Sponsor Cats

Sponsor a cat at PussyCat Lodge and help us to continue saving lives! Your sponsorship will go into a pot to help all the long term residents at PussyCat Lodge, such as these wonderful characters below, which now run to 2 pages! Cat sponsorship generally costs £4.00 a month or £45.00 annually (but whatever amount you can afford, we will be very grateful). A sponsorship form can be printed here. Your sponsorship certificate will be sent out on receipt of your completed sponsor form. You will periodically get a newsletter called "Sponsor's Mews" which will keep you up to date with the goings-on at PussyCat Lodge. Please contact Carol for further information. If you have any articles, jokes, quizzes or bizarre and unusual cat facts or stories, then please send them to Carol for inclusion in "Sponsor's Mews". The best of them will also be put on the website!     Click on the image for "Sponsor's Mews" online! Many thanks to Pauline Lake who has written the majority of the cats' histories on this page. More photos of our sponsor cats can be found in the Photo Gallery.

Bigboy

In 1995, we were contacted by a lady whose mother had died. She had been feeding two pure black cats for a number of years who had taken up residence in her garden. The cats were extremely timid, but eventually we managed to trap them and take them to PussyCat Lodge. After a time in one of the pens they were allowed out to roam free. Sadly one was killed on the road but Big Boy always stayed close to home. He has become very friendly and vocal towards his regular friends although he is still timid of any strangers. Big Boy was 7 when he came to the Lodge and is now 17! For his age he is certainly a very fine, fit and healthy boy.

Bumbleina One of the old girls, Bumbleina must be 16+ by now. Arriving from the Dagenham Docks feral colony in 1992, Bumbleina managed to escape when she got wind of an impending visit to the vets. When next seen she was clearly pregnant. She was a very wild feral and Jennie had quite a task trying to re-catch her with as minimum a fuss as possible due to her condition. As always, Jennie succeeded and Bumbleina was put in to a pen to await the birth of her kittens. From here she continued to terrorize anyone who went near her, until that is the night she went in to labour: Bumbleina decided she needed some kindly human assistance when the time came for her kittens to arrive. Jennie was only too pleased to oblige. As soon as Bumbleina no longer needed her she thanked her by giving her a big scratch and bite! She had been a sweet little pussycat for a while there but was now a very protective feral Mum. One of her kittens was a tiny little girl who took a long time to grow. She was called Thumbleina and was an adorable fixture at PussyCat Lodge for months before being homed when she grew big and strong enough. Age has mellowed Bumbleina - occasionally she forgets herself and allows you to give her a little stroke! She now spends most of the time snuggled up warmly inside the house at PussyCat Lodge and rarely strays from the garden. She loves it when Steve has a sort out in the garden and she can settle down for a snooze in the sunshine on top of a bag of garden cuttings. I guess she's just proving to herself that she can still rough it!

Millie

At present, Millie is being cared for by Jane Reagan and is a sponsor cat. Originally, Millie had owners who said she had been brought from a pet shop as a kitten, but after about 3 years they decided they wanted her put to sleep. She was taken to the vets, but the vet refused to euthanase her getting in touch with PussyCat Lodge instead. It's true that Millie has a problem: she suffers from the cat form of Cerebral Palsy and she is also partially sighted. She eats well and manages to use her litter tray with just the odd accident if she loses her balance. She tends to fall from side to side when walking as her balance is affected. She can't climb too well and uses her claws to pull herself up. Her bad sight affects her around the other cats when they come upon her suddenly, so frightening her and making her jump, although they don't torment her. It takes her quite a while to get to the other end of the garden, so Jane tends to let her out and about once the other cats have settled down to sleep. As many of these brain damaged cats are, Millie is a very loveable little soul and ideally she would benefit from being in a smaller cat household, but not many people are willing to take on a problem like this.

