Can you help Doncaster cats like Sparrow get back on their paws?

The volunteers at Doncaster Branch of Cats Protection are dedicated to helping homeless cats and kittens find loving homes.

With kitten season almost here, a particularly busy time for the charity, the branch is keen to recruit new fosterers to share the load of caring for cats until they can be rehomed.

No special equipment is needed to be a volunteer fosterer except a spare room in your house or outdoor space to house a cat pen. Cats Protection will provide the cat pen and all the other support needed including cat food, litter, toys and so on.

One of the many ways in which fosterers better the lives of cats can be seen through the story of Sparrow, a kitten who was found in a garden with his littermates. Suffering with conjunctivitis and weighing just 320grams at around five weeks old, way below the average for a kitten of his age, he needed extra special care to get him back on his paws.

Sparrow was placed with a fosterer, who tended to his needs as he slowly became stronger, before a perfect home was found for him where he is safe and well loved.

Karen Gleadhill of Branton was looking for another cat to add to her household to join her retired greyhound and her 16-year-old rescue cat.

She said: “We had considered buying a Maine Coon kitten but then we thought why buy a kitten for over a thousand pounds when there are so many rescue kittens who can give just as much joy needing loving homes and families. There is something so satisfying knowing you have helped a little cat off the street or from bad living conditions. I saw Sparrow’s write up on the Cats Protection page and was immediately drawn into his story and the sad start he had in life.

“He has settled into his new home with us really well. He is my constant companion, when I look down he is usually at my side. He is very affectionate, loving and playful. He is the friendliest cat that we have ever adopted.

“We kept the name because even when we adopted him he was still a little sparrow. His nickname is Squeaky because he still does not meow but squeaks if he wants something.”

Shannon Watkin, Regional Volunteer Team Leader, said: “Fostering is a really important and rewarding role, especially when you can take a sick kitten or cat, help them recover and then see them rehomed. It’s such a nice feeling of achievement to know that as a charity we have turned life around for that cat or kitten and they can go on and live a good life where they are loved and cared for by their new family.”

To find out more about fostering for the Doncaster Branch visit www.cats.org.uk/doncaster/volunteer or call 01302 954 311.