It Takes a Village: Rescuing Stray and Abandoned Cats in South London

Animal Welfare International works in India, Sri Lanka and London. We support charities sterilising and vaccinating free roaming cats and dogs in Southern India and near Kandy Sri Lanka. We also trap, neuter and release or rehome stray, abandoned cats in South London.

Rescued kittens: Pearl, Gideon, Immanuel and Samuel.

They say it takes a village to raise a child - but what does it take to raise a kitten or puppy? Compassion, food, and water. Not much, really. Yet far too many people are failing in that simple duty of care to the animals in their charge. Rescue charities are bursting at the seams and turning away desperate animals, so small, self-funded organisations like Animal Welfare International are stepping in to fill the gap.

In this months news…

We arranged a Turkish translator to help navigate the return of a now-sterilised mother cat, Pamuk, to her original owner. Her four kittens - Pebble, Olivio, Pepper and Poppy - had all been adopted by loving families. Pamuk was clearly well-loved; she was calm in her owners' presence and went home safely in a cat carrier we donated to the family.

That same week, a dedicated couple we support who manage a feral cat colony of around 20 cats in Crystal Palace called to say that three kittens had appeared on their doorstep - no mother in sight. We agreed to collect them on Friday, but their mum turned up the very next day, so for now they are staying put until she can be humanely trapped and sterilised as part of our ongoing stray cat TNR (trap, neuter and return) programme.

We then drove to Southall, on the outskirts of West London, to trap a wild, abandoned young female who had been living in the garden of a kind local woman and her son, who had been feeding her. She gave birth on 16th April and reacted badly to being trapped, so we had to locate her kittens quickly and reunite them. Hidden around ten feet inside a dense bramble bush were five tiny kittens. Reunited with their mother, now named Tinkerbell, and transferred immediately to our wonderful vet at Battersea Square Vet, the whole family was treated for fleas, lice, ear mites and worms. Tinkerbell's kittens are Pearl, Gideon, Immanuel and Samuel.

They are now settled in an Animal Welfare International trustee's home. As Tinkerbell is very frightened and spends most of her time hiding, the kittens are being bottle-fed every few hours. There was a tense search for kitten milk formula which was out of stock everywhere, but all is now well, with excellent weight gain and a mum who is very slowly beginning to watch us from behind the furniture.

Rescued kittens: Lala, Po, Dipsy and Tinky Winky

The week continued at pace. A Facebook post, spotted by our daughter Laura, led us to a young woman in Earlsfield who had been feeding a stray cat in her garden. The cat had given birth in her shed; with heavy rain falling, she had brought mum and her four newborn kittens inside. Her family already had two elderly cats and could not take on more. Other cat rescue charities had been unable to help, leaving her quite desperate, hence the appeal. We collected mum, now called Tubby, and her four kittens - Lala, Po, Dipsy and Tinky Winky - that same day. They are settled in a separate room.

Tubby is an excellent mother and is clearly a previously owned cat who was abandoned - she is fully socialised and very affectionate. She was either abandoned while already pregnant, or surrendered unsterilised by an owner who knew she would inevitably fall pregnant and be left without shelter or food. Our vet confirms the family is in good health, and we hope to have them adopted into suitable homes at around nine weeks - though there is currently a significant surplus of kittens and cats needing rehoming across London, making it harder to find placements with gardens. For now, they are warm and well fed.

After a quieter few days, we received a call from a very dedicated feral cat feeder on an estate in Brixton, who has been working with a drop trap we provided to catch as many stray cats on the estate as possible. One evening, while searching for some reported kittens, she heard a screaming sound coming from a nearby garden. With no answer at the door, she climbed the fence and found two small kittens - desperately malnourished, underweight, suffering from severe conjunctivitis and being attacked by a large tom cat. They had been cowering behind rubbish, hidden in a bucket of freezing water. She took them home immediately, and we collected them the next day.

Now being bottle-fed on nutritious food at a trustee's home, Dorte and Britta are slowly recovering and decompressing from the trauma of their short lives. Our vet advised they were not yet strong enough to be vaccinated, so we will revisit that in a week or two.

Dorte & Britta

Dorte and Britta were in a bucket at the back of this rubbish.

Animal Welfare International uses humane, purpose-built cat traps for all its rescue work. Cats are fostered, given full veterinary treatment, and rehomed wherever possible. Where rehoming is not an option, we follow the internationally recognised TNR (trap, neuter and return) method - returning cats to their existing colonies in good health and unable to produce further litters, helping to humanely manage the stray and feral cat population in London.

To support our cat rescue and animal welfare work in South London, please donate via JustGiving: Animal Welfare International - JustGiving