Welcome! We have lots of beautiful cats looking for lovely homes,
the sooner we home them, the sooner we can help more needy cats, so
please do give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you.
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FREE NEUTERING CAMPAIGN – For a FURTHER LIMITED period we are
able to offer free cat neutering for both male and female cats. To
qualify you need to be on a means-tested benefit, JSA, pension or low
income and live in post code areas SS11 to SS17, CM11 to CM15 and your
cat must be 5 months or older. Other conditions apply. To find out more, please ring our Neutering Line
on 01268 543283. DON’T MISS OUT, RING US TODAY!
About the Basildon,
Brentwood & District Branch
 The
Basildon, Brentwood & District Branch of
Cats Protection was started in 1988,when it was
known as the Laindon Branch, because most of
the original members lived in the Laindon area
of Essex. We later changed our name to
the Basildon & District Branch. As from 1
January 2003, we are now officially covering the Brentwood area, so we
have now changed our name again to reflect the area we now cover(SS11 to
SS17, CM11 to CM15).From a small beginning with just 12 original members,
we now have around 300 members. In common with most Cats Protection
branches, the work of the branch is carried out by a smaller group of
active members who foster the cats, fund-raise, do follow up visits etc.
Our branch covers a large area which encompasses the whole of the Basildon & District Council area, which includes Wickford and Billericay,
plus nearby Stanford-Le-Hope and Corringham,
plus we now cover, Hutton, Shenfield and Brentwood.
 In
2008, we helped over 1100+ needy cats, including finding homes for over
700+ cats and kittens. The rest were helped with free or assisted
neutering and other veterinary treatment where the need arose. Our costs
for fostering alone were £20,000 last year and on top of that our vets bill was more than £27,000. Apart from a small
annual grant received from Cats Protection Headquarters, we have to raise
the rest of our funds locally. With fundraising, telephone and a very
small amount of admin costs we need to raise
over £65,000 each year to allow us to continue our rescue service at its
current level. Ideally we would like to see our branch grow to help even
more local cats, volunteers and funds permitting. Since our branch
started, we have found new homes for nearly 9000 cats. We sometimes
wonder what would have happened to them if we had not been here to help
them, which is why we suggest a donation within the region of £60 when
adopting a cat as this allows us to continue helping more cats a central
aim of the charity.
We do not have a central shelter like some
Cats Protection branches. Instead the cats which we take in are cared for
by some of our members (we call them our fosterers) in their own homes.
Some of our fosterers have specially built cat pens in their gardens. The
pens have heating in the winter and provide a snug and warm temporary home
for our rescued cats. Here are pictures of 2 of our pens:
At any time we usually have over 40 cats in
our foster homes which may seem quite a lot, but on a bad week, our
Homing Officer can be asked to take in over 50 cats, so we always have a
waiting list. We really do need more foster homes. If you live in our
area and have a spare room, telephone and transport and would like to
find out more about fostering, we'd love to hear from you. The Branch
supplies all food, litter and equipment and pays for all vet bills for
fostered cats. You supply the love and cuddles. It is very rewarding to
see your foster cat go off to it's new home.
 Many of the cats and kittens
we take in are strays, but just as many come in from homes, where the
owners have had to give up their cats for a variety of reasons (loss of
job, relationship breakdowns, allergies, finance problems etc). Many of
the strays we take in are pregnant females, who have been heartlessly
dumped when they have become pregnant, when if they had been spayed at
the appropriate time, this could have been avoided. Our branch runs a low
cost neutering scheme to help less well off people to get their cats
(both male and female) neutered so there really is no excuse.
If you live in our area and could give
a loving home to a rescued cat or kitten, please contact our CATLINE on 01268
285778, or E-mail us at homing@bascats.org.uk
 If you would like to volunteer to help our branch
(Fund-raising, Fostering, Follow-up Visits, transport etc), please
contact our CATLINE on 01268 285778 for a chat about what is involved, no
obligation , of course
OR E-mail us at recruitment@bascats.org.uk
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