Mirage Over the years, PussyCat Lodge has been the temporary home to many cats that have arrived from various feral colonies. The majority of these cats remain in the large pens until suitable homes are found. Every now and then, when no such homes have been forthcoming and rather than confine these freedom-loving felines, Jennie has released them to live with her other garden cats. Back in 1998 a lady contacted Jennie. She was looking for feral cats to control her mouse population. Jennie did the usual home check and advised the lady that six cats would be ideal as it was such a large area for them to patrol. The lady had a shed built specifically for the cats so that they could be confined for a settling in period then, once released, would always be able to return for food, warmth and comfort. For once there were no feral cats in the pens awaiting homes so it was decided to catch and relocate some of the garden cats. The resident four black and two tabby cats were picked out as being the most suitable and the task of catching them began. Eventually we were able to take the cats along to their new home and returned feeling rather sad knowing that we no longer had any black garden cats - or so we thought. Enter Mirage. I cannot tell you anything about her except she is a little cutie who has remained true to her feral roots. No one knows where she came from: as the six moved out, she moved in and has lived happily in the garden of PussyCat Lodge ever since. We are all very pleased to have her there.

Munchkin
Munchkin is actually looking at a reflection of herself in the mirror here! She is a very pretty girl who lives with Jennie at PussyCat Lodge.

Murdock

Yet another sponsor cat that Jane has, also with Cerebral Palsy but not quite as bad as Millie's, is Murdocl the beautiful Persian. He was originally owned by a breeder, although she did not breed from him and he is now neutered. As with Millie, Murdock uses his claws to climb. He has no problems with his food or using the litter tray. He won't run away as he wobbles and has no balance. He is so good-natured that Jacqui (our co-ordinator) takes him out when she gives talks to groups such as the scouts, guides, schools and Womens' Guilds, etc. They love him so much that he is given presents and made such a fuss of, and he thrives on it! You can read more about Jacqui and Murdock's work here.

Tilly Tilly arrived at PussyCat Lodge in 1990, a pedigree pewter Persian cat she is still, at 14 years of age, a stunner. She keeps her coat beautifully groomed all on her own, rarely needing human intervention. Her original owner had wanted to breed from her. The initial attempt produced one kitten and her owner decided to have her spayed and keep her as a family pet instead. Then Tilly's little problem surfaced: she's a bed wetter! Her owner could not cope and asked Jennie to take her in. It would not be so bad if Tilly only wet her own bed but she doesn't. She tends to pee on the duvet - not much fun when it is you sleeping under the duvet says Jennie. Age has slowed down her unsociable habit and it is now only a very rare hiccup in her life! Anyway, Jennie always makes sure Tilly is sleeping on her own duvet! Over the years, her looks and temperament alone could have found her a hundred willing homes. Understandably, her unsociable habit was not acceptable to those prospective homes. There are not many people like Jennie. Now, 13 years later, it is impossible to imagine PussyCat Lodge without Buttons and Tilly. They are both wonderful characters who endear themselves to all they meet. Having seen so many changes, comings and goings over the years they would be forgiven for having an occasional temper tantrum yet they never have: nothing appears to bother them. They are perfect examples of cats that are very pleased and content with their life. We love them and most importantly they seem to love life at PussyCat Lodge.

Tortilla Tortilla arrived from a Harold Wood feral colony in 1994, heavily pregnant. When her four kittens were born it was clear that she had had a liaison with a well-known red maine coon cat that frequently escaped from his stud enclosure. One of her kittens was very like his pedigree Dad. Some of you may remember him, Gordon. Like his Mum he stayed true to his feral roots and lived at PussyCat Lodge but sadly was one little cat not to make old bones and died at a young age of kidney failure. It is only in recent years that Tortilla has decided it is ok to receive a gentle stroke, normally at meal times. She is a very quiet, serene lady of about 10 years of age and is more than happy with the specially built accommodation she shares with the other garden cats. So much so that she never strays very far. Obviously she realises there is nothing better anywhere else. What a sensible lady.