VegaNation supports Hillside!

VegaNation supports Hillside!

Thursday, 21 July 2011

'Feline Care' cat shelter near Thetford under threat- please help!!

  On Saturday we visited a wonderful cat shelter near Thetford, in Norfolk called Feline Care. You can find it at www.felinecare.org.uk if you want to get the feel of the place or make a donation. We visited because we have offered to donate some homeopathic advice and remedies for one of the cats who has very sore inflamed, itchy skin and hair loss, so we went to meet her and the other 140+ cats!
  Molly and Paul who run the place are amazing and the shelter is a credit to them and the team of volunteers who help out.  The cats are mostly kept in groups which seem very peaceful and relaxed and must be much more interesting for cats than living in a run by themselves. The cats look happy and well, with lovely shiny coats and bright eyes and seem very content. Molly and Paul work hard on matching cats with homes and in order to adopt a cat from the shelter you can visit on the last Sunday of the month or any other day by appointment- this means that someone has the time to show potential adopters cats who are likely to suit them and be happy with them, so it really is a true adoption service, not just 'shopping' for a cat.
  It was a lovely outing for vegan children- we don't go to zoos, so it was quite an experience for the children to be surrounded by quite so many animals: cats and kittens, dogs, hens, and a huge and very grand turkey. In fact, the turkey is one of the animals that needs a bit of help- he has a sore, swollen ankle and is limping quite badly.
  They aren't bred to live long healthy, active lives- they are bred to grow very rapidly and put on a great deal of weight, especially in the breast area, very quickly and then to die horribly in a slaughterhouse at 12- 16 weeks, while still effectively babies. This unnaturally fast growth is very unhealthy and puts enormous strain on the turkey's heart and joints, and every year 2 000 000 young turkeys die of heart attacks before they even reach 'slaughter weight'. Harry is a survivor,one of the lucky ones-  but Harry's joints are having difficulty with supporting his weight easily- he weighs about 17 kilos, so we are going to try and help him improve the health of his joints.
  The bad news is that this wonderful shelter is under threat of closure- if they can't raise £70,000 by October this year the shelter will have to close and the wonderful care that Molly and Paul are offering the cats of Norfolk will be forced to stop. Please help by visiting their website and see what you can do to help; if you are able to donate money, or provide some service or goods that they need that would free up some of their money to buy the land, and keep the shelter open. You can download a poster from their website which you could put up at work or in a local shop or vet surgery to raise awareness of the crisis facing Feline Care.

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