Mostly Qatar. We also rescue from the Emirates, Turkey and Romania, (all countries we lived in and worked as expats) but they are few and far between. Of course, our doors are open to any and every cat in need locally as well.
We don’t know! Honestly! Qatar does not have a single registered animal charity. There are a couple of biggish animal rescues setup and ran by western expats. They do not have any legal status or government help. Fundraising without being registered as a charity is illegal. There are animal welfare laws in place but they are not enforced.
It is £400 and it is fixed for every cat. It covers most of the transportation cost of one cat, depending on how many cats are coming to us as a group. As an example, if we bring 5 cats as a group, the cost is upwards of £600.
Yes, we do. We work with Love Purrs ran by our friend and partner Lana. She singlehandedly cares for 250+ cats at the moment. She works full-time and dedicates all her free time to cat rescue.
Oh yes, it is. We fly our cats as cargo to Heathrow Airport as commercial shipment. The cats are health checked and tested for rabies antibodies (as required by law) prior to travel. They are all microchipped and have government-drawn travel certificates. Once they land in Heathrow, all their documents are checked by Defra while the cats are moved to the Animal Reception Center to wait for collection. If the cats are approved to be legally imported into the UK, they are released to our care during the day. Luckily, we didn’t have any mishaps during this process so far.
It is pretty straightforward. Take a look at the cats listed on our website. Check if they are currently in the UK or scheduled to travel in the coming months. Then complete the adoption application. When we review your adoption application, we take into account your living arrangements: urban/rural, secure garden/catio/apartment with no outdoor access, children/no children, other cats/dogs/pets, etc. We also take into account your requests for a special needs cat (tri-legged, blind, deaf, paralysed, one-eye missing, part of jaw missing etc). We try to match you with the perfect cat for your household. We then have a lengthy video chat with the applicants. We try to get to know them better and understand their expectations. We also ask in detail about previous cat experience. If, after the interview, both parties are satisfied and the adoption will go ahead, we send a copy of our adoption contract for review. If the cat being rehomed is already in the UK, we plan to deliver the cat to their new family or meet at a pre-planned location to do the handover. If the cat is not in the UK, we advise the adopter of the planned arrival date and try to bring the cat over as soon as possible.
Anytime. Drop us an email or contact us on our social media accounts and come over. Our cats love playtime with visitors.
Firstly, we trust our partners explicitly. We understand a cat coming from a 250+ cat shelter might have unnoticed problems. Therefore, we take them to our vets for a health check soon after their arrival. All the cats receive internal/external parasite treatment prior to their travel. If our vets deem necessary, we repeat the treatments. We get their dentals done if needed, their eyes and ears checked. We don’t release the cats from our care until they are as healthy as we can get them.
All our cats are tested for FIV/FELV. Unless specifically advertised as a FIV+ cat, all our cats are free of both diseases.
Yes, all of our animals are chipped. We will provide you with the number so you can register the chip with your details online.
Most of our cats are indoor only, unless the adopter has a secure garden or catio (or a really rural location). We believe that this is best for the cat, as it prevents fights, getting run over, eating poisonous substances, getting lost, stolen or hurt by another animal etc. In general, indoor cats also live a lot longer than cats with unsecure gardens and have much lower vet bills.
Certainly! Most of our cats are indoor only anyway!
Yes!
No, make sure you’re 100% certain before you transfer any money to us.
For whatever reason we will take back the cat without judgement. Contact us if this is the case and we will arrange a pick up at a mutually convenient time.
We rarely know a cat’s history and make an assumption of breed based on physical characteristics. Most of our cats are mixes and where we state a specific breed, they will not be pure bred nor will they come with any breed paperwork.
We do not allow any of the cats that have been adopted from us to be put to sleep without prior consent from us. We would only put a cat to sleep in extreme circumstances such as suffering or no quality of life. This decision would always be made based on what is best for the animal, not the cost of vet bills.
If you have seen any social media campaigns by charities or rescues, you’ll have seen the #adoptdontshop hashtag. What many people don’t realise, is that a huge number of breeders in the world do not look after their animals properly. Often, pedigree cats are bred from a very young age and are living in a cage with an extremely poor quality of life. Baby cats are separated from their mothers too early, before they learnt he necessary skills to survive. If you buy a cat from a breeder, you are supporting their business (which is usually all for profit) and potentially allowing them to continue mistreating animals. Additionally, there are so many cats in the world and breeding more exacerbates the problem.
