Dear readers,
 

As usual we wonder where the past year has gone, and what a busy year it has been for us, with many problems raising their heads, but once again the team pulled together and just got on with it!
 

Kittens have been plentiful, abandonments have increased, but we have worked hard and helped all those we could – sadly we can’t help them all but we can truly say we have tried our very best. This year has been the worst in my memory since volunteering for Cats Protection for abandonment of cats and kittens. Many times, sadly, with the owner having little choice. Many calls have come in from people who were moving to new accommodation where they don’t allow pets, who had tried all ways to find a new home for their cat but after receiving negative responses were left with a choice of euthanasia or abandonment. Some of these people stay in my memory and although we could do nothing, I still feel a sense of guilt even though there was nothing we could do, as we just didn’t have any foster spaces left. This clearly has been a national problem this past year and one that many rescue organisations have had to bear. However there is no point in brooding about the past, we have to look forward to the future and a new year means a new start which gives us all renewed energy to achieve this goal.

 

Every year, I look back over the last 12 months and every year I am amazed at the miracles our volunteers have managed to achieve. We started out to make this year a record one for neutering and, although we have way exceeded our neutering budget, we all feel that this is money well spent. We fund raise throughout the year to make up the shortfall as neutering is one of our main priorities. We have noticed that we rarely issue part payment vouchers now and are happy to pay for the full cost if it means the cat is neutered before it is allowed a litter of kittens. We hope to continue this campaign next year helping as many owners who need it. We have been very alarmed about the increase in people using their female cats as money making ventures, allowing them to have litter after litter. These people are selling these poor little kittens for as little as £20 each and as young as three weeks old. This is animal cruelty and it cannot be allowed to continue. We urge you to put out the message to avoid purchasing kittens this way.

 

Although we don’t have the final figure for rehoming yet, I know that we (like most other branches) have had less cats adopted this year than in previous years. This we know is a sign of the times and a result of the recession. Sadly, we have had long periods in the year where our rehoming has almost been at zero. More worrying than that is the increase in the number of Cats Protection cats who have been signed back over to us due to changes in their owner’s circumstances. In saying that, the homes we have found for our cats have as usual been the best. We have met some wonderful people who have opened their hearts and their homes to our cats. Even our "golden oldies" and the harder to home cats have landed on their wee paws.

 

And so on to our fosterers and the volunteers who trap, collect and transport our cats. As I said previously, it has been a very hard year with lots of pressure to help the cats out there and despite the personal pressure you have all experienced this year, not one person has failed to act as a team member and for that I cannot express how much I appreciate you all. A big thank you to Jackie, Flora, Greg, Karen, Pam, Lorna, Dave, Alice, Susan, Linda, Heather and Joanne for all you have given to our lovely cats and kittens.

 

We have continued to raise money to cover our ever increasing running costs and have organised a number of good fundraising events this year. We held our fifth annual barbeque and auction this summer and despite the torrential rain all day long we raised the highest amount ever and the rain definitely didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. We raised well over £2K at this event and I would like to thank everyone who participated, attended or donated to this. We raised money for our gorgeous Ginger who was rehomed this summer to two of the nicest girls I have ever met and he is thriving and being spoilt rotten. We were very unlucky to miss out on the thrift shop this year, through no fault of our own, but that only made Dave all the more determined that we wouldn’t miss out. He managed to get the use of a shop in Whitburn for three weeks and I’m delighted to say we topped the total we had hoped to make at the thrift shop. Many thanks to the owners who generously allowed us the use of the shop. We also did our annual sponsored walk on a very dull wet day but the weather didn’t put us off and we walked our way to raising almost £2K for our gorgeous cats - well done to everyone who took part or who sponsored us for that. We also had a lot of fun raising awareness and funds at both the Armadale and the Bathgate Gala days. We continue to hold our successful Rehoming Days every 6-8 weeks – they have become such a way of life now, we had to purchase ourselves another van specifically for these events. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to all the various bag packs, awareness days, bingo nights, psychic nights, swish parties etc. throughout the year. We would like to welcome all the volunteers who have joined us in 2011 – Catherine, Mandy, Martin, the two Susans, Liz and to Georgia, Heather and Linda who have rejoined us after a short break.

