Cat rescue looking for homes after 17 cats rescued from ONE house in Luton

A rescue centre in Luton is “beyond full” after saving 17 cats from a single house in the town.

Sally Ainsbury, the founder of Cat Welfare Luton, has been helping homeless cats for 25 years, and currently has 44 felines in her care.

And she said last week, 17 unneutered cats – eight adults and nine babies – were rescued from a single home in Luton.

Cat Welfare Luton (CWL) is now appealing for homes and donations to support the rescue centre as it looks after record numbers of felines.

The home-based centre is “supported by a wonderful group of supporters”.

Sally said: “We’re quite a small rescue and trying to fit in a large volume of cats at once is very difficult. Funds are an ongoing issue because we don't get enough back in donations from rehoming to go anywhere near what each cat costs us.”

Donations of money, food and litter are desperately needed, as each cat that comes through Sally’s doors costs a minimum of £200 to look after.

She said: “Every single cat and kitten is neutered, vaccinated. microchipped, fleaed, wormed and as healthy as we can get them before they go off to new homes.”

The high number of rescues coming to Cat Welfare Luton is down to the after-effects of the Covid animal breeding boom, Sally says.

She explained: “During Covid, people could sell kittens online for hundreds of pounds. With the cost of living crisis, no one can get the money they want from them. So they’re all getting dumped and coming to rescue centres.”

Sally and her team of seven fosterers and five transporters are in the process of catching a colony of 53 cats in Bedford, and need more help to get stray cats off the streets and into loving homes.

She said: “We’re looking for anyone that was looking to become a foster home, anyone that could help with trapping our feral colonies, because we've always short people to give up their time and go and sit with traps.”

She thanked Happy Cats Clinic in Biggleswade and Heath and Reach Vets for their support and help.

For someone looking to get a cat, she said: “I’d urge people to make sure they can afford the neutering and the important health care that they need. And if you can't, you really shouldn't get one.”

But for those who are ready to welcome a new pet into their lives, Sally wants people to remember the kittens and cats who might not get all the attention: “We get so many inquiries for the pretty kittens, but nobody wants the not-so-colourful ones. So we're always appealing to people to open up their hearts to the less popular cats, the shy ones, the ones that might need ongoing treatment.”

CWL asked anyone who is interested in rehoming one of the strays to check on their Facebook page for updates in the coming weeks. Click here for updates about appeals and cats looking for their forever homes.