Miaow to all your dedicated summer blog fans nice to have you with us! As we are finding at the sanctuary many of you have gone on your holidays and as such kitten rehoming has gone quiet. There are a couple of gems at the sanctuary right now that would be such a shame to miss if your looking for a purrrfect moggie friend but more of them later.... What with the heat and humidity we wonder at the sanctuary if nutty season has started. The number of enquiries for kittens to order is staggering. Surprisingly enough we dont have a kitten choosing service available where we bring a selection of kittens to your home for the human folk to choose the one they want! The stress that could cause to our gorgeous felines is immense. A little bit of effort is required to indicate to us that it is not just a passing whim to get a cat as they can live for a very long time. We always say it is a big responsibility and if you cant make it then dont. Our oldest resident who is in the care of a volunteer is Hamish (going to be 30 years old this Christmas - def. one for the newspapers!) The number of requests for specific colours right down to the shade of fur is amazing i.e a ginger female with a bit of white, a blue grey etc. A rescue centre such as Chestnut Sanctuary has no control whatever so ever over what kittens and cats come in as they are all either homeless or collected by RSPCA inspectors as mistreated or cruelty cases, we dont breed to order. Question? What do you call something with 4 paws, whiskers, and a miaow? - a little angel (aka cat!) whether black, white, tabby or ginger. Pet colour is immaterial go for the one that looks at you with adoring eyes, is lively but loves a cuddle. Talking of which my little gems of the week are no 1. A tiny black kitten who has a hint of golden brown tones in the sunlight. I wont say exactly where he is in the sanctuary as if your keen you will meet him no doubt but he is the most snuggly friendly little chap I have ever met. He loves to cuddle right close to your neck and the purr like a telephone is to die for! 2. Summer - a white and tabby girl brought in as a cruelty case by the RSPCA as the owner refused to treat her eye infection and has subsequently resulted in her losing the sight in one eye. A silky soft girl with plenty of love and affection to give! (needs to live indoors as unlikely to see road traffic in time). Finally I thought I would share the fun of a Monday at the sanctuary, suffice to say it is a very busy day as anyone who needs to rehome their cat is advised to call Monday morning to see if we have homed enough over the weekend to generate space to bring in more. What is most impressive is the way in which people expect their problems to be sorted immediately with no thought whatsoever to the animal. If the reasons for rehoming e.g. emigrating tomorrow was even slightly believable then this country would be seriously devoid of humans!! The stories are staggering so if anyone should want to volunteer avoid Mondays like the plague by about 9.10am (we open at 9am) the number of calls from people threatening to dump their cats is overwhelming. We always do the best we can but often have to ask people to wait and work with us until we can accommodate a space.
P.S the peanut M & M twins aka Millie and Murdoch are doing great - they have bags of energy and are extremely mischievous as we found out yesterday when Murdoch discovered you can jump into the bath but you cant always get back out again! I need eyes in the back of my head!
P.P.S it is not just cats that take up my time - me and 5 other cars stopped for a sheep in Epping who had obviously lost his way. It was great for my faith in humanity to see the number of people who stopped to help this animal avoid serious injury and no it had nothing to do with me lying in the middle of the road forcing cars to stop!! - they stopped of their own accord and managed to get the woolly fellow back to safety. Thank you for a drop of sunshine after a Monday at the sanctuary! TTFN x x (picture inset caption "Black cats are GREAT!"