 

If you are reading this and have always wondered about volunteering, please get in touch with us. We can never have enough help – if you can spare us a couple of hours a week, we would be eternally grateful. There are so many jobs for you to do, it doesn’t need to be fostering and each job is important and helps us to continue doing our vital work.

 

I would like to take this chance to thank everyone who has helped us with our work this year.

 

I have already mentioned the fosterers but there are many others who work tirelessly behind the scenes – Dave, the two Dianes, Brian, Cheryl, Christine, Erica, Gemma, Jan, Angela, Lorna, Lynne, Rena, Ross, Joanne.

Thanks also go to Ian, who was our treasurer for the last five years and a big thank you to Greg who has now taken over the financial reins.

 

A special BIG thank you to Frank our webmaster who continues to keep our website the envy of other branches.

 

A thank you to the husbands, Douglas and Ian who we couldn’t do without. Thanks also to Morrisons in Livingston and The Gyle, Pets At Home and Petplanet for all the food and litter donations. Also to everyone who has kindly donated food in our collection bins over the year. A big thank you to our wonderful vets, Lamonds in Murieston, especially Michael who has looked after us so well in 2011. A massive thank you also goes to everyone who has supported us financially, in donations and sponsorship. We would also like to thank Kate our RDM and Donna her assistant who have supported and encouraged us over the last year. The final thank you goes to everyone who has given one of our wee treasures a forever home this year – God bless each and every one of you. You have opened your heart and your home to a wee cat and given it the most important thing – a second chance.

 

For those that know me, I sadly lost both my own two furry babies - Hannah and TJ - this year. Hannah was PTS in April this year after they found a tumour very unexpectedly. Mercifully for her, she didn’t suffer and it was over very quickly. TJ was PTS in October after becoming very ill with renal failure. We are heartbroken to lose them and they have left a very big hole in our hearts and lives. But they do say that when one door closes another one opens and we have now adopted our very first foster cat, Rosie. She is a joy to have, we love her lots and she has certainly helped to heal our broken hearts. It’s true that a house just isn’t a home without at least one cat!! Some of you may remember that TJ was a supported Cats Protection branch cat – thank you so much to everyone who helped to support him. We hope that we made his last few years with us happy and full of love.

 

I would like to take a moment now to remember our little ones who are no longer with us. Each one a special character who has gone to Rainbow Bridge but who knew the love that Cats Protection can give – Denzel, Boris, Oscar, Elmo, Seamus, Hannah, Paddy, Charlie, Gimli, Zuki, Tiny, TJ, Harvey, Sebastian, Harmony’s and Ella’s tiny kittens who died at just hours old. You have all left paw prints on our hearts.

 

As usual our rehoming goes quiet over the festive and New Year period, but our fosterers will still be filling food dishes and cleaning out litter trays – our work goes on 365 days of the year. Our cats will still need homes, even over Christmas and we will still rehome to the right home but sorry, no furry Christmas presents that can be discarded after the festivities. I pray that we will not see old cats thrown out to make way for little cute ones.

Our work does not stop over Christmas and we will still have cats in our foster homes, who will be looking forward to finding a new home in the New Year. We are still desperate for homes for our cats and kittens, so if you plan a quiet Christmas then please contact us now.

 

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful New Year and if I could have one wish for 2012 I would pray that all animal cruelty and neglect would stop and that each and every wee soul could have the love and care it deserves. As we remember the true meaning of Christmas, we should spare a thought for the animals who still suffer and who need our help. With your help we can really make a difference – let’s make 2012 even better when our work for our lovely cats and kittens will continue.

And so another year is about to begin, and we at West Lothian Cats Protection are ready for it…………

 

All our love Roz, Ian and Rosie xxxxxxxxxxx