Last year, Ria and Rory adopted Pluto and Jett from us, and after hearing about our ICU fundraising, Ria decided to take on a challenge of her own.
On Sunday 16th August, Ria took part in the Frome Half Marathon, raising money towards our ICU Fund with an amazing £450 target — and she completed the half marathon in around 2 hours and 20 minutes!
We’re incredibly grateful to Ria for taking on such a huge challenge and helping us get one step closer to making our ICU a reality.
Well done, Ria — and thank you for running for the cats!
At Cats in Distress, we sadly see the devastating impact road traffic accidents can have on cats and the people who love them. We’ve supported injured cats found at the roadside, searched for missing cats who never came home, and seen the heartbreak caused when owners are left without answers.
That’s why we’re supporting CatsMatter, whose campaign calling for drivers to report collisions with cats has become the largest cat-related petition ever presented to the UK Parliament, with more than 189,000 signatures. The petition has now been handed to 10 Downing Street and will be debated in Parliament.
Currently, drivers are legally required to report collisions involving dogs, but not cats. This can leave injured cats without urgent veterinary treatment and owners without knowing what has happened to their beloved pet.
A change in the law could help ensure:
🐾 Injured cats receive veterinary care as quickly as possible.
🐾 Microchips can be checked so owners can be contacted.
🐾 Families receive answers and closure.
🐾 Cats receive the same recognition and protection as other much-loved companion animals.
Although the petition has closed, the campaign is far from over. Supporters are being encouraged to keep the conversation going and contact their local MP to ask them to support this important change.
This is about compassion, accountability and giving injured cats the best possible chance of survival.
To find out more about the campaign and what happens next, visit CatsMatter’s latest update.
We’ve had another amazing month of support for our future Intensive Care Unit, and we’re getting closer and closer to making our ICU dream a reality.
We received an incredibly generous £500 anonymous donation, taking our total raised at the time to £8,850 of our £15,000 target. A huge thank you to our mystery donor — we may not know who you are, but it’s clear you’re a true cat lover!
A huge thank you also goes to Tone Veterinary Centre for their incredibly generous £100 donation towards our new ICU unit. The team have been raising money for us through their very popular bookshelf at the practice, and we’re so grateful that they chose to support our ICU project.
And to end the month on another fantastic note, we’ve received a further £2,750 towards our ICU Fund. This includes a wonderful £2,500 grant from the Hobhouse Trust, along with £250 from other incredibly kind donors.
We’ve been fortunate to receive a number of grants from the Hobhouse Trust over the years, so we’re especially grateful for their support. Sadly, the Trust is no longer receiving new donations, meaning this will be the last grant we receive from them.
A huge thank you to the Hobhouse Trust for supporting Cats in Distress over the years, and to every single person who has donated, fundraised or helped spread the word about our ICU.
It’s not often we get a pair of beauties like Coco & Raffles. As pedigree Somali cats, they are a very special pair, and we feel incredibly honoured to have them with us. They were clearly much-loved by their previous owner, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to find them the right home.
Coco & Raffles came into rescue after spraying began in their previous home. They had lived as part of a multi-cat household, but after a couple of the older cats sadly passed away, the dynamics changed and the spraying started, likely as a result of territorial stress.
Somalis are the long-haired cousins of the Abyssinian and, as a breed, are known for being particularly people-oriented and sociable. While every cat is an individual, we feel Coco & Raffles would probably be happiest in a home where they don’t have to share their space with multiple other cats.
It’s easy to assume that pedigree cats will always have a straightforward path into another home, but that isn’t necessarily the case. As with rescues, there are good and bad breeders, and it isn’t our place to criticise without knowing the full circumstances. However, we do question whether the welfare and individual needs of these cats were fully considered when they were originally placed into a busy multi-cat household.
We know some wonderful, responsible breeders who genuinely love the breeds they work with and carefully vet every prospective home. Ultimately, none of us are perfect, but when you have invested so much time and care into bringing an animal into the world, you would hope that finding the right home for them remains the priority.
Milo has now been RESERVED and, after around four months in our care, he is finally getting ready to start his next chapter.
After waiting longer than we hoped he would for his forever home, this lovely boy will be heading off to his new home in September.
After around 150 days in our care, Milo’s wait is finally over and we cannot wait to see him begin his new life.
Happy new chapter, Milo. You deserve it!
Elsewhere, August was a lovely month for happy endings, with a total of 27 cats leaving our care and moving on to their next chapter.
This included 15 kittens finding their homes, as well as several feral cats moving on as part of our Working Cat Project.
Whether they have been rehomed as much-loved pets or found a safe new place to call their own as working cats, it is always wonderful to see them move on from our care and into happy futures.
