rescue catteries?

Chiaki

im looking for some rescue centres that deal exclusively with cats in either the cork or carlow areas. ive also been trying to find out about licenses you would need to own/operate a rescue centre and i cant find any? ive heard that you dont need one, could anyone enlighten me on this?

Sigma Force

As far as I know any Tom (scuse the pun) dick or harry can open up a cattery or kennel, with dog kennels I'm not sure but I think they need to have a general dog licence. Not sure if insurance is compulsary on dog kennels.

Don't even think catteries are regulated, perhaps someone could shed more light on it.

Not sure if you mean a boarding cattery plus rescue attached or a rescue on it's own. Rescue wise with dogs licence applies but with cats don't think there is anything to stop anyone opening up a cat rescue.

Which can lead to problems when people don't realise how expensive food, litter and vet bills are. Even having a few cats in rescue can mount up to thousands if one or two end up having to have surgery or are seriously ill etc.

Chiaki

what a delightful situation, its like the blind leading the blind when it comes to animal welfare in this country...
As far as i can find there are no license or regulations in opening up a cat rescue. Im sure there is also as much effort put into check ups on such centres

Sigma Force

Although there are many good cat rescues in Ireland, and also so many people who trap neuter return and rescue cats out of their own pockets and do it extremely well. There's are some who think they are doing the right thing but end up making the problem worse and then there's the classic hoarding situations.

The Sweeper

The local council may not have a process in place to apply for a licence, because there may be no such thing. However it's worth checking with them about regulations on the maximum number of animals you can keep on a property of a certain size, requirements for soundproofing exterior animal housing, restrictions on water run off from your property depending on the size of it, so on, so forth.

You may find that, even though you don't have to have a licence to open, say, a cat rescue, the council can close you down for having more than the permitted number of animals on your residential or semi-rural property, or the health regulation people can uphold a complaint from a neighbour regarding hygiene practices when you're cleaning out runs and kennels, and so on, and so forth.

The best practice design for a rescue for cats is quite a complex thing. Did you know, for instance, that using small cubicles with glass windows and closing doors can be better in a shelter than using cages, because outbreaks of disease and infection can be better contained instead of running through the entire population, as it will in a cage environment as there is free flow of air?

There's a lot to think about. Shelter, outdoor space, shared play areas, quarantine areas; safe disposal of urine and faeces; washing of litter trays, beds, blankets and food dishes; heat in the winter and shade in the summer; safe disposal of dead animals; funding for veterinary care and food bills; and then the additional elements of behavioural management - do you or don't you try to retrain a cat that won't use a litter tray, or that sprays and scent marks; then how do you home-check and establish whether your potential owners are appropriate people for the cat, not to mention how you're going to facilitate returns that didn't work out ("I didn't realise how much hair he would shed" or "He's destroyed my couch" or "He miaows every night at 4am and my husband has had enough" or "I'm pregnant and we're worried that the baby will be allergic" or "He doesn't use his litter tray, he's peed on my bed twice, I can't bear it" and all the other reasons people return their cat.)

On top of that are the other two threats to population control - people dumping their pet on your doorstep in the middle of the night because they know you take on rescues; and strays who find you because they've been wandering around and they heard you have food and water.

There is also a problem with escapees at cat shelters - this is more difficult with cats than with dogs. Some cats will charge open doors, and you have no recall with cats except using food; they can also climb, squeeze through the tiniest spaces and scrabble under fences and through gaps that you wouldn't believe they can escape through.

There's more - the noise - it won't be the barking you'll get with dogs, but an intact female still with her kittens can come into heat and start calling before it's time to take the kittens and have her neutered, and cats in shared population enclosures will sometimes fight at night as they vie for social position. Intact Toms will call until you can get them neutered (and sometimes just plain old vocal cats will call.)

You'd have to be a crazy cat lady to open a cat rescue...

Chiaki

lol this is actually for a year long project im doing for my vet nursing course. To be honest ive always wanted to run my own cat rescue centre, the financial side of it putting me off. Ive taken in reptiles for rehabilitation and rehoming but chiaki's home for wayward kitties is still a long way off.... unless the euro millions lands in my pocket!