About
the Basildon, Brentwood & District Branch
The
Basildon, Brentwood & District branch of Cats Protection was formed
in 1988, when it started life as the Laindon Branch, as most of
its original members lived in the Laindon area of Essex. As the branch
grew, and more volunteers and members joined from Basildon and the
surrounding area, we changed our name to the Basildon & District
Branch. At that time we covered the Brentwood area and all of Thurrock
on an unofficial basis. Then in 2003, when we had gained more
volunteers from the Brentwood area, we officially took on the Brentwood
council area and changed our name to what it is today. A new
branch was set up to cover the RM postcodes in the Thurrock area.
When
we started back in 1988 we had
just 12 original members, who fostered the cats, fundraised and pretty
much did everything. We now have around 300 members, although 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. We are all volunteers and none of
us gets paid to do what we do. Our branch now 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, and the Brentwood Council area
which includes, Hutton, Shenfield and of course, Brentwood. The postcodes we cover are SS11 to SS17, and CM11 to CM15.
 In
2010, we helped over 1100 needy cats, including finding homes for 500
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 over £18,000 last year and on top of that our
veterinary costs were more than £37,000. Apart from a small annual
grant received from Cats Protection Headquarters, we have to raise the
rest of our funds locally, so we rely on local fundraising, adoption
fees and donations to survive. With fundraising, telephone and a very
small amount of admin costs we need to raise
over £75,000 each year to allow us to continue our rescue service at
its current level, which is a hard task as we are all volunteers
with homes, families and jobs, as well as volunteering for the branch.
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 over 9000 cats. We sometimes wonder what would
have happened to them if we had not been here to help them.
Branch Homing Figures for the
last 5 Years
In common with most animal rescues,
adoption figures are down because adoption enquiries are declining, we think due to the recession, which
means that we have fewer spaces to take cats in , whereas requests for
cats to be taken in by the branch seem to be never ending.
|
Year
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
|
Cats Homed
|
249
|
233
|
218
|
223
|
204
|
|
Kittens Homed
|
337
|
315
|
297
|
277
|
295
|
|
Total
|
586
|
548
|
515
|
500
|
499
|
 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 is a picture of one of our pen blocks:
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. At peak
times of the year we can have over 100 cats in our care so we really do
need more foster homes. If you live in our area, love cats 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. All of our fosterers will tell you that it
is so rewarding to see your foster cat go off to its 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 including loss of job,
relationship breakdowns, allergies, financial 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 neutered at the
appropriate time, this could have been avoided. Our branch always runs a low
cost neutering scheme (and sometimes offers free neutering) 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 in any way (Fund-raising, Fostering, Follow-up Visits, transport etc), please
contact our Coordinator on 01277
223413 for a chat about what is
involved, no obligation , of course. We would love to hear from you.
OR
E-mail us at coordinator@bascats.org.uk
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