Meet our wonderful black cats!

We’ve had a busy weekend here at Axhayes, we managed to rehome eleven cats. Our annual open day is only a week away… we have lots of gorgeous black cats just waiting for someone to take them home! All of them are friendly, affectionate and have great personalities! Please join us here at Axhayes adoption centre on Sunday 19^th May for our open day and meet some of our wonderful cats here at the centre…

Pew and Pete (8 month old male black kittens)

Pete and his brother Pew are a friendly, playful, wonderful pair of kittens who were born here in September and have been overlooked ever since. It is heart breaking that he has spent all his young life in a pen; we are desperate to find a loving home for him. Please make Pete's dreams come true and take him home today!

Merlin (12 year old male black cat)

Merlin is a very sweet boy looking for someone to show him all the nice things he's been missing out on. His owner brought him in when she thought that he wanted more than the indoor flat he's been used to. We are sure Merlin would love a nice garden and the freedom to do what he wants to do. If you think you can spoil this beaut rotten then please take him home today!

Ella (5 year old female black cat)

Ella is a lovely chatty cat who is very charismatic. She is very friendly, so much so that she wants all the attention to herself and not share it with another cat, so needs to be the only cat in the home. She would make a wonderful companion. This is Ella's third time at Axhayes - she really has been an unlucky black cat! Please make this Ella's 'third time lucky' and adopt her today!

Oscar (8 year old male black cat)

Oscar is a lovely cat who was passed onto us after being taken into a vets as a stray. It transpired that he was microchipped and had been missing for 4 years. Unfortunately his owner could not offer him a home again as their circumstances had changed. He is now looking for a new forever home where he can enjoy a few home comforts once again.

Juno and Joseph (8 and 9 year old male black cats)

A family break up means these chaps need to find a new home. They are good all-rounders, having lived with other cats, dogs and children. They are affectionate and playful, and would love a home with lots of space to explore. Please take them home!

 

Sahara and Kalahari (1 year old female and male black cats)

We don’t know how these cats came to be found in a nice man garden all lost and alone. They are so friendly we are sure they must have had a home at one point, they have been looked after and cared for. If you are looking for some great little cats to brighten up your home please say hello to the deserts.

Etcha (4 year old female black cat)

When Etcha’s owner became ill, there was no one to care of her, so she was brought here. While she’s been in our care we have found her to be a very affectionate cat. She is very sweet and loves attention. She will make a lovely companion for someone. Can you offer her the new home she deserves?

Please visit our website at www.axhayes.cats.org.uk for more information about any of our cats.

Open Day 2013!

PLEASE HELP OUR SPRING OPEN DAY!

We are looking for volunteers to help out at our Open Day!

On Sunday 19th May is our annual Open day, this year is extra special as it’s our adoption centre’s 25th Anniversary! Our centre has seen many thousands of cats through its doors and we are very proud to still be able to rescue and rehome hundreds of cats and kittens each year.

We are looking for volunteers to help on the day to either help run a stall or to organise the car parking. If you could spare an hour or two of your time, we’d be very grateful. If you are unable to attend, perhaps you could help by baking a cake or two, or if you love gardening, maybe you could spare us some cuttings to sell. We’ll also need plenty of prizes for raffles and for the auction, so any good-quality items you could donate would be very much appreciated.

If you are able to help us, please call Phil on 01395 232377. Thank you for your support. We look forward to hearing from you and hope to see you on the day :)

Puss in Chutes! - Exeter Axhayes Charity Skydive.

We will be doing a Charity skydive on the 6th October 2013 at 2pm at Dunkerswell airfield. We are raising some much needed funds for our cats and kittens at our adoption centre.

All of the money raised from this fundraising event will go straight to helping cats and kittens at Exeter Axhayes. At Cats Protection we rely entirely on the generosity of cat-loving people like you to help fund our vital welfare work.

The money will help us care for cats like Unicorn who was rescued with her eight kittens from under a dual carriageway bridge. All of her eight kittens have found homes. She is being cared for by our CCAs and she is now waiting for someone to take her home and love her forever.

£3 - can help to pay for vital supplies such as food and vaccinations
£5 - could contribute towards a kitten's initial health check with a vet
£10 - can help pay for urgent veterinary care and life-saving medicines
£10 - can help pay to microchip a cat or kitten
£15 - can feed one abandoned cat or kitten every month
£20 - can pay for one cat to be neutered

On average, it costs around £198 to neuter, microchip and rehome a cat from our adoption centre. This figure is based on a stay of one month. However, because Cats Protection never puts a healthy cat to sleep, cats stay with us until they are found loving new homes regardless of how long that takes!

Please sponsor our Charity skydive by visiting our justgiving page

http://www.justgiving.com/Axhayes-Skydive or by texting PURR50 and the amount to 70070.

