Dumped cats and kittens rescued by St Francis Animal Welfare

The two cats were left outside the gates of St Francis Animal Welfare in Fair Oak in November with an anonymous handwritten note attached.

Another cat, also in a box, was found the following morning, and later that day, a volunteer heard a squeak coming from another box which had blown into a hedge.

The decomposing box contained a kitten.

These are just a handful of the many instances of abandoned and dumped cats and kittens that volunteers have dealt with this year alone.

'Unbelievable' 

In the summer of 2022, seven “very neglected and inbred” cats from a mass breeder arrived, with them numerous health issues.

The boxes cats were found in outside the shelter (Image: St Francis Animal Welfare)

Sadly, three of the cats passed away and two have been kept as residents due to their severe heart murmurs.

More recently, nine more kittens from a similar breeding establishment were accepted by the shelter.

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Shelter manager Helen Shaw said: “These kittens came in two months ago and seven of them have since been rehomed.

“This year has been the worst for animal rescue, it has been unbelievable.

“We are seeing so many of these kittens with birth defects and health problems caused by generations of inbreeding.

One of the rescued cats (Image: St Francis Animal Welfare)

“Some of the worst cases of inbreeding I’ve seen were in the summer this year.

“We have got 40 cats waiting to come into the rescue.

“I have worked here since the early 1990s and I have never seen anything like this. We normally have ten cats on the waiting list.”

'Left to pick up the pieces' 

For Helen, the Covid-19 pandemic is a major factor in the breeding of these kittens, along with the cost-of-living crisis.

One of the rescued kittens (Image: St Francis Animal Welfare)

She said: “Kittens were sold at a high price during the pandemic, and it’s spiralled from there.

“Now, a lot of these breeders are stuck with an influx of kittens and rescues like us are left to pick up the pieces.

“And with the cost-of-living crisis, people think they can do breeding to make money.

“We are not rehoming as many animals either as costs have gone up, so people are thinking twice about adopting. There are more cats than homes available.

“If it carries on this way, I can’t see it’s going to change. I can see more and more people giving their animals up.

“More often than not people do it because they can’t afford to keep them.”

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St Francis Animal Welfare is keen to raise awareness of this type of cruelty and inbreeding which is happening everywhere.

According to the shelter, all charities are being inundated with cats and kittens from this “regrettable” source.

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