🤞🙏

‘Pixie’ was found in the basement of a Hotel, it is thought for several days. Jane and Colin went to get her once they could get access to this area.
‘Pixie’ was microchipped but we were unable to trace her owner. The gentleman thought the lady who had lived in the property 5 years previously had passed away ~ but where had ‘Pixie’ been after that ? Who had been caring for her, even if it was only food on their doorstep ? Posters were displayed in the area to no avail 🥲
‘Pixie’ is 11 years young and she is looking for LOVE. She is such an affectionate little girl and will make someone’s life complete xx

‘Figgy’ 11yo ~ ‘Mable’ 8yo and ‘Biscuit’ came into our care more recently. ‘Figgy’ ~ Norwegian Forest Cat was very underweight, she has undergone several blood tests which have been repeated over time. She has now put on 2kg, but where she is quite a large breed she still needs to gain more weight. She LOVES her food so she is increasing her size as time goes on ❤️
‘Mable’ is now in a SUPER new home and is making her new Mum very happy. ‘Mable’ needed quite a few teeth out but had fully recovered by the time she went to her new home. She is fascinated with the stairs and goes thundering up and down whenever she can !! Sounds like a herd of elephants apparently 😃
‘Biscuit’ 6.5yo is having surgery on the 18th December to remove her left deformed leg. She had Xrays taken recently and she doesn’t have just the deformed limb her hip joint is completely abnormal ~ we were advised by Island VetCare that she would experience much bigger problems with this if we left her with this leg. ‘Biscuit’ also had entropian of her left eye so they are going operate on this as the same time as her amputation. Once she has recovered she will be looking for a new home. She will need a house, possibly with a catio, not a flat or apartment as this will be too restrictive. She will be looking to her future after all the festivities are over and she is healed ❤️

‘KIzzy’ came to us as she wasn’t being cared for 😿 Just 16 weeks old, outside most of the time and trying to get into neighbours homes 😿 SO many people were concerned about her and naturally feared she was going to get injured or killed on what was a busy road.
Now ? Well no one claimed her so she was spayed/microchipped and vaccinated and is now in a SUPER new home and is enjoying life being loved, safe and cared for xx

‘Teddy’ came to us as a stray but he was in fact microchipped. He had been visiting an elderly lady since October last year. We scanned him in Sandown but the registered address was in Ryde !! I spoke to the owner and he asked us to rehome him. He now had 2 other cats which he had taken on 6 months after ‘Teddy’ went missing. This GORGEOUS boy is know in a SUPER new home and has settled in really well xx

‘Cooper’ was left behind when his owners did a ‘moonlight flit’ it was nice of them to consider the pet they were just leaving behind 😈 He thankfully found his way to some stables and they started to feed him, and he would have had some shelter there as well. When Carol Thorpe heard of his plight she picked him up and cared for him while we had him health checked, neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. This LOVELY boy now has a SUPER new home to go to when his new Mum comes home after Christmas xx

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We have as always helped as many people as possible to get their cats & kittens neutered/spayed/microchipped and plan to continue this well into the future as it helps to deal with the CAT CRISIS on our Island.

ADOPT DON’T SHOP

We have started to use Pete at The Peoples Vet in Newport for the vast majority of the cats in our care. This is an AMAZING Independent Practice which the Island so badly needed, especially when The Mobile Vet closed its doors.
Pete is an INCREDIBLE Vet, his experience is very reassuring and his way with the animals is very special.
He is very keen to help all animals, wild and domestic, and his attitude to feral cats is as mine, they are just as important as domestic pets and deserve kindness and respect as all creatures do.
Pete’s staff are lovely, always very helpful, kind, sympathetic and provide a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
CONGRATULATIONS on your first full year on the Isle of Wight ❤️

Thanks also go to The Carisbrooke Vets and Island VetCare for all your help and support during 2023 and to Nick and Alessandra at Ryde Pet Doctors.

As always Feline Welfare wouldn’t exist without all the help we receive :

Liz and Doug and Vanessa spend all year raising much needed funds by selling on EBay and turning out to Car Boot Sales from Easter to October. John and Viv also sell some of the items donated online as they fetch a better price that way for us. They all have an ‘eye’ for items to sell in this way and we are SO, SO grateful for their help year in year out.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH – we couldnt do this without you 🥰

Our Foster Carers are all AMAZING. As you know the majority of our cats and kittens are fostered while they wait for their forever homes, and again make our rescue work possible xx
We have Corinne in Newport ~ Jane and Colin in Sandown ~ Jan at Whitley Bank ~ Ros and Brin in Niton and Sam in Newport ~ Jenny in Newport. We have lost two foster homes this year – Michelle and Mark who were fostering ‘Misty’ for us who is now staying permanently !! And Ollie who fostered ‘Coco’ but ‘Coco’ is now staying !!! Both are older cats xx🥰xx We are VERY grateful to you for fostering for us and now being proud cat ‘owners.’ xx🐈‍⬛xx

Al as always has done all our computer work throughout the year, as well as building an outside space for their 13 FW foster cats !!! It is in fact 2/3 of their garden with cat flap access. THANK YOU both SO MUCH xx💕xx

I have been rescuing since January 1980 ~ very initially dogs, cats and small furries and feathered friends, but since it has been solely cats & kittens both domestic and feral. We also have anything up to 40 permanent cats at one time, some are here with me, others are in foster homes xx🐈‍⬛xx

To EVERYONE who donates items for us to sell ~ makes cakes for our Christmas Fayre and helps there also on the day ~ to those who support our Fund Raisers on social media and who donate regularly on a monthly basis direct to the Charity Account ~ for all the moral support (which is much needed at difficult times) ~ to our AMAZING Cat Cuddlers Helen Farrington and Doreen Moore who give up their spare time to help socialise the cats in care and are always so willing to help, and the cats ADORE them. Timid cats need to see other faces to help them feel more confident and trusting ~ it’s a big step when they find themselves homeless and they need love, time and understanding, so VERY GRATEFUL THANKS to you both xx🥰xx

I will sign off now (hoping I haven’t sent you to sleep already !!) and wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year.

We will be here next year to help as many of our Feline Friends as we possibly can.

Although we cease homing on the 17th December until the 2nd January 2024 we are still available throughout the Festive Season and if you feel like a ‘furry fix’ and have some spare time our cats would just LOVE some extra cuddles xx🥰xx

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