With a rise in people having to give up their cats but a slowdown in adoptions and donations, a Scottish Cats Protection branch is “getting hit from all angles”.
The Glasgow branch, which is run entirely with the help of unpaid volunteers, covers a massive area across western Scotland – but the cost-of-living crisis is making their work harder.
The manager of the branch, Kathy Dunsmore, has been volunteering for twelve years to help give every cat a suitable home.
She said: “The cost-of-living crisis is having a big impact on us, but I think we’re just at the start of it.”
“We’re bracing ourselves for an upswing and that some people are going to be financially pressed and perhaps have to come to that decision to relinquish their cats.”
Adoptions have slowed down which means there is less space to accommodate the “rising numbers coming in”.
The branch, which has been around for 45 years, depends on 30 foster carers to take in cats until they are fit and able to be rehomed.
“The trouble at the moment is that our capacity is full. We can’t bring them in if there's not a space to accommodate them,” Ms Dunsmore said.
“We just don’t have the foster space to meet the need and people are having to wait longer and then people do desperate things.”
The reasons cats are coming into their care have also begun to reflect the cost-of-living crisis, with the branch recently taking in six cats a day before the owner was getting evicted from their home.
Ms Dunsmore said: “We're seeing a change now. What we are seeing is more people contacting us evictions and financial strife.”
Anticipating a further rise in pets coming into their care in the winter months, the branch manager is appealing for more foster carers.
“I am always looking for volunteer fosterers. There is quite a stringent process and clearly, that slows things down,” she said.
“That’s what we are doing to help and maybe meet the future need.”
Each fosterer is motivated to help ensure cats can go to a loving forever home, Ms Dunsmore added: “From a volunteer perspective, it weighs heavy on you if you can’t help.
“I personally feel responsible for every cat in Glasgow and the wider area.
“The last thing we want to do is take in a cat into care that actually has a loving home.
“If people's financial circumstances are that they cannot look after that cat anymore, then the reality is the cat is going to have to come into care.”
While the branch strives to support people unable to afford pet food and also supplies a local food bank, their donations “are dropping off”.
She added: “We’re getting hit from all angles. We want a chance to help any cat in need and to try and ensure that we find a very happy home that will be a forever home.”
This is part of report on the impact of the cost of living on pet owners.
Read the full story: ‘It keeps me up at night’: Growing pet care crisis as cost-of-living drives families to brink
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel