RESCUE ME!! Abandonned Cats and Kittens

[ChatsDuQuercy]

Cat Rescue and Rehoming Centre
Gorgeous cats and kittens, abandoned in dustbins, left when their owner died, thrown out when their family moved house, whatever the reason, these cats need your help!

Before being rehomed, our cats have received a weekly visit by a qualified vet and are;
• If old enough tested negative FIV/FeLV
• Sterilised (we practice early age neutering from 8 weeks of age, best for the cat, it's future health and reduces the amount of unwanted litters available)
• Identified by microchip - a legal requirment here in France
• Vaccinated
• Treated for parasites
• Placed at their new home under adoption contract

Any donation you give is eligible for a 66% deduction on your French income tax
The financial participation(currently 125€) requested to adopt a cat represents a contribution towards the operating costs of Chats du Quercy. In no instance does this amount represent the “cost” of the adopted cat (quite the contrary).

To visit the cats for adoption, please call us to arrange an appointment on 05 63 94 73 97 and check out more details on our website.
www.chatsduquercy.com

You can find us on Facebook too -

[Merisin]

When I was a girl living in a council house I read My Family and Other Animals and wondered that anybody could live amidst such exotic wild fauna. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that one day I too would live by the Mediterranean and have a little garden full of wonders.

We've got snakes, geckos, several species of lizard and frogs. Praying Mantis and Stick Insects. Tiny shrews scurry around, bats roost behind the shutters, ground feeding birds search the undergrowth for seeds and insects. It's magic. But it was not always so.

The previous owner had five cats. When we bought the house almost nothing moved. The garden was a desert. The only living things were the geckos living high up on the walls. But we've made it a cat free zone and the transformation has been remarkable. It took a few years but it was well worth the effort.

So please think twice about adopting a cat. If you must, could you keep it indoors. Or at least confine it to your garden? 'Cos I sure don't want it in mine!

Mary

[blackduff]

I've found a way having a cat and the rest of the "wild things" in the garden. My cat is, for starting, is sixteen years old. She has a short tail, which keeps the cat from chasing things. She is blind with one eye too. This slows down but she cannot miss any food inside. She never chases anything except the two dogs chez nous.

Of course,this takes time to get her trained.

Blackduff

[ChatsDuQuercy]

When we moved here 13 yeasr ago, there was no wild life nor birds as the owner kept dogs. We have 9 cats of our own, we have designated meadows where do not mow the grass and we encorage the bird life which ahs flourished along with the wild life.
It is well documented that the worst destructor for any animal life is man, and since we have moved here, the local farmer has removed many hedgrows, which may also be the reason why our 'haven' even with our 9 cats, has blossomed!
Please don't judge cats as being the single worst enemy of living things, when it so clearly is the human race.

[tia]

have 10 cats in all and still mice living in the garage,bloody things are too well fed to chase anything that moves!! occasionally they'll go in the field out back and pretend to hunt. Even had a mouse living in the house last year, use to see it pop out at night while we were watching tv, cats would be lying there but none of them moved. As for birds, well have nests up on the roof and for the last 7 years they have been back to have their little ones, my daughter has to change bedrooms at that time of year as they wake her up in the morning, husband could get rid of them but doesn't as they are doing no harm. doesn't seem to bother them that the cats are sitting underneath waiting for one to drop out of the nest! neighbours are always complaining about the noise they make and am pretty sure that if I let them they would shoot the lot of them. Sorry but not convinced it's because of cats that there is no wildlife, human race takes care of that, cat won't touch a snake but humans will ( seeing plenty of them squashed on the road at the moment as there is a housing estate being built nearby and the poor things are trying to escape being killed by machinery),

[tia]

chats de quercy , you beat me to it and basically said the same thing, Humans are the worst enemy of any animal. we also have bats , stick insects etc. they don't seem to be afraid of the cats, I keep fishing them out of the pool and even leave things in the pool at night for them to grab on to rather than drown. (hubby says I'm stupid!)

[Phipplebert]

We have a cat....I found him, we didn't intend to get a cat but its was not his fault he was dumped in the woods and he will do less harm to wildlife being fed by me than being left there.

My husband doesn't like cats because they don't discriminate as to what the eat, which in some ways is true. But you can feed a cat if you want to to stop it hunting so much/at all.

Man bred and introduced cats in huge numbers across the globe and whilst in my opinion, I don't think more should be bred (except possibly purebreds to keep the line until the moggie/mixed population is sorted out), the reality is they are being bred.

Is not the cats fault that man introduced them and caused some problems. In my opinion getting a cat from a rescue centre and not ever buying one from a breeder is a good thing. Getting it sterilised is then the best way forwards. The cat has a home and the breeding population is reduced by sterilisation.

I'm not sure the life of an indoor cat would suit most people or cats, some cats like it but for many it would be akin to have a tethered horse or a dog which wasn't walked.

Cats, dogs and many other domestic animals provide huge comfort and companionship to people. If cats are not your thing there are various ways to reduce the cat flow through your garden without stopping others enjoying the animals they like.

[Robert Ferrieux]

Absolutely agree with you, Phipplebert and Tia.
I think it's unkind to keep a cat indoors. They're natural marauders/wanderers, and their nocturnal adventures can take them for miles around their home (There was a programme about their moonlight walks on tv about 3 weeks ago ). If you can't accept their innate need to hunt and to examine the neighbourhood, don't adopt a cat. As for people in flats wanting a feline friend, I don't know what the answer is. One of my pals, in a 3rd floor flat, adopted a tiny abandoned kitten 2 years ago, but she agrees that the poor animal is bored out of his mind despite a wealth of moggie toys.

Helen

ps to Merisin. How in heaven's name did you make your garden a "cat-free zone"? Did you put up notices ?