Cat Lovers

Discodog

Wonderland - Mad Cats and Englishwomen


Wednesday 27 October
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2


Documentary following the efforts of two women who work round the clock caring for London's stray cats. Celia Hammond, a former model, has been rescuing these animals for the past 40 years, and runs a clinic in East London to treat and neuter them, while former folk singer and hippie Pat has turned her own home into a haven for sick and unwanted cats.

Heroditas

Anyone watch this?
The lady with 20 cats in the house. The house was destroyed! I can only imagine how it smells.

One female cat can be responsible for 21,000 more cats over a 7 year period!

Disgraceful level of cuteness though but also utterly heartbreaking to see the state of some of the cats and the conditions they live in.

anniehoo

Yeh i watched it and was quite upsetting to watch in parts. The lady who ran the cat charity was just overwhelmed it was so sad to see. She was literally inundated with cats and kittens in various states of neglect.With over a million cats in London, nearly half are homeless. While i did empathise with what those women were trying to do there comes a stage where when your own living conditions are suffering then its time to stop or cut back. That lady with the 20+ cats house was absolutely filthy.No place for a human nevermind 20 cats. Its just so sad to see how far down the rung cats are thought of by a lot of people.

Heroditas

Remember when she was describing how some people had black and white cats because everything in the house was black and white.
Then they decorated the house, the cats didn't "match" the new interior so they wanted to get rid of them. :mad:


Mine are getting some extra treats tonight.

anniehoo

Heroditas wrote: »

Remember when she was describing how some people had black and white cats because everything in the house was black and white.
Then they decorated the house, the cats didn't "match" the new interior so they wanted to get rid of them. :mad:.

Oh my god...yeh that made me furious. She really felt like she was in a losing battle i was so sorry for her.

I looked over at my little fella curled up on the couch and smiled.He doesnt know how good he has it here lol

ABajaninCork

Started to watch it, but when they had to put down the ginger tom, couldn't bear to watch any more. Mine was put down three weeks ago, and it was just too raw.

I do agree with the point someone else made about the living conditions of some of the rescuers. Some of the conditions I saw, I wouldn't let my animals live in never mind humans.

As much as I love cats and dogs, it wouldn't be to the detriment of my living conditions or my appearance - Sorry!

dan_d

I couldn't watch.
Rescued my 2 from a centre and they are happy as larry...as you say, anniehoo, they don't know how good they have it, although they've turned our garden into their own personal litter tray and our kitchen into their stalk-and-kill territory (dangling strings from aprons and boots are extremely threatening:D).
I don't understand how people can be cruel to animals. I just don't.

Tranceypoo

I watched parts of it, had to keep turning over it was so heartbreaking, I got my cat from the vets where someone had brought her and her sister in to be pts because they were feral and they just didn't want them around. There she was last night fast asleep on the sofa lying on top of the dog (also a rescue), sigh. Those poor women just seemed so overwhelmed and sad.

gracyj

Are there any videos related to the news.

MsFifers

I found it a really depressing programme. I was in tears by the end when they were putting down the poor flea-infested kitten - and then my own kitty came up to nuzzle my neck, and that really finished me off!

I don't know about some of what I saw - I thought one of those ladies didn't seem right - slapping one of her cats that hissed at another cat, and handing over a newly rescued kitten to that couple she just met on the street. But I guess she was doing her best.

I have a great respect for people who rescue animals and even more now when I saw the desperate state of things. Really though, a lot of the people in that programme looked like they needed rescuing too.

Shenshen

MsFifers wrote: »

I found it a really depressing programme. I was in tears by the end when they were putting down the poor flea-infested kitten - and then my own kitty came up to nuzzle my neck, and that really finished me off!

I don't know about some of what I saw - I thought one of those ladies didn't seem right - slapping one of her cats that hissed at another cat, and handing over a newly rescued kitten to that couple she just met on the street. But I guess she was doing her best.

I have a great respect for people who rescue animals and even more now when I saw the desperate state of things. Really though, a lot of the people in that programme looked like they needed rescuing too.

I think that lady was a bit overwhelmed by it all as well. She kept saying how it had taken over her life, and how she wasn't sure how to cope. And in fairness, she took the kitten away from the couple again when she came to check up on it.

It was shocking, though, the state some of those cats were in, the kittens dumped everywhere, and people giving out at the rescuers who were at the limit of their capabilities as it was. Incredibly sad.

That woman crying because she brought her cats in to be adopted because she was going away for 3 months, couldn't she have brought them to a cattery instead?
We've got three cats, two of them are rescued cats, and no way in hell would I ever even consider giving them up just because I had to leave for a few months!