Celia Hammond - Canning Town

[elpaso]

What are people's experiences with this shelter - are they generally helpful etc?

[RubbishMantra]

No experience myself, but there is a volunteer who posts in this section, who is very dedicated to the welfare of cats.

[Wolpertinger]

Have seen them on documentaries and they come across as very committed and cat obsessed, especially to their neutering policy.

[Vinorosso74]

Thecatneuterer who posts on here works for them. From her posts, she is certainly very committed to the cause.
I don't have any direct experience myself.

[Icequeen01]

Not actually had a cat or kitten from her shelter but years ago we took on, unknowingly, two totally unsocialised kittens. We literally could not touch them unless we wore gardening gloves. We phoned Celia Hammond's organisation with a view to rehoming them on a farm or something. She asked if she could come and have a look and try to help us rather than re- home. When she arrived we were frantic as we hadn't seen them for nearly a day and thought we had lost them. I will never forget her sitting in our living room and making this funny noise and within seconds the kittens appeared and were literally crawling all over her.

Celia left us a huge cage and told us to keep them in the cage for a few weeks and we had to go into the cage to feed them and just sit with them. Within a couple of month's we had two of the most lovable kittens ever. What Celia doesn't know about cats is not worth knowing! I can't speak for her shelters but her commitment is incredible.

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

We have adopted four cats from CHAT Canning Town over the years. IME they're very dedicated to finding the right cats for the right homes. Celia in particular has a genius for it. Since then we've fostered kittens for their Lewisham branch, and I have nothing but good words for them.

I think they also strike a good balance between wanting their adopters to provide a good standard of care but not making wholly unreasonable demands (for example they don't rule out households with very young children though they don't like to mix toddlers with tiny kittens).

[Yumdoritos]

Thecatneuterer from these forums, and CHAT saved my cats life when she was having seizures and I couldn't afford a 'normal' vet. Couldn't recommend them enough, they're angels

[thecatneuterer]

Why do you ask? Are you thinking of adopting a cat?

[cozietoesie]

How many does CHAT have looking for homes at the moment, TCN? ( Roughly, of course.)

[JellyTeapot]

I adopted my little girl from here, they were really helpful finding a suitable cat and gave me plenty of time to get to know her her before I had to make up my mind. Celia was really helpful when she got ill a few days after I got her home too.

[thecatneuterer]

Cozie I don't really know. At Canning Town alone we must have in the region of 150 kittens and probably slightly more adults. Some of the adults are semi ferals though so aren't part of the normal rehoming offer.

[cozietoesie]

So some 300 new homes needed?

[thecatneuterer]

At least (although of course all our kittens go in pairs), but we are currently getting around 2 lots of mothers and kittens coming into us every day. These are all urgent cases that absolutely cannot be turned away, even though we have no room. We have a 'problem book' with a list as long as your arm of people who have cats and kittens they want to bring into us for homing but which we don't class as urgent.

Every year we seem to say it's the worse we've ever known it, but this year is by far the worst I've ever known.

We think we are being particularly hard hit by the rise of social media selling of kittens on Facebook, Pre loved and the like. People realise they can make a few pounds selling kittens, if they're lucky (and if the kittens aren't black) and other people think it's an easier way to get kittens than to go to the hassle of having a home check etc. So we're just not getting people even coming to us for kittens any more.

And then the kittens these sellers can't sell get either dumped in our waiting room or dumped in bins or boxes, and so end up with us if they're lucky or dead if they're not.

We also get kittens dumped on us by breeders if they are ill or have some congenital defects. Again, dumped in our waiting room usually, although just last week we found a two week old sphynx kitten with a cleft palate dumped in a bin. We tried our best but it died.

[FuzzyWizard]

thecatneuterer That is shocking! Can anything be done to crack down on the breeding of cats? I wish it were a legal requirement to neuter pet cats and dogs.

[thecatneuterer]

I wish it were too Fuzzy. There is talk of some sort of campaign to crack down on local media selling, but I don't think politicians will ever see it as much of a priority.

[Vinorosso74]

I read about that poor Sphynx kitten. Shocking story. I wish there was a ban on selling animals via online selling sites and Facebook.

[cozietoesie]

Have you a link to CHAT, TCN? (Willing though my device is on most things, it seems to have a blind spot about them.)

[thecatneuterer]

www.facebook.com/celiahammondanimaltrust/
//www.celiahammond.org

Incidentally. I've just got back from catching a cat with only half a face - it was being eaten away by cancer. I have never seen a case as bad.

[Wolfiefan]

Catneuterer you really are a hero. That poor cat.
We have two rescue kittens. They are neutered. If only more people would do the same. The cats have no desire to have kittens. Why would I allow them to go through pregnancy and birth when there are so many unwanted kittens. And each can live over 20 years.

[Vinorosso74]

thecatneuterer that sounds horrific poor cat. I know the world is better for kitties with people like you but I can't begin to imagine what things you must see. Keep up the excellent work.

[thecatneuterer]

I will never forget her sitting in our living room and making this funny noise and within seconds the kittens appeared and were literally crawling all over her.

Ah yes, Celia does speak cat exceptionally well.

[Allergictoironing]

I'd just like to add my thanks to TCN and all the other dedicated cat rescuers out there. I would never have got my amazing pair if it hadn't been for the rescue taking in a whole feral colony of nearly 20 cats in bad conditions and nursing them all back to perfect health. I know I wouldn't be able to cope in their position as my heart would be broken on a regular basis.

[FuzzyWizard]

I second that allergic. The work that rescue centres are doing is so important. Here in London I'm not sure people really appreciate just how out-of-control the feral cat population would be without the work of CHAT and other rescues.

[Corneliasedet]

Thank you to thecatneuterer. I have had four rescue cats all of them from rescues and all of them with their own heartbreaking backgrounds. I am so grateful to cat rescues and their humanity.

[cozietoesie]

I meant to ask, TCN. Does CHAT have sort of 'open afternoons' where people can go round and meet the cats? (Forbye they couldn't take them without a home check, I guess.)

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

They certainly have open house sessions at the weekends at Lewisham - dunno about Canning Town. Don't forget to look at the black ones - they may not look as good on your FB timeline but they're just as gorgeous in the flesh