If you would like to jump with us or just help by donating money you can either contact Therese on 01395 232377. Anyone who would like to help us fundraise or have any ideas that could help please contact Therese on above number. From all of the cats at Exeter Axhayes, Thank you for your support! :)

Success Story - Marmy

Some of our volunteers may remember our big ginger boy Marmy. He was one of our strays who came into us early last year; he luckily found a home in February 2012. During his time at the centre, he was a typical young active male who was desperate to get out and about. We were pleased he found a home so quickly.

We have received an update on his progress and some fantastic photos we wanted to share online. Here are some photos of Marmy enjoying climbing in his favourite tree, he prefers to scratch the stair treads instead of his scratching pole and enjoys a snooze upstairs on the bed. His owners have told us he’s settled in well and is very sociable with every visitor that they’ve had. We would to thank his owners for these brilliant photos.

If you would like to share any of your photos, please get in touch with us via facebook or our website.

Our New Feral Garden!



The Site





A big part of our work at Cats Proection is helping with situations involving feral cats.  Ferals are cats which have been born in the wild and haven't been socialised to people or domestic environments.  They are the same species as our pets and are equally protected by law. 

We desperately needed a feral garden to give these cats more space while finding them permanent homes.

The Orchard Fencing Team 18/4/13

We frequently deal with situations where the feral population in an area has become unmanageable.  We humanely trap the cats, vet-check, vaccinate and neuter them and either release them to where they were living, or find new homes for them. 

Men at Work!

Rehoming feral cats can be difficult because we need to find them homes on farms, at stables, or similiar environments where they will be safe, fed and watched-over. 

The enclosure takes shape, 3/4/13

While the cats are at Axhayes waiting to be released or found homes, being in one of our pens which are fine for domestic cats is very stressful for them as these cats are used to being outside living wild. We really needed somewhere for them to be housed appropriately in the meantime. 

It's a big space!

To raise money for the project, staff and supporters of Axhayes took part in a Firewalk in Octoer 2011, and now work is in progress on our feral garden!

The feral garden will have shelter, a unit for us to use to maintain it, long grass areas, places to hide and feeding and activity areas.

We will keep you updated with progress!

If you can give a feral cat a home, please contact us on 01395 232377.

Update - April 30th

Bad weather meant that work was interrupted for a few days, but now the gates are on and the surface on which the  buildings will stand has been prepared.  Once the shelters are in place we will plant cat-friendly shrubs and add little shelters, hidy-holes and activity centres.  It won't be long before we have a lovely area for our feral cats!

Update - May 4th

The buildings have gone up and we'll be up and running soon!

Success Story - Waggledance and Puddleduck

You may remember Waggle dance and Puddle duck who came into Axhayes back in May 2012 after their mother was forced to give birth to them on the streets. Their mother and brother quickly found homes, leaving these two behind. It’s always difficult for two black kittens to find a home, so they spent many months with us. At the beginning of this year, their luck finally came their way and they found a home together.

We were delighted to receive an email from their owners last week letting us know how they are getting on. They have settled in really well and seem very happy indeed. They have been outside exploring, playing lots and relaxing afterwards. They are looking very smart and grown up in their photos. It’s always great to hear stories about our cats and kittens, if you have adopted any of our cats, we'd love to hear how they are getting on.  

We currently have two pairs of black kittens looking for homes, if you would like to give Pretzel & Petal or Pew & Pete a home, please visit our website www.axhayes.cats.org.uk for more information, thank you.

Children learning about cats

Growing up with a pet can be an extremely rewarding experience for any youngster. We all remember our first pet and teaching your children to respect, love and help care for a cat will help them to become responsible and caring adults...

Did you know that we are able to offer tours of our centre to groups of children?

We had two tours a few weeks ago from Mill water School in Honiton and found one of our cats who was a stray was particularly attracted to the sight and sound of children. He was usually curled up in his bed under the covers most of the day but when the children visited, he got out of bed and came to his pen door. He was very happy to let some of them stroke him.

This is Allium who was adopted today

           

In the last couple of years we have also had a Scout tour and given a talk at a Brownie meeting. We find that children are very interested in cat care and always have questions and stories of their own cats to tell us. 

All of the cats in our rehoming section have pen labels on their door stating if they could be homed with children. Many of our cats are strays so we don’t have the usual information about the cats past experiences from a previous owner. Our cat care assistants get to know the cat’s temperament in the time they stay with us and are always happy to provide advice and guidance if you have children and are looking for a suitable cat. 

This is Robinson who has lived with children in his previous home

                                                    

This is our eye catching van that we use to do home visits & trips to the vets

We also go to primary schools to give educational talks as part of the PHSE part of the curriculum. We even give the children a short quiz and goodie bag containing a bookmark, a balloon, a badge, a notepad and pencil and more…

You can find lots more fun for children while learning about cats on the main Cats Protection website. Just click on this link http://www.cats.org.uk/cats-for-kids or for educational resources, have a look at http://www.cats.org.uk/learn

Please help us to educate the cat owners of